Marvel Confirms No New Comics Releasing Next Week

As has sadly been the case for multiple weeks now, ComicBook.com has confirmed there will be no new comics this next week from Marvel Comics. The spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus has had major effects on the comic book industry, many of which we may not know about in full for some time. It’s unclear when Marvel will resume publication on titles that had previously been solicited, or even when comics that were being worked on for publication later in the year will be solicited and released. One thing is for sure though, no Marvel books will be released digitally in lieu of being released in stores. Marvel Entertainment also furloughed some staff members as a result of the reduced overall business.

It seems that Marvel does not intend to begin publishing new comics until Diamond Comic Distributors is once again in a place to distribute their products. Diamond previously released a statement revealing the company had potential plans to kickstart its distribution once again in the middle of May, though it’s unclear if they’ll stick to that time table. The company had previously stopped distribution of all new products at the end of March, shutting down New Comic Book Days for the foreseeable future and later cancelling all plans for Free Comic Book Day (one of the biggest comic book retailer events of the year).

“There’s a lot behind the scenes about this that you guys don’t know about. But I PROMISE this is the right move for now,” Marvel comics writer Donny Cates tweeted after the news was revealed (H/T Newsarama). “It’s complicated. If we put comics out digitally it hurts comic shops even more. Which in turn hurts you guys. Believe me, no one wants to sell Marvel comics more than Marvel. And we’re doing our best.”

Ironically, Marvel’s Distinguished Competition DC Comics WILL restart their publishing efforts this week, releasing new comics on April 28th with a smaller offering that includes some second printings.

Marvel titles that had originally been solicited for Wednesday, April 29 (and which won’t be available) included:

2020 IRONHEART #1
AMAZING MARY JANE #7
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN: SINS RISING PRELUDE #1
ATLANTIS ATTACKS #4
EMPYRE #2
EMPYRE: AVENGERS #1
EMPYRE: SPIDER-MAN #1
IMMORTAL HULK: THE THRESHING PLACE #1
MARVEL ZOMBIES: RESURRECTION #1
MARVEL’S SPIDER-MAN: THE BLACK CAT STRIKES #4
STAR WARS: DOCTOR APHRA #2
STAR WARS: THE ACTION FIGURE VARIANT COVERS #1
TRUE BELIEVERS: BLACK WIDOW – YELENA BELOVA #1
TRUE BELIEVERS: BLACK WIDOW & THE THING #1
VALKYRIE: JANE FOSTER #10
WEB OF VENOM: WRAITH #1
WIDOWMAKERS: RED GUARDIAN AND YELENA BELOVA #1
WOLVERINE #3
X-MEN #10
X-MEN/FANTASTIC FOUR #4
X-MEN: MARVELS SNAPSHOT #1

(Cover photo by Kathryn Scott Osler/The Denver Post via Getty Images)