The Fate of the Comic Book Industry: The Comic Book Store Conundrum
The past two years have been hugely consequential for the comic book industry. As it emerges from the pandemic, we analyze the current state of the industry and how it has become a shadow of its former self while at the same time a story of unbridled success. We present the final part of our two-part series about the fate of the comic book industry and how comic book stores endured the pandemic, rebounded from it, and helped the industry achieve record sales.
After years of false starts and stops and being stuck in developmental hell, Spider-Man, an icon of the comic book industry, finally made his silver screen debut in a lavish $139 million production from Sony Pictures Entertainment. Directed by Sam Raimi and starring Tobey Maguire in the titular role, Spider-Man ushered in the summer movie season of 2002 and became the fastest film ever to gross $100 million at the North American box office. The film shattered expectations and opened to a record $114 million weekend gross – the first film ever to break the century mark on its opening weekend – and went on to launch Sony Pictures Entertainment’s most lucrative movie franchise ever.
Although Spider-Man became a cinematic event that ruled the box office, another event took place that same weekend that became just as groundbreaking. On Saturday, May 4, 2002, the day after Spider-Man was released nationwide, participating comic book retailers piggybacked on the film’s success and took part in the first-ever Free Comic Book Day.
Free Comic Book Day was more than just a marketing ploy. It became a means of engagement between comic book stores and the local communities they served. Unlike the 90s, where customers flocked to comic book stores looking for investment opportunities based on market speculation and greed, comic book store owners hoped fans would return to their stores once again, but this time purely for their love of comics. Free Comic Book Day became the reboot the comic book industry needed with fans and comic book stores. Almost twenty years later, the event still endures, and so does the comic book industry it helped save.
Inspired by Joe Field’s August 2001 column, the big four comic book publishers at the time – DC Comics, Marvel Comics, Image Comics, and Dark Horse Comics – partnered with participating comic book stores to provide free special edition single-issue comics to customers: DC Comics’ Justice League Adventures #1, Marvel Comics’ Ultimate Spider-Man #1, Image Comics’ Tomb Raider # ½, and Dark Horse Comics’ Star Wars Tales: A Jedi’s Weapon. Free Comic Book Day’s inaugural event was a rousing success and surpassed anything Field had envisioned.
In the nineteen years since its introduction, Free Comic Book Day has grown into a worldwide event with dozens of comic book publishers and thousands of comic book stores participating in the event. In 2020, Free Comic Book Day was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. But just like Superman and a slew of other comic book characters once thought dead, Free Comic Book Day’s demise was temporary. On Saturday, August 14, 2021, Free Comic Book Day returned to participating comic book stores after more than two years.
Instead of being a one-day event, many stores across the world now treat Free Comic Book Day as a weekend-long festivity. Free Comic Book Day has become a love letter to local comic book stores and the endearing appeal of comic books – a format that has given birth to iconic characters and timeless stories that have permeated every facet of pop culture and become a permanent fixture of the zeitgeist.
While limited in scope due to the ongoing pandemic, for comic book stores, many of whom faced tremendous uncertainty and struggle just a year prior and saw many casualties amongst their fellow brethren, Free Comic Book Day 2021 couldn’t have come fast enough. The event was just the jolt the industry needed to remind everyone that despite the upheaval and torment of 2020, life will go on, and so will comic book stores.
Currently, the direct market for comic books comprises roughly 2,000 comic book stores that purchase comic books and various other periodicals at wholesale prices from distributors. Not only did 2020 present numerous challenges for the comic book industry, but the year also offered solutions that undid many industry norms that had been in place for more than a generation.
The largest distributor of comic books in the U.S. was Diamond Comics Distributors, which had an effective monopoly on the industry for nearly four decades. That all changed in March of 2020 when Diamond, along with comic book stores and other businesses deemed “non-essential,” had to temporarily shut down because of the pandemic. Diamond instructed publishers not to send inventory and told retailers they would not fulfill orders until further notice. Diamond’s halt led to a virtual shutdown of the comic book market and resulted in cash flow problems for the distributer that delayed payments to publishers.
With their prime distributor shuttered, DC Comics, the second-largest publisher of comic books in North America, responded by parting ways with Diamond after a quarter-century of business together. DC turned to startups Lunar Distribution and UCS Comic Distributors to distribute their periodical releases, while Penguin Random House assumed graphic novels and collected editions distribution.
An email from DC to retailers clarified the publisher’s reasoning to shift away from Diamond amid the escalating pandemic: “We recognize that, to many of you, this may seem like a momentous decision. However, we can assure you that this change in DC’s distribution plans has not been made lightly and follows a long period of thought and consideration. The change of direction is in line with DC’s overall strategic vision intended to improve the health of, and strengthen, the Direct Market as well as grow the number of fans who read comics worldwide.” Despite DC’s carefully worded statement, their shift was seismic for the comic book industry due mainly to DC’s roughly 30% comic book market share.
Marvel Comics followed with similar changes to their distribution practices a year later, when they announced their separation from Diamond. “Marvel’s entire history is built on telling great stories. And as we’ve seen for decades, those stories go hand in hand with equipping the comic shops who share them,” elaborated Dan Buckley, President of Marvel Entertainment. “Marvel and Penguin Random House stand by that vision, and we are excited to build and expand those opportunities for our talent, retailers, and fans.” Marvel offered retailers the choice of ordering comics through Diamond, albeit as a wholesaler.
Founded in 1982, the legacy of Diamond Distributors was that of dominance in an industry that relied heavily on reliable direct market distribution. Throughout the years, Diamond bought out smaller distributors and rivals to achieve a virtual monopoly in comic book distribution since the mid-90s. With industry giants like DC Comics and Marvel Comics shifting their distribution operations to several other companies, the direct market for comics finally achieved what it couldn’t during Diamond’s reign: competition.
The end of one era commemorated the beginning of a new one marked by publishers reevaluating industry standards and assuring that retailers would always have products on hand to sell. In doing so, a comic book industry collapse was avoided, and anxious retailers, especially comic books store owners, were relieved.
Despite the pandemic, 2020 proved to be a milestone year for the comic book industry. Not only did sales surpass $1 billion for the sixth straight year, but the industry also saw a record $1.28 billion in overall comic book sales. The languid lockdowns that defined the pandemic played a significant role in record comic book sales. “Comic supplies sales skyrocketed right away as people took this time to clean up their collection,” said comic book retailer Ryan Higgins to The Hollywood Reporter. “New titles were selling better than we ever expected, graphic novel sales spiked, and back issues jumped dramatically in price and flew out the door just as fast. Sales during the summer and early fall months were just unbelievable.”
But recent years have seen a shift in the way comics are consumed by readers. Print single-issue comic books were once the dominant format of comics that gave rise to comic book stores. However, sales of print single-issue monthly comic books have been on a decline for quite some time. Year-over-year sales in 2020 saw a 19.7% decline for print single-issues. Although the decrease in sales can be attributed to the pandemic, the overall trend for print single-issues has been downward for the better part of a decade.
Retailer Brandon Schatz analyzed print single-issue sales at his comic book store during the pandemic and found that if print single-issue comics stopped coming out, business at his store would not be impacted. “Despite ordering extremely tight for shelf in the past, single issues turned out to be a fair burden for our relatively young shop, and not the engine that kept things running,” Schatz concluded. “Yes, our store’s numbers tell us that we can survive without a single-issue product line – but that is far from the norm. Many stores need single issues to continue if they’re going to survive, and the format doesn’t have a lot going for it. So, what’s the solution? Change the format.”
Schatz’s solution is to turn the single-issue comic book into an anthology issue numbering several hundred pages and containing several stories anchored by popular characters. Schatz might be on to something as the collected format has dominated comic book sales in recent years. In 2020, collected trade paperbacks, graphic novels, and Japanese manga generated a record $835 million in sales, up 9.1% from 2019, and accounted for a colossal 65.2% of overall comic book sales.
The popularity of Japanese anime has caused fans to gravitate towards manga – which is now included in comic book sales figures – and has contributed to the boost in overall comic book sales. The anime to manga trend is hardly an American phenomenon. In France, the government gave every 18-year-old €300 (roughly $350 U.S.) to spend on arts and culture. Nearly 75% of teens purchased books, of which 66% were manga comics. Many insiders feel the inclusion of manga and other collected formats pad overall comic book sales figures and mask the declining popularity of conventional comic books. As Schatz alluded to, his store would do just fine without printed single-issue comics.
Sales of digital comics have also been on the rise. Many desperate comic book fans who were on home lockdown during the onset of the pandemic fed their monthly comic fix by purchasing digital comics. As a result, 2020 generated $160 million in digital sales, an increase of 33% from 2019, and the highest yearly sales ever for digital comics.
Not only have readers changed their preferences on how they decide to read comics, but they’ve also changed their preferences from where they decide to purchase them as well. Since 2019, book channels have supplanted traditional comic book stores to become the leading source of comic book sales. Sales of comics through book channels have increased by more than 50% since 2017. In 2020, book channels generated a staggering $645 million in comic sales, while comic book stores accounted for only $440 million in sales.
Are these sales figures a worrying sign for the viability of comic book stores going forward, or are they simply a pandemic-year glitch? Time will tell if comic book stores go the way of spinner racks and become a casualty of changing industry norms and customer preferences. The key to salvation for comic book stores lies in their fanbase, and the cultural significance comic books offer.
In 2019, legendary filmmaker Martin Scorsese made remarks critical of Marvel Studios and was met with resounding backlash from fans enamored with Marvel’s filmography. The reaction was so pronounced that the filmmaking icon had to clarify his comments to prevent further self-immolation.
Comic book enthusiasts have long been ridiculed and ostracized for their fanatical impulses. However, their passion has now been embraced by mainstream audiences enamored with comic book cinema, as witnessed by Scorsese’s public mea culpa. Comic book culture is now an all-encompassing amalgamation of passionate global geeks of varying fanatical degrees.
Strangely enough, today’s comic book fandom is not rooted in actual comic books but is instead a byproduct of the many comic book adaptations seen in cinemas, television, and streaming. You’ll find it difficult to find someone who hasn’t seen one of these adaptations. What was once considered lowbrow entertainment has now become nuanced art thanks to A-list creatives and culturally impactful films like the Academy Award-winning The Dark Knight, Black Panther, and Joker – all of which have grossed north of $1 billion at the global box office.
As a result, the comic book collector’s market has made a resurgence seeking to capitalize on the success of these recent films. However, this time around, actual comic book enthusiasts are driving the collector’s market. For these collectors, money seems to be no option either. In 2020, auction house Heritage Auctions reported a record $22.4 million in sales from their high-grade collectible comics.
But collectors don’t need to frequent auctions to find that next comic book investment piece. Local comic book stores serve as alternatives to auction houses for avid collectors seeking comic book rarities. For the many knowledgeable stewards who own and operate these comic book stores, their expertise and back issue catalogs are second to none and can never be replaced.
What the comic book industry is witnessing is the reverse engineering of their loyal fanbase. Before, fans of the comics would flock to the films and shows. Now, fans of the films and shows flock to the comics.
In an age where the digitization of all forms of media into easily accessed and convenient formats is inevitable, if not expected, and where big-box retailers and online discounters make mom-and-pop shops impossible to stay in business, the onus is on fans of comic book culture to preserve local comic book stores and the endangered printed single-issue comic book.
Without these endearing printed single issues of comics – those elaborately plotted, impeccably illustrated, stapled sheets of recycled paper that have captivated imaginations month after month – there would be no billion-dollar grossing comic book film franchises, no Free Comic Book Day, and no comic book stores.
Just like how Record Store Day led to younger generations embracing the tangibility of music, comic book store owners hope events like Free Comic Book Day will help avoid a comic book store apocalypse. This constant engagement with fans and their continued patronage will save niche comic book stores from obsolescence and prevent the comic book industry from becoming just another provider of dispensable mass-market goods for retail outlets. Visit your local comic book shop today and pick up a comic book or two.
