Have you been wondering how the comic book industry faired during 2020 with the challenges it faced due to the Covid-19 Pandemic?
According to a recent survey and analysis, the findings might just be a surprise.
With the release of a new joint estimate by ICv2‘s Milton Griepp and Comichron‘s John Jackson Miller, comics and graphic novel sales to consumers in the U.S. and Canada saw a 6% increase over sales over those in 2019, accounting for approximately $1.28 billion in 2020.
Comichron, the world’s largest public repository of comic-book sales figures, is a trusted source for data about comic book and graphic novel circulation, cover prices, and market shares going back to the 1930’s. ICv2 is on of the top sources in the industry when it comes to the business of geek culture, such comics and graphic novels, hobby games, and more.
The analysis was conducted by ICv2’s Milton Griepp and Comichron’s John Jackson Miller, who have been watching the market and compiling this information since 2013.
Highlights of the 2020 report, published on Comichron include:
- Kids’ graphic novels from mass merchants /online drove graphic novel sales early
- Diamond Comic Distributors shutting down for seven weeks and subsequent publisher cutbacks in periodical releases were a drag on sales
- Along with the high demand for new comics and graphic novels, the collector-side of the industry was also strong.
Jackson Miller has this to say:
“The comic periodical market was ahead for the year before the pandemic struck, and the result of production cutbacks was that 30% fewer new comic books were released by the major publishers in 2020. The fact that new comics sales were down by only 20% suggests that retailers did well with what they were able to get.”
“The collector market flourished during the year, allowing comics shops to earn significant revenue from their back-issue inventories. Many new releases also saw significant levels of markup that our charts would not be able to capture, all of which helped stores offset the lack of new product.”
Griepp said of the 2020 estimates:
“The challenges of retailing in the pandemic had profound impacts on the market, including the acceleration of trends that have been in place for years. The book channel increased its share dramatically vs. comic stores, and graphic novels increased their share vs. periodical comics, while digital sales were turbocharged.”
The two also reported that independent comic and book stores, healthy consumer demand, strong community support, and help from government programs and the Book Industry Charitable Foundation kept the store attrition rate lower than expected.
For a more detailed explanation about how they compiled the numbers and the methodology, check out the full article on Comichron’s website.