Canary in the Coal Mine

I have been traveling for the last several days, during which I passed through four different US airports in three states, including two of the nation's busiest (LAX and DFW). Whenever I passed a newsstand I checked to see if they sold any comic books. I walked into several in each airport. And not one sold any comic books at all. Not one.

The writing seems to be on the wall for the comic book industry, which is all the more painful given that super hero characters like Spider-Man and Batman are probably more popular worldwide today than ever before (albeit in other media).