Viz Manga Sales are Destroying DC, Marvel in Comic Market

New York City Comic Con (NYCC) is a great place to see the latest comics and catch up with your favorite artists. While fans enjoy festivities, many retailers and industry members join panels to learn the latest trends in the marketplace.

Journalist Heidi MacDonald of Comics Beat took to Twitter to share some revelations and changes that the industry is undergoing.

First, Viz Media is quickly becoming a big game player as they have overtaken DC and Marvel. It’s strange thinking that 10 years ago insiders were claiming that manga couldn’t grab an audience in the States due to rampant piracy.

(GNS stands for graphic novels and you can see Viz Media in bright green in the chart below)

Comics

Image via Comics Beat

 

The broad picture painted is that the graphic novel audience is getting younger thanks to chain retailers (Target & Wal-Mart), online marketplaces, and book fairs. Basically, younger people have more access to graphic novels and are buying them, in contrast to older fans.

 

Another big thing is how people are buying graphic novels, comics, and manga. Specialty shops are becoming a dying breed as shoppers flock to chain retailers and online shops, like Comixology.

 

It’s interesting to see how different male and female shoppers buy comics. Despite the pop-culture trope that comics are a male-oriented hobby, about a third of buyers are female.

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Aaron Magulick has been a fan of anime ever since being exposed to it in the late '90s. A fan of nearly all genres, he is not afraid to explore the creepier side of the industry.
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