[NEWS] PUBLISHERS STEP UP TO HELP YOUR LCS

The economic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic are as of yet unknown. But one thing we know for certain: the comicbook industry will never be the same. Comics are no longer rolling off presses, Diamond Comics Distributors, Inc. shut down shipments last week, and they just announced that they’re suspending payments to publishers. Without new Wednesday releases to support them, local comic shops are shutting their doors. Sure, your LCS can survive for a month of two in this condition. But, what then?

Publishers are stepping up to help. TKO Studios announced that they are donating 50 percent of the purchase price of their online merchandise to the LCS of your choice. If your LCS is not listed with TKO, call the owner and have them request to be listed. Their merchandise includes titles from noted names in the industry like Garth Ennis, Roxanne Gay, and Jeff Lemire. The trades are affordable, with a paperback costing $19.99 and a box set for $10 more. Your LCS gets half of that.

Indie publisher Renegade Arts Entertainment has a similar offer on digital books or comics sold on their website. Check out the queer romantic tragedy, Pass Me By: Gone Fishin’ from Kyle Simmers and Ryan Danny Owen. This graphic novel is about a quiet, small town man named Ed whose dementia prompts him to revisit a past he long tried to ignore. Or, check out The Burning Black: Legend of Black Shuck for the story of the mythic beast that inspired Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Hound of the Baskervilles.

Let us here at Rogues Portal know about other efforts people are making to help out their LCS. Contact me at murdochmatt555@gmail.com, and I’ll do my best to get a summary of these efforts up on the site.