It’s been a difficult few months for the comics industry, as COVID-19 has virtually brought distribution to a halt, and put many stores at risk of permanent closure. With the main distributor Diamond unable to supply comics, it’s been a stressful time for fans and those running businesses, regardless of size. However, Marvel Comics have now announced that they’re planning to start releasing new issues from Wednesday, May 27th, in what should hopefully be a resumption of some kind of normalcy to the industry.
While it doesn’t seem like Marvel will jump straight back into shipping out its full schedule for distribution, there will be at least some individual titles and trades from the end of May. And here are the books that Marvel are currently aiming to put out on the 27th:
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #43 (FEB200924)
AVENGERS #33 (FEB200982)
MARAUDERS #10 (FEB200894)
STAR WARS: DOCTOR APHRA #1 (FEB201023)
VENOM #25 (FEB200939)
Things will start looking a bit more routine for stores and readers from June, with Marvel’s planned releases looking as follows:
Wednesday, June 3:
ASTONISHING X-MEN BY JOSS WHEDON & JOHN CASSADAY OMNIBUS HC (OCT191092)
GHOST RIDER VOL. 1 TPB (JAN201057)
MEPHISTO: [CLASSIC] TPB (JAN201070)
SENSATIONAL SHE-HULK BY JOHN BYRNE OMNIBUS HC (OCT191099)
SPIDER-MAN & VENOM: DOUBLE TROUBLE GN-TPB (JAN201078)
SW DARTH VADER POSTER BOOK (NOV190977)
THE AMAZING MARY JANE VOL. 1: DOWN IN FLAMES, UP IN SMOKE TPB (JAN201059)
X-MEN VOL. 1 TPB (JAN201051)Wednesday, June 10:
BLACK CAT #11 (FEB200950)
DAREDEVIL #20 (FEB201010)
DEADPOOL #5 (JAN200984)
EXCALIBUR #10 (FEB200891)
MILES MORALES: SPIDER-MAN #17 (FEB200810)
NEW MUTANTS #10 (FEB200892)
Wednesday, June 17:
CONAN: THE BOOK OF THOTH TPB (JAN201065)
DAREDEVIL BY CHIP ZDARSKY VOL. 3 TPB (JAN201061)
DAWN OF X VOL. 5 TPB (JAN201049)
IRON MAN EPIC COLLECTION VOL. 17 TPB (JAN201069)
MARVEL MASTERWORKS: THE AVENGERS VOL. 20 HC (OCT191105)
SILVER SURFER OMNIBUS VOL. 1 HC (NEW PRINTING) (OCT191090)
STAR WARS: AGE OF REBELLION HC (OCT191126)
THE UNBEATABLE SQUIRREL GIRL: BIG SQUIRRELS DON’T CRY GN-TPB (JAN201080)Wednesday, June 24:
2020 RESCUE #2 (FEB200910)
CAPTAIN AMERICA: MARVELS SNAPSHOTS #1 (FEB200899)
EMPYRE #0 AVENGERS (FEB200772)
IMMORTAL HULK #34 (FEB200979)
IRON MAN 2020 #4 FLUORESCENT (FEB200905)
SPIDER-HAM #5 (FEB200998)
STAR WARS: BOUNTY HUNTERS #3 (FEB201029)
THOR #5 (FEB200961)
AMAZING FANTASY OMNIBUS HC (NEW PRINTING) (NOV190945)
FANTASTIC FOUR EPIC COLLECTION: NAME IS DOOM TPB (FEB201069)
IRON MAN: THE ULTRON AGENDA TPB (JAN201062)
MARVEL-VERSE: BLACK WIDOW GN-TPB (JAN201075)
MORBIUS THE LIVING VAMPIRE OMNIBUS HC (NOV190952)
YONDU TPB (JAN201055)Wednesday, July 1:
DAWN OF X VOL. 6 TPB (JAN201050)
EXCALIBUR TPB (JAN201053)
INFINITY GAUNTLET MARVEL SELECT HC (DEC190973)
MARVEL MASTERWORKS: THE SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN VOL. 3 HC (NOV190949)
MARVEL’S BLACK WIDOW PRELUDE TPB (JAN201074)
TIMELY’S GREATEST: THE GOLDEN AGE SUB-MARINER BY BILL EVERETT – THE POST-WAR YEARS OMNIBUS HC (OCT191094)
WHAT IF? CLASSIC: THE COMPLETE COLLECTION VOL. 4 TPB (FEB201068)
X-MEN MILESTONES: MESSIAH WAR TPB (FEB201064)
YOUNG AVENGERS BY GILLEN & MCKELVIE: THE COMPLETE COLLECTION TPB (FEB201067)
Wednesday, July 8:
BLACK PANTHER AND THE AGENTS OF WAKANDA #8 (FEB200985)
DR. STRANGE #5 (FEB200965)
EMPYRE #0 FANTASTIC FOUR (FEB200776)
GHOST RIDER #7 (FEB200994)
MARVELS X #4 (FEB200895)
STRANGE ACADEMY #2 (FEB200849)
X-FORCE #10 (FEB200893)
X-MEN: GOD LOVES, MAN KILLS EXTENDED CUT #1 (FEB200885)
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN BY NICK SPENCER VOL. 7 TPB (JAN201056)
IMMORTAL HULK VOL 2 HC (NOV190959)
MARAUDERS VOL. 1 TPB (JAN201052)
MARVEL MONOGRAPH: THE ART OF FRANK CHO TPB (JAN201071)
MARVEL’S SPIDER-MAN POSTER BOOK TPB (JAN201064)
MILES MORALES SPIDER-MAN (NEW PRINTING) (DEC190974)
SAVAGE SWORD OF CONAN: THE ORIGINAL MARVEL YEARS OMNIBUS VOL. 3 HC (NOV190954)
STAR WARS LEGENDS EPIC COLLECTION: LEGACY VOL. 3 (JAN201076)
We’re hoping that DC Comics will follow suit after putting out a small number of titles last week, albeit through Lunar Distribution and UCS Comic Distributors, rather than their traditional deal with Diamond. This stopgap measure drew some criticism from comic store owners unable to reopen, as well as for causing problems with new suppliers, despite the long-held issues with Diamond’s established dominance of comics distribution.
On the Marvel side, it would seem that they’ll continue to use Diamond for distribution, and will also resume day-and-date releases of digital content. There are still questions, though, about how Marvel’s release schedule will work from July 15th, at which point DC will also likely hope to be back to its regular publication dates. Depending on the long-term damage to the comic industry caused by the COVID-19 shutdown, we could be closer to some pretty big scenarios, including Marvel swallowing DC Comics, or the latter’s corporate owners AT&T even taking the axe to the publisher.
For now, though, Marvel Comics‘ announcement does signal a positive turn for the comic book world after months of insecurity, and we look forward to seeing things return to some level of normalcy soon.