Diamond won't distribute DC's Free Comic Book Day 2021 titles but welcomes its participation

(Image credit: Diamond Comic Distributors)

Diamond Comic Distributors tells Newsarama that it welcomes DC's participation in August 14's 20th edition of Free Comic Book Day (FCBD).

"We are aware that DC may plan to participate in some way with Free Comic Book Day and we welcome their participation," Diamond responded in a statement, asked by Newsarama to comment on DC's plan.

"Any questions on the specifics of their plans should be directed to DC but Diamond is happy to support their participation where possible. Free Comic Book Day is always a highly anticipated event with fans eager to receive free comics from a variety of publishers and we are looking forward to a fantastic 20th anniversary celebration this August 14."

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In February DC VP of sales and revenue, Nancy Spears announced to comic book retailers during a virtual presentation at the annual ComicsPRO retailer event its plans to participate in the annual event, despite the fact that for the first time since its inception, DC is no longer a Diamond client in North America.

In early 2020 DC ended their 25+ year relationship with Diamond for North American distribution in a high-profile split. Diamond still distributes DC comic books to Europe and the Middle East.

Free Comic Book Day 2021 gold covers — Free Comic Book Day 2021 gold title Lady Mechanika from Image Comics (Image credit: Image Comics)

FBCD, which is traditionally held in the first weekend of May (usually coinciding with the release of a Marvel Studios film), was canceled last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic's effect on retail businesses. It was scheduled for August this year in hopes that things will be back to normal enough by then to allow stores to safely welcome large crowds to their stores again.

Free Comic Book Day is organized by a committee of 20+ comic shop retailers led by the event's founder, Joe Field of California's Flying Colors Comic store. Diamond is the facilitator of the event, taking all the orders and distributing all the free comic books to retailers and earlier this week it announced all the Gold and Silver titles sponsor that will be available. No DC titles were included, and it appears the publisher and its North American distributor Lunar will be tasked with offering and delivering whatever products it plans for the event.

Look for more details on DC's FCBD plans when available.

Check out DC's full June 2021 solicitations.

I'm not just the Newsarama founder and editor-in-chief, I'm also a reader. And that reference is just a little bit older than the beginning of my Newsarama journey. I founded what would become the comic book news site in 1996, and except for a brief sojourn at Marvel Comics as its marketing and communications manager in 2003, I've been writing about new comic book titles, creative changes, and occasionally offering my perspective on important industry events and developments for the 25 years since. Despite many changes to Newsarama, my passion for the medium of comic books and the characters makes the last quarter-century (it's crazy to see that in writing) time spent doing what I love most.