One of the common complaints from older comic fans is that the direct sales comics market has deprived kids of the experience picking up comics from a spinner rack. This is usually accompanied by some back and forth about how there are no kids comics any more. However,
Comic Book Resources writer Brian Hibbs posted a report on the 2015 Bookscan numbers that shows that kids comics (in the form of graphic novels) are actually outselling traditional superhero trades! Below, I've made a graph that tell the tale.
First up is this graph that shows the Top 10 Trades on the Bookscan list broken out into groups (assigned by me - Kid, DC,
Walking Dead and
Persepolis )
Yep, that blue area is the sales of All Ages books in the the Top 20. Below are the actual figures. I've highlighted the All-Ages material.
| Sales |
Title |
| $4,935,546.00 |
DORK DIARIES 10 |
| $4,146,845.00 |
DORK DIARIES 9 |
| $3,985,855.00 |
THE WALKING DEAD: COMPENDIUM V3 TP |
| $3,628,975.00 |
THE WALKING DEAD COMPENDIUM V1 TP |
| $2,900,612.00 |
DRAMA |
| $2,732,964.00 |
THE WALKING DEAD: COMPENDIUM V2 TP |
| $2,638,094.00 |
SMILE |
| $2,411,436.00 |
SISTERS |
| $1,614,781.00 |
DORK DIARIES 1 |
| $1,282,346.00 |
KRISTY'S GREAT IDEA: FULL-COLOR |
| $1,257,734.00 |
BATMAN: THE KILLING
JOKE HC |
| $1,233,792.00 |
CAN'T WE TALK ABOUT SOMETHING MORE PLEASANT |
| $1,175,771.00 |
HYPERBOLE AND A HALF |
| $1,165,833.00 |
CIVIL WAR TP |
| $1,163,843.00 |
PERSEPOLIS 1 |
| $906,026.00 |
JEDI ACADEMY |
| $896,842.00 |
BIG NATE: SAY GOOD-BYE TO DORK |
| $869,005.00 |
BIG NATE'S GREATEST HITS |
| $815,071.00 |
DORK DIARIES 9 TALES FRO B&N EDITION |
| $802,175.00 |
EL DEAFO |
What's also interesting is the gender makeup of the Top 20 Sales leaders. While we often read about how there is a lack of diversity in the big Two comic companies (and the industry at large I suspect), there is no denying that the All-Ages book market is playing by different rules. Check out this graph.
As a father of a daughter I can testify to the popularity of both the
Dork Diary series by
Rachel Renee Russell and the books
Smile, Sisters and
Drama by
Raina Telgemeir. The Telgemeir books have a nice style we can all appreciate:
What's most interesting is that while this list is made of up book store numbers, my daughter and her friends get their books
straight from their school at bi-monthly book fairs.
How it works is that her teacher hands out a sheet with new and popular books on it.(see example below)
The kids take the sheet home, show their parents what books they want. The parents can then send a check back with the form for the books they've agreed on. A few weeks later the books show up at the school. Now, that's a
direct market!
While I'm discussing the topic, I would like to alert readers to a new All-Ages book coming out this week written by friend of the Flashback Universe,
David Gallaher:
The Only Living Boy: Prisoner of the Patchwork Planet
This is a collection of the issues that I've been reading on Comixology, and I've really been enjoying it. To me, it feels like a cool mashup of
Jack Kirby's Kamandi,
Baum's Oz Books and
Micronauts (mostly because of the incredible design work artist
Steve Ellis brings to the table.)
So, if you're one of those people looking for something cool to share with your kids, I would definitely encourage you to check out the first book!
Have a great week!
- Jim
