ICv2, the “top source for information on the business of pop culture products” (anime and manga; graphic novels and comics; games; movie/tv licensed products; and toys), reported at the New York Comic Convention (held this weekend) on comic and graphic novel sales for 2006. Their data reveal that, for the first time, graphic novels outsold traditional format comics. Graphic novel sales “through retail stores in the US and Canada were $330 million last year, compared to $310 million in sales of comic periodicals.” That $640 million total is the highest since the early 1990s.
According to Publisher’s Weekly, there were about 2,800 book-format comics published in 2006, which is a 12% increase from the previous year. About 1,200 of them were manga titles, and just under 1,000 were American genre comics. About two-thirds of the graphic novel sales were through general bookstores, with the remaining third from comics shops.
Milton Griepp, CEO of ICv2, expects more growth in the graphic novel segment, due in part to plans of big-name prose authors (such as Laurell K. Hamilton and Stephen King) to release comics work.