The move follows Image’s announcement in May that it will move to Lunar for distribution to the direct market (see “Image Goes Exclusive with Lunar for Direct Market Distribution”), effective in September 2023.
Previously, Image had exclusive contracts with Diamond Comic Distributors for comic shops and Diamond Book Distributors for the book channel; Diamond will continue to distribute Image properties to the direct market as a wholesaler. In addition, Diamond will continue as Image's distributor to the UK and other international markets.
"For the past 20 years we have been able to establish a foothold for our trade paperbacks and graphic novels in the book market thanks in no small part to the support and efforts of Diamond Book Distributors,” said Image Comics Publisher Eric Stephenson in a statement accompanying the announcement. “Over time, our needs and backlist of titles have grown and our increasing footprint in the marketplace has us excited to take this next step with Simon & Schuster to build a more robust infrastructure for our titles there.”
