Comics are Growing!
If, like me, you grew up reading comics in “The Direct Market,” which is comic specialty shops with a wide selection and back issues, typically, then you grew up in a golden age of Marvel and DC superhero comics.
For many of us, that was the only comics market we ever knew. In the late 1980s, I remember Dark Horse Comics coming onto the scene with black and white comics featuring licensed comics of some of my favorite movies–TERMINATOR, ALIENS, and PREDATOR. And it cracked a door open for me.
From those, I started wondering what else was out there. I quickly discovered a whole other line of comics that included Comico Comics and DYNAMO JOE and indie books like DINOSAURS FOR HIRE.
In the 1990s, seven of Marvel’s biggest artists at the time left Marvel to form Image Comics, which again, brought me away from Marvel and DC.
If you’ve been paying attention to sales figures and pundits on the direct market, you either think it’s booming or collapsing. And, I don’t know for sure, but maybe it’s doing both? I know that doesn’t make sense, but that’s a column topic for another time.
There are definitely signs of struggling in the direct market. A lot of shops have been closing in the last couple of years and recent months. Fewer buyers of comics, means fewer fans getting comics, and lower sales for publishers, making it more difficult to create profitable comics.
But if only there were some other market that could help a publisher succeed.
Well, it turns out that there is. There are a couple of other markets actually, including Manga which has exploded and the one I’m going to talk about now–YOUNG ADULT GRAPHIC NOVELS.
Direct Market stores carry them as well, but sales of them take place largely in bookstores and online. They also tend to let go of the single issue, monthly release format and go straight to the book.
MIDDLE GRADE GRAPHIC NOVELS are also booming. Many publishers have opened up imprints specifically to serve this market. DC Comics recently put out several YA graphic novels to, as I understand it, huge success.
The market has been growing and the bulk of new fans of comics in general are coming from the YA and Manga scenes. But here’s the thing, making comics for the YA and MG markets isn’t as easy as just slapping a label on a book or changing your art style to something more open.
These books are going into the book market, which means there’s more regulation. The comics direct market doesn’t have any regulation (we used to adhere to the Comics Code Authority but that’s gone, and probably best forgotten). But in the book market, putting out a YA or MG book means very specific things.
That makes creating a YA or MG book much more difficult. I run into a lot of clients who haven’t done the research and don’t know what the requirements are for these books, they’ve just created something they think is kid friendly. But there’s a whole process and it involves a lot of content concerns to determine reading levels. Something the book market is very big on.
What we’ve done at Comics Experience, is partnered with YA and MG graphic novelist Sarah Davidson to create an On Demand course that demystifies all of the technical aspects of creating for this market in addition to offering a clear guide and approach to creating your own YA or MG book. The course is heavy on the creative, but I wanted to highlight the nuts and bolts of how it helps people navigate the complexities of the YA and MG markets.
We believe that Introduction to Young Adult and Middle Grade Storytelling is your essential guide to this booming market and art form!
And this week, as it launches, it’s on sale for 30% off it’s regular price. Get it while it’s hot (and cheaper)! You’ll be glad you did!
And that’s my two staples’ worth….
Andy
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