2021 Comic Sales Were ‘Up, Up And Away,’ At A Record $2 Billion

New data shows that comics publishing in North America grew at an unprecedented 60% clip year-over-year between 2020 and 2021, according to data shared by third party industry-watchers ICv2 and Comichron. Sales leapt from an already record-setting 2020 total of $1.28 billion to approximately $2.075 billion. That’s the highest total ever measured for sales of periodical comics, graphic novels and digital comics, with just about every segment of the market showing enormous growth.

The 2021 numbers surpass previous high points in the history of comics publishing. In 1993, at the peak of a speculator boom, sales hit $1.6 billion (inflation-adjusted). “The pricier product mix [even] puts 2021 ahead of what the colossal circulations of the early 1950s brought in, also adjusted for inflation,” said Comichron’s John Jackson Miller.

Typically, comics are sold through several different channels (specialty comic book shops, book stores, direct-to-consumer) and in several different formats (single issue periodicals, trade books, digital downloads).

Over the past decade, sales growth was led by graphic novels aimed at younger readers and manga, both of which were primarily sold through bookstores rather than comic book stores. That trend continued, with over $1.1 billion worth of comics sold through the trade book channel in 2021, nearly equaling the total of all comics sold through all channels in 2019.

This year, growth was across the board. “Sales were up across all types of retailers,” said Milton Griepp, president of ICv2. “Sales through comic stores were up 60% vs. last year and 34% vs. 2019; sales through the book channel, including book fairs (which were back in operation) grew at a blistering 81% pace. Digital growth, while slower, was coming off a gangbuster year in 2020 during the shutdowns.”

The strong sales helped local comic retailers bounce back from a challenging two years dealing with COVID closures, distribution issues and economic headwinds. Moreover, the industry made more money on fewer releases, suggesting higher sales volumes and higher price points on the material that came to market. “The comics shop market and the comic book format rebounded strongly, beating pre-pandemic unit and dollar sales numbers even with new release slates that had not yet returned to 2019 sizes,” Miller said.

Griepp said one factor helping to drive single issue sales could be the booming collectibles market, with comics and artwork selling for record amounts. Collectors try to get ahead of the curve by paying extra for variant covers or buying multiple copies of new comics expected to increase in value due to the debut of new characters or story points. Those factors can increase retail sales and revenues without necessarily increasing the volume of customers in this segment of the market.

Recent changes in distribution have made is difficult to size the market without inside knowledge and expertise. ICv2 and Comichron refined their methodology for estimating sales, using higher quality point-of-sale data from ComicHub an NPD Bookscan to measure sales through to consumers rather than sales into stores from the distributor, as was the case before. To estimate digital sales, Griepp says he interviewed people in the business to ascertain year-to-year differences. He also noted the digital numbers are only for “download to own,” the model used by services like Amazon’sAMZN
comiXology, and do not account for digital subscriptions or comic-based apps such as Webtoon or Tapas.

No matter how you slice it, 2021 was the best sales year in comics history.