Some Marvel Comic Books May Be Paused Until Summer Over Pandemic

Closures caused by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic have disrupted the comic book industry and it seems that may not change any time soon. A new report claims that Marvel Comics may end up pausing around one-third of its comic book issues until mid-summer at best over issues caused by the pandemic. The news follows a delay that impacted all Marvel comics in late March.

In a statement in late March, Diamond Comics Distributors founder Steve Geppi announced that the company would stop distributing new weekly issues until issues caused by the pandemic can be resolved. Multiple problems were cited, including supply chain issues that were impacting publishers and the widespread closures of retail stores that sell comic books.

The announcement resulted in similar statements from publishers like IDW and Dark Horse, which said they will resume publishing new comics once the distributor is back up and running. That raised questions over the immediate future of Marvel Comics, which weren't issued when expected in late March.

According to a new report from Polygon, it got word that Marvel Comics plans to pause part of its comic book publishing through June in light of disruptions caused by the pandemic. This may amount to one-third of the comic book issues, the report claims, though Marvel hasn't made an official announcement about such plans nor has it commented on the report at this time.

There's no word at this time about which comic book titles will be impacted by this alleged change, but the report claims this alteration in publishing may impact around 15- to 20-percent of Marvel's comic books. Marvel recently announced that it is making a selection of its digital comic books available to read for free through its Marvel Unlimited service.