News
Looking Ahead at New York Comic Con
NYCC sells 210,000 tickets as graphic novel sales continue to grow
N
ew York Comic Con 2019, held October 3–
at the Javits Center in New York City, sold
upwards of 210,000 tickets this year, accord-
ing to show organizer ReedPop. Against that
backdrop, ICv2 CEO Milton Griepp delivered his annual
white paper on the comics industry during Insider Talks,
an annual ICv2 conference held during NYCC; the high-
light of the report: graphic novel sales so far in 2019 are
up by “substantial double-digit” figures over last year in
the book retail channel (which includes bookstores and
online retailers).
Although there were more than 230,000 tickets sold
at last year’s NYCC, ReedPop event director Mike Arm-
strong said the number of fans attending the show has not
declined. This year, he noted, ReedPop returned to selling
four-day ticket plans, which it had eliminated last year. He
cited popular demand for the passes, which depress the
number of single tickets sold but not the number of fans
on the show floor.
There was also change at ICv2’s annual Insider Talks B2B
event. Usually held the day before NYCC, this year the event
was held at Pace University the day after NYCC. Titled The
Future of Comics in the Age of Streaming. the event show-
cased the retail market channels for comics and graphic
novels (bookstores, comics shops, and digital download) and
changing consumer taste and demographics of comics read-
ers.
This year’s ICv2 Insider Talks surveyed the steady
increase in graphic novel sales over the past 10 years; sales
have grown about 60% since 2009, though the rate of growth
has slowed recently. The event also examined the impact of
comics as “source material for all kinds of binge viewing,”
Griepp said in his opening remarks, which highlighted the
proliferation of streaming media and even merchandise—all
of which are driven by some connection to comics content.
“The entertainment consumption of comics has been driven
by streaming media, spurring even more consumer demand
for serialized works,” he noted.
In the white paper, which looks at sales and trends in the
North American graphic novel market, Griepp said that in
2019, children’s and YA graphic novels reflecting a wide
variety of genres have been more popular than superhero
comics, which had dominated American comics sales fordecades. So far this year,
he added, sales of manga
and kids’ comics are up
about 30% in the book
channel over the com-
parable period in 2018,
and up nearly 100% in direct-market comics shops. Graphic
novels aimed at middle grade and young adult readers, he
noted, continue to drive the overall growth of the comics
market in the U.S.
Griepp said he expects that, sometime in 2019, sales of
graphic novels in the book channel will surpass combined
sales of comics periodicals and graphic novels in the comics
shop market for the first time. In 2018, graphic novel sales in
the book channel were $465 million, and combined periodi-
cals and graphic novels in the comics shop channel were about
$510 million.
The popularity of graphic novels and manga for children
and teens, and the prevalence of comics as source material
for every other media, bodes well for the category. Griepp
cited works by Dav Pilkey, creator of the Dog Man series,
whose titles have sold more than eight million copies, and
Raina Telgemeier’s new book Guts, which sold 75,000 cop-
ies in two weeks. “Amazing things are happening in comics,”
he said. “It’s great for the future of the category and for6 PUBLISHERS WEEKLY ■ OCTOBER 14, 2019
Above: The floor at Javits was
thronged during NYCC 2019.
R.: ICv2 CEO Milton Griepp delivers
his white paper at Insider Talks.PHOTOSBY
JODY^ C
ULKINPHOTO^
BY^
CALVINRE
IDcontinued on p. 8