March was a crazy month for the comic book industry. Many of the distribution warehouses were closed and DC paused releasing any new titles for four weeks. Thousands of comic book stores were also shuttered and will likely remain closed for all of April and May. This has resulted in a 15% drop in comic book orders and a 27% decline in graphic novel orders.
This is the sixth week in which Marvel Comics hasn’t released any new comic book. This was due to their leading distributor being shut down in late March. In addition to Marvel, DC, and Image comic books also face the same situation.
Diamond Distributors, the largest comic distributor in the USA said they they will start shippingstart shipping out new comics again on May 20th, but due to the virus outbreak, this date might be subject to change. For the foreseeable future, new comic book content will be hard to come by.
Michael Kozlowski has been writing about audiobooks and e-readers for the past twelve years. His articles have been picked up by major and local news sources and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
