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Stephen Weiner On How Comics Will Survive The Economy’s Downward Spiral
posted December 17, 2008
 

I'm a little late on this but I've been thinking about your questions about how comics will survive in this downward spiraling economy. I think a major area of support will continue to come from readers who are either addicts or borderline addicts, who won't wait for trade volume and will want to buy comics on the monthly installment plan. I've talked to two retailers whose stores I frequent. One of them is seeing an increase in sales of monthly books about 2%, while the other is seeing no rise at all. Now this doesn't seem like much of an increase but when you compare it to the losses places like Borders & Barnes & Noble are experiencing, the immediate future looks stable for comic book sales. Depending on what direction big publishers go with their graphic novel imprints--there are only so many Bone books & Jimmy Corrigan's out there--the comic book store model dependent on monthly issues will probably shore up support for the comics industry as the economy twists & turns. I find myself buying more monthlies than I used to. They are expensive, but they're also fun.