That fact should be self evident enough by now, given the way the internet has given voice to many female fans of the genre. Icv2 has reported from the new york comic con insider sessions it sponsored at the. In a september breakdown, i looked at just female comic book characters and who were fans of them. In february, the facebook universe of selfidentified comic fans grew to a new high of over 24 million fans in the united states. Comics fans on facebook almost 45% women now and how publishers stack up torsten adair 120620 12. Watch comics by the numbers with brett schenker and the beat. Comic book publishingyes, just the business of selling printed comicsis a billiondollar industry. Percentage of total comic book sales for marvel comics 39.
She added, every comics reader demographic survey weve ever seen has 510% female. Gail simone poses with fans at the shanghai comiccon. Bookscans break down of modern comic book buying demographics. Gail simone poses with fans at the comiccon shanghai. The comic industrys struggle for gender diversity will. Diamond comic distributors, now with added bubble wrap.
Once i became an adult and realized i could buy comics weekly, i started visiting my local comic book shop regularly. Since ive been tracking these stats, thats the highest percentage of women recorded. Brett schenker did some fancy facebook fooling and compiled a few statistics about the people who selfidentify as comic book readers. But what alonso and marvel is seeing shouldnt be a shock at all when it comes to women and what interests them. The female thor and the female comicbook reader the atlantic. John jackson miller is an author of books and comic books, and he.
Conventions are, in their own way, a different type of retail space, and at another icv2 panel, titled the con explosion and moderated by comic editor and commentator heidi macdonald, several convention insiders presented more statistics about the comics audience, this time looking at the fans who go to conventions. This month, 1,194 new comic books and 391 new graphic novels and. The graph shows the share of adults who are fans of marvel comics in the united states as of april 2019, sorted by gender. The graph shows the share of adults who are fans of comic books in the united. Generally speaking, the word demographics doesnt crop up as much as it does today. Sam gaitan, an organizer and the cartoonist, said, i was a fan first. Theres been a great deal of debate about the comic industrys handling of diversity in its comics and characters, and a new study indicates how important that issue is to readers. Surprising new data shows comic readers are leaving. Is the average age of comic book readers increasing. However, in comic book stores, that rises to 72% male, and an older audience. Comments about diversity in superhero comics made last week by a marvel. Fantoms secondincommand, leah ly, wonders if marvels recent. Comments about diversity in superhero comics made last week by a marvel executive.