ICv2 White Paper 2023 - Direct Market at 50

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ICv2 covers the categories that drive pop culture
• Hobby games—TCGs, RPGs, miniatures, board and card games
• Comics, graphic novels, manga
• Showbiz and merchandise tied to geek culture properties
By Milton Griepp: MGriepp@ICv2.com
©2023 GCO, LLC. Do not reprint without permission.

On the web: ICv2.com

Via email: ICv2 Daily Insider

In print: Internal Correspondence

ICv2 Pro: For Serious Users and Supporters

Comics in North America
Direct Market at 50
October 2023

Today’s Topics
• Comics and graphic novel market overview
• Market by format and channel
• Graphic novels drill-down
• Direct Market drill-down
• Where next?

How We Build Our Model
• Circana BookScan Book Channel POS Data
– Subtract ComicHub data to avoid double-counting
– Delete titles miscategorized as graphic novels
– Account for book channel retailers not tracked by NPD, Canada
• Estimate for book fairs
• Estimates for crowdfunding and newsstand
• Comic store channel estimates built from trend analysis
based on ComicHub POS data and past market size
estimates from Diamond Comic Distributors analysis

2022 – The Covid Surge Crests
• Comics and graphic novel
sales hit $2.16 billion
• Up 4%, after 62% growth
in 2021
• First half 2022 better than
second half

2022 – Everything Slows Down
• Book channel,
comic channel up,
digital down
• Book channel
fastest growing
(up 6%)

How People Read Comics
• Graphic novels up more
(manga)
• Periodicals flat
(especially 2nd half)
• Digital down, with a note

Between the Covers
• Manga extends lead
• Kids back in school
• Superheroes still
(narrowly) 3rd
• (All across channels)
2021 Category
% Share
2022 Growth
Rate
2022 Category
% Share
Author 14% 10% 14%
Manga 44% 9% 45%
Superhero 14% 9% 14%
Kids 28% 2% 26%
Graphic Novel Sales by Content Category

Top Manga Franchises
• High cover price and lots of
volumes working
• One Piece now a thing
in U.S.
• Mostly
anime-driven
RANK TITLE PUBLISHER
1 BERSERK DARK HORSE
2 DEMON SLAYER: KIMETSU NO YAIBA VIZ MEDIA
3 ONE PIECE VIZ MEDIA
4 JUNJI ITO VIZ MEDIA
5 CHAINSAW MAN/TATSUKI FUJIMOTO VIZ MEDIA
6 JUJUTSU KAISEN VIZ MEDIA
7 MY HERO ACADEMIA VIZ MEDIA
8 SPY X FAMILY VIZ MEDIA
9 TOILET-BOUND HANAKO-KUN YEN PRESS
10 DRAGON BALL VIZ MEDIA

Top Kids Graphic Novel Franchises
• Slightly less
Graphix-dominated
1 DOG MAN GRAPHIX
2 BABY-SITTERS CLUB/BABY-SITTERS LITTLE SISTER GRAPHIX
3 HEARTSTOPPER GRAPHIX
4 FIVE NIGHTS AT FREDDY'S GRAPHIX
5 WINGS OF FIRE GRAPHIX
6 CAT KID GRAPHIX
7 FGTEEV HARPERALLEY
8 RAINA TELGEMEIER ORIGINALS GRAPHIX
9 INVESTIGATORS FIRST SECOND
10 I SURVIVED… GRAPHIX

Top Superhero GN Franchises
• Big Two dominate
• X-Men climbing
• How about that TMNT:
Last Ronin?
1 BATMAN DC COMICS
2 SPIDER-MAN MARVEL COMICS
3 TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES IDW PUBLISHING
4 X-MEN MARVEL COMICS
5 SANDMAN DC COMICS
6 STAR WARS MARVEL COMICS
7 WATCHMEN/DOOMSDAY CLOCK DC COMICS
8 AVENGERS MARVEL COMICS
9 SUPERMAN DC COMICS
10 NIGHTWING DC COMICS

Top Author Graphic Novel Franchises
• Webtoons top two!
• Invincible back with new
season
• Manhwa making
presence felt

Comics Direct Market – A Longer View

Comic Store Channel Growing
• Nearly doubled since 2010
• Inflation 41% in that time
• Comics up 40%
• Graphic novels 4.6 times as large

Top Suppliers to the Direct Market
Rank Publisher Market Share
1 Marvel 37.83%
2 DC 24.87%
3 Image 9.75%
4 IDW 5.04%
5 BOOM! Studios 4.18%
6 Dark Horse 3.24%
7 Viz 2.20%
8 Dynamite 1.76%
9 Titan 0.85%
10 Kodansha 0.82%
All Others 9.45%
Q3 Comic Store Market Share
ICv2 Analysis via ComicHub
Rank Publisher Market Share
1 Marvel 37.83%
2 DC 24.87%
3 Image 9.75%
4 IDW 5.04%
5 BOOM! Studios 4.18%
6 Dark Horse 3.24%
7 Viz 2.20%
8 Dynamite 1.76%
9 Titan 0.85%
10 Kodansha 0.82%
All Others 9.45%
Q3 Comic Store Market Share
ICv2 Analysis via ComicHub

2023 Trends –
Declines Across the board
• 2023 YTD graphic novel sales in book channel
down 19% in units, per Circana, via Kristen
McLean to ComicsPro
• Manga in book channel down 27%
• 2023 YTD graphic novel dollar sales in comic
stores down 7%
• 2023 YTD comic sales down 7%

Extending the Direct Market Trends
• Periodicals appear stuck
• Periodical format changing (price, frequency)
• Graphic novels can fuel growth
• Can the Big Two have a creative revival?

Extending the Direct Market Trends
for Graphic Novels
• Build community around creators, shared tastes
• Curation and authenticity
• Learning manga, kids, and webtoons
• Do comic stores need book terms to compete?

ICv2 White Paper 2023 - Direct Market at 50

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ICv2 White Paper 2023 - Direct Market at 50