Diamond Comic Distributors and Diamond Book Distributors are pleased to announce a renewed multi-year distribution deal with publisher, ABLAZE, to exclusively distribute their products to North American and international book markets, as well as the comic book specialty market.
Since launching in 2019, ABLAZE has developed an acclaimed catalog featuring a celebrated range of award-winning international creators from North America, Europe, and Asia. The publisher has built a reputation for quality with critically acclaimed releases by noted creators, writers, and artists such as Mark Russell (Traveling to Mars), Michael Moreci (The Mighty Barbarians), Mirka Andolfo (Un/Sacred), Werther Dell’Edera (He Who Fights with Monsters), Maria Llovet (Porcelain, Eros/Psyche), Max Bemis (Belit & Valeria), Zerocalcare (Forget My Name, Tentacles At My Throat), and others.
Also planned is a continually expanding selection of manga, manhwa and webtoon titles, published under the ABLAZE MANGA line, including the bestselling manhwa martial arts series, The Breaker, planned launches this summer for graphic novels based on a pair of popular Korean webtoon series, Get Schooled and Terror Man, along with Wakfu Manga, inspired by the hit Netflix anime series, the recent debut of the stylish and macabre webtoon Zombie Makeout Club, and the announcement of the publishing rights to four classic manga by the legendary Osamu Tezuka.
“Diamond has been an important partner throughout our growth, and we are very happy to extend our relationship,” says Rich Young, Publisher and Co-Founder of ABLAZE. “Their teams on both the direct market and book market have worked hard to customize to our needs and those of the channels that will continue to support the expansion and evolution of the ABLAZE catalog.”
ABLAZE continues to garner critical acclaim with various nominations for the 2023 Eisner Awards, including Best Limited Series (Animal Castle), Best New Series (Traveling to Mars), Best Painter/Multimedia Artist (Felix Delep, Animal Castle), and Best Writer (Mark Russell, Traveling to Mars).
“We’re excited to continue our work with ABLAZE in all markets!” said Tim Lenaghan, Chief Purchasing Officer for Geppi Family Enterprises. “Rich and his team have quickly established themselves as one of the most innovative publishers in comics, and Diamond feels privileged to be their exclusive distributor in both the Direct and Book markets.”
ABOUT DIAMOND BOOK DISTRIBUTORS — Diamond Book Distributors (DBD) is a division of Diamond Comic Distributors, Inc., and is dedicated to making a wide selection of its graphic novels and other pop-culture merchandise available to bookstores, libraries, schools, mass merchants and more worldwide. Based in Hunt Valley, MD, our team of professionals is committed to helping DBD’s client publishers tell their stories, grow their businesses, and reach new customers. We work to provide insight at every stage of the publishing process—from initial concept, to marketing, sales and distribution. DBD is the home to several world class publishers, including Image Comics, publisher of The Walking Dead, Saga, Monstress, and Spawn; Dynamite Entertainment, publisher of James Bond, Red Sonja, and Vampirella; Valiant
Entertainment, publisher of Bloodshot, Ninjak, and X-O Manowar; as well as Gemstone Publishing, Lion Forge Entertainment, Paizo Publishing, Udon Entertainment and others.
ABOUT DIAMOND COMIC DISTRIBUTORS (DCD)—Diamond is at the nexus of comics and pop culture. Based in Hunt Valley, MD, DCD is the world’s largest distributor of English-language comic books, graphic novels, and related pop-culture merchandise, serving thousands of retailers worldwide. For more information, visit Diamond on the web at www.diamondcomics.com.
ABOUT ABLAZE—ABLAZE is a publishing company releasing a variety of titles—in different formats, genres, and age ranges—original material, crowdfunded titles, reprints, art books, including international titles from Europe, Asia (manga, manhwa), Webtoons, and more. The mantra of ABLAZE is quality first, with the goals of giving creators a platform, bringing new voices into the conversation, serving as diverse an audience as possible, and growing the company’s publishing schedule sustainably over time. More information at https://www.ablaze.net.