The Times of India runs an interesting article that’s one part Virgin Comics update and two parts chamber of commerce-style plug for comics as a growth industry.
I don’t discount that comics could explode in India; I don’t know anything about the market there. What I find most interesting about the article is the figures it presents:
1. Comics are expected to grow into a $1.3 trillion industry worldwide over the next decade.
2. “India today is home to sales of 5 million English comic books annually, and together with all the vernacular languages, the figure would cross 30 million.”
3. “In US, sales of graphic novels grew by 45% last year, and in UK the market has doubled since 2003. Much of the growth in both territories has come from the emergence of comics out of Asia.”
4. “According to estimates, 70% of comic book sales will emanate from Asia in the next one decade, and majority of the sales will be from India and China.”
None of those numbers is attributed, so I don’t know how accurate they are. Still, they’re interesting.
August 19th, 2006 at 7:53 pm
“1. Comics are expected to grow into a $1.3 trillion industry worldwide over the next decade.”
One point three *trillon* dollars??? Holy #$@&!
No question that comics have a future in India, especially with the emergence of a middle class there in the last couple of decades. Comics aren’t quite as cheap as movies, so you probably won’t get everyone reading them, but the potential is there for massive sales since there’s something like two hundred million people who can be considered “comfortable” enough economically to buy things like comic books.
But will they be American style books, European style graphic novels, or Japanese style phone books? That, I think, is the question that prospective publishers should ask themselves.
August 20th, 2006 at 3:30 pm
Hmm, traditionally comic books have come in the form of digests collecting various stories of different, but recurring, some continuity-based character. Aside from Phantom, who was widely popular, and Mythology based Comics, they were rarely serious.
Over the past 5-6 years, the same Indian folks behind Virgin, started reprinting popular Marvel and DC books, and did pretty well. The only problem I see for Virgin, is the fact that they’re trying to sell the smae books both in the States and in India.
Problem is, although it’s maturing quickly, the average audience is still getting used to serious, complex stories, and are also getting easily distracted by the recent introduction of JapAnime and other compelling foreign and local TV shows.
But still, here’s hoping Virgin suceeds…