Diamond Comics Distribution Halts Comics Shipments

It’s a dark day for comics fans. Already in the process of shutting up shop and desperately trying to adapt to this new situation, local comic book stores have suffered yet another devastating blow.

The biggest distribution company in the industry has confirmed to Comicbook.com that they will be stopping incoming shipments. This means, while the company is still operating, they will not be shipping any book, toy or merchandise scheduled for future release. They will however continue to ship stock already available in their warehouse.

With new releases being the main source of income for smaller businesses, this could be catastrophic. Many stores are scrambling to put together mail order services, relying on regular subscription holders to help ease the financial strain. Now that the main distributor is cutting back, those subs will quickly dry up - meaning that they will no longer be able to operate mail order services for weekly releases anyway.

Publishing companies have yet to comment on this story, but it’s not a move that will benefit any parties. Larger publishers will likely have to adapt and push for more digital releases in the meantime, but it remains to be seen if they'll provide any major support to these small businesses.