March sales figures

[Snoop Dogg]

Marvel has truly lost its way and all shall burn! The growth of the industry across various markets means nothing, for the direct market has shrunk a bit while other channels grow! For Asgard!

[Snoop Dogg]

let's save this image as our own infinity gauntlet for future instances of chicken little histrionics or when people lie and say that captain marvel keeps getting cancelled

[Snoop Dogg]

https://www.comichron.com/yearlycomi...ustrywide.html

"A new category, 'Other,' has been added to the channel breakdown. 'Other' includes the Newsstand (periodical sales through specialty retail and mass merchant chains) and Crowdfunding (Kickstarter, etc.) channels. This year, those two channels each accounted for roughly half of the 'Other' category."

"Sources for the information include NPD BookScan, which collects weekly point-of-sale data on print books from over 16,000 locations including e-tailers, chains, mass merchandisers, independent bookstores, and more. NPD BookScan covers approximately 85% of the U.S. trade print book market. Some publishers classify titles that are primarily text, or art books, as graphic novels; we remove those titles from our analysis."

[myownlittleusername]

That looks pretty healthy to me.

Graphic novels growth easily offsets the slight decrease in floppies. Digital is also increasing a little, but people still prefer their paper it seems.

[cranger]

That looks pretty healthy to me.

Graphic novels growth easily offsets the slight decrease in floppies. Digital is also increasing a little, but people still prefer their paper it seems.

The problem is that it looks like floppies are still around 2013 numbers (maybe lower.) Comic book shops are also not seeing much if any of this growth due to graphic novels, with book stores obviously benefiting the most from that, and since the biggest growth was kids graphic novels, which includes stuff like Dog Man.

https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/...vel-sales.html

Sorry to say, but this huge surge has little to do with Marvel, DC or Image, and is not saying much for the comic book format.

(But, hey, at least those pictures are colorful)

[Vordan]

The problem is that it looks like floppies are still around 2013 numbers (maybe lower.) Comic book shops are also not seeing much if any of this growth due to graphic novels, with book stores obviously benefiting the most from that, and since the biggest growth was kids graphic novels, which includes stuff like Dog Man.

https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/...vel-sales.html

Sorry to say, but this huge surge has little to do with Marvel, DC or Image, and is not saying much for the comic book format.

(But, hey, at least those pictures are colorful)

Floppies are going to die. There’s no saving them, the cost-entertainment value simply can’t compete with all the other media like TV, video games, etc. why would I pay $4-5 for 5 minutes of entertainment when I can pay $7-8 for a streaming service that provides me hours of entertainment. Trying to keep the LCBS direct market afloat is a lost cause at this point.

[cranger]

Floppies are going to die. There’s no saving them, the cost-entertainment value simply can’t compete with all the other media like TV, video games, etc. why would I pay $4-5 for 5 minutes of entertainment when I can pay $7-8 for a streaming service that provides me hours of entertainment. Trying to keep the LCBS direct market afloat is a lost cause at this point.

While I feel the current practices that have shaped the comic market are not sustainable, I do not think the market, or format, is dying. Maybe superhero comics are passed their time, maybe it is time for cheaper kids stuff. I can't get my kids interested in superhero comics aimed for kids right now, even being hyped for the MCU, but maybe more stuff like Captain Underpants in a single issue format would bring in the audience who seems to be the source of growth right now.

[Vordan]

While I feel the current practices that have shaped the comic market are not sustainable, I do not think the market, or format, is dying. Maybe superhero comics are passed their time, maybe it is time for cheaper kids stuff. I can't get my kids interested in superhero comics aimed for kids right now, even being hyped for the MCU, but maybe more stuff like Captain Underpants in a single issue format would bring in the audience who seems to be the source of growth right now.

Oh I was only specifically talking about floppies. Comics as a whole I don’t expect to die at all, but the traditional $4-5 floppies getting released every Weds? They’ll either move entirely to digital or they’ll cease to be a thing.

[Ichijinijisanji]

https://www.comichron.com/yearlycomi...ustrywide.html

"A new category, 'Other,' has been added to the channel breakdown. 'Other' includes the Newsstand (periodical sales through specialty retail and mass merchant chains) and Crowdfunding (Kickstarter, etc.) channels. This year, those two channels each accounted for roughly half of the 'Other' category."

"Sources for the information include NPD BookScan, which collects weekly point-of-sale data on print books from over 16,000 locations including e-tailers, chains, mass merchandisers, independent bookstores, and more. NPD BookScan covers approximately 85% of the U.S. trade print book market. Some publishers classify titles that are primarily text, or art books, as graphic novels; we remove those titles from our analysis."

cot dam i have never seen you effort post this much i kinda like it, kinda scared too

[CrimsonEchidna]

Speaking of Comichron, I thought this little nugget was also interesting:

Sales in the book channel, which includes chain bookstores, mass merchants, major online retailers, and Scholastic Book Fairs, were up by double digits, with sales of kids graphic novels the biggest factor. Digital sales were also up for the first time in several years, with increased title counts across multiple platforms a factor. Sales in comic stores were down very slightly versus the previous year.

Since people like to whine about why books like Moon Girl and Squirrel Girl continue to get published.

[Frontier]

Speaking of Comichron, I thought this little nugget was also interesting:



Since people like to whine about why books like Moon Girl and Squirrel Girl continue to get published.

At this point I'd write off the scholastic books as their own imprint if they didn't reference current continuity as much as they do.

[DragonsChi]

*Face Palm*

" You can bring a horse to water but you can't make him drink"

FYI pulling a chart talking about the industry as a whole does absolve Marvel as an individual company. But even if you ignore that you have to understand or the very least seek to understand what you are reading.


These are direct quotes from the Comichron article that was posted as a supposed "Clap Back"

“While comics stores are still the largest channel, they represented less than half the market for comics and graphic novels in 2018 for the first time in at least three decades.”

Digital sales were also up for the first time in several years, with increased title counts across multiple platforms a factor

So all of last year and the year before when people where talking about Digital sales were still wrong and they still aren't as high as the direct markets. Which I have been saying in this thread.

Now this is the BIG factor that has cause the turn around of the industry as a whole

A new category, “Other,” has been added to the channel breakdown. “Other” includes the Newsstand (periodical sales through specialty retail and mass merchant chains) and Crowdfunding (Kickstarter, etc.) channels. This year, those two channels each accounted for roughly half of the “Other” category.

This basically means independent creators who broke out on their own had a large helping hand in uplifting the market. Not only that but those independent creators didn't/couldn't rely on inflated prices with less actual sale numbers per unit. LOL For all the crap some the crowdfunding sector of the industry got, for whatever reason, they played a significant role in turn around.

The other thing people here are not getting, acknowledging, or ignoring is that the largest seller in the comic industry isn't even Superhero comics right now. Its MANGA. So again using a graph to represent whats going on with MARVEL with the whole Comic Industry isn't by any means an accurate measurement of what is going on with it as a company.