The closing of ECC Ediciones, the comics and manga publisher that distributed DC Comics in Spain and across the Americas, was a tumultuous one. It was plagued by miscommunication, unfulfilled orders, and allegations of fake bills in addition to stories about internal turmoil, severe mismanagement, and bad-faith dealings. This all combined to put the company on the path towards liquidation. While it was a big blow for Spain’s and Latin America’s comics industries in general, the biggest question mark hovered over the future of DC in the Spanish-speaking world. Fortunately, the house that publishes Marvel Comics in Spanish, Panini, swooped in to save the day and ease consumer worries that DC would be missing in action in stores and kiosks everywhere.
DC Comics dodged a kryptonite-laced bullet on this one. Panini was quick to step in and take over publication duties to get floppies and graphic novels out just in time for the crucial start of the All In and Absolute Universe initiatives. The first batch of titles put out by Panini (which was founded in Italy with subsidiaries in Latin America) includes Absolute Superman, Absolute Batman, Mark Waid’s Absolute Power trade, Tom Taylor’s Nightwing trades, Absolute Wonder Woman, the All In Special, DC’s Finest: Batman Year One and Year Two collection, among other newer offerings to catch readers up.
Spanish and Latin American comic shops have taken to socials to promote these releases as quickly as possible to get those disgruntled customers back for new comics. ECC’s poor handling of their closure left a lot of stores without the highly advertised books that fans were clamoring for. Spain’s Akira Comics, for instance, spoke to disingenuous account dealings that threatened to put bookshops in precarious financial positions. Akira Comics is widely regarded as one the best comics shop in Spain, winning an Eisner award in 2012 for best comic book shop in the world. The fact they invested in a wider selection of books and other collectibles did a lot to help them weather the ECC situation, but it’s easy to argue that this certainly wasn’t the case for everyone (especially the smaller comic shops).
For the moment, things have managed to resume in a somewhat reliable state of normalcy thanks to Panini taking the over reigns regarding DC. If it isn’t obvious by now, the Big Two are as important for the comics market in Spanish-speaking countries as their in the United States and the UK. While graphic novels and other specialty books continue to grow in these markets, floppies still have a big influence over their side of the industry. That said, the Spanish branches of Marvel and DC are now under the same umbrella, and that comes with massive levels of risk. In these troubled times, it wouldn’t be prudent to look into the future in search of guarantees on the health and continued success of these publishers. As they say, the bigger they are, the harder they fall. Spain and the Americas got taste of that with ECC, and the forecast was quite terrifying for a short time there.
