Unfortunately for comic books things were always going to get worse before they got better. The current pandemic has forced many places in the United States as well as around the world to shut down. Here in California “non-essential” business were forced to shut down. This sadly included comic book shops.

During the few days before that order by the governor, shops were doing their best at comic up with creative ways to stay afloat. Some were offering curbside pick up for their books. Other also were willing to ship titles to customers.

ALSO SEE: FREE COMIC BOOK DAY 2020 POSTPONED

Today another blow to comic books shops came in the form of a notice from Diamond Comic Distributors. They announced that they will no longer be taking in new comics at their warehouse. Via comicbook.com we have also learned that they have asked printers not send any new products for the time being. Diamond will still ship out products that they have on hand.

Diamond Comic Distributors is the exclusive distributor of new comics for many of the industries publishers. This includes DC, Marvel, Dark Horse, Image, Valiant Entertainment, BOOM! Studios, AfterShock, Dynamite Entertainment, IDW Publishing and some others. Being that Diamond controls so much of the direct market, the comic book industry cannot function without it.

Publishers were doing their part to try and help out retailers. Image for example was making all their new titles returnable and Marvel was offering bigger discounts. It will be interesting to see how publishers react to this news in the next few days.

ALSO SEE: DETAILS ON THE NEW COMIC BOOK PUBLISHER BAD IDEA AND THEIR BOLD DISTRIBUTION STRATEGY

Being a retailer in comics for a short period of time, I always hated how much Diamond controlled. There were often many issues with shipments which included damaged product as well as receiving wrong titles. I wonder if going forward after we get out of this mess, some publishers start thinking about another alternative other than Diamond. I know one new publisher with a BAD IDEA that is will be distributing books on their own.

I wish the best of luck to all of the comic book retailers around the globe who’s income depends on comic book sales. Hopefully we can get through this soon.

Do you still buy print comic books or have you switched to digital? Let us know in the comment section below!

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Source: comicbook.com