Universal Distribution’s Angelo Exarhakos speaks: “We hope to bring in new readers to the comic book marketplace.”

As we’ve pointed out over the long weeks and months of the Diamond Bankruptcy, it’s notable that the intentions of Universal Distribution have not been publicly stated – their move to distribute DC Comics in the US was confirmed by an order form, and other actions have been revealed through the grapevine and not an official statement. 

Well, that changed last week, when Milton Griepp of ICv2 sat down with Universal’s CEO Angelo Exarhakos for a two part interview that answers all the major questions. As we’ve reported before the plan is for Canada-based Universal to use the infrastructure of Alliance Games to start distributing comics in the US. It’s interesting that this interview attracted little notice – it talks about a pretty big change for the distribution of comics in the US. And based on the frank and business-like answers Exarhakos gives, these sound like good changes. There are two parts, and you’ll want to read them both: Part One and Part Two. 

While I urge you to read both parts, a few takeaways  – a lot of what I’ve been reporting for months has been confirmed. Universal was looking to get into distributing comics in the US – which they already did in Canada – for some time, even prior to the bankruptcy. Indeed, they were one of the interested parties in buying Diamond last fall, but:

At the time, we were looking at a share purchase; it was not going to be an asset purchase.  That’s how it started.  That continued to a due diligence process.  During that diligence process, the bank pulled the plug and put them into a bankruptcy process.  That’s when it turned into an asset sale.

It’s quite a gloomy realization that Diamond’s business at that time was so messed up that no sale could be consummated. Another important point confirmed in the interview, and stressed by Exarhakos, is that their bid was in no way connected with the Ad Populum bid until it was decided to join the two separate bids: the Universal bid just for Alliance with the Ad Populum bid for some other companies:

I want to make sure this is clear, because I’ve heard some things to the contrary: before that meeting I had never met Joel Weinshanker from Ad Populum. That was the first day I met him.  The only extent of our partnership was simply combining our bids to bid together so that essentially, they come to the total, and our bids would increase in the same proportion as they started.  That was the only extent of our partnership.  We don’t have anything other than that to do with each other.

Joel owns some companies that we deal with, WizKids, etc., and we still do business with him, but in terms of any type of partnership, there’s nothing there.  It was simply a combined bid so that we could actually place a bid on the entire thing against the other bidders that were there.

In part two: Exarhakos get’s asked the $64,000 question:

When we last talked in 2022 (see “ICv2 Interview:Angelo Exarhakos“), you talked about your desire to sell comics in the U.S., and you mentioned this again, in this interview. What are your overall plans for comics in the U.S.?
Angelo Exarhakos: We intend to try and grow the comic book business.  We hope to bring in new readers to the comic book marketplace. 

I feel like the comic book marketplace has a bit of an aging consumer that has not followed the type of renewed consumer, as the games have.  When you walk into your typical gaming store, you’ll notice that the average age of the consumer, but also the average age of the shop owner, is quite a bit younger than your average comic book shop.  I feel that there’s a real need to renew that part of the business a little bit, bring in some new people into that genre.

I feel strongly that there’s a lot of gaming shops that should be carrying comics that don’t, and I think that’s a function of Diamond and Alliance being very, very separate. As an example, we have what we expect to be an incredible release of Magic: The Gathering – Spider‑Man coming in September.

I’m willing to bet there’s going to be absolutely packed gaming shops holding prerelease events, with all these people playing Magic: The Gathering – Spider‑Man, but there’s no trade paperbacks or any type of comic book element for them to buy in those shops.
Exarhakos notes that selling more comics in games shops is something they’ve been doing successfully in Canada: “This has been a strategy that we’ve used in Canada for years and has been really, really effective.  We’re reaching people who are already in one of these categories, already inside a shop.  We’re helping to train retailer/owner, on how to build that community in their shops.”

There is a great deal of talk of this kind: expanding the audience, bringing in new kinds of vendors to their open house, training retailers to sell products that they might not name been selling before. Frankly, it’s the kind of talk that has been woefully missing in all of this horrible mess that began six months ago. As Exarhakos puts it “That’s really been missing, and that’s the whole point of a distributor.  If all we do is simply take orders from customers and ship them their product, that’s great, but quite honestly, any publisher should be able to do that on their own.  They don’t need us for that.”

As great as all this sounds, there are some warning signs for periodical comics: Universal/Alliance will be concentrating on graphic novels to begin with since they make the most sense for the kind of cross marketing that they are talking about. But Universal will be open to looking at small publishers with high quality lines. 

Some other points: 

• Universal/Alliance’s catalog will be online only. 
• Alliance will probably change its name to Universal at some point, and Exarhakos characterizes it as a smooth transition, with no one let go, and a plan to keep working with vendors:
• Universal has hired Diamond’s Nance Romer, one of their most knowledgable and trusted employees. 
• Universal has a distribution deal with Wizards of the Coast and will continue to carry them. 
• They will hold their open house in September at their Fort Wayne warehouse. The schedule and sponsors are already up!

And much more. I do know that Universal/Alliance has been in contact with publishers and retailers while all of this has been going on, and they have expressed confidence in Universal’s actions. Reading Exarhakos’s comments, you can see why. There are actual business plans that can lead to more success for all involved. I’ve long been wishing for statements of this kind. Given the chaos and economic turmoil left in the wake of the Diamond/As Populum mess, the industry needs to see someone taking a leadership stance with a steady hand. I feel like this interview gives a vision of stability that has been sorely lacking, and I’m grateful for it. Also, among all the players in this game, Universal is not currently involved in a lawsuit, and that’s awesome.  

But there are still mysteries. I’ll end this with one more, with this cryptic exchange:

Are you buying Diamond UK?
No comment.

You haven’t bought it yet, obviously.
No, we have not.

Diamond UK has been doing business as usual throughout all of this, but who owns it and who is running it is a mystery. Looks like it will remain so for a little bit longer.