Family Code

A two-letter code assigned to products listed on ComicSuite, the Master Data File, and other Diamond ordering tools -- and available as search criteria on Diamond's Retailer Services Website -- that designates the brand family to which each product belongs.

FAN (Fandom Advisory Network)

Sponsored by Geppi’s Entertainment Museum, FAN is an outreach program that brings collectors together with a single voice, offering fans, creators, publishers and manufacturers the opportunity to easily communicate about issues they hold in common. Retailers wishing to tell their customers about this social networking website can download a bag-stuffer and a variety of online ads for promotional use.

Featured Items

A designation used in PREVIEWS to denote certain key products in comics, trading cards, games, merchandise and other lines carried in the catalog in a given month.

Final Order Cut-Off (FOC) Date

This is the date -- normally a Monday, except under special circumstances like holidays -- on which some Vendors commit to a print/production run for a title/product. Initial Orders and Reorders for items carrying an FOC date may be increased or decreased by this date. FOC dates are subject to change; such changes (and subsequent adjustments to the affected item's ship date) are regularly announced in all Diamond publications.

Retailers may adjust orders for all items from participating Vendors on the Final Order Cut-Off section of the Retailer Services Website’s FOC Weekly Adjust or Monthly Adjust pages in the Orders section. Premier Vendor titles are color-coded by publisher (BOOM!=purple,  Dynamite=orange) for easy reference. Customers may also adjust their orders by contacting their Diamond Retailer Services Representative.

The deadline for placing FOC orders via the Diamond website is Monday by 11:45 p.m. Eastern Time. Please Note: Dark Horse, Image, Marvel, IDW, PRH, and PRH’s imprints carry FOC Deadlines of Sunday 11:45 p.m. Eastern Time. Retailers also have the option of placing FOC orders with their Diamond Retailer Services Representative by Monday at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time with the exception of Dark Horse, Image, Marvel, IDW, PRH, and PRH’s imprints

Additionally, customers who elect to do so receive weekly emails that include a customized attachment listing their respective titles on FOC that week. (Customers who have not yet opted to receive the Image FOC List or Marvel FOC List may do so via the Preferences page in the My Account section of Diamond’s Retailer Services Website.)

See also Order Increase Cut-Off Date.


Final Order Cut-off (FOC) Overview for Non-Premier Suppliers

A weekly e-newsletter sent on Thursdays to remind retailers of pending Final Order Cut-off Dates for non-Premier vendors participating in Diamond’s FOC program. Vendors whose FOC titles are listed in this e-newsletter include Ablaze, Action Lab Entertainment, Aftershock Comics, Archie Comic Publication, AWA, A Wave Blue World, Behemoth Entertainment, Black Mask Comics, Fantagraphics, Humanoids, IDW Publishing, Keenspot Entertainment, Mad Cave, Oni Press, Opus Comics, Scout Comics, Source Point Press, Titan Comics, Valiant Entertainment, Vault Comics and Zenescope Entertainment.


Final Order Cut-off (FOC) Vendor

This term describes a vendor who participates in Diamond’s Final Order Cut-off program. 

Current participants include Diamond’s Premier Vendors – BOOM! Studios, Dynamite Entertainment and Titan Comics -- as well as Image Comics, Marvel Comics, IDW Publishing, Dark Horse Comics (plus PRH and PRH’s imprints) – along with Ablaze, Action Lab Entertainment, Aftershock Comics, Ahoy, Alien Books, American Mythology Productions, Archie Comic Publications, AWA, A Wave Blue World, Behemoth Entertainment, Blackbox Comics, Black Mask Comics, Comics Experience, Devil’s Due, FairSquare Comics, Fantagraphics, Humanoids, Keenspot Entertainment, Mad Cave, Oni Press, Opus Comics, Scout Comics, Source Point Press, Vault Comics, Zenescope Entertainment and Z2.

‘Force To’ Codes

A notation on your Invoice which alerts you when the Item Code of a product has been “forced to” a different item code. For example: If you order 10 copies of Image's Paper Girls TP: Volume 06 with the Item Code SEP210051, but that book is also offered with a different, more recent code (perhaps to reflect a later edition or following a price change), your Invoice for that book will note that the item was “forced to” (or processed under) its new item code. See also Parent Code.

Free Comic Book Day (FCBD)

Held on the first Saturday in May, Free Comic Book Day is a single day when participating independent comic book specialty shops across North America and around the world give away comic books absolutely free to anyone who comes into their shops. Nearly 2,000 participating retailers distribute over 2 million free comics per year, attracting many new customers in the process. The event regularly attracts considerable media attention from outlets worldwide, resulting in the equivalent of millions of dollars in free publicity for comics and comic shops.

FCBD comics are published by participating vendors and sold to participating retailers at low net costs. Retailers qualify to be FCBD participants by ordering minimum amounts of featured titles. Participating vendors may also create special FCBD-exclusive merchandise for distribution at the event.

In addition to serving as the administrator for FCBD, Diamond also supports the event by providing participating retailers with a wealth of merchandise and tools to help them promote FCBD in their communities. These include apparel items (T-shirts & polo shirts), posters, window clings, Shelf Talkers, temporary tattoos, stickers, buttons, and more. FCBD retailers are also listed on the Store Locator of the event’s website, www.freecomicbookday.com and – if they are registered with the Comic Shop Locator Service – receive an FCBD Badge on their store profile. FCBD promotional tools can be downloaded from the Free Comic Book Day page in the Diamond Tools section of the Retailer Services Website.

From the Road

This Diamond Daily column showcases specialty shops from around the country in photo reports submitted by Diamond Outside Sales Managers. The feature appears in Daily several times a week.

Future Returns

A listing of upcoming product that Diamond and/or Vendors have approved as an Authorized Return. Since most of these items have not shipped from the Distribution Centers at the time they are listed, it is necessary to wait until they appear on the Authorized Returns Form (approximately three weeks after they ship), before they may be returned to Diamond’s Olive Branch Distribution Center for Credit. Future Returns are available for download from the Data Files page of Diamond's Retailer Services Website.