Expanding The Indie Comics Universe

Three independent comic book companies have recently announced new brand-extension ventures for their proprietary properties:

• Dynamite Entertainment said it was launching a high-end giclée art print program to debut in January. The first collectible prints will be based on Dynamite’s Vampirella, with other characters to follow. Dynamite ranks as the seventh largest vendor to comic book stores (the “direct market”) as of September 2018, according to Diamond Distributors, the primary vendor to these outlets.
• Valiant Comics, which is not a top-10 comic book publisher in Diamond’s rankings, partnered with VirtTrade for a digital collectible card game app under the Valiant Heroes name. The app will feature the company’s more than 2,000 characters in various forms (sketches, covers, panels, etc.). Some of Valiant’s comic book series include Faith, Bloodshot, Shadowman, and X-O Manowar.
• Zenescope, which also ranks outside of the top 10, licensed FanSets for collectible pins based on its properties. Some of its franchises include Grimm Fairy Tales, Van Helsing, Wonderland, Robyn Hood, and Belle: Beast Hunter. Zenescope joins other FanSets licenses ranging from Star Trek to Arrow to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.

Total comic book industry sales in all channels declined 6.5% in 2017, according to estimates released by ICv2 and Comichron. The trend seems to be continuing in 2018, at least in the comic book store sector, which has seen sales decrease 6.07% in the first three quarters of the year, compared to the same period in 2017, according to Diamond. (Results started to improve in September, however.)

Marvel and DC together hold a 68.92% share of the direct comic book market, as per Diamond’s calculations, with Image Comics coming in third at 10.13%. No other company has more than a 4% share.

That means that publishers outside of the top three not only are wrestling with lower industry sales overall, but that they must fight to stand out from the bigger competitors, which account for three-quarters of comic book store purchases and also dominate on shelf and in consumers’ minds. Brand-extension initiatives such as those listed here are one way to raise awareness. They also bring in new revenue streams, give the companies’ most avid fans and collectors something new to reward their loyalty, and perhaps even encourage new readers to give their comics a try.