Ohio comic shop feels the pinch of U.S. tariff disputes

Alter Ego Comics, run by Marc Bowker in Lima, Ohio, has become a case study of how recent U.S. trade measures affect small retailers. The shop, which showcases over 200 comic titles and large Star Wars statues, paid roughly $16,000 in duties on Chinese action figures after the “Liberation Day” tariffs were imposed. When the surcharge he added for those costs hurt sales, Bowker eliminated the fee, but his figure sales still dropped about 50% last year, a decline he attributes largely to the tariffs.

A Supreme Court ruling later struck down many of the tariffs, prompting the government to begin refunding billions in collected duties, yet Bowker’s supplier, Sideshow Collectibles, reports no refund has arrived, leaving the shop unlikely to recover the money. Additional tariff risks loom, especially a potential new levy on Canadian-origin comics if the U.S.-Canada trade dispute escalates. Despite these challenges, a resurgence in comic popularity has lifted overall sales this year, though customers remain price-sensitive.