AfterShock Comics announced it will go back to business as usual amid the industry-wide shutdown.
The indie comics giant's announcement mentioned that comics shipments and publications are still on hold as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to roil the country. However, all its projects and partnerships will continue to move forth despite the circumstances.
"While we understand the economic hardships that the coronavirus crisis has brought to all facets of the comics community – retailers, consumers, creators and distributors – we're thankful that we've been able to remain 'open for business' on all fronts," said Editor-in-Chief Mike Marts. "The award-winning creators that we work with are knee-deep in the various stages of their current AfterShock projects, and we look forward to sharing their new creations with the world over the coming months."
The publisher will continue to take pitches from artists and writers and produce new titles. It even went as far as to say that more announcements about future projects will be coming in the next few weeks.
"Since day one, comic retailers have been critical partners in the success of AfterShock," Senior VP of Sales and Marketing Steve Rotterdam stated. "During this window of uncertainty, we continue to support their efforts to meet customer needs for comics that may be new to them via mail order and other delivery approaches that remain possible in their communities."
Along with future projects and keeping up with day-to-day operations, AfterShock has still connected with fans and readers by ramping up digital features across all its platforms. This has allowed readers to get peeks at its most popular and undiscovered series. Another incentive, the Free-for-All program, gives both old and new fans a chance to get their comics fix with full digital versions of significant first issues from the archives while connecting them with local comics shops for collected editions.
The company will continue to offer support for comics retailers by donating profits from its web store to the Book Industry Charitable Foundation.