There are only a few days left in this year, so let’s take a look back!
IS THE INDUSTRY HEALTHY NOW?
The year 2021 was much better for the comics industry than 2020 was! We saw a lot more books being sold, although we’re not back to pre-pandemic numbers.
I actually saw a few new comics shops opening up, and that’s always a good sign! On the flip side, we saw more stores close their doors. We don’t ever want to lose ANY if we can help it!
Delving more into numbers, Marvel continued its dominance when it comes to sales. DC remained in second place, with Image in third. Its going to take something of galactic proportions to change that, apparently.
Indie comics continued to rise, and that included several companies. There are too many to mention, but it was a good year for the smaller comics producers as they kept turning out quality storytelling!
Crowdfunding also remained an important part of the making comics, probably even more than in previous years! This particularly helped those creators not part of the Big Three, as they are called by many. I think those involved in this practice got even better at running campaigns, including making videos and promoting their books by social media. If customers are interested in helping creators make things happen, that’s a good thing, in my opinion!
Speaking about social media, that part of our lives continued to be more and more important when it comes to getting the word out about comics and upcoming projects. The old adage remains true for comics creators—you often have to spend 50 percent of your time making books and then the other 50 percent promoting what you’ve done and looking for new work.
Interestingly, the distribution part of the industry saw some pretty big changes. Lunar continued to rise while Diamond lost several companies. The thing I’m watching closely is the development of Penguin as a distributor of Marvel’s comics. Without that Marvel discount, many stores are having to shop around, setting up accounts in several companies rather than using only one. I would again argue that most stores already were ordering from several distributors when it comes to gaming and toys and such although many of them said they only ordered from one. Yes, some did only order from just one, but those days seem to be in the past now.
This year was not a good one for comics-related product like statues and action figures and such. Much of that part of the industry spent a lot of 2021 working on figuring out how to move forward. I got a new Batman bust this past week, one of the very few I got this year. When I asked who made it, I didn’t recognize the company’s name. It wasn’t DC, so maybe they have started farming out this part of things.
Rightly or wrongly, conventions started to come back in later 2021. Using social distancing and masking, big cons like NYCC and C2E2 returned as well as some of the smaller, more local conventions. I know several creators who were literally champing at the bit to get back to selling their wares to the fans in a person-to-person manner. We’ve also seen a lot of signings and other events at local shops.
A YEAR OF STREAMING
One of the biggest developments of 2021 was the ascension of streaming when it comes to video (does anyone still use that word anymore?). Everybody added a plus to their names and made fans become customers so they could ask them to make monthly payments.
The most fascinating part of all this has to do with presenting films via these “plus” organizations. For instance, Wonder Woman’s latest film as well as many of the Marvel movies appeared on streaming services as well as in theaters. Given the pandemic’s development of various strains that have kept many of us away from big gatherings, that’s helped bring money into their digital coffers. If you want to see big budget motion pictures, you almost have to subscribe to their “plus” streaming services. (I never get why they call it “plus” since they often mostly present only some new content, but mostly feature previously available materials. Oh, well.)
One thing the streaming services have done is help fans who missed some films or shows to catch up on what they may have missed. For instance, I have been able to watch “old” Batman animated movies I haven’t seen in a long time on HBO Max.
A big change when it comes to streaming is that Thursday is now a more important day of the week. Many new programs, including Young Justice: Phantoms and Star Trek: Discovery, release original episodes on that day. Many people wait until the weekend to view them, but some of us can’t hold out that long!
It’s also something I’m curious about when it comes to making viewing and reading more suited to our schedules instead of showing them on specific days and us building our time around them. I watch “new” episodes of The CW’s superhero shows a day later just because I’m so busy that I want to wait 24 hours so I can watch them without or have reduced commercial interruption, as they say. Do other fans do the same thing? I rarely watch “live” TV anymore! Of course, we still have to pay for that privilege!
Eventually, I see “live” TV going away, replaced by streaming services completely!
Digital comics continue to be the primary source for some fans getting their comics, but it seems that digital platforms remain steady, not increasing.
NOW WHAT?
Next week, I’ll talk about where I hope the industry will go in the coming year. I can tell you right now that I hope comics will continue to evolve and grow as an entertainment avenue.
So, is the industry back now? No, sadly, it really is not. And it still may take a while before we get to that point. I honestly don’t think things were all that great when the pandemic hit, though, so we need to take advantage of the good and the bad so we can improve comics in the years ahead.
However, I remain optimistic about comics and the related industries. This year wasn’t as much of a leap forward as I would have liked, but we did make progress! Thank goodness for that!
What do you think? Do you watch “live” TV these days? Or have you converted over to streaming? What advances do you think were made in 2021 that will help the comics industry move forward? Did we take steps backward as well? Whatever your thoughts, be sure to share them in the space below!
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Wayne Hall creates the Wayne's Comics Podcast. He’s interviewed Scott Snyder, Greg Capullo, John Layman, Kyle Higgins, Phil Hester, Jimmy Palmiotti & Justin Gray, David Petersen, Christos Gage, Mike Grell, and Matt Kindt. On this site each week, he writes his "Comics Portal" column (general comics comments and previews) and reviews comics.