The comics industry arrived in 2024 facing a lot of uncertainty. The pandemic boom was clearly behind us, but what would the new status quo look like? Would there be a shake-up of publishers, distributors and retailers? How would companies adapt to a less favorable media landscape, with superhero films facing headwinds?
We may be ending the year with more questions than answers, but here are five major trends that have helped shape business this year.
The Big Two have a creative bounce. Much of the fate of retail still depends on the success of Marvel Comics and DC Comics, the engines that bring fans back to stores week after week. After a lackluster 2023 with few big hits or compelling stories, both companies gave fans something to get excited about and open their wallets.
Marvel Ultimate Spider-Man was the first big success of the year, setting the stage for a year of strong success from the Ultimate Universe and books like X-Men And Loss. Marvel also successfully capitalized on the biggest comedy film of the year, Deadpool and Wolverinewith a bunch of fun links.
DC kicked off this summer with the DC Absolute and the fall DC while series, which were true “events” with a style and swagger we haven’t seen in a while. Enthusiasm appears to remain high for the resulting new series.
In short, both companies seem to have their big guns on full blast, and there is real fan enthusiasm for these books. These things work in cycles, so it’s probably unrealistic to bet that the revival will last indefinitely, but the business is healthier when Marvel and DC aren’t stuck in the mud.
Licensed books are killing it. Another positive for the company is that other publishers in and around the top 10 (whatever that really means these days in the absence of authoritative sales charts) are doing a remarkable job with licensed content. Some of the best and most popular content of the year can be found in licensed books, including those that have recently changed hands.
The reigning champion in this field is the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, whose success supports IDW Publishing in otherwise difficult times. Skybound has taken over Hasbro licenses like GI Joe and Transformers, with good results. There’s also Godzilla, who starred in some DC crossovers earlier this year and is rumored to be roaming the Marvel Universe next year. Conan thrives at Titan Comics, alongside evergreen films like Star Trek, Blade Runner and Doctor Who. Mad Cave Studios has reinvented almost century-old characters like Flash Gordon and Dick Tracy with strong creative teams.
Dynamite Entertainment, in particular, has built a strong publishing business around producing unlikely or undervalued licenses like their Hanna-Barbera titles (Space Ghost, Jonny Quest, ThunderCats, Herculoids) into fun titles, alongside proven winners like Red Sonja, Vampirella and their long-running series Army of Darkness. Dynamite even managed to keep Disney and Warner Bros happy simultaneously.
Licensed comics can be easy to take for granted and, in the worst cases, become pits of mediocrity. However, at present, publishers, readers and creative teams take them seriously, which is not only a good mid-tier for sales, but also a starting point and source of income for creators during that they develop their own original work.
No more problems at the distributor level. While many expected BOOM! Studios for sale, few had PRH on their bingo card as a buyer. What does it mean that the massive book publisher and emerging comics distribution powerhouse is now also in the periodical comics business? Hard to say in the long term, but the short term impact is that BOOM!, one of Diamond’s last pillars, has predictably jumped ship to PRH, hitting the company with yet another bad news at a time when it is already facing crisis. closure of one of its two warehouses and other headwinds (see “PRH takes over BOOM! Distribution“).
Because of Diamond’s historic commitment to comic book retailers and publishers at all levels, not just the big guys, any further deterioration would be very bad news for the company, even if Lunar and PRH could take the relay. Can newcomers handle the scale and complexity of the business? Are they flexible enough to provide the high-end service that comic shops need and that Diamond strives to provide, even if imperfectly? Spoilers for my next 2025 predictions column, but I think this might be a bigger issue next year.
A slow year for manga and children’s books? The rise of manga and graphic novels aimed at children sold in the commercial book circuit has been the story of the last decade. Growth in both areas has eclipsed periodical comics, helped the commercial channel capture the majority of the roughly $1.86 billion comics market, and transformed publishers like Scholastic and VIZ Media in the industry’s 800-pound gorillas.
But as data shared at this year’s ICV2 Insider Talks revealed, momentum in this business sector may be waning (see “ICv2 White Paper“). Manga sales in particular showed a 21% decline in the first half of 2024, although it’s possible that dollar sales won’t fall as much.
On the young reader side, so much of the market is driven by Scholastic in general and Dav Pilkey in particular that the success of these titles may hide rot elsewhere in the system. Mid-tier publishers that have invested in children’s books may struggle to replicate the results of Scholastic, which benefits from its unique brand and distribution channel.
WEBTOON goes public, bringing new attention to the digital space. WEBTOON launched its big IPO this summer, raising more than $315 million at a valuation of $2.6 billion. This is big news for the South Korean publisher of vertical-scrolling digital comics, user-generated content, and burgeoning entertainment franchises like Knowledge of Olympus. It’s also the kind of story that brings more corporate attention to the space in general.
DC and Marvel have both stepped up their own efforts in the vertical scrolling space, and digital platform Global Comix has also invested heavily in put the comics sector on its side by reformatting older content.
But has this trend in the industry reached a ceiling? WEBTOON’s share price collapsed over the summer and the stock is currently down 35% from its IPO price, while the stock market as a whole is experiencing a historic rise. WEBTOON’s competitors are also sending mixed signals amid falling numbers in their home markets in Northeast Asia, as highlighted by local media. describing it as a “crisis”. Perhaps in 2025 we will get a few more data points to determine whether this change is real and, if so, whether it is related to content, the company’s business model, or factors related to the medium it supports. -even.
Naughty and nice. When the dust settles in 2024, I think we’ll find that the company will end in better shape than it started. It’s not all smooth sailing, given how many retailers still face headwinds, but the trends that are most contributing to the health of the industry look favorable over the past year.
Will this continue in 2025? I’ll talk about it in my Annual Forecasts section next time. In the meantime, everyone have a fun and safe holiday. I hope Santa brings everyone all the treats and gifts you were hoping for!
The opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the ICv2.com editorial team.
Rob Salkowitz is the author of Comic-Con and the Business of Pop Culture and a two-time Eisner Award nominee.