While much ado has been made about 2014’s direct market slump (which I am going to guess will be reversed when it’s revealed that April 2014 was huge), one thing that has stood out is Image’s continued ascent. As a publisher of creator-owned comics, their growth has been a huge part of the direct market’s development and the expansion of comics into a more accepted art form in bookstores. That latter point was reflected in this week’s Best Sellers list at the New York Times, as Image titles took a stunning 7 of 10 slots in the paperback graphic books list.
Think about that for a second.
One publisher – not even one of the Big Two – took 70% of the top 10 list slots, with two books – the TV show enhanced “The Walking Dead” and the hyper successful “Saga” – taking six of those. All three volumes of “Saga” ranked on the list, even the Humble Bundle’d first volume, showing that bookstores just can’t get enough of Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples’ fan favorite.
The weirdest thing about it though is that, amidst the tweets and commentary I’ve seen people say about this very fact, I haven’t seen one person point out that this is the fifth week in a row that they’ve done this. Five straight weeks! That is truly astounding, and bravo to Image Comics to their continued success. They’re proof that sometimes making good comics means making successful ones as well, and cheers to the creative teams behind those books as well.
