Everyone was ready for 2025 to be a disaster for the direct market, or the side of the comic industry comprised of a couple thousand comic shops.

The recipe was there. Diamond Comic Distributors, the long-time sole distributor of single-issue comics to comic shops, declared Chapter 11 Bankruptcy in January. Tariffs loomed over everything, with that uncertainty crushing businesses and consumers alike, to say nothing of the potential for chaos created by other governmental efforts. And while 2024 closed strong, the direct market’s down period from 2023 and the first half of 2024 was so fresh in everyone’s minds that some wariness about the coming year’s potential remained. Any one of those would have been a lot. When combined, it was even more worrisome.

And yet, 2025 seemed to be a good one for the direct market. Nearly every retailer I’ve talked to or even seen was up, and there were some staggering sellers and an influx of new readers leading the way. And yet, there is some level of skepticism once again about 2026, if only because that goodness wasn’t necessarily spread equally amongst all stakeholders and because everyone in the direct market comes pre-programmed to question success and its longevity. That’s resulted in a lot of conversations of late filled with curiosity and perhaps dread about what the next year might hold for the direct market.

Only time will tell on that front, but there are certainly things, lots of things, to keep an eye on as we head further into the year. That’s why I always like to start the year off with a piece that digs into the things I’ll be watching for the most, as it gives me a chance to reset and dig into the big questions the market is facing. More than that, limiting it to five means I have to think long and hard about what might have the greatest impact, which is far more difficult than coming up with an exhaustive list. So, that’s what we’ll be doing today.

But before we dig into 2026’s slate, let’s quickly review last year’s picks in this column, just to check my work along the way.

• Will Marvel do anything to give its line focus? This was a worthwhile pick, but if there will be any real clarity for Marvel’s line, it seems like it’ll happen in 2026, at best.
• What kind of impact will potential tariffs have on the industry? Another worthy pick, but honestly, while there’s been a cost, it arguably didn’t have as sizable an impact as it seemed it might for any number of reasons. That’s not to say there was no impact. But it certainly wasn’t the death blow some feared.
• Can a non-Big Two, non-licensed single-issue series break through (without the grind of multiple printings)? As covered on the site, this continues to be a problem, and one worth watching. Some titles did hit — including my pick of the rough sketch of Exquisite Corpses at the time — but there did not seem to be any explosive sellers like we saw in 2021 or 2022.
• Can Diamond Comic Distributors get it together? And will it matter if they don’t? To the former, LMAO. To the latter, it seemed to matter less than most expected, even if the ramifications are still coming, the consignment inventory situation has been a nightmare, and small publishers are clearly struggling to figure out what’s next.
• What will be the sneak attack effort of 2025? I don’t think there was one, unless you include DC K.O.’s incendiary area of effect or Absolute Martian Manhunter as a top seller. I’m not sure I do. This was a cheat, and my cheat result was rewarded appropriately.

There were other smaller selections, many of which played out as expected. But the big ones were pretty spot on overall, with the impact of each being worthwhile topics throughout the year. Can we make that two years in a row? Maybe! Let’s find out by getting into the five things I’ll be watching for in the direct market in 2026, with it all starting with…two things in a one thing sized item? Of course this exercise begins with a cheat!

Can Absolute DC keep it up, and will its success spread to non-licensed comics?

These two questions have to be handled in conjunction because they are so closely connected. The reason for that is how things often work in comic shops. When something gigantic brings new and lapsed readers into stores, said gigantic thing will obviously benefit. But so will everything else, at least most of the time. Those titles have an area of effect, as the excitable readers of the big release(s) begin to spread out to other comics.

While that’s happening to some degree with DC’s Absolute line, 14 as retailers have reported that new readers brought in by it are discovering other comics, it’s going pretty slowly. That’s something more than a few creators are eager to see movement on.

But for the latter side of this question to pay off, the former needs to continue. Going into 2026, I’ve heard mixed things on where the Absolute line is right now. Some have suggested it has plateaued. Others have told me interest continues to grow unabated, as plenty of shops are still trying to find their ceilings. There’s certainly a blend of what success looks like for the line. It’s clear Absolute Batman is far and away the leader, with its in-store sales seemingly reaching new heights with each issue and its secondary market exploding to honestly preposterous levels. Wonder Woman, Superman, and Martian Manhunter are doing well too. Green Lantern and Flash? They’re lagging behind, even if they easily surpass their main line twins. But there’s always going to be a hierarchy to these things.

My read is Absolute is still growing. More than that, I believe it can keep it up, especially as characters begin to meet and depths continue to be mined, with new players being introduced in spicy fashion and at least one new title on the horizon in Absolute Green Arrow. That’s why if you asked me if I’d take Absolute DC to lead the industry’s non-existent sales charts in 2026 or the field, it’d be the former, easily. And it isn’t just because it’s maintaining its level of success. I could see it continuing to grow as more and more readers discover the line.

That makes the latter a more interesting question. If Absolute DC maintains its heat and continues to pour new readers into comic shops, 15 will we see some of that success spread to original and creator-owned comics? That transference has been limited so far, and I’ve consistently heard that the environment for those titles is painful in a way that few have expected or previously experienced. Some creators have suggested that non-licensed miniseries are basically dead on arrival, and it isn’t much easier for ongoings. Debuts are lower than before — 20 to 30k copies being ordered for #1s is a rarity, let alone the 50 to 100k of the speculator-fueled peak of the pandemic — and attrition 16 is incendiary. It’s not great! And that is affecting everyone, from the biggest names on down.

Why hasn’t that heat spread? As you might know, my pet theory is it’s because Absolute DC is unusually good for this type of draw and because it’s a micro line that offers enough to satisfy these readers. That means these readers haven’t needed to check out others titles. Yet. My take is that 2026 will be a good year for non-licensed comics. Maybe not as potent as that pandemic peak was, as that was a monster stretch with contributing factors that almost certainly cannot be recreated. 17 But between that influx of new readers, the return of Vertigo Comics acting as a bridge to other original stories, and the great titles that already exist and are coming down the path, I believe it’s going to be a strong year for creator-owned and original comics.

I’m not the only one. Some of my go-to people for reading the industry, the ones who are most consistently correct in their predictions, are telling me the same thing. That doesn’t mean it will happen. But Absolute DC has primed the market, and it feels like it could and should start paying off for everything else this year.