Checker Book Publishing Group of Dayton, Ohio has appointed Midpoint Trade Books as its distributor to the U.S. book trade effective immediately.  Checker, which began publishing last year, has reprinted several graphic novel collections of comics from Marvel's long defunct Epic imprint.  Checker published a first volume of Alien Legion last year and has just shipped Clive Barker's Hellraiser: Collected Best (see 'Checker To Publish Clive Barker's Hellraiser').  Checker had been distributing its books through Seven Hills Book Distributors, but that Cincinnati-based distributor has shut its doors according to both PW Daily and the Checker Book press release.

Checker has shipped its Hellraiser collection to Midpoint along with copies of Alien Legion, since the publisher has not yet been able to recover copies of its first release that were sent to Seven Hills. The demise of both Seven Hills and the LPC group (see 'Publishers React To LPC Bankruptcy') has left smaller publishers with fewer options for distribution into the traditional book market.  Diamond Comic Distributors has attempted to fill the void in book distribution (see 'Diamond Forms New Book Division') and CDS, the company that provided logistical support for LPC, has also entered the fray (see 'Tokyopop Chooses CDS For Book Distribution').