e106. COVID-19 & the Death of the Comic Shop

We live in strange times. Obviously, the number one problem right now is that we’re in the middle of a global pandemic that has ground the WHOLE DAMN PLANET to a halt. This is a big problem for everyone in and of itself. As the whole world is basically under “stay at home” orders (or at least the parts of it that are smart are) there’s also a growing movement of people clamoring to open things back up because “we must save the economy!” or something like that. Obviously, we’re not the kind of show that is going to recommend that. BUT a relatively small part of this whole thing is that freezing the world means that for the first time in about a century, there are suddenly no new comic books in America. Of course, this is a really small problem in the grand scheme of things, but hey… we’re a weekly pseudo-academic pop culture analysis roundtable, so that’s totally the kind of thing we look at here. On this week’s episode, Mav, Katya and Wayne are joined by Dan Greenwald of the Comic Book Pitt podcast to talk about the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the comic book industry. Will the local comic book shop (or the American comic book industry at large) be able to survive this whole thing? Or… is this just hurrying about a crash and burn that started before the pandemic even occurred? Join us as we talk through the issue and how it represents a microcosm of how other industries are being affected by both the COVID-19 pandemic and the changing face of retail in the internet age in general. Citations and Links: * This episode’s Call for Comments* “An Open Letter To Comic Book Publishers From Eric Stephenson, Chief Creative Officer & Publisher At Image Comics“ by Eric Stephenson* Support Phantom of the Attic Comics – Pittsburgh* Support New Dimension Comics – Pittsburgh * Thank you to Maximilian’s thoughtForm Music for our theme* Hear Dan on the Comic Book Pitt & Pilot Season podcasts* Follow Mav on Twitter: @chrismaverick* Follow Katya on Instagram: @justthatnerdkid * Follow Wayne on Instagram: @tetroc2017* Follow Mav’s Persona...