By the Numbers
A look at some interesting numbers from the past eight years of single issue comic sales.
(This somehow went out to folks as a post you had to “pay” to see. Which is silly, because this Substack doesn’t even have a paid tier. Apologies. I’ve reposted this.)
I tried to start writing The Indirect Market almost a year and a half ago. I kicked things off by declaring the death of the direct market. My point was simple: the industry as we knew it had changed a while ago. The old ways were already gone, but people hadn’t noticed. I had the numbers to prove it.
Now, a year and a half later, I have a slightly different perspective - and not just because the numbers have done some interesting things. I will stand by the fact that the “direct market” as it existed, has been dead for years. There are new ways, and every single retailer worth their salt is utilizing them. We just use the term because it is an easy short hand for the bulk of comic shops. If we actually look at what the direct market was, it stopped truly existing when distributors came into existence. Semantics aside, it truly died with the meteoric rise of the graphic novel market over the past few years, alongside many comic shops abandoning the “direct market” structure for book distributors. And for good reason. But more on that another day. Today, we’re talking about some numbers. Specifically, these numbers.
At first glance, a lot of that is probable nonsense. I’m going to try and parse out a few bits for you folks. Top left, we have a listing of the amount of unique titles for single issue comics the direct market structure pumped out on any given year, along with the percentage change for each year. Right next to that, we have the total number of items offered in the “comic book” category in total - which is to say, the total number of variants and formats offered for each book. At the end of the top row, we have the amount of products per unique title. As you can see, it features the smoothest increase over time, with a slight decrease during 2018.
Now, on the bottom row, you have (what I think are) the most interesting numbers. They don’t include 2022 numbers because they truly don’t exist in a tangible format (yet, or maybe ever). First up, there’s the grand total of human moneys single issue comics have generated year to year, with the “m” meaning “million”. Next up, you have some extrapolations of all the numbers that have been presented so far. First, there is the amount of comics sold per item offered. And then, you have the amount of comics sold per unique title.
I know if you’re reading this, you’re either a pal, related to me, or deeply interested in the nitty gritty of the comic book industry. For those first two contingents, feel free to walk away at this point, because it is about to get more dry than this already has been.
Looking at those numbers objectively, you can see why the big comic companies heavily invested in variant covers over the past few years. There indeed was a period where variant covers didn’t seem to be having much effect, so the industry pulled back. That resulted in even worse numbers, so the industry responded by ramping up the production of unique covers and items. The results, as inarguable, as you can see the increased amount of products were far outstripped by the growth in dollars earned, and copies sold.
So when comic retailers complain about the amount of variants available to them, they don’t really have a leg to stand on. The results are right there. The numbers increase when they happen. To some, this proves the idea that the direct market is still in good form. To me, it proves that the direct market only exists through the power of collectors and not readers. Because when the industry tries to pull back on the variants, they are met with a wildly negative response. This means something.
Anyway. Feel free to look at those numbers and tell me what you think. Outside analysis is always appreciated, because it helps me grow.
Check back here on Monday for some talk about how the single issue is no longer the driving force of this industry, but more of a means to an end.
I don't know if it's a good idea for creators, but I feel like the best solution for the floppy->GN pipeline is not floppies, but patronage. A few bucks a month per reader via a subscription that gives the creators steady income while they show off work in progress, then the books gets published as a GN, then released digitally after three months?
This is heavily weighted towards those creators that don't mind running their own business, since that's what this subscription model rewards. It's not a replacement for the top five comics publishers, with the possible exception of Image, since it's essentially what they offer creators like Brian K Vaughan and Fiona Staples and Brubaker and Phillips. A floppy to GN pipeline that they don't have to run the whole business, just the production details.
I'd agree with your assessment that shops and customers love variants. I'd also agree with those retailers that are complaining. The difficult reality is that the shops complaining about variants are a small minority that are either not profiteering off of those "investor" customers or are profiting but realize that it's unsustainable.
I sold comics full-time during the gimmicks-cover '90s--I started right after the b&w implosion and stopped at the turn of the century--so this is just another step in the cycle. I think there are stores (like yours, even if I've never been in it) that build a business on readers and that is both the minority and yet much more sustainable. Will the industry ever learn? Only through burning off the profiteers, contracting to the customers who buy because they love reading the books, and rebuilding from there.
The biggest challenge I see for stores is the growing availability of digital comics. It is a capitalist problem of needing people to buy artifacts when talking about reading. What will the comic book store market look like when digital buying outpaces printed buying? I'd imagine the successful comic stores of 2040 will be much more like art galleries and community event spaces.
It's an untested theory that the growth of sales variant covers has two main factors. The first will be easier to test when/if 2022 numbers can be added to your list.
1. The economy was a major factor for the boom in "commodity" comics. Those items that were purchased for "investment." By the economy I mean two factors: widespread governmental fiscal support adding to disposable income for many; and the boom and peak of cryptocurrency values. This theory is bolstered by the fact that the price of "investment" collectibles boomed outside of comics (sports and collector cards, fine art, records, movie memorabilia, etc.)
2. The expanded reading of digital comics. If you have a digital version to read that is "good enough" for you, but you also want to own an artifact, all of a sudden a variant is a logical extension for readers. If (the royal) we haven't scratched our collector itch by just reading a book, then variants of a book we already know we enjoy make sense. And if I'm only buying a book for its artifact value, I might choose the "rarer" version to scratch that itch.
That's my two cents, but I'd be happy to sell you a version of this post with a blank sketch cover for $10.