“We worry so you don’t have to,” ComicsPRO President and Blue Hen Comics owner Joe Murray said during the retailer organization’s presentation at their Open House on October 27. He assured members that ComicsPRO has been working to stay ahead of the rapidly changing comics retail business, including new players, structural changes, and “everybody’s new favorite soap opera,” the Diamond bankruptcy.
Local Comic Shop Day was held on September 27, 2025, and over 270 shops participated, according to Director of Operations Kate deNeuve. This was the first year of the new format (see “ComicsPRO Unveils Revamped Local Comic Shop Day”), and 25% of the participants who responded to the after-event survey said this was their first time. Retailers who responded also reported an average of twice as much revenue as they took in on previous Saturdays. Retailers who had community events on that day outperformed those who didn’t. Looking to the future, deNeuve said, “We’re talking to publishers about variant fatigue with Local Comic Shop Day variants, and … part of my ask for 2026 is asking publishers to provide more community event materials, rather than variant covers.”
Murray also said that ComicsPRO is working with publishers, including VIZ Media, Simon & Schuster (which distributes VIZ titles) and HarperCollins to provide files and catalog data to replace the Previews catalog, which Sparkle Pop has discontinued (see “Diamond ‘Previews’ Comes to an End”). “Since the meeting, HarperCollins has changed their minimums for comic retailers so they [can] get to the lower free freight threshold,” he said.
The organization announced the winners of its annual industry awards, which honor members of the comics industry who have made a major impact on comics as a whole and retailers in particular. This year’s winners are writer Scott Snyder, the architect of DC’s Absolute universe and All In initiative, and Jim Shooter (see “R.I.P. Jim Shooter”), who during his time at Marvel, which included a stint as Editor-in-Chief, not only helmed the Secret Wars event but licensed the Transformers and G.I. Joe comics that now are part of Image’s Energon Universe.
Murray revealed that ComicsPRO had made contingency plans in case Free Comic Book Day stayed in Sparkle Pop’s hands. “Ultimately, with Universal’s acquisition of Free Comic Book Day, those plans are no longer needed,” he said, “but I can assure you, there was a Plan C, a Plan D and a Plan E, if everything went pear shaped.”
Source: ICv2
