While Rodrigo likes to joke that Matthew and I are really old, a new study from Simba Information reports that 25% of adult comic book readers are 65 years of age or older.
“Despite notable efforts from many in the industry, comics and graphic novels continue to be repeatedly mislabeled as just another children’s book category,” said Warren Pawlowski, online publishing manager for Simba Information and an analyst within the company’s Trade Books Group. “With nearly a quarter of the comic reading audience beyond the age of retirement, there is a misconception that needs to be corrected.”
That’s a mighty large group of people who are buying, reading, and collecting comic books (not necessarily in that order). Does this mean publishers will need to find new ways to remain relevant to their older readers? Will we see Clark Kent having a one on one with his broker on what to do with his Daily Planet stock in order to prepare for retirement? Will Spider-Man discover his web-shooters aren’t firing as often as they used to? Will Tony Stark remind Ms. Marvel to take her multi-vitamin to help prevent osteoporosis?
While the Simba study is an interesting one, the bigger question is what is the age range of the other 75% of comic book readers? Does is skew in the same middle-aged range? How many young people (12-21) are reading comics? These are important questions the need answered, but I can’t tell you that information as the full report costs $1,295. It sounds like a fascinating report, but not ME WANT worthy at that price.
3 Comments
Oh wow 25% above 65… That’s awesome.
Oh wow 25& of comic readers likely wont be around in 2 decades… Less awesome.
So err how fast are we gaining readers…we are gaining right…holding the numbers then? OH FUUuuuu….
One Timelord on his 8th life skews the whole thing.
So much for the phrase “Not your grandfather’s comics.”