How will tariffs impact comic books? DC Comics’ Absolute line is still selling out. Storm is getting an upgrade in future issues of the Marvel Comics book.
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Episode Transcript:
How will tariffs impact comic books?
DC Comics Absolute line still selling out.
Storm armors up.
This is Comic Book Club News for February 4, 2025.
How Will Tariffs Impact Comic Books?
One of the big questions on every part of the comic book community’s minds this week: how will tariffs impact comic books? And the short answer is, we don’t know yet. Not exactly.
To recap as simply as possible, President Trump has levied a 25% tariff on all imports coming from Canada, alongside tariffs on Mexico and China. Canada, in retaliation, added a 25% tariff on imports from the US, though at the current time that doesn’t seem to include periodicals.
This was planned to go into effect today, Tuesday, February 4. However, at the last moment it got paused late on February 3, and is now planned for 30 days from now.
Though many trade and collected editions are printed in China, a lot of the big comic book companies print their monthly floppies and graphic novels/trade editions in Canada.
While some sites have posted “the sky is falling” type articles about how comic book prices are set to soar this week, that’s purely speculation at the moment. It’s possible printing could move to US printers, though the reason US printers haven’t been used in the past is that the quality is generally lower, more expensive, and they can’t handle the volume necessary. And in addition Canada has levied tariffs on paper prices, which will raise the costs from US printers even higher if they import paper from Canada — which many do.
If the tariffs last long term, there definitely will be more repercussions. It will likely hit smaller shops and publishers first, as they won’t be able to absorb the costs of the increases, followed by a raising of prices by the bigger companies — possibly from $4.99 to $5.99.
And as comics become more of a luxury item alongside, well, everything else humans need to live because of these tariffs, the longer this goes on, the worse it is for consumers, shop owners, and comic book creators. We’ll have more on this as it develops.
DC Comics Absolute Line Still Selling Over 100,000:
How about some good news? DC Comics’s Absolute universe line is still selling like gangbusters, with all three titles clocking over 100,000 copies per issue.
The news comes via Scott Snyder’s newsletter, where he revealed that even five issues in, Absolute Batman is still a hit. Wrote Snyder: “I just got the sales when I was talking to DC for the latest issue and we’re over 140,000 copies on #5. And I just can’t wrap my head around that. I can’t. I never expected us to sell even really a fraction of that by the time we were at issue #5. But all I can tell you is the fact that Wonder Woman and Superman and the Absolute line are both over 100,000 at this point and still selling out.”
With the line doubling in size over the next few months with the addition of Flash, Martian Manhunter, and Green Lantern, will the hot streak continue? Pun definitely intended when I say: absolutely.
Storm Armors Up In Future Issues Of The Title:
Storm is getting a major upgrade in upcoming issues of the title from Murewa Ayodele and Lucas Werneck: her new Vibranium Armor, which will be revealed in Storm #6.
Said artist Luciano Vecchio: “The inspiration for the Vibranium Armor is mainly Ororo’s time as Queen of Wakanda. A Dora Milaje armor base design with a recurrent shape motif of Ororo’s crown as part of the weapon handle and capes. Also a bit of Marvel Rivals vibes, with bulky accents.”
In February’s Storm #5, after, er, dying, she’ll be transformed into the Eternal Storm thanks to Eternity. And then as part of the X-Manhunt crossover, she’ll don the Vibranium Armor by tapping into her new cosmic power, to defend Professor X against the X-Men.
Down the road, this is all leading up to an event titled “Thunder War” that will kick off in Storm #10.
For Comic Book Club News, I’m Alex Zalben. And I haven’t figured out how much tariffs will impact this podcast, what’s 25% of $0?
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