COVID-19 and Comics
It’s been 5 years since the world shut down due to COVID-19. This global event rocked the world and one unlikely side-effect was a surge in new comic book readers.
Some industry experts use the pandemic as a reference point for critical growth in comic book sales, but how long can this metric serve as an indicator for long-term success?
At the 2024 New York Comic Con, press were invited to the ICV2 “Insider Talks” to learn about comic book sales, trends, and industry health.
What stuck with me was the sales reference point from the perspective of pre and post-pandemic growth. The newfound interest in comic books during lockdown made sense. People had free time, comics (and books) gained deeper and new followers, as well as offered a nice source of escapism from the horrors on the news happening around the world.
(To clarify, 2020 had supply chain issues and the market faced a downturn, however, 2021 saw a surge in new readers according to ICV2 because of consumers getting into comics during lockdown.)
2021 may have seen a rise of new readers, but using this data point connects to a problem I find with the industry: Comics often advertise like Coca-Cola does. Much like the carbonated syrupy soft drink, comic book marketing is about reinforcement and keeping brand loyalty—but not creating new consumers. Stay with me here.
For Coca-Cola, marketing is easy. The product is everywhere, so consumers can recall an ad and choose their beverage accordingly. Their message is about persuasion to consumers who are aware the product exists and are likely open to consuming it. For comics, I find that ads are often limited to local comic book stores to perform the same function. However, my question is: How are new readers being created?
How can the industry produce new fans if often marketing appeals to consumers who are already interested in the product? Like I mentioned with Coca-Cola, I find that marketing for comic books is about reinforcement. You likely won’t see a poster for a new comic book series outside of a comic book store. But those individuals are already open to picking up a comic, so what about non-comic book readers?
This is not a dig at publishers or meant to incite negative feelings, but it’s a notion I believe the industry needs to take more seriously. As someone who is passionate about comics (I made a whole site out of my love for indie comics!), I am worried the lack of a concerted effort will put the industry right back where it was in 2019.
And no, I am not talking about comics being “woke.” For anyone banging on their keyboard ready to argue and spew vile bigotry—Pages and Panels isn’t about that divisive bullshit and you’re free to exit the browser.
As someone with an MBA, I’m looking at the industry and trying to sort how to move past this business problem. I genuinely want comic books to succeed—but I am not certain the current approaches are working.
I do believe that influencer marketing has likely helped the industry—and if BookTok got Barnes and Noble to make a comeback, I am certain comics had a part in that as well.
What I think it boils down to is a larger discussion about how comics are perceived. Reading a book—any book—is considered more “high-brow” compared to comics, despite the fact that both can incorporate rich layers and themes that challenge readers.
Marketing a comic book while also trying to sell its legitimacy sounds difficult, and likely why advertising falls more in line with how Coca-Cola markets, as mentioned earlier.
(I would like to note this does not absolve publishers from utilizing their marketing budgets—especially for smaller creators. That still needs to happen. At a minimum, publishers should have ads at major book chains.)
What I believe has to happen (in addition to publishers reworking their marketing strategies) is almost a discipleship of the medium.
You, yes, you, the comic book reader, has to do your part to get more people into comics. There is a comic book out there for everyone. Creating new fans at a community-level requires comic book readers to be open to new and diverse comics to have an arsenal of recommendations for non-readers.
Comic book fans can’t expect to see growth if we don’t encourage potential new fans to partake in the medium.
I am not saying everyone should attempt to become an influencer—although applause to those who have gained thousands of followers from their love of comics—the industry certainly needs them. Rather, I am saying we all have to find one person at a time and get them interested in the medium, and then keep doing that until we die. (Kidding.)
But to put it into perspective, Absolute Batman #1 sold 400,000 copies and was the top selling comic of 2024 according to Screen Rant. If each of those consumers got 4 new people to get into comics over the course of a year—or 1 person every few months—the medium would have a whopping 1.6 million new readers from just Batman fans alone.
This is speculation and I don’t think the answer is actually that simple, however, I believe that if comic book readers want the industry to grow, it’s really up to us—the fans. So you have your goal: 4 new readers by the end of the year. That’s it.
For current comic book readers, thanks for checking out this piece and for any non-comic book readers on this page, please get into the medium, I’d like to hit my quota for the year.