These days, when I talk to retailers and publishers, there’s a palpable but measured excitement for our industry.
On the one hand, nearly everyone is having a spectacular year. I have talked to retailers in the past week who are posting 27-48% growth in their stores over last year, and these aren’t brand new stores. These are stores with decades of experience. I just got off a call with another who is switching from weekly to daily reorders just to stay ahead of the curve. That’s for single issues and graphic novels both. In the past, when one is on the rise, the other falls.
Behind that excitement is an understanding that this could be a blip. It could be the covid years. We could be seeing a momentary confluence of economy and interest. And, like I said, these are people who have been through the lean and the fat years. So, they are watching very closely for when to take the foot off the gas and coast.
But, I have my doubts that this is a bubble because of one simple fact: Dogman is 9 years old.
An entire generation of kids who were raised on graphic novels went from being 8 or 10 years old are now 17 and 19 years old. They are getting their first jobs. They are looking for places to be with friends. They no longer have to quit comics to get dates.
It’s a good time to be making and/or selling comics, is what I’m saying.
Namaste y’all,
-A
The News You Need:
Here’s our news briefs for the week. This is the stuff that’s got our interest, and some of the news we think you should be interested in:
Antarctic Press, Korero Press & Class Comics, Hit By New U.S. Tariffs.
Antarctic Press, Korero Press, and Class Comics, comic book publishers that have been hit hard by the new U.S. taxes and tariffs, speak out about how the bureaucratic confusion and unpredictable fees impact both U.S. and international comic shipments are affecting their businesses.
Ad Hoc Reminds The Court Who Owns The Comics Diamond Wants To Liquidate.
The Ad Hoc Committee has filed new paperwork to emphasise, in relation to other filings, that the consigned inventory of comics that the Diamond Debtors are aiming to liquidate belongs to the comic book publishers, not the bankrupt estate of Diamond, or Sparkle Pop/Ad Populum.
Mark Spears’ The Monster & The Wolf Blind Bags Gets 350,000 Orders.
Mark Spears’ The Monster & The Wolf Blind Bags, published by Keenspot, received over 350,000 orders from comic book direct market retailers.
GalaxyCon LLC Announces Sweeping AI Art Ban.
The ban applies to all GalaxyCon shows, including: GalaxyCon, Nightmare Weekend, Animate!, and Superstar Comic Con Conventions.
ICV2 Insider Talks and Comic Industry Social Hour at New York Comic Con.
ICv2 will host an industry event for business and creative professionals, the ICv2 Insider Talks: The New World of Comics and Comic Industry Social Hour on Thursday, October 9, with special guest speakers, CEO of Universal Distribution, Angelo Exarhakos, CEO and co-founder of Vault Comics, Damian Wassel, Aethon Books owner and President, Steve Beaulieu, and editor-in-chief of Eisner Award-winning website ComicsBeat.com, Heidi MacDonald.
Was there a story that we are missing? Let us know by reaching out to info@pranadm.com!
- Megan
Next time on CII Live:
🚨Don’t miss next week’s edition of Comic Industry Insiders on Tuesday at 2 pm EST🚨
Next week’s episode: Introducing Ignition Press: Murder Podcast & a Bold New Publisher
Missed the show this Tuesday, and you’re just dying to know exactly what is going on with FCBD for 2026? Learn all about what we know so far by watching it here!
Comic Industry Insiders Featured Episode
Blind Bags, Live Selling, and The Future of Collecting with Jack DeMayo.
Prana Client Update
The Book of Jusko is live on Kickstarter with 12 days to pledge! Don’t miss your chance to own a copy of this 230+ page book that collects some of Joe Jusko’s legendary comic artwork, brought to you by Desperado Books. Click here to pledge now!
The Kickstarter for REKCAH Comics’ The Future Is Origins HC goes live on Tuesday! Click here to be notified when it is live!
Tyler Mane sat down with Daily Dead to discuss his graphic novel, The Last Spartan: Red Tape, available to preorder from Lunar Distributors now!