Recently imposed tariffs by the American government, led by President Trump in his bid to revive US industry, will have an impact on British comic publishers exporting to the United States.
Publishers such as Rebellion, publishers of 2000AD and Judge Dredd Megazine, Titan Comics, publishers of Conan and a range of manga titles (and its parent Forbidden Planet, who make a wide range of exclusive toys and collectibles), Panini, who publish Doctor Who Magazine, and others, are all likely to be hit by the 10% tariff imposed on goods exported to the US from the UK, announced yesterday.
Additional customs paperwork and other administration will likely impact the cost of these tariffs still further.
Details of the Executive Order, posted by the White House, the initiative aimed at encouraging US manufacturing, indicate the tariffs also include digital goods, including comics and graphic novels.
The 10% “baseline” tariffs will take effect on Saturday 5th April and the reciprocal tariffs will start on 9th April 2025.
Newsweek reported President Trump said the new tariffs on US trading partners were “reciprocal,” meant to reflect the trade barriers those countries place on American goods. He didn’t explain how the rates were calculated, but a clearer method appeared later on Wednesday.
According to analysts and later White House clarification, each country’s tariff rate was based on the US trade deficit with that country, divided by the value of that country’s exports to the US Trump then cut that number in half, saying he was being “kind.”
But the new tariffs have been greeted with general dismay from a wide range of commentators, with some publishers going on record to express their concerns.
Writing on Bleeding Cool, Rich Johnston has outlined in detail how Trump’s new tariffs will increase comic book import costs, impacting publishers and retailers, straining an already challenged comic book industry, disrupting global trade.
He also notes that Kickstarter funded projects printed in China will face even higher costs, following imposition of 34% tariff on goods into the US from that country. Although those tariffs don’t impact imports direct to the UK, the vast majority of US published crowdfunded books will be delivered to the US publisher first, and those costs have be passed on.
With often smaller runs, many British independent comic publishers use UK based printers such as Comic Printing UK and Mixam to fulfil crowdfunding and regular print demands, so will not face the same issues as those facing US independents. But offering print editions Stateside of UK titles is now more problematic.
“I have just sent a significant batch of Unit 666 to the US and communicated with our customers,” says Noel K. Hannan. “I am expecting they will need to pay a 10% tariff, and have asked them to let us know how/when that happens.”
“We’ve dropped the US from our next Kickstarter,” says independent publisher Neil Roche of PigDog Press. “I know they won’t be massive numbers, but still.”
“We will probably have to offer US readers digital only until these tariffs are lifted,” says Scratch Comics UK publisher Shane Chebsey, “or just increase US shipping charges by 10%. Neither option is great.”
Johnson quoted David Campiti of US indie Glass House Graphics who has said online (link not provided): “Trump just announced a 34% tariff on goods from China, torpedoing my already-completed Kickstarters’ razor-thin profit margins. My already-funded Kickstarters, awaiting printed books to be shipped out to me next week, will now collectively lose a small fortune. It might actually be cheaper to pay off the printer, trash the books, and refund every Kickstarter buyer. My classic comic book spinner rack shipments will be impacted just as badly. My mind boggles at how much financial damage this will cause.”
“[These] are revenge tariffs against the free market,” argues Rich Johnston, “but only one part of it. Now, tariffs and other taxes can play an important part in any economy and can be very useful for dealing with market irregularities and unforeseen outcomes and trying to nudge people in one direction or another.
“However, blanket tariffs like this have a tendency to create some very strange outcomes. And for a comic book industry that is facing many challenges right now, the outcomes don’t look like they will be good ones.”
US Trade Deal with the UK still in the works
The UK is still in the process of discussing a trade deal with the US, negotiations still continuing after it left the European Union in 2020. Although the UK currently has trade agreements in place with dozens of countries around the world, from Australia to Zimabwe, the UK, no such agreement has been achieved with the US (or the EU).
US exporters are therefore subject to variable levies on a wide sections of goods and services. These levies vary, depending on the goods imported. You can look up UK tariffs on other countries at Gov.uk
Comic Books from Canada, China, US Printers insufficient capacity
Currently, nearly all American comic books are printed in Canada, which has been targeted by 25% tariffs from the Trump administration. Local Comic Shop owners are worried that these tariffs will raise costs to bring their products across the border, leading to higher prices for customers.
However, many of Marvel’s monthly comics have been printed in the United States for quite some time now, although this does seem to shift, perhaps depending on print prices or printer capacity, as some are declared as printed in Canada.
Marvel’s their graphic novels are printed in Canada, and DC currently print their comics in Canada.
Talking to NBC Palm Springs recently, Jay Bosworth of Maximum Comics in Las Vegas, California claimed the United States hasn’t opened a new printing press since the 1990s.
(This, it turns out, wasn’t strictly accurate. Rich Zweiback, who works for the Walsworth Printing Company, established in 1937, a family-owned printing company based out of Marceline, Missouri, contacted us to point out their company has invested in new plant in recent years. Their services include Comic Book and Graphic Novel Printing).
“The US comic book industry, from Marvel and DC down to small independent publishers, depends on Canada and China,” Jacob Shapiro, co-owner and co-manager of Fantom Comics in Washington, DC, wrote in an opinion piece for The Beat this week. “They’re perhaps the two most important countries for printing American comics and graphic novels; even books that aren’t printed in Canada are still using Canadian paper.”
“… Trump theoretically wants to push manufacturing back to the United States, but domestic printers and paper companies have insufficient capacity to produce American comic books after decades of publishers printing abroad,” he continued, noting how Canada and China are still the most cost-effective options for printing, while other publishers were pivoting from Chinese printers to companies in Korea or Thailand.
“It’s not only about cost,” he added. “These overseas printers have developed the knowledge and technology to print books in ways US printers can’t match at a large scale. If Trump really wants American comics to be printed Stateside, we’d have to lay out a years-long infrastructure plan to build adequate printing facilities… presumably with federal funding? I don’t know if our economy can withstand the negative effects of the tariffs until then.”
“The prices [of comics] will be raised by the publishers,” Harry Frank, owner of Blue Ox Games in Greenville, North Carolina, told his local ABC affiliate. “You know if the comics are costing DC comics and the distributors, or Marvel more money to make, they’re going to push those costs onto the distributors, which will then push that onto us the retailers, which of course we’ll have to push onto the customers unfortunately.”
Grant Mitchell, one of the owners of Nirvana Comics in Knoxville, told local news broadcaster 5 News comic book price margins are slim enough that a 25% adjustment is noticeable.
“Back in 2020, a lot of [publishers] switched to Canada printing due to Amazon buying a lot of the cardboard for their packaging,” he explained. “So, a lot of paper couldn’t be made out of that. It’s also cheaper. So if publishing companies were switch all the printing to America, we’d also see a price hike in that.
“There’s been a lot of chaos already this year with comic publishing. So that one company did step in to absorb that cost. But our customers unfortunately could see a potential price increase or we’ll see it on our end and do our best to make sure not to impact our customers,” said Mitchell.
Mitchell echoed the hopes of many Local Comic Shop owners selling new comics, across the US and here in the UK, asking people, whether they support the tariffs or not, to support small businesses that could be impacted by the tariffs.
Independent Game Makers also impacted
Independent game makers in the United States fear the tariffs will kill their business model. Writing on Reddit, Jamey Stegmaier, co-founder of Stonemaier Games commented that, “as a board game publisher with two projects already in manufacturing this news is actually devastating.”
He expanded on his company’s situation in a detailed post titled “The Darkest Timeline” on the Stonemaier Games website, complementing an earlier post “Tariffs: Impact on Tabletop Publishers, Consumers, and US Manufacturing”.
“If these tariffs are not reversed this will essentially be an end to independent board game publishing as a whole,” he commented on Reddit. “Medium to small US publishers rarely have meaningful sales outside of the US and with prices rising across the board and less disposable income for people to spend on games independent publishers will not have the demand needed to justify their already near minimum print runs.”
On his blog post, Jamey said: “My heart goes out to my fellow creators, designers, publishers, gamers, and everyone else in the tabletop industry and community. Creating a game is so much more than manufacturing – in fact, most of the people involved aren’t printing and assembling the game. If you’re passionate about US manufacturing, that’s great – I am too – but (a) there’s a lot of other US-based jobs beyond manufacturing that deserve your passion too, including all seven of my coworkers, and (b) please don’t let that passion turn into xenophobic zeal: In every country, there are companies that treat their employees well and companies that treat their employees poorly. This isn’t about nations – it’s about companies and people. Our manufacturing partner, Panda, takes great care of their employees.
“If the government was serious about increasing American manufacturing, instead of penalizing companies for manufacturing overseas, reward them heavily for manufacturing in the US, especially for the first few years when the risks are highest. Do this with deliberation and intention, providing plenty of advance notice – even companies that have the option of US production can’t switch overnight.”
Toys, too
Following the tariff announcements, McFarlane Toys announced price increases on its range, stating on social media “DC Multiverse core item MSRP is now $24.99.
“Due to the 20% tariffs imposed on imports from China to the United States, some of our products will see price increases effective immediately. We have worked hard to minimize the impact and have limited these adjustments to only certain items. As always, our priority is to bring fans the best products at the most affordable prices possible. We appreciate your continued support and understanding.”
These costs will also impact buyers here.
Further Reading
This article was amended on 8th April to add information on Marvel and DC Comics printing locations; and on Saturday 5th April to note the services of the Walsworth Printing Company – see comments below
- About the Author
- Latest Posts
John is the founder of downthetubes, launched in 1998. He is a comics and magazine editor, writer, and Press Officer for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He also runs Crucible Comic Press.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine and Overkill for Marvel UK, Babylon 5 Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, and its successor, Star Trek Explorer, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics; and has edited several comic collections and graphic novels, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”, and Hancock: The Lad Himself, by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page.
He’s the writer of comics such as Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs”, with Dave Hailwood.
Categories: 2000AD, British Comics, British Comics - Current British Publishers, Comics, Creating Comics, Digital Comics, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News, US Comics
Really good round up of the news! Thanks for this.
Thank you – there’s a lot of information out there to unpack on this front!
Nice article, but there have been American printers that have launched and presses (that print comics) that have been opened in the last 20 years. (I know- I work for one)
Rich Zweiback – Walsworth Printing Company
Thank you, Rick. Great to hear that long established printers have invested in new plant in recent years. I’ve added a link to your company in the body of the article.
I’m here to say what I usually say, but no one else does, so it still needs saying: the fundamental problem here is the capitalist economic system. What will damage our lovely comics from these silly tariff is a lack of profit. So why are we letting this horrible profit obsessed system ruin our art-form?…and just about everything else we treasure? The only deep lasting solution to all this damage is for us to get wise at last, and organise ourselves into a non-capitalist system, one that puts people first, not profit. Oh, and comics!