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Our annual report is out! Comics and graphic novel sales topped $1.2 billion in 2019, according to a new estimate by @ICv2 and @Comichron. Dramatic growth in graphic novels in the book channel, plus some growth in periodicals in comics shops. The report: https://bit.ly/2019ComicsGNs
That's an 11% increase over sales in 2018. Print comics sales (comics and GNs combined) had never before topped $1 billion in current dollars, and one has to go back to the boom of the early 1990s to find sales at or above that level when adjusted for inflation.
This year we began accounting for comics shop purchases of graphic novels from distributors other than Diamond; we also started removing sales from Diamond's North American warehouses to destinations off the continent. It nets out about the same for Direct Market size.
The report doesn't seek to say much about the state of the market in 2020, other to say that the industry was coming off a strong year.
That's meaningful: had the pandemic struck in early 2018 after 2017's down year, many businesses would have been in a different cash position.
That's meaningful: had the pandemic struck in early 2018 after 2017's down year, many businesses would have been in a different cash position.
This marks the seventh year for our annual reports with ICV2; during the past few months our research at Comichron has ranged from sales in the 1960s to the 1990s to (as you can see!) 2019.
As always, you can support the work we do via our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/comichron
As always, you can support the work we do via our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/comichron
