The halls were alive with news of recent and possible future distribution deals at ComicsPRO, with Lunar adding Rebellion to its roster and hinting that it would be distributing VIZ Media and Yen Press titles and Drawn and Quarterly moving from five distributors to one.
Drawn & Quarterly has inked an exclusive, multiyear distribution agreement with Penguin Random House. Effective September 1, 2026, D&Q’s titles will be distributed to the direct market by PRHComics and to the book channel by PRH. In Canada, where the publisher is located, their books will be distributed by PRH Canada.
Previously, D&Q was distributed to the direct market by Lunar, with sub-distribution by Diamond Comic Distribution, to the U.S. book channel by Farrar, Straus & Giroux, a division of Macmillan, and in Canada by Ampersand.
“At the end of 2024, D&Q had five distributors in North America with metadata and shipments going in every direction,” said Julia Pohl-Miranda, Vice President & Co-Owner, Marketing and Sales, in a statement accompanying the announcement. “PRH will streamline our supply chain from beginning to end.”
The demise of Diamond’s Previews catalog has made ordering titles from VIZ Media and Yen Press more complicated for retailers, because unlike other manga publishers, these two don’t have a dedicated direct market distributor (see “Diamond ‘Previews’ Comes to an End”). VIZ is distributed by Simon & Schuster and Yen Press by Hachette, which will ship to comic shops that have accounts with them but don’t have the same services as direct market distributors, such as weekly FOC files. So a ripple of applause ran through the audience when Lunar Co-Founder Christina Merkler mentioned in passing that a recent warehouse expansion would add space for the addition of VIZ and Yen to the lineup in 6 to 8 months. This was not an official announcement, and other distributors may be in the picture as well, but it indicates that the two publishers are making attempts to get direct market distribution.
Rebellion, meanwhile, has joined up with Lunar for direct market distribution, which means that its sci-fi anthology 2000 AD will be available weekly and retailers can order individual issues for the first time. Copies for the U.S. market will be printed as well as distributed in the U.S. and will arrive two weeks after the UK on-sale date. Rebellion’s other periodicals, including Judge Dredd Megazine and seasonal special issues, will also be available via Lunar.
One more piece of news came out after the ComicsPRO conference, with word that the Pittsburgh-based comics collective Comicsburgh has signed with IPG for bookstore and library distribution. “This is a major step forward for us,” said member D.P. Brown in a statement accompanying the announcement. “Comicsburgh was built on creator ownership, community, and independent spirit. Partnering with IPG allows us to bring that same energy to bookstores and libraries nationwide while maintaining full creative control of our stories.”Source: ICv2
