Led by sales of the graphic novel format, total sales of graphic novels and periodical comics in the U.S. and Canada was approximately $1.09 billion in 2018, according to a joint estimate by trade news sites ICv2 and Comichron.
Although sales via the direct market (aka the comics shop market) were slightly down from 2017, the report noted that sales via the book retail channel (which includes chain bookstores, mass market retail, online retail, and Scholastic Book Fairs) rose by double digits, led by kids’ graphic novels.
So, why the big jump for kids’ graphic novels? Two words: Dog Man, published by Scholastic’s Graphix imprint. It’s important to understand the strength of this property, as Dav Pilkey’s Dog Man held not just the top spot in unit sales, but the complete top-six list. Books like Captain Underpants (Pilkey’s previous series) and Jeff Kinney’s Diary of a Wimpy Kid sometimes get categorized as graphic novels (though they aren’t in my analysis), but Dog Man is unambiguously comics. Graphix also publishes another kids’ graphic novel superstar, Raina Telgemeier (Drama; Smile; Sisters), whose books occupy slots 7-9. So, 2018 was Graphix’s year.
No wonder comic strip creators are trying their hand at juvenile graphic novels.