Something odd about Diamond’s August 2019 Offered Again solicitations

Diamond released the August 2019 solicitations and I provided what was new for the month. Normally I skip over the offered again or O/A books as these are previous releases publishers show in the catalogue to garner new interest and orders.

IDW has been offering up older AE format books on a regular basis, and this month was no exception. I saw the four titles and skipped over them. But something was nagging about the listings so I went back and looked them over.

Looking over that list, three of the four titles haven’t been available from Diamond for months; Samnee is still available from the initial offering. I know this because every month I check to see what’s available through Diamond and chart it; here’s the latest.

Diamond is IDW’s sole distributor for Artist’s Editions and Artifact Editions. Byrne, Starlin and Cho have been listed as “backordered”. I had Frank Cho’s Savage Wolverine Artist’s Edition on backorder with my local comic shop for months and finally gave up and ordered it through eBay.

Review Link O/A Solicit IDW Store
John Byrne’s X-Men Artifact EditionLinkLink
Jim Starlin’s Marvel Cosmic Artifact EditionLink Link
Chris Samnee’s Daredevil Artist’s EditionLink Link
Frank Cho’s Savage Wolverine Artist’s EditionLink Link

Going further, I checked IDW’s site for supply. For some reason, while Diamond can’t get a book in the publisher keeps stock for their online store. Checking these titles shows all available except John Byrne’s X-Men Artifact Edition. That book is giving the following message.

SORRY – THIS ITEM IS NOT AVAILABLE FROM THE IDW WEBSITE AT THIS TIME. PLEASE VISIT YOUR LOCAL RETAILER.

Normally when a book’s supply runs out there is a reprint done and solicited as such, like the recent Bernie Wrightson’s Artifact Edition New Printing. Nothing like that here. Perhaps IDW or Diamond have discovered a previously unknown cache of books.