As we’ve been reporting here for a while, the greatest impact of Diamond’s filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy is most likely to be on smaller publishers who specialize in periodical format comics, and have no distribution alternative. American Mythology is one such small comic book publisher, and perhaps one of the first to announce that they may not survive this crisis.
American Mythology was founded by Michael Bornstein in the mid teens and publishes such titles as The Three Stooges, Stargate Atlantis, and The Pink Panther, with creators like James Kuhoric, Mark Wheatley and so on. Their most recent offerings include spin-offs of the public domain Night of the Living Dead. Not a star player, but part of the ecosystem. They signed a deal with Diamond back in 2016. In a statement sent out today they write:
If you missed the news – Diamond Comic Distributors – the outlet that supplies comic books to retail shops has filed for bankruptcy. They are not paying publishers for approximately 2 months’ worth of books. They shipped them in to stores and now that money is gone pending a bankruptcy evaluation. The best-case scenario is that some portion of the money will get paid back at some point in the future. Worst case is that it is just gone. Leaving a lot of publishers – American Mythology included – holding the bag for huge print bills and creative costs.
The truth is – we don’t know if we are going to survive this. Not only for the immediate expenses but for future distribution into comic shops if Diamond fully goes under. We’ve reached out to other distributors but no one is looking for small publishers to add to their distribution slates. We were exclusive with Diamond and now we are facing a world where we may not have access to comic shops in the future.
We are doing everything we can to survive this and to keep making your favorite horror comics. But only time will tell. Our first hurdle is with the immediate bills we have to pay with no incoming finances.
Some fans have asked how they can help. This means a lot to us. We know everyone has their own problems in life. And that you would consider trying to help us survive means everything. The best way to help is to tell a friend and fellow comic book or horror fan about our books and direct them to the webstore. Any orders that are placed directly are going to go right to paying the printer and creators we work with.
Thank you for your support and enthusiasm over our comics. We could not do it without you!
As mentioned, this is only the first of what is likely to be a string of small comic book publishers that struggle with debt from Diamond. We’ve reached out to others to get a fuller picture. You may not have been an American Mythology fan but they paid some people’s bills and that is a loss, if they do indeed have to shut down.
