In an enormous blow to the direct market, Diamond Comic Distributors will cease accepting new comic books from printers, as confirmed by ComicBook.
Comic book retailers are particularly vulnerable, as most operate on slim margins and face competition from online retailers like Amazon or digital comics purveyors such as Comixology.
Shortly after that the promotional event Free Comic Book May was also postponed until an unspecified date later this year.
With the shutdown of Diamond, brick and mortar comics retailers will effectively be unable to function.