Diamond Comic Distributors has scrubbed its website of information related to The Cimmerian: Queen of Black Coast, the Ablaze comic series starring an “uncensored” Conan, and is no longer taking orders on the first two issues.  The move was made in response to a rights dispute, ICv2 has learned, in which the owners of Conan publishing rights have issued a Cease and Desist notice to Diamond to halt distribution.  Diamond has paused taking orders pending a potential resolution of the dispute.  The first issue was solicited in the August Diamond Previews, and the second issue in the September Previews.

The material in the Ablaze comic series is from a bande dessinee series published by Glenat in France, based on the original stories by Robert E. Howard in Weird Tales magazine in the 1930s (see “Ablaze to Publish ‘Uncensored’ Conan Comics”).  Early stories have entered the public domain outside the U.S., and some are also in the public domain in the U.S., according to Ablaze.  It is those stories on which the Glenat series and the planned American series by Ablaze are based.  Marvel licensed comic publishing rights from Conan Properties International in 2018, with the first releases appearing this year (see “Conan Returns to Marvel”).

 Ablaze did not respond to a request for comment in time for this article.