Diamond Select Toys, a sister company of Diamond Comic Distributors, announced the signing of an agreement with Golden Books, which is now owned by DIC (see 'DIC Acquires Golden Books'), to produce merchandise based on the venerable children's book Here Comes Peter Cottontail.  Diamond Select plans to fashion a rabbit-sized litter of products including action figures, lunchboxes, resin figurines, orbs, ornaments, and wall scrolls in time for the 2002 Easter season.

 

 

Diamond Select appears to be pursuing a two-pronged approach to the market place, on the one hand producing comic-related merchandise through licensing agreements with Marvel (see 'Marvel Inks Licensing Agreement With Diamond Select') and other comic publishers, while on the other corralling a number of hoary seasonal licenses such as Peter Cottontail and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer that appeal to a younger, non-hobby store demographic.  While the mass market appeal of well known media properties like Rudolph and Peter Cottontail might possibly open some doors for Diamond's comic-related merchandise with major toy retailers, it is more likely that it just represents an attempt to diversify Diamond Select's product line so that the company can more easily weather a downturn in either side of its business.