It’s official – The comic book industry is growing again. At least, that’s what ICv2′s Comic Market Size Analysis for 2012 believes:
For 2012, the market in both channels was up 5% at mid-year, behind robust comic store growth and an 18% first-half decline in bookstore sales of graphic novels… Declines in the book channel have two unusual causes: the Borders shutdown, which means that current numbers without Borders are being compared to numbers which included aggressive inventory liquidation sales in Borders last year; and the DC fight with Barnes & Noble and Books-a-Million, which led to DC’s top 100 backlist titles being off the shelves of the two chains during the first half of 2012. The second half is expected to be better. Manga sales in bookstores were down 35% in the first half of 2012, as the category most affected by the Borders liquidations in 2011.
The analysis also estimates that the digital market tripled compared with the same period last year.
