Article updated April 2, 2020:
John Hendrick of Big Bang Comics and Ryan Higgins of Comics Conspiracy have informed Newsarama the initiative will not be going forward now. “It’s obvious from the concerns voiced by our peers that this isn’t an initiative they can get behind. This was designed by people who love comics with the best of intentions, to get cash flow back moving in our industry again from the retailer all the way up to distributors and publishers. But until such a time as we can all agree on a solution that fellow retailers can support there is no point in Stu [Colson] continuing this at this time.”
Likewise, “unfortunately publishers who were interested in joining the platform now aren’t and we can 100% understand their decision despite the positive reception by customers and creators. This might not have been a long-term solution but we didn’t need it to be one. We just needed it to tide us over until the industry returns to normal. Whenever that is but hopefully soon.”
Original story is as follows:
Via a Twitter thread, Big Bang clarified, “What this does is that it allows retailers, publishers and creators to still get paid in these very uncertain times. It’s NOT a digital first initiative! Customers will still be buying their comics from their normal comic book store!” They stated more details will be announced soon, as “this is being done in very different time zones,” but the goal is to gather every comic book store in the world and ensure all readers will be able to reserve the print version of the comic they’ve paid to read online. More of the Q&A can be read here and here.
It is unknown how this will affect several publishers (including Marvel and DC)’s decision to pull their weekly titles after Diamond’s shutdown. Image Comics have confirmed to CBR they won’t be participating in ComicHub’s plans, leaving their new titles in limbo.
Founded in 2017 by New Zealand comics seller Stu Colson, ComicHub is used by customers and retailers to manage their weekly pull lists, receive news, updates, and offers, and search products sold at stores. Accounts can also be created for publishers, suppliers and creators. You can visit and register at their website here.
