To help boost the marketing and anime, manga, and other forms of entertainment overseas, the Japanese government is considering subsidies totaling ¥11.5 billion (about $7.5 million US dollars). The subsidies would go to 15 companies and aim to triple overseas sales to ¥20 trillion by 2033.
Companies eligible for the support would include five in the anime sector, six in music/gaming/live-action sectors, and 4 in manga. Companies mention include Crunchyroll, Bandai Namco Holdings Inc., Shueisha, Kodansha Ltd., Square Enix Co. and NTT Solmare Corp.
Overseas sales of manga and other forms of entertainment have reached ¥6.13 trillion (about $4 million US dollars) in 2024. That’s more than semiconductor exports which were ¥6.08 trillion.
The manga and anime industry have faced issues with piracy with estimates that 2025 losses were ¥5.7 trillion which was up from ¥2 trillion in 2022.
The subsidies would aim to boost the speed by which releases could make it to overseas markets by using generative artificial intelligence to translate the work. By increasing the translation speed and number of languages it might decrease piracy.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has names the “content industry” as one of 17 fields for investment as part of the government’s growth strategy.
AHOY Comics has announced that it will adopt New York Times best-selling creator Matt Kindt’s “100% Human-Made” emblem on all their future titles. The new, open-source certification for comics, graphic novels, and other visual, musical and audio forms of creative work is designed to designate them as fully derived from the human imagination and otherwise free of elements designed or enhanced by generative artificial intelligence. The first AHOY title to bear the new emblem will be The Forgotten Divine, a satirical science fiction drama from writer Mark Russell and artist Russ Braun. The Forgotten Divine is the first of AHOY’s new AHOY Select line, their pop-up imprint for direct to consumer releases, and is being funded via AHOY’s inaugural Kickstarter campaign. The campaign i now live.
AI is rightly loathed throughout the world of legitimate comics, and we want to make it clear to our readers that AHOY is 100% powered by the very human blood, sweat and tears of our uber-talented creators.
-Editor-in-Chief Tom Peyer.
Featuring an emblem designed by Kindt himself that will first debut on June’s Ming MGMT: New & Improved #1 – part of his new Flux House imprint at Oni Press, which will launch a brand-new beginning for the creator’s widely acclaimed comics masterpiece – the “100% Human-Made” certification is created under the Creative Commons “Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International” license. Under those terms, artists seeking to utilize the “100% Human-Made” certification can “distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format” for commercial and not-for-profit purposes, as long as it carries the following Creative Commons attribution:
The National Labor Relations Board website shows that, out of a total of 102 eligible voters, 79 votes were cast in favor of unionization, that leaves 16 against.
Today is a momentous day for the workers of Arena! After months of planning, waiting and organizing, our dream is finally a reality; the votes have been counted, and our union of UWOTC-CWA has been officially elected.
The USWOTC asked the Wizards of the Coast and Hasbro management to voluntarily recognize the union by International Workers Day (May Day) which took place on May 1, 2026. That did not happen, and instead there were regular reports of WotC discouraging the formation of the union.
In their announcement, the union said they are negotiating for:
Sustainable Workload: Employees’ experiences with “crunch” (intense, mandatory unpaid overtime) to meet deadlines vary widely by team and project, with some teams crunching on a regular basis just to get planned work out the door.
Layoff Protections: Employees currently live in fear of suddenly losing their jobs, with no warning and through no fault of their own.
Remote Work Protections: Leadership is instituting a mandatory RTO, forcing numerous remote employees to return to a physical office or be forced to resign. This painful choice is splitting our employees between their homes, communities, and the jobs they love.
Generative AI Protections: Pressure has ramped up from leadership to adopt LLMs and Gen AI tools in various aspects of our work. WOTC lacks a robust AI policy, leaving opportunities for abuse and communicating a level of disrespect for artists and other creatives.
Today is a momentous day for the workers of Arena! After months of planning, waiting and organizing, our dream is finally a reality; the votes have been counted, and our union of UWOTC-CWA has been officially elected.
From this day forward, we have a union!
To the thousands who signed our petition letter, the journalists who let us tell our own story, every person who reached out with words of encouragement, our stewards at the CWA who helped guide us, we cannot thank you enough for your support.
We stand on the shoulders of giants, and we can only hope that our victory in turn inspires others to start unionizing at their own workplaces. Change is possible when workers stand together!
We hope to share good news of a ratified contract with all of you soon.
There are many more steps in the process to go but this vote is a major one for the staff. The next stage is for the union to establish a ratified contract with Wizards of the Coast. That can take quite a while.
While it feels like the comic industry has moved on from Diamond’s chapter 7 process, the court cases are very much still active with numerous major decisions still to be made. In April, Sparkle Pop filed a motion “for relief from the automatic stay to exercise its rights under applicable state law with respect to the goods remaining in a distribution facility owned and operated by Sparkle Pop.” One of the ongoing fights in Diamond‘s bankruptcy concerns consigned goods provided by publishers and still “held” by Diamond. Publishers of course want their inventory back while Diamond claims it has a right to it so it can sell the product and pay back creditors. The inventory is currently being stored in a facility run by Sparkle Pop, one of the winners of the bidding for Diamond’s assets during the bankruptcy.
In the filing, Sparkle Pop stated there are “8,250,936 units of these goods being stored at the Mississippi Facility.”
Sparkle Pop also stated it is owed $641,430 as of April 2026 and has not received its rent payments from (old) Diamond since November 2025. Rent is $125,000 a month. Sparkle Pop previously filed an administrative claim for $580,000 in March.
In short, Sparkle Pop was arguing it is suffering damages from (old) Diamond’s consigned goods being stored in their facility.
Sparkle Pop was looking to be reimbursed for all of its fees and costs related to the consigned goods and it threatened to exercise its “rights and remedies under Mississippi law to, among other things, assert a warehouseman’s lien on the consigned goods and/or take the necessary steps, under applicable law (or with the consent of the parties), to arrange for these goods to be removed from the Mississippi Facility.”
Today, the court has come down with its decision:
Evidentiary Hearing Held: re: 1265 Relief from Stay and Notice of Motion IS DENIED WITHOUT PREJUDICE TO REFILING AFTER 60 DAYS. Order to be prepared by Movant.(related document(s) 1265 Relief from Stay and Notice of Motion, 1277 Objection, 1280 Objection) (Scott, Cherita)
Since it was “denied without prejudice,” Sparkle Pop can refile its motion again with adjustments. It’s possible there was an error in the original filing or new information that has dropped that impacts the original.
We’ll have more information as this court case continues and update this one if more details emerge as to the reason the motion was denied.
Toy Story 5 topped the weekend box office with an estimated $160 million domestically and $152 million internationally for a worldwide debut of $312 million. That’s the best opening of any movie this year so far and a best for the film franchise.
For an opening domestic weekend, the movie crushed the previous best which was Toy Story 4‘s $120.9 million which was released in 2019.
The film has gotten a very good response, beyond the box office numbers. It currently has a 94% positive review from critics and a 95% positive review from average folks. The good word of mouth should drive the film, especially as families look for something to do in the early summer. The competition is interesting as Supergirl opens this coming week and Minions & Monsters is on July 1. While there’s potential for both to make a dent in this film’s box office, the franchise is a beloved one and there’s the Disney/Pixar die-hards that should keep it successful for quite some time.
The success of the film shows there’s still a lot of life in these toys and it’s a franchise families have embraced. Will we see Toy Story 6?
Opening Domestic
Total Domestic
Worldwide
Toy Story (1995)
$29,140,617
$229,947,062
$401,157,969
Toy Story 2 (1999)
$300,163
$245,852,179
$497,375,404
Toy Story 3 (2010)
$110,307,189
$415,004,880
$1,067,316,101
Toy Story 4 (2019)
$120,908,065
$434,038,008
$1,073,841,394
Disclosure Day came in second place $17 million domestically, a 61.8% drop for the film. Domestically, it has grossed $78.3 million after two weeks. The film has struggled with mixed reviews, 71% from audiences and 80% from critics as of this article, a rare bump from Steven Spielberg. Over the week, it grossed $33.3 million internationally to bring that to $82.2 million. Worldwide, the movie has grossed $160.4 million.
Obsession dropped one spot to third place with $14.2 million to bring its domestic gross to $215.8 million. Over the week, it grossed $25.6 million to bring its international gross to $117.4 million. The movie has grossed $333.3 million worldwide.
Backrooms also slipped one spot to come in fourth with $7.3 million domestically. It has now grossed $175.2 million there. Over the week, it grossed $9.1 million internationally where it’s now $97.5 million. Worldwide, it’s gross is $272.7 million.
Scary Movie rounds out the top five with $6.7 million domestically and it’s domestic gross is $97.6 million. Over the week, the movie grossed $15.8 million internationally and the total is now $104.4 million. Worldwide, the gross is just under $202 million.
In comic related movies…
Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu grossed an estimated $3.9 million over the weekend to bring its domestic gross to $171.8 million. Internationally, the movie remained at $150 million. Worldwide, the movie has grossed $321.8 million after four weeks. The film will wind up around where Solo: A Star Wars Story was when it ended its run.
Mobile Suit Gundam Hathaway: The Sorcery of Nymph Circe remained at $1.2 million domestically and the international gross remained at $17.3 million for $18.4 million worldwide.
That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime the Movie: Tears of the Azure Sea remained at $1.4 million domestically and internationally it grossed $60,000 to lift its total to $8 million internationally. Worldwide, the movie has grossed $7.4 million.
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba- The Movie – Infinity Castle is at $137 million domestically. Internationally, the movie has grossed $606.3 million. Its worldwide gross is $743.3 million.
All You Need Is Kill remained at $695,290 domestically and internationally gained a little and is at $46,328 for a worldwide gross of $741,618.
Jujutsu Kaisen: Execution remained at $16.6 million domestically. Internationally, it also sits at $27.9 million for a worldwide gross of $44.6 million.
Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc remained at $43.4 million domestically. Internationally, the movie added a little and has grossed $119.2 million. Worldwide, the movie has grossed $162.6 million.
Numbers have 59 movies grossing $231,676,415 from 31,200 theaters for an average of $7,425.53. That is compared to last week’s 61 movies grossing $125,260,393 from 37,042 theaters for an average of $3,381.58.
Welcome to entertainment where one unrelated division’s interests and deals impact movies and television. Amazon will no longer releaseLuca Guadagnino‘s film Artificial, which is a biopic about OpenAICEO Sam Altman. The film stars Andrew Garfield as Altman and is currently in post-production.
A spokesperson for Amazon confirmed the change of plans:
We have the utmost respect and admiration for Luca Guadagnino as an award-winning filmmaker — not to mention a longstanding relationship that we hope to continue. We believe that Artificial will be better served if it were released by a different studio and are working closely with the filmmaking team to find the film a new home.
Amazon has said it’d “attempt to help” Guadagnino find another studio to release the project.
In February 2026, OpenAI and Amazon announced a strategic partnership that included an environment of OpenAI models available to AWS customers, AWS being the exclusive third-party cloud distribution provider for OpenAI Frontier, Amazon investing $50 billion OpenAI, and more.
Artificial explores Sam Altman’s OpenAI and its turbulent time in 2023 when Altman was fired and rehired over a couple of days.
The film was announced in 2025 and the ensemble includes Mark Rylance, Andrew Garfield, Yura Borisov, Monica Barbaro, Billie Lourd, Jason Schwartzman, Cooper Koch, Cooper Hoffman, and Ike Barinholtz.
Experts have warner AI will have a negative impact on the labor market and we’ve already seen its devastating impact on the environment and its sucking up utilities causing prices to soar.
The move by Amazon should be a concern for anyone when it comes to the consolidation of entertainment and news by large tech companies and their willingness to use both to benefit themselves.
Amazon’s move can easily be read as its unwillingness to criticize a partner of theirs, risking an investment. It should then extend to Bezos’ Washington Post and what stories they might be ignoring or suppressing due to similar concerns.
With the current acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery by Paramount Skydance, we can question that marriage of technology company (Paramount Skydance’s owner David Ellison is the son of Oracle founder Larry Ellison) and entertainment and whether the new Paramount Skydance/WBD would be willing to have its news division or entertainment criticize AI or even come out against it. DC Comics‘ leadership has stated AI would not be used in the production of their product as an example and we’ve seen Ellison’s choice for leadership of CBS Newswilling to spike stories to benefit the Ellison’s and their relationship with the Trump administration.
A bigger question needs to go to those in the entertainment industry, how much are they willing to go along with this “mandate” and how much are they willing to push back against it?
Disclosure Day beat expectations to top the weekend box office. It was predicted to gross $35 million domestically and around $65 million worldwide but the film beat both with $44 million domestically and $48.9 million internationally for $92.9 million worldwide in its first weekend. With a budget of around $115 million to product and $80 to market, the film still has a bit until it’s profitable but overall, it’s not a bad start for Steven Spielberg’s latest.
Obsession moved up to second place with an estimated $19 million domestically to bring its gross to $188.4 million. Over the week, it grossed $25.4 million internationally where it has now brought in $98.1 million for a worldwide total of $286.5 million.
Scary Movie was one of two major drops this week. The film was first last weekend, but dropped 73.3% to come in third with $14.5 million to lift its domestic gross to $84.6 million. Over the week, it added $38.1 million to its international total which is now $88.6 million. Worldwide, the movie has grossed $173.2 million which has it in fourth place for highest grossing in the franchise and it’ll easily move into third this week.
Backrooms slipped one spot to come in fourth with $11.3 million domestically where it has now grossed $160 million since its debut. Over the week, it added $10.8 million to its international gross to bring that to $88.4 million. Worldwide, the hit indie movie stands at $248.5 million.
Masters of the Universe was the other movie to tumble, dropping 70.6% from the previous week to round out the top five. The movie added $8.7 million to its domestic total which stands at $46.7 million. Internationally, it added $14.4 million to bring that to $39.4 million. Worldwide, that’s just $86.1 million after two weeks. With a budget between $160 and $200 million, before marketing, it’s hard to call this anything but a failure, no matter how hard Amazon-MGM attempts to spin it.
In comic related movies…
Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu held steady in sixth place this weekend. The movie grossed an estimated $4.7 million over the weekend to bring its domestic gross to $165.1 million. Internationally, the movie grossed about $12.2 million over the week to bring that to $150 million. Worldwide, the movie has grossed $315.1million after four weeks. The film will wind up around where Solo: A Star Wars Story was when it ended its run.
Mobile Suit Gundam Hathaway: The Sorcery of Nymph Circe remained at $1.2 million domestically and the international gross remained at $17.3 million for $18.4 million worldwide.
That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime the Movie: Tears of the Azure Sea remained at $1.4 million domestically and internationally it grossed $1.5 million to lift its total to $5.9 million internationally. Worldwide, the movie has grossed $7.4 million.
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba- The Movie – Infinity Castle is at $137 million domestically. Internationally, the movie has grossed $606.3 million. Its worldwide gross is $743.3 million.
All You Need Is Kill remained at $695,290 domestically and internationally gained a little and is at $46,328 for a worldwide gross of $741,618.
Jujutsu Kaisen: Execution remained at $16.6 million domestically. Internationally, it also sits at $27.9 million for a worldwide gross of $44.5 million.
Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc remained at $43.4 million domestically. Internationally, the movie added a little and has grossed $119.1 million. Worldwide, the movie has grossed $162.6 million.
Numbers have 61 movies grossing $125,260,393 from 37,042 theaters for an average of $3,381.58. That is compared to last week’s 51 movies grossing $182,170,514 from 35,524 theaters for an average of $5,128.
In April, Matt Kindtdeclared comics from his Flux House imprint would be “100% Human-Made.” And with that, Kindt also launched a new, open-source certification for comics, graphic novels, and other visual, musical and audio forms of creative work to designate them as fully derived of the human imagination and otherwise free of elements designed or enhanced by generative artificial intelligence.
That featured an emblem designed by Kindt that was free to use under a Creative Commons license.
Today, Summit Comics has committed to that movement declaring their comics 100% Human-Made with the badge appearing on their indie comics.
Check out Summit’s statement below.
The very foundation of Summit Comics is rooted in the small press creator, folks who throw every fiber of their being into the production of their stories. The people who kick, scratch, and claw their way through one campaign or convention after the next, hoping to get whatever eyes to read their stories they can.
Because that’s been part of ethos since the beginning, and since it will remain central to it until the end of days, the partners behind Summit Comics, LLC are choosing to take the 100% Human-Made Pledge.
First introduced by comics writer Matt Kindt earlier this year, the 100% Human-Made badge has started appearing on or in indie comics on the shelves at your local comic store.
Moving forward, the badge will appear on every release from Summit Comics too. In no way, shape, or form is Generative AI allowed in the writing or production of any Summit Comics titles—regardless if they’re owned by the company or one of our creator partners.
The hands that make Summit Comics will always be human, we partners pledge that to comic readers everywhere.
As expected, Trump’s Department of Justice has approved Paramount Skydance‘s planned merger with Warner Bros. Discovery. The green light was given this Friday and a key step in the acquisition process. Authorities in the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, New Zealand Commerce Commission, and authorities in Saudi Arabia, Ukraine, Serbia and North Macedonia, Germany, Slovenia, Belgium, Czechia, New Zealand, Italy, France and Romania have all approved the deal in some way.
In the DOJ’s statement, they said:
The transaction is not likely to result in harm to competition or American consumers, including with respect to: (1) streaming video on demand (“SVOD”); (2) linear television; and (3) studio development, production, or distribution of films for theatrical release.
Anyone with two working brain cells and not and administration sycophant know that’s absolutely not going to be the case. The approval is a payoff in the investment the Ellisons, Trump allies, have made in the current President. You need to make your money back somehow and between this and Ellison’s investment in TikTok, their investment is potentially paying off while further burning the United States to the ground.
The $111 billion proposed deal is being pushed through because if it extends past September 1, stockholders will see more paid out to them, thus vastly increasing the cost.
The deal for Warner Bros. Discovery would giver Paramount Skydance control of such assets as CNN, HBO, Warner Bros., HBO Max, and have a major impact on the comic industry as DC Comics, Wonder Comics, and Milestone Media, are all owned by Warner Bros. Discovery or have deals with it.
It will be a disaster for consumers on multiple fronts.
Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery may face a lawsuit by a coalition of state attorneys general who have stated they believe the Trump administration is failing to enforce antitrust laws.
The UK’s competition regulator, the Competition and Markets Authority, said it was initiating an investigation into the proposed deal.
The European Commission is investigating the deal under the EU’s Foreign Subsidies Regulation. $24 billion of the deal is coming from the sovereign wealth funds of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Abu Dhabi. The merged Paramount-WBD would be 49.5% owned by foreign investors with 38.5% of the equity owned by a trio of Gulf States. That has a deadline if July 14. The irony is TikTok not allowed to be owned by a foreign government but 49.5% of Paramount-WBD can be.
While we don’t expect the deal to impact DC Comics, Milestone Media, or Wonder Comics immediately, we do expect the intellectual property to be quickly used in an attempt to increase revenue for the mega company.
Comic book writer/and filmmaker Ted Sikora has announced Hero Tomorrow Comics has a new distribution agreement with Asylum Press marking the publisher’s return after a hiatus following the bankruptcy of previous distributor, Diamond Comics.
Ted Sikora is the architect of the connected Hero Tomorrow Universe. Since its first release in 2016, Hero Tomorrow has sold over 100,000 units. Previous titles include Apama the Undiscovered Animal, Tap Dance Killer, Punchline and the Vaude-Villains, and Bloom.
The first release currently in solicitation through Lunar Distribution isPunchline and the Vaude-Villains vs Violante #1. This will be followed by a collected editions of the acclaimed series Bloom, and and a deluxe Vaude-Villains Origin Edition ofTap Dance Killer.
Punchline and the Vaude-Villains vs Violante #1
Drayton Hayes was a heavyweight boxer who was kidnapped by the Vaude-Villains and transformed into a super-powered murderous clown Punchline! The scientist who conducted his transformation (Fletcher) learned DNA enhancement from a session in Mexico with a mystic healer named Violante. Fletcher wanted those discoveries for himself alone and murdered the healer. Now Violante The Undead has come back with seething vengeance in the comic book brawl of the year! This double-sized issue is loaded with extras to make an easy entry point for all. The main story has 34 all new pages, and a 7 page prequel reprinted from Tap Dance Killer.
Story, colors, and letters by Ted Sikora.
Art by Yvel Guichet & Donny Hadiwidjaja.
COVER A Yvel Guichet (LUNARCODE: 0626AY0544)
COVER B Nik Poliwko (LUNARCODE: 0626AY0545)
COVER C Gonzo! 5:1 FREE incentive (NO LIMITS) (LUNARCODE: 0626AY0546)
