Off Panel: A Comics Interview Podcast · SKTCHD

The Canva Background with Heidi MacDonald

April 14, 2025·1 hr 11 min·5 clips

Heidi MacDonald explains how Diamond hired Raymond James to sell the company back in September, knowing they wouldn't make it.

Heidi MacDonald is back sooner than expected. David Harper starts by placing her across The Beat, K-Comics Beat, and Publishers Weekly's More to Come, then ribs her a little for being everywhere lately. Even the calendar feels slippery. They talk through odd dates, old convention memories, and the weirdness of recording before the next bit of news drops. Then Diamond takes over. Harper says he has heard mixed preferences around Alliance and Ad Populum, while some people lean toward Universal because it feels familiar. Retailers, at least in this conversation, sound practical more than dramatic. The worry is simple: keep Diamond's staff in place, and do not let the company's institutional knowledge vanish in the reset. Harper is not selling doom. New systems, more funding, and an outsider's view could help after a long run without stability. Reach gets a cautious maybe. He is not picturing every vinyl store suddenly carrying Love and Rockets, but he can see distribution stretching past comic shops. The hope has a ceiling. Smaller publishers still look exposed, especially with buyer enthusiasm unclear and those five-dollar comics comments hanging there. MacDonald brings it back to reporting, pointing to the Ogilvy interview, Toy Fair, and the auction figure that surprised people. Eighty-five million dollars sounds, in their framing, way above what many expected. The conversation stays grounded. Bankruptcy does not become a sideshow; they keep coming back to systems, staff, retailers, publishers, and what changes for people doing the work. Harper ends in the usual Off Panel rhythm, with thanks, music credits, and another conversation promised next week.

As heard by us

A grounded comics-business discussion about upheaval, distribution, and who keeps the machinery running.

The discussion follows comics-industry upheaval with Diamond's bankruptcy, the auction talk, and the larger question of who can still keep distribution moving.

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Why you'd press play

If you want the Diamond shakeup translated into plain, useful comics language.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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