Comic book sales rise to their highest level since 1995

As movie studios crank out lucrative superhero movies, the comic books they are based on are also seeing sales rise.

Total sales reached $935 million in North America in 2014, according to a new estimate by Comichron and ICv2, two industry publications. Around $100 million came from digital sales.

The $835 million in print products sold was the biggest year since 1995 when adjusted for inflation, according to John Miller of Comichron.

The largest share of that comes from comic book store sales at $530 million, although book sellers accounted for around $285 million in sales of graphic novels and newsstands accounted for about $20 million.

Paul Doerfler, the store manager at Prairie Dog Comics in Wichita, attributes the continued success of his store and others like it across the country to the rise in quality comic book movies and TV programs such as “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” He said when Disney started making comic book movies, the company brought quality: It took the third-tier comic “Guardians of the Galaxy” and turned it into a billion-dollar franchise.

Just this past week, Doerfler said, he’s seen new interest in “Ant-Man” now that the movie is coming out on July 17.

While comic book sales accounted for about $375 million in total sales in 2014, total graphic novel sales were $460 million, a little less than half of which occurred at comic book stores, according to the new study.

At Prairie Dog, this means customers will buy trade paperbacks, which include 10 or even 25 comics in a single bound book, so that customers can follow a complete story line. Old comics would cost more to buy individually, but a trade paperback will frequently sell for $10 or $20. A book collection gives customers access to the old story lines without having to pay for the originals.

Doerfler said he’s also seen teachers come in during the past year to buy comic books to reach struggling readers. But kids under 21 are the demographic Doerfler struggles to reach the most. It’s not like when he was a kid growing up in Hutchinson, when he’d pile into a car with his friends to drive to Wichita to buy comics.

“We have to incorporate comics into the love of the younger generation,” said Doerfler, who estimates 75 percent of his customers were adults. “Pretty soon all the regulars will die.”

He recently managed to persuade a group of students at Trinity Academy to buy his favorite new comic books, the “Star Wars” reboot by Marvel. What was once just three high-school students has quickly turned into 10 who come every Wednesday, the day new comics come out, he said.

“It’s literally Christmas every Wednesday,” Doerfler said.

This story was originally published July 2, 2015 at 2:57 PM with the headline "Comic book sales rise to their highest level since 1995."