With Diamond Comic Distributors forced to close as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, no physical comic books will be shipped or sold for the foreseeable future. Rather than continue to release titles digitally, both Marvel Comics and DC Comics have paused their monthly comics for the past two weeks, and that's now set to be the case this Wednesday as well.
Neither company has issued a statement about their decision, but it appears as if there are no plans to move to digital-only comic books while the world continues battling the Coronavirus.
That's going to upset a lot of fans, especially as this sort of entertainment is desperately needed at a time like this. Should the Diamond shutdown remain in place for most of 2020, though, both Marvel and DC will likely be forced to make some big decisions about whether to essentially release no new comic books all year or bite the bullet and move to digital-only sales.
The issue with that is it risks making the stores that usually sell physical comics obsolete, and both Marvel and DC run the risk of falling afoul of retailers and Diamond if they temporarily move to digital sales while the pandemic continues to cause chaos around the globe.
As per usual, both publishers are set to release a number of trades and reprints this week, but the likes of Detective Comics and Amazing Spider-Man will have to wait for now.
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