Rocketship Entertainment has signed on with Lunar Distribution, the latest of a number of small publishers to make that move (see “Archie Adds Lunar for Distro”).  The new contract will take effect this week, and Rocketship will be in Lunar's upcoming Next Phase catalog. Rocketship will continue to be distributed by Simon & Schuster to comic shops who order through them as well as to the book channel.

"The contract with Lunar was signed last year and not related to Diamond Comic Distributors' chapter 11 filings, which have not affected Rocketship in any way," Rocketship CEO and Publisher Tom Akel told ICv2.  "The timing is really just coincidence.”

The move comes as Rocketship prepares to expand from graphic novels to monthly comics.  "We’ve been consulting with comic retailers on how to better serve their needs and this is the first of several new initiatives to grow reach for our creators and partners while strengthening our position as the leader in bringing webcomics and webtoons to print," Akel said in a statement accompanying the announcement.

Rocketship also announced it has hired Danielle Garre as VP of Sales and Marketing. Garre will lead sales across all channels for Rocketship, including its young-readers imprint Bottlerocket and T-Minus 10 Games. Before coming to Rocketship, she was VP, Late Night Marketing and Digital Production for NBCUniversal from 2018 to 2023, and prior to that she was SVP Multiplatform Content Strategy at Comedy Central and Supervising Producer Digital Shows Group at MTV Networks. She is a graduate of Fordham University with a BA in Communication and Media Studies.