Pop King Inc. has sent offer letters to roughly 140 consignment vendors whose Diamond Comic Distributors inventory is still sitting at Sparkle Pop’s Olive Branch, Mississippi warehouse. Comics Beat’s Heidi MacDonald reported the offer on September 3, 2026, after ICv2 and private sources flagged the same outreach. This is a new lede about a buyer/logistics option — not a reprint of the Sparkle Pop objection story already in draft.
Pop King is run by Steve Schanes, co-founder of 1980s publisher-distributor Pacific Comics. His brother Bill Schanes, a longtime Diamond VP, is also involved. In the letters, Pop King offers to purchase the inventory and handle removing it from the warehouse, or to quote a fee to retrieve and relocate stock, provided the goods are legally releasable. Price would be negotiated per vendor. Pop King says it is securing a nearby warehouse and has engaged an operations lead for a physical count. This is not a court bid, not an asset purchase agreement, and not an approved sale.
The “~$47 million” figure tied to this pile is estate book value of the consignment inventory — about $47,395,014 book / $113,737,037 retail per an ICv2 January 28 filing — and Beat’s “$47 million worth” phrasing. It is not Pop King’s offered purchase price.
Court context (U.S. Bankruptcy Court, District of Maryland, Baltimore): In re Diamond, Case No. 25-10308-DER, Judge Rice; Chapter 7 trustee Morgan W. Fisher. Key docket points already in the public record include the 9019 settlement motion D.I. 1309 (August 5); Chase Bank’s filing D.I. 1328 (August 26, claim at least $6,541,667.19); and Sparkle Pop’s objection D.I. 1331 (August 31). RCG News already drafted a separate Sparkle Pop objection piece (draft 9627, still unpublished) — this Pop King story does not clone that objection lede.
Comics Beat (Heidi MacDonald, September 3) says a hearing is set for October 6 to go over Chase’s interests and the Sparkle Pop objection. Attribute that October 6 date to Beat’s reporting; this post does not treat it as a docket-locked Notice of Hearing pulled from RECAP.
Primary source: Comics Beat on Pop King’s consignment offer. Related live comics coverage: Ghost Machine’s fall 2026 dates for Rook: Exodus, Geiger, and Hyde Street.
What this story is not claiming: a done deal; a court-approved sale; Pop King buying from Sparkle Pop as a closed transaction; Pop King bidding ~$47 million as its purchase price; Sparkle Pop winning or the 9019 settlement being approved; October 6 as a RECAP-confirmed Notice of Hearing; or a clone of draft 9627’s objection frame presented as brand-new news.
