Once upon a time comic books ruled nerd culture in North America. Marvel and DC were the two giants that trudge throughout the world and conquered all fandom. Nerds and geeks alike gather around these two giants to celebrate the very hobby that outcasted them from society.
However, as the ages passed a new rival came compete for the fandom of comic books and cartoons. It was called Manga. Its popularity has been rising since 1970’s and it wasn’t until 1990’s that the cartoon shows based on Manga went on live television on Cartoon Network. Some say that Dragon Ball Z and Sailor Moon were responsible for the popularity of anime and manga in America but we can only speculate.
Hey everyone, I hope you liked our little introduction. We though it would be fun to add some humor.
However, it is true my friends that manga is outselling comics at least here in North America and there is a very good reason why. The main reason for this was distribution. In the early 2000’s (Damn I feel old saying that.) Most fans found manga volumes at conventions, Barnes and noble as well as Borders. However, since ecommerce has been dominating the scene, Borders went out of business and ended up closing many locations. I don’t know if they are still around but they are as gone as Circuit City was. Barnes and Noble is still going strong but the only reason they are still around is because of they have a good online presence.
With ecommerce being more beneficial and convenient for consumers many people order their books and stuff only. Also back in the Comic Books were obviously more popular and easy to find. There were comic book stores left and right.
As the internet blew up and ecommerce went through the roof with online sales, it made it easier for anime fans to buy merchandise online. Back then anime merch was still hard to find, even toys. Only the popular anime would have their merchandise widely distributed such as Dragon Ball Z and Sailor Moon. (No I am not adding Hello Kitty to the mix)
Even with the internet age and websites like Amazon.com and Ebay conquering web sales, manga was still a shadow in the community. Comic books still ruled. Granted by mid 2000’s there were so many conventions by this time.
Thanks to Toonami and Anime News Network popularity continued to rise however, manga sales and merchandise were still not as popular. Anime News Network had been around since 1998 and been delivery news from Japan as well as the anime channel itself. Back then this was the only channel available but thanks to the internet they have been updating the anime community in the west.
Also lets not forget about Shonen Jump. Shonen Jump brought awareness to a lot of anime to the west. The manga allowed subscribers to view manga chapters that have not even been released in North America before. Shone Jump was the go to magazine for manga. From Naruto, One Piece and even Baki the Grappler.
I wanted readers to know that although anime and manga have been out for about two or three decades, its only recently that Manga has outsold comic books. I mean when one Dragon Ball Super volume outsells a Superman comic book you know something has changed.
First I like to talk about ebooks and how the ebook revolution started. Ebooks have been around since the late 1990’s. They are not new but have been used before. Ebooks have existed the form of PDF files. However, it was not until Amazon.com created the first ereader that they actually blew up in popularity. Amazon created the electronic reading device called the kindle in 2007. After the release of the kindle people bought ebooks like crazy and the world of publishing changed. Many people were able to self published a novel at the push of a button (My self included)
This opened the door not only for novels to be distributed digitally but also for comic books. Why do you think that ebooks outsell paperback books. Well think about it.
Ebooks are more convenient. You can buy them at the push of a button. It will be delivered to your reading device in less than a minute and you can start reading right away. As oppose to a paperback, you have to drive to the book store, pull out your credit card. Or if you order online, guess what, you have a wait a few days before it arrives to your home address.
Thanks to the Amazon kindle reading device, it created more opportunity for authors. Then comic book companies started publishing their work on the kindle and other reading device. You can go to comixology.com to buy digital comic books.
Now, I dont understand why many Japanese companies are so stubborn when it comes to distribution over seas but even when going digital it took them a while to adapt. That is why Comic books were ahead of manga in sales. Comic books adapted rapidly. Like I said, this change happened recently.
Once Japanese companies caught up with the digital distribution of their manga the game began to change. I even bought manga on my Amazon Kindle Fire.
So now you had digital comic books and digital manga. So what caused manga to outsell American Comic books. The answer is Viz Media. Click here to read the source.
Viz Media with their online distribution has helped sell more manga than book stores do. This is true. 10 years ago people would say that manga would never catch up due to piracy online and just look at it now.
Also lets not forget that thanks to the internet younger people can buy more stuff online rather than just older people. This is also what helped BOOM the manga sales. Because before only parents had access and older fans could spend money on comic books and manga but now the younger generation can buy as well(mostly with their parents money).
They dont have to wait for their parents to drive them to the book store. And lets not forget that manga tends to attract a younger audience.Is the teenagers that read most of the comic books and manga, in this case more manga. Lets not forget retail chains are dying out thanks to online sales. Like I said earlier in this article, Borders was once a HUGE book distributor and retailer now they are just a whisper in the wind.
Also, manga attracts more females. Since comic books are mainly for boys, manga is well balance. Manga appeals to both boys and girls and according to statistics, females love to shop more than boys. This is a fact, not a theory.
Also people are able to buy manga that they always wanted or heard about before. For example, thanks to Viz Media, The Berserk manga sales reached over a million in America. Thanks to online sales through Viz Media.
This is a game changer. Dragon Ball Super manga sales will continue to overshadow comic books since its popularity continues to grow and more and more young fans can buy online.
