Forum - View topicUS comic industry in 2011
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Ushio
Posts: 630 |
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In 2011 there were available 23,945 individual volumes combined of both western and eastern comics total US sales 11,692,058 volumes sold.
http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=36900 Manga only In 2011 there were 8991 individual volumes that in total sold 5,690,327 copies. That is down from 11,323,487 volumes sold in 2007. Yep it is that bad. |
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BonusStage
 Posts: 307 |
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its generally agreed 2007ish is the peak
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vashna
Posts: 1313 |
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While those numbers do seem disappointing, they also seem to suggest that somewhere close to 49% of all graphic novel volumes sold in the United States in 2011 were actually some form of manga.
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Moomintroll
 Posts: 1600 Location: Nottingham (UK) |
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49% of graphic novels sold through bookstores - the figures don't include sales through comic shops, which obviously trend more towards non-Japanese comics (and they don't include sales of comics in floppy, magazine or digital formats - only full-length books, which further skews the figures towards manga). |
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vashna
Posts: 1313 |
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Then again, I wonder what influence digital content would have on the statistics. I know that some foreword-thinking web comics are starting to sell various eBook releases, but on the other hand, we've been talking a lot on the ANN forum lately about how Viz Media and Yen Press have been really pushing for electronic manga releases. Maybe the ratio would remain pretty much even regardless?
Speaking of floppy comics, I remember seeing that Drive Thru RPG is selling PDF eBook releases of Witchblade. By that, I naturally mean the American Witchblade comic. I thought that was pretty smart on their part, as well as on Top Cow's part. |
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BonusStage
Posts: 307 |
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floppys don't have shelf life like books do, though. |
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vashna
Posts: 1313 |
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That's very true; in fact, we were just talking about the fact that floppies are often recycled or trashed in the Shonen Jump Alpha thread.
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Paploo
Posts: 1875 |
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Manga magazines get recycled in Japan in the case of the more popular mags- they are made of super cheap paper, and meant to be recycled/tossed and replaced with book formats. But periodical comics aren't disposable here- they tend to have glossy or otherwise archival paper, and can be easily stored and re-read thanks to proper sorting systems [I have some DC/Marvel comics from the 70's/80's that are a little frail since they were done on newsprint but otherwise okay. And any of the "deluxe" format comcis from the 80's made with the glossy thick stock a lot of pubs use nowadays are nigh indestructable] |
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skafreak51
 Posts: 211 |
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The comic industry sucks in general right now. The fact that near 50% is manga makes me happy, so I can't complain. I blame the pirates, but also, realize that MUCH less is being published now than a few years ago, and yes. 2007 was the peak of manga in the US.
It does scare me how much changes in just a few years though... It scares me even more that I'm 22 and I refer to a few years ago as the "good old days." I am gonna be one grumpy old guy. |
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vashna
Posts: 1313 |
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In a weird twist of fate, I was recently reading that around 75% of comics currently published in Germany and Austria are manga. As a German speaker, I often read websites about various issues in the German-speaking world, and I know very well that Germany has long had a surprisingly small indigenous comics industry. However, this still came as a surprise to me. Maybe one of our friends from continental Europe can either confirm or deny this, but it would put an interesting spin on the rest of this conversation.
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HandGrave
Posts: 7 |
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I find this really interesting. Do you know what genres and titles are most popular?
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Tamaria
 Posts: 1512 Location: De Achterhoek |
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Well, the big three Shonen Jump titles, of course. Detective Conan does well, too, but not as well as it did in 2000-2005, back when it was one of the biggest, of not the biggest, manga titles in Germany. Which means a lot in Germany, because big titles can sell over a million copies in a year. Inu Yasha, Sailor Moon and Dragonball were best sellers too, back then. Actually, the new edition of Sailor Moon is reclaiming its top position in the bestseller top 10s.
I guess there's a bit more seinen, but the majority of German manga readers is female. Vinland Saga and Homonculus are available in German, in case you're wondering. Uhm, what else... BL is pretty big. Oh and Tokyopop Germany is alive and kicking. That's where you'll find the German editions of Bleach and A Bride's Story, for instance. |
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Lokarunith
 Posts: 30 Location: Portugal |
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SOOOO TRUE!! A standard US edition is really crappy when compared to the original. I have a good amount of manga in spanish and when comparing a standard manga edition of both US and Spanish, the US version seems like trash. The paper is recicled, yellowish and has lots of texture, the image sometimes gets darker than the original loosing detail, it doesn't have a dust-cover (and in manga that's important, because it allows you to open the book as much as you want to see double spread pages without having to display a creased spine), sometimes images are enlarged and croped a bit at the corners and color pages are printed in B/W. The only thing that a normal US edition has better than the spanish is the size, they're a little bit bigger. Who would blame the scanlations if they are better than the printed version? I mean, it's the official version who looks like a bootleg, don't you see the irony? Last edited by Lokarunith on Wed Aug 15, 2012 5:09 am; edited 1 time in total |
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vashna
Posts: 1313 |
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I'm actually curious about the influence of the Avatar: the Last Airbender Promise comic volumes on the domestic market right now. I remember reading that the first one was actually one of the best selling books of any category a few months ago. I'll also admit that I was one of the buyers and that I can't wait for the next release. Regardless of the debate as to what degree Avatar is influenced by anime, I wonder if those sales will help to encourage the sales of Dark Horse manga offerings. They might at least redirect readers to the Dark Horse website if nothing else. I should probably note that I bought some Dark Horse comics shortly after I bought the first Promise volume anyways.
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TitanXL
 Posts: 4036 |
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Topping a monthly comic chart isn't that impressive in this market, unfortunately, especially for a comic that is based on or has a TV show (see: why Walking Dead does so well, or why Buffy Season 8 did so well back in the day) , which is usually what kind of series top the charts. Though speaking of Walking Dead, it didn't release a new volume that month (or the month before for that matter) which is probably why it didn't hit #1. Actually none of the usual top dogs published a volume that month, which might be why Avatar hit the top, it was the only real release for that month.
Though ignoring that, one series isn't exactly going to revitalize comics. Walking Dead hasn't, and it's been around much longer and is much bigger with more staying power. The industry needs more than just "hey, this one comic does alright". Sort of like how even without One Piece, the top comic in Japan the Japanese manga market does fine. If it was just One Piece and everything else only sold a few thousand volumes, the market wouldn't be much of a a market. You need overall growth and popularity, not just one or two blips on the radar. |
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