In this episode of Off Panel, John Hendrick of Dublin’s Big Bang Comics joins the podcast to chat about running a comic shop during the coronavirus pandemic. Hendrick discusses how it’s going for him, how he would have handled the situation for comics retail, the publishers that helped, the failures of Diamond, Marvel and DC, what the best response would have been, the impact of Marvel and DC going digital first (if they did it), his Marvel order from Tuesday, Marvel’s deep discount offer, Diamond stopping shipments, ComicHub, rebuilding the direct market, how readers can help shops, how David would have handled this, and more.

You can find Big Bang Comics on Twitter and on its website, where you can order comics directly through ComicHub.

You can download the show directly here on Libsyn.

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Thanks to the podcast’s sponsor, TKO Studios. Check out their new wave of titles, including the show’s #3 comic of the year in Jeff Lemire and Gabriel Hernandez Walta’s Sentient, Roxane Gay and Ming Doyle’s The Banks, and more, as well as titles from the first wave like Garth Ennis and Steve Epting’s brilliant war series, Sara. Each title is binge released in six-issue collector’s edition box sets and trade paperbacks simultaneously. Even better? You can read the first issue of each series for free, right now, on the TKO site.

You can find Off Panel on Patreon! Support the show on there and get early access to each week’s podcast.

Thanks to my patrons, including – but not limited to – Charlie Chu, Greg Peterson, Stefan Hull, Dan Lee, Cameron Shrader, Pensacola Pop Comics, Kim Estlund, Phillip Maira, Christian Shelton, Kenny Porter, Chris Bachalo, Torunn Grønbekk, FuzBubbles, Christopher Ta, Transmitterdown, Harry Sayer, Walt’s Comics & Books, Carl Mizell, Danny Ollie, Paul Salaets, Lytwyn Studios, Akil Wilson, Alex Dimitropolous, Terry Dodson, Troy-Jeffrey Allen, Liana Kangas, Keigen Rea, Milton Lawson, Wesley Gift, Shawn Kirkham, Harry Small, Alister Ross, Julio Anta, Brett A. Schmidt, Jason Goodmanson, Paul Reinwand, Connor Farner, Vita Ayala, Aditya Bidikar, Tara Ferguson, Dave Slusher, WMQ Comics, Akylle, Kokaachi, Phil White, Shaun Pinello, Kent Heidelman, Phillip Sevy, Al Ewing, Ryan Alcock, Nick Michelin, David Kelley, Robert Wilson IV, Nick Poleto, Eoin McCready, Brenden Fletcher, Gary Moloney, Jonathan Nilsson, Matthew Groom, Jason Nassi, Adam Bogert, Xavier Files, Matthew Taylor, Tyler Turner, Nick Pitarra, Jacob Sareli, Ford Gilmore, David Baroldy, Ira James Udaskin, Modern Magic Stories, Nick Hall, Bjorn Basen, John Hendrick, Steve Anderson, Ian Maxfield, Cliff Chiang, Benjamin Schipper, Colin McMahon, Chris Palmer, Scott McGovern, Nathan Fairbairn, Cat McKenzie, Greg Rucka, Adam Highfill, Fiona Staples, Chris O’Halloran, Mark Abnett, Mike Murphy, Michael Shirley, Tom Barnett, Jim Demonakos, Norbert, Nick Lowe, James Kaplan, and Mission: Comics and Art in San Francisco. You’re all the best.

Have a question for Off Panel? You can reach David by email or Twitter.

Header art is from the inside of Big Bang Comics in Dublin. Off Panel’s theme music is an original track by custom music agency Upright T-Rex Music, written and performed specifically for the podcast. A huge thanks to Ross and Cody from Upright T-Rex Music for putting the track together!