I only caught this now, but Fortune has an article on “old-fashioned [comics] publishing” and how it’s helping Marvel. A lot of interesting numbers here.
A favorable piece — though there is that line that comics shops are “one of the most archaic distribution systems in existence.” One might note to the author that those shops arose to replace a certain distribution system that’s even older: the traditional newsstand, which is where most copies of Fortune are sold, come to think of it…
[Edit: Of course, by “copies sold” I mean to say single copies — not subscription copies. Although increasingly, subscriptions at mass-market magazines doesn’t mean direct revenue, either, given all the promotional subs out there. Newsweek, which I have handy, reported 87% paid in its Statement this week, as compared with most comics, which are in the high 90s. I’d be interested in seeing the trendline for that stat.]
Comichron founder John Jackson Miller has tracked the comics industry for more than 25 years, including a decade editing the industry’s retail trade magazine; he is the author of several guides to comics, as well as more than a hundred comic books for various franchises.
He is the author of novels including Star Wars: Kenobi, Star Wars: A New Dawn, Star Trek: Discovery – The Enterprise War, and his upcoming release, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds – The High Country. Read more about them at his fiction site.
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