Bluewater Productions, the publisher largely known for its biographical comics about political and showbiz personalities, has announced a complete break with Diamond Comic Distributors. Bluewater comics will now be distributed, and printed, by Comic Flea Market.

Bluewater had already announced a distribution partnership with CFM for some of its titles, so the news piece here is that the publisher is making a complete break with Diamond. Bluewater comics are also available digitally through the usual channels.

Give Bluewater President Darren G. Davis credit for putting a bold front on it and saying in the press release that Diamond "abruptly" canceled several Bluewater comics because they didn't make their sales benchmarks. In an interview with MTV Geek in March, Davis presented Bluewater's problems with Diamond as a clash of business models.

"It's really difficult, because according to these benchmarks your comics have to make a certain amount of money, or they won't issue you a purchase order," he said. "I get it  --  they're a bigger company. And if we have a book that only sold 500 copies, there's no reason why they should distribute it. But it just doesn't help me as a publisher. But I don't condemn them for it."

Davis emphasized today that this move does not mean Bluewater is abandoning the direct market; on the contrary, he pledged to continue to offer Bluewater comics to retailers at about the same discount they were receiving from Diamond.

“My experience has shown me that if your name is not DC or Marvel, it is very difficult to get support from Diamond," Davis said in the press release. "As an independent producer, I felt it was time to take our titles to the next level.”

Comic Book Resources reached out to Diamond and Davis for comment but has yet to receive a response.