Diamond De-lists 1000 Viz Manga

Drifting Classroom 4So lost in the insanity of my last few weeks was the news that Diamond Comics Distributors is de-listing 1018 different products published by Viz, including nearly 1000 different manga volumes. The books will no longer be available through Diamond whatsoever, although these books will still be available through bookstore channels. Here’s the official announcement from Diamond which ran on their website on January 12th 2009, phrased as a “Sale” for comic book store retailers:

VIZ Media has announced a sale on a wide selection of its manga volumes and anime DVDs, whereby retailers can save XX% off the SRP of those items while supplies last.

With more than 1,000 products offered at this discount, retailers that carry manga and anime should find this to be the perfect time to replenish their store’s stock. Among the many popular titles included in the sale are Bleach, Castle in the Sky, Dragonball, Fullmetal Alchemist, Inu Yasha, Mobile Suit Gundam and Naruto.

Click here [link removed] to see a full list of VIZ Media manga and anime titles that are included in this sale.

As mentioned, this sale on these items will run until stock levels for those items are depleted. After that time, they will no longer be available for reorder or back order, so retailers are encouraged to stock up without delay.

The list includes more than 100 different series of manga, including still-running series like Zatch Bell, Whistle, Ultimate Muscle, Prince of Tennis, Inu Yasha Animanga, Hoshin Engi, Crimson Hero, Case Closed, Beyblade, Beet The Vandel Buster, and Bastard, amongst many others.

Perhaps most importantly to readers of this site, this list also includes some of my favourite comics of all time, including Takehiko Inoue’s Vagabond, Osamu Tezuka’s Phoenix, Takao Saito Golgo 13, and Kazuo Umezu’s Drifting Classroom.

No announcement has been made about new volumes of any of these series, leading me to believe that the books will continue to be solicited as normal (I wonder if they’ll make the new cut-off!?) and then be purged periodically as here. 

Here’s where I editorialize: Are You Fucking Kidding Me? I don’t think much else needs to be said. This move is, frankly, unbelievable. I knew about this when writing my post about the Diamond minimums and didn’t really realize it hadn’t been made public yet, it certainly informed my post, specifically my assertion that Diamond Comics Distributors can no longer effectively distribute comics… Unreal.

DISCLAIMER: In deference to my esteemed employer, I would like to point out to all customers of The Beguiling that we have found alternate distribution sources for all Viz products, and will continue to deliver all of the affected books to our various customers as long as they remain in print, and probably for years after. So, at least at our store you’ve got nothing to worry about.

The full list of de-listed manga (and books and DVDs) is visible after the cut, unless you’re reading this on feed, in which case you might want to hit NEXT.

– Christopher

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