The decision by the US government to make their tariffs against Canada, Mexico and China kick in this Tuesday means that comic books already printed in Canada and going through shipping processes are about to rocket in price. Not for this Wednesday; the comics have already left Canada for the USA, and plenty of them are already in store. But next week? Those comics, just in time for Valentine’s Day, may be the first to get caught up in the new 25% tariffs being imposed by the USA. Remember, comic book stores are not obliged to charge the cover price for their comics, and if they have to pay 25% more, then you will pay 25% more. With Marvel, DC, Image, Dark Horse, IDW, Dynamite, and Boom, most publishers printing their monthly comics in Canada expect a four-dollar comic to be a five-dollar comic overnight. And we can say goodbye to Todd McFarlane’s $2.99 Spawn line. Expect that to be the case going forward unless a) savings can be made and b) US printers can be found. The latter are generally more expensive than those in Canada, don’t have the comic book experience of Canadian printers, and demand for their services will be going up as well, so their prices will, too… Bad Idea Comics is already feeling the $200,000 pain.

There is now a follow-up: Valiant Comics says the $4.99 comic is over because of tariffs