Udon Pulls Free Comic Book Day From Diamond, Switches To Lunar Distributors for Mega Man and Street Fighter Vs Rival Schools
Over the weekend, Bleeding Cool pointed out that Udon Studios was having its Free Comic Book Day titles handled by Lunar Distribution in bundles, but also individually as single issues by Diamond Comic Distributors. That has now changed. Udon Entertainment confirms that unlike some publishers, they have had a call back from Lunar, and have now entered a non-exclusive distribution agreement with Lunar Distribution to handle their direct market sales, beginning with May 2025-shipping comic book products. And while Diamond orders for Udon titles will be filled, that will not be the case for their two Free Comic Book Day titles. The sales and distribution of Street Fighter vs. Rival Schools #1 and Mega Man #0, both of which lead into new mini-series and other products for 2025, will be handled exclusively by Lunar Distribution. All such Diamond orders will be cancelled, and you are asked to re-order these books from Lunar by the 24th of February, 2025. How this affects the UK, which sees DC, Image, Marvel, etc, still distributed through Diamond UK is unclear.
"It's a rocky time for the entire comic industry right now," said UDON Chief of Operations Erik Ko. "Diamond has been a very supportive partner of UDON since we started publishing over 20 years ago, and we respect that support a great deal. We are very hopeful that Diamond can come back strong from Chapter 11 restructuring, but with the uncertainty ahead it makes the most sense for us and for the retailers who carry our books to open up our distribution options and make our materials available through additional partners like Lunar Distribution."
FCBD 2025 - MEGAMAN #0 CVR A JEFFERY CHAMBA CRUZ 2025 FCBD SPECIAL EDITION (NET) 1224UE847
Written by Tavis Maiden, Art by Kenny Ruiz, Jeffrey Chamba Cruz, and more!
Video game legend MEGA MAN returns with all-new comics from UDON! In this special one-shot adventure, the original Blue Bomber faces off against villainous robot masters like Cold Man, Wind Man, Skull Man, and more! This issue sets the stage for the incredible Mega Man Timelines mini-series starting in May, 2025! 32 pages, Full Color
FCBD 2025 - STREET FIGHTER VS RIVAL SCHOOLS #1 CVR A TOVIO ROGERS 2025 FCBD SPECIAL EDITION (NET) 1224UE848
Written by David Lumsdon, Art by Tovio Rogers
The World Warriors hit the books, as the heroes of Street Fighter collide with the quarrelsome students of Rival Schools! Chun-Li, Dan, and Sakura square off against Batsu, Edge, Kyoko, and more in a schoolyard brawl that may give them all detention! The perfect way to gear up for the long-awaited re-release of Rival Schools 2 in the upcoming Capcom Fighting Collection 2 video game, and UDON's own Rival Schools: Official Complete Works illustration collection!
32 pages, Full Color
The remaining Diamond-distributed Udon titles are as follows: