The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has taken a toll on the entertainment industry, including comics. And veteran writer Alan Moore says the comic industry, at least as it currently stands, might not survive because of it.

"I doubt the major companies will be coming out of lockdown in any shape at all," Moore told Deadline. "The mainstream comics industry is about 80 years old and it has lots of pre-existing health conditions. It wasn’t looking that great before COVID happened."

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"Most of our entertainment industries have been a bit top heavy for a while," Moore said. "The huge corporations, business interests, have so much money they can produce these gigantic blockbusters of one sort or another that will dominate their markets. I can see that changing, and perhaps for the better."

Marvel and DC had scaled back their publishing plans at the height of the pandemic. Both publishers paused the release of new comics entirely in April and began trickling out new releases the following month before eventually resuming a full publishing schedule come summer. The upheaval also resulted in significant changes to the industry's distribution system, and forced some comic shops to permanently close their doors.

The pandemic has also delayed film releases from the movie studios of the publishers' respective parent companies.

Moore had a rosier outlook for smaller publishers, though. "It’s too early to make optimistic predictions but you might hope that the bigger interests will find it more difficult to maneuver in this new landscape, whereas the smaller independent concerns might find that they are a bit more adapted," Moore said. "These times might be an opportunity for genuinely radical and new voices to come to the fore in the absence of yesteryear."

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Smaller comics publishers such as Image and Dark Horse were also impacted by the pandemic. Sony Pictures released Bloodshot, based on the Valiant Comics character, in March, but shortly thereafter made the film available digitally when various states in the U.S. mandated the closure of movie theaters due to the pandemic.

Moore acknowledged the economic challenges faced by smaller publishers could stymie their potential exposure. "That is undeniable," Moore said. "I am talking in the long-term. There is going to be an awful lot of economic pain for everybody before this is over. I’m not even sure it ever will technically be over, until we’ve reached a better stage of equilibrium, whatever that turns out to be. When that was attained I hope we might see a very different landscape culturally."

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