Comic Book Sales Declining AND THAT’S A BAD THING

More comic book sales data arrived, painting a negative outlook for American comic shops. Marvel and DC are leading a declining industry despite more awareness and notoriety of superheroes in history. And this is all very bad news. DC Comics have been hit especially hard. If their sales trends continue (thankfully they likely won't), Image Comics will pass them as the number 2 publisher of periodic comics in North America. It's that bleak right now for DC Comics. Wes breaks down 2023's overall sales trends and explains why you can't paint a nice picture. Comic book sales are declining and that's a bad thing!

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[cincinnatuscincinnatus]

Inflation is horrible! $20 and you are only going home with 4 books

[miguelgallegos]

All this troble can be traced to one problem: bad writing, the worst part is that the people in charge don't care that much.

[DavidSmith-dpvb]

The industry is also hiding behind the fact that so many of the graphic novels that are selling from Marvel and DC are old comics. There is a void of new material that has evergreen potential.

[robertchapman]

My local comic shop ‘Big B Comics’ in Niagara Falls Canada just announced it’s closing down due to dwindling sales.. it’s been there for years, it’s such a shame, I’m going to miss the place.

[GrantSchreiber-nztz]

Stopped ordering new comics entirely in January. The nine long boxes on unsold "new" comics actively repulse comic buyers, even at $1 each. Maybe in several more years, people will feel like $1 is an okay price for this stuff.

[teetoo]

Marvel and DC haven`t created a new major character in over 30 years, please don`t count derivatives like Red Hulk. Video games, animation and manga continue to create new characters.

[lerak]

The big issue is prices. $4.99, $5.99, or $9.99. I mean, c'mon. I overheard someone saying that they can't buy anymore because of prices. I trimmed my purchases.

[jonnjones]

This is why people are gravitating towards old stories and manga.

[marcinm]

Problem is also lack of information about sales of digital version of comics.

[aninternetguy]

Lack of sales is because there is a genuine shortage of talent in this industry. All the good artists either work in TV/Video Games and all the good writers work in TV/Movies. There's simply less money to be made in comics than other businesses.

[michaelsnyder]

I think they need more GAY characters, there are still 25% of the old comic book buyers that they have not run off. Maybe a mini series, called Spiderman "Anal Love" . I tink you can shave off another 10-15 % of the old guys that are hanging on.

[EvandroACruz]

Comics are very expensive in nowadays. Even here in my country is becoming more and more difficult keep my collections. Modern readers prefer mangas more than superheroes books because is more better written and have more compelling characters. DC are in very worrisome situation right now.

[billybarnett]

They guy who bought one of the oldest stores in my area a few years, got rid of his physical store. He does mail order and announces to subscribers where they can pick up their books.

[Essex__]

I just bought all Energon Universe comics issues currently available, going to enjoy my weekend reading most of em 😊

[secretwarsno]

Two of the oldest comic book stores in Australia just announced the closure of their retail stores. Dees Comics in Canberra - closing in a few weeks, and Fats Comics in Brisbane - closed last month. This is after a store in Melbourne (Incognito Comics) stopped selling new issues over a year ago - I think there was a video on this channel when that happened.

[HasturYellowSign]

If the comic book industry was healthy, they'd be crowing about how many comics they'd sell every single day. Also, the page rates would be much higher.

[RayEvans-jq]

As a child of the silver age, there were no comic shops! You had to go to your local convenience store and hope for the lates issue!
Brick and mortar stores need to get creative in drawing customers into their store!
Perhaps bringing confectionery products into the stores!
Customers are very fickle! You have get creative!

[arthurtripp]

Comic books have lost the impulse factor ie 711, Supermarkets, Newspaper Stands. Return to newspaper print to reduce prices.

[jasonhbush]

The juice isn't worth the squeeze in any current Marvel or DC titles. Skybound is one of the few worth buying IMHO.

[WarriorsforInfoTV]

My lcs owner told me he hasn't seen $3, 000 sales day since 2019. The pandemic was bad enough, but Marvel and DC certainly added on to the problems.