Reintroducing watershed publications from the social movements of the fifties, sixties, and seventies, Comics of the Movement connects modern readers to the comics which inspired and educated past generations. Featuring the first Black Panther in comics, the Lowndes County Freedom Organization comics are reprinted for the very first time–and are paired with the classic 1957 comic Martin Luther King and the Montgomery Story from the Fellowship of Reconciliation! Also contains additional historical and contextual material.
Story: Various Art: Various
Get your copy now! To find a comic shop near you, visit http://www.comicshoplocator.com or call 1-888-comicbook or digitally and online with the links below.
This post contains affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links and make a purchase, we’ll receive a percentage of the sale. Graphic Policy does purchase items from this site. Making purchases through these links helps support the site
Reintroducing watershed publications from the social movements of the fifties, sixties, and seventies, Comics of the Movement connects modern readers to the comics which inspired and educated past generations. Featuring the first Black Panther in comics, the Lowndes County Freedom Organization comics are reprinted for the very first time–and are paired with the classic 1957 comic Martin Luther King and the Montgomery Story from the Fellowship of Reconciliation! Also contains additional historical and contextual material.
Looks like the US is exporting something after all to Canada, book bans! Calgary‘s Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides made a surprise announcement for plans to “find the line” for age-appropriate books for schools. The announcement was a surprise to both the Calgary Board of Education (CBE) and Edmonton Public School Board (EPSB) who are left scrambling after the decision. The books have been pulled from libraries in response to “review their content.”
Four graphic novels were referenced during the announcement. Nicolaides claims they contain mature contant such as depictions of sexual activity and nudity. The four graphic novels are Gender Queer, by Maia Kobabe; Fun Home, by Alison Bechdel; Blankets, by Craig Thompson; and Flamer, by Mike Curato. All of the graphic novels are regularly on “banned” lists in the United States.
On Amazon, Gender Queer is listed as 18 years and up on its “reading age” listing, Fun Home is 15 years and up, Blankets doesn’t have an age range listed, and Flamer is listed for ages 14 to 18 years old. Books are often listed with age ranges they’re meant for, this isn’t a new phenomenon.
I want to be clear right from the onset, this is not a question of banning specific books or specific titles, but rather, establishing clear policies and guidelines for all school divisions to follow.
We know that’s never the case and when given an inch, these sort of “think about the children” movements quickly slide into book bannings with fascist overtones.
Alberta doesn’t have a single provincewide standard to guide school boards leading to different approaches in what is chosen for school libraries.
Nicolaides’ press secretary said the books were found in 57 public schools across Calgary and Edmonton but didn’t disclose which ones with Nicolaides himself stating that ” many of these books exist in elementary schools.” As noted above, none of the books are listed as age appropriate for elementary schools.
The school boards, libraries, and Teacher’s Association said they were blindsided by the announcement and undermines the partnership they expect.
The province doesn’t have the authority to “ban” books from school libraries and hopes to have new policies in effect by this September in time for the 2025-26 school year.
In the United States during 2023 and 2024, more than 10,000 book bans affecting more than 4,000 titles were put in place in the United States according to PEN America. In 2024, Canada saw 97 books challenged.
President Donald Trump’s tariff tax is impacting numerous companies forcing them to make tough decisions. The increased costs have cancelled projects or delayed delivery of others, increased prices, and forced some to lay off staff. Super7, a company focused on toys and collectibles, are one who have been negatively impacted.
The company sent out a very honest and frank email to their subscribers yesterday titled “To Our Valued Super7 Supporters” laying out their new reality. On April 24th the company instituted an 8% surcharge to all non-apparel items ordered from them due to the tariffs.
You can read it in its entirety below and it’s well worth it.
To Our Valued Super7 Supporters,
Last week was really hard.
As you may have heard, we had to make the difficult decision to let team members go. These are people who were doing the best work in the industry, none of whom deserved to be let go. I want to be clear that this reduction in staff is a direct result of the tariffs applied to our industry. The preceding six months before the tariff announcement had been Super7’s best since the inception of the company nearly 24 years ago. Then the landscape changed overnight.
Make no mistake, the tariff is a tax on American companies and the American consumer. The people who lost their jobs last week were Americans across 16 different states. The 145% tariff effectively shut our business down, bringing new inventory leaving the factory to zero, compounded by massive tariffs on pre-order product already on the water headed to consumers. This week’s change in tariff to 30%, is still a massive increase to this industry that requires significant change to work within.
So what does that mean for Super7? Well, it means we need to be smaller and focus on the core of our business while being very specific about what we make. This allows Super7 to be safe for the future and continue to deliver the awesome product we are known for.
We still believe in the joy that making toys brings to all of us. We believe that the future will be better, and we look forward to continuing to deliver on that joy for the future. We hope to see you there with us.
Continuing to show that Trump’s “Art of the Deal” was all bullshit, the United States and China agreed to slash their tariffs while attempting to resolve differences during further negotiations.
The deal lasts for 90 days and the US will drop its 145% Trump tax to 30% while China will lower its tariff rate from 125% to 10%. So, in the end, consumers will still pay more than when all of this stupidity began. The US’s 30% tariff against China is a mix of the 10% tariff it has on most of the world and a 20% tariff to pressure China to do something about fentanyl entering the US.
The market improved in the news and but it might be too little and too late as ports around the country are seeing massive declines with some experiencing a 60% decrease in sailing from China and many seeing drops of over 40% in traffic.
The 90 day decrease might be good news for the toy and game industries which have been gravely impacted by the increased tariffs. Companies have already shut down, Kickstarters cancelled, and shipping has been delayed. With the 90 day window, we might see a rush to get product to the US shores, but it takes time to book ships and for those ships to travel. It may not be enough time, especially if product still needs to be printed/produced. Prices/additional charges have also been implemented by some stores to make up for the tariffs and it’s unknown if that might be adjusted due to the news as well.
As a whole, while the White House might be crowing about this, the US gains very little except increased costs that didn’t exist before and continued volatility in costs and consumer pricing.
Once again, President Trump has made a economic decision with little thought at all. The President announced that he would penalize films made in foreign countries with 100% tariffs, which will of course be paid by consumers and not the studios or theaters. He authorized the commerce department to start the process to impose the tariffs. The reason for decision is due to the American film industry dying “a very fast death.” The industry hasn’t fully recovered since COVID-19 closed theaters and their eventual reopening.
2024 saw the domestic box office gross $8.6 billion, down 3.8% from the previous year’s $8.9 billion. In 2019, the industry saw $11.4 billion at the domestic box office, down from the high in 2018 of $11.9 billion. 2020, the year COVID hit, things dipped to $2.1 billion and then over doubled in 2021, increased 64.4% in 2022 and an increase in 2023 which was $8.9 billion.
Worldwide, 2024 grossed $24.9 billion, down from 2023’s $28.2 billion. 2019 saw a high of $39.1 billion before a drop to $8.6 billion in 2020 and then over doubling in 2021 to $19.5 billion with a steady increase the next two years.
During COVID, movie studios focused on streaming, releasing new films on digital platforms, which clearly changed habits that haven’t reverted back to pre-COVID viewing.
After his announcement Sunday, Trump softened his stance saying he’d meet with “the industry” to “make sure they’re happy.”
It’s unclear what would see a tariff.
Would a movie from a US studio filmed overseas be tariffed?
Would a movie from a US studio that films part of the movie overseas be tariffed?
Would movies from studios outside the US be tariffed? What if they were filmed in the US?
How do films on streaming services get tariffed?
Is it determined by how a movie is financed?
Would tickets now be different prices based on where a movie was made?
As usual, an announcement is made with little detail, thought, or logic.
President Trump‘s failure of a government keeps on failing. For “May the 4th,” the various social media teams did tie-in posts with most failing in spectacular ways. Maybe they were just early for “Revenge of the Sixth“?
The White Houseposted a photo of President Trump roided up with a Red Lightsaber. Anyone with basic knowledge knows that Red Lightsabers are wielded by the Sith, the bad guys who create a fascist government of tyranny and commit genocide and mass murder in multiple ways. Well at least they’ve come out of the shadows. We propose Darth Idiot for Trump’s Sith Lord name. Since there’s always two, never more, does that make JD Vance his apprentice? Darth Eyeliner or Darth Couchfucker are appropriate Sith Lord names for him.
Now, with a lot of fail, the DOD Rapid Response at least got most of the assignment right. While some of the stats are likely bullshit, the team there gave us a scrolling opening like the movies and at least go the Lightsaber colors right at the end.
Born in the USA tracks the history of immigration to the United States, revealing how economic interests and political winds have sculpted Americans’ thoughts about who belongs in the USA. From black enslavement to Chinese exclusion and the modern-day debate over birthright citizenship, Lawrence Goldstone and James Otis Smith reveal the dissonance between the American Dream and the American Reality.
Story: Lawrence Goldstone Art: James Otis Smith
Get your copy now! To find a comic shop near you, visit http://www.comicshoplocator.com or call 1-888-comicbook or digitally and online with the links below.
First Second provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review This post contains affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links and make a purchase, we’ll receive a percentage of the sale. Graphic Policy does purchase items from this site. Making purchases through these links helps support the site
We’re admittedly behind in our coverage of the impact of President Donald Trump’s tariffs on the comic/toy/game industry but we’ll catch up, starting with Super7.
The company has announced that it has started an 8% surcharge to all non-apparel items.
Super7 features a lot of lines and properties including the popular ReAction line of figures.
To put it in perspective, a $20 figure would have an extra $1.60 added to its price.
While the current prices listed on the site (as of this article) don’t reflect the price increase, when we looked in our cart, the price increase was present.
You can reader Super7’s full announcement below.
Dear Super7 Community,
We want to share an important update about how recent changes in global trade and import tariffs are affecting us.
Starting today, April 24th, an 8% surcharge will be added to all non-apparel items.
We didn’t come to this decision lightly. For as long as possible, we’ve worked to absorb these rising costs ourselves—without passing them along to you. Unfortunately, the scale of these increases has made it unsustainable for us to continue doing so entirely. Even with this surcharge, it still doesn’t cover the full impact we’re facing.
We’re doing everything we can behind the scenes to minimize the effect on our community. If conditions change or a better solution becomes available, we’ll reevaluate this surcharge immediately.
Super7 has always been about more than just toys—it’s about the people who collect them. We’ll keep you updated every step of the way, and we sincerely appreciate your understanding and continued support during this time.
With President Donald Trump’s tariffs sending shockwaves through numerous industries, many are scrambling to figure out what to do and how to manage the current price increases. Tariffs are taxes paid by the company importing the product based on their declared value. So, if a product has a value of $10 and it’s a 100% tariff, the company would pay $10, this doubling their “cost.” That increased cost has to then be made up somewhere and that means either the company has to decrease its profits or pass along the increase to consumers. Many are doing the latter, increasing the price of their products which is trickling down to consumers.
The toy industry is being greatly impacted as many of their products are made overseas, particularly China where the President has enacted a tariff of 145% and when added on to existing ones, the levies on some Chinese goods could reach 245%. That’s a massive increase in costs that didn’t exist just a few months ago. And, with products planned months in advance, products that went into production before the tariffs even existed are being impacted.
Someone has to pay, and it looks like it’ll be consumers in the end. Entertainment Earth has announced that consumers can expect price increases or delays. In an email, the store wrote:
I want to update you on the current environment (specifically related to new tariff policy) and the impact it is having on our business and our pricing.
Since February, the Entertainment Earth team has been working as hard as possible with our vendor partners and internally to absorb as much cost impact as possible. Unfortunately, we cannot absorb all of the cost increases/tariffs, particularly on products coming from China. Additionally, the current situation is preventing many retailers (ourselves included) from importing product from China which will impact timing of product receipt.
A few things to know:
You will be receiving information in the coming days on price increases and/or delays based on cost increases from vendors and/or tariffs.
To protect you and your purchases, you will be able to adjust your orders without penalty, as we understand the new costs may impact your ability/desire for these products.
If the environment changes and we have the opportunity to reduce prices, we have every intention to do so based on positive changes in the cost structure of toys. Our goal is to support you in building and growing your collections.
Entertainment Earth was built by fans with the singular purpose of bringing pop culture joy to all of you. As fans and collectors ourselves, it truly pains us both personally and professionally not to be able to deliver amazing collector products from so many terrific partners at prices that meet your (and our) expectations.
Please know that we continue to advocate for improved pricing from all possible partners, that we continue to “tighten our belt” as much as possible to serve you, and that if we see positive changes that can lower price, we will pass them on.
Thank you deeply for your continued support and partnership. As always, please feel free to reach out to our team with any questions.
Best regards, Billy Lagor, CEO Entertainment Earth, and the EE Team
