UPDATE! - I went down to the local Barnes & Noble to inquire about the issue. During the conversation, it came up that this location, and possibly others, were also pulling Marvel comics from their shelves. I don't know how wide spread this will be but felt it was relevant enough to inform you. AraxisHT

Breathe slow and steady comic book fans, you'll still be able to order the titles through the company's website. But as for the store, you can't even order a copy, unless you have it sent to your home for delivery. And if you want to bring a copy of one of the offending titles into the store, you will be asked to leave.

Barnes & Nobles clearly feels they have the power in this relationship. Their competitor, Borders, went out of business. But what also is clear is that they don't have a foothold in the E-reader market. DC Comics decision to grant exclusivity to Amazon's Kindle, and ignore Barnes & Nobles' Nook has to be infuriating.

After the announcement last week that the upcoming Kindle Fire tablet will come with one hundred DC Comics’ backlist titles of comic books and graphic novels pre-installed, Barnes & Noble pulled all of the print editions of every title off its store shelves. There has been some speculation about the length of time this near-boycott will take place, as well as rumors about some of the motivation behind the move.

“We will not stock physical books in our stores if we are not offered the available digital format,” chief merchant for B&N Jaime Carey said in a statement. “To sell and promote the physical book in our store showrooms and not have the ebook available for sale would undermine our promise to Barnes & Noble customers to make available any book, anywhere, anytime.”

While there has been talk that the digital deal with Amazon is set only for a four-month time period beginning with the Kindle Fire’s launch, and while Barnes&Noble has only pulled the book from physical locations as opposed to removing it from its website and special orders catalogs, the end result is that digital DC Comics‘ fans will have to get these titles through Amazon, remembering that an iOS device with the free Kindle app will also pick up those titles from the Kindle Store.

DC COMICS RESPONSE

“We are disappointed that Barnes & Noble has made the decision to remove these books off their shelves and make them unavailable to their customers. DC Entertainment will continue to make our content available to our fans and new readers through multiple distribution channels including locally-owned comic book retailers, independent bookstores, other bookstore chains and other widespread means such as online through Amazon and through our apps on iOS and select Android powered devices as well as new and exciting devices going forward.”