Comics column marks 20 years
This week marks 20 years since the Word Balloons column began appearing in the pages of The Oklahoman.
Over that time, a lot has changed in the comics market and related industries.
The website www.comichron.com estimates the entire 2001 North American market for comics was about $260 million to $285 million; the same site estimated those sales to be about $1.21 billion in 2019.
What those numbers will look like for 2020 after accounting for the pandemic is unsure.
The year 2020 was filled with change both in the comicshop market, as DC Comics twice shifted its distribution network, and the weekly delivery of comics was stopped for about a six-week period, marking a first in the directmarket method of comics retail, dating back to the 1970s. Comic stores locally and nationwide adapted to the pandemic while still serving their customers in a variety of ways both in-person and online. With large-scale comic conventions mostly shut down by the COVID-19 virus, comic stores became an even more important point of connection for fans.
Comics have grown in the bookstore market over the past two decades, and it remains a point of emphasis in 2021. Over the past two decades, there's been a strong growth in longer-form comics for children and teens. Creators, including Raina Telegemeier and Dav Pilkey, create comics for youth and teens that routinely top The New York Times bestseller lists. Manga, comics imported to North America from Japan, including “My Hero Academia” and “Demon Slayer,” are current bestsellers.
Comics' influence in other fields has grown, as well. In the movie industry, comic-book films have become regular blockbusters. In 2001, comicbook movies weren't seen as sure hits; in fact, 1997's “Batman and Robin” had seemed to sink the entire idea of big-budget comic films. The success of Marvel's “Blade” and first “X-Men” film hinted at what was to come, but the Marvel Cinematic Universe was still years away. Now, in 2021, the MCU has moved to streaming, with “WandaVision” on Disney+ and more to come. AT&T, which owns DC Comics, has moved many of the shows based on its characters to its HBO Max platform. And multiple shows based on DC Comics characters continue to find a home on the CW network.
DC attempted its own movie universe with somewhat more mixed success, but due to the pandemic, released its “Wonder Woman 1984” sequel on HBO Max simultaneously with theaters in 2020. The film set a pandemic record with a $16.7 opening weekend, while HBO Max reported nearly half of its retail subscribers streamed the film on its Christmas release date.
Comics likely will continue to be an inspiration for other media even as those media evolve; podcasts on both the business of comics and adventures featuring the characters themselves can now be found on multiple services.
What will comics look like another 20 years from now? It's hard to say. Some think the paper product will no longer exist; or maybe only the longer-form graphic novels will survive. I enjoy the traditional paper comic book so much that I hope this humble form that has inspired so much other media continues to find success, and the most recent sales numbers indicate there's a large audience that agrees. Whatever happens in the specific comics industry, the impulse of humans to marry pictures to art to tell compelling and dramatic stories won't go away anytime soon.