{"id":14514,"date":"2014-12-30T21:23:45","date_gmt":"2014-12-30T21:23:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/2023.biowars.com\/?p=14514"},"modified":"2023-03-06T12:20:43","modified_gmt":"2023-03-06T12:20:43","slug":"comic-trends-2014-mean-2015","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/2023.biowars.com\/blog\/comic-trends-2014-mean-2015\/","title":{"rendered":"Comic Trends in 2014 (and what they mean for 2015)"},"content":{"rendered":"

There were plenty of exciting, funny, and just plain spectacular comics to read in 2014\u2014almost too many for ordinary mortals to get through. With everyone compiling their best-of and must-read lists for 2014, what\u2019s the bigger picture for comic books at the end of 2014 and beyond?<\/p>\n

Sales were way up<\/h3>\n

Everywhere you looked in 2014, an entertainment industry was in trouble. It seemed like no one was paying for music downloads (let alone CDs), buying books, or going to the movies. So you might think comic book sales would be suffering too. But you would be wrong.<\/p>\n

Comic books are enjoying boom times. Estimated sales through North America\u2019s top comics distributor were just short of half a billion dollars<\/a>. July 2014 was the biggest month for comic sales in recorded history<\/a> (which, to be fair, only dates back to 1997) with North American sales exceeding $53 million. That record was broken in October 2014, when sales ran up to $56 million. And the numbers don\u2019t just reflect a shift to digital\u2014print sales are also rising<\/a>.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s behind the trend? One factor is the popularity of movies based on comic books\u2014the biggest comic of July was Rocket Raccoon, a Guardians of the Galaxy <\/i>spinoff. So even as memorable comic book characters are getting people to the movies, great movies are introducing people to comic books.<\/p>\n

Not only that, but the audience for comic books is more diverse than ever before, and comic book publishers big and small are learning to cater to them. Which leads us to the fact that …<\/p>\n

2014 was the year of the female reader<\/h3>\n

Comics are increasingly popular with female readers, and 2014 has been declared<\/a> the year that feminism conquered comic book culture. Whether or not that\u2019s premature, it is clear that 2014 was a great year for compelling female lead characters.<\/p>\n

BOOM! Studios debuted Lumberjanes<\/a>, about five teenage girls crushing monsters at summer camp. DC took us to a Gotham City prep school in Gotham Academy<\/a>. Ms Marvel<\/a> was rebooted in 2014 with its superhero as a Muslim, Pakistani-American teenage girl, a move\u00a0that has been very successful. And the new She-Hulk<\/a> has also been well-received, in which Jennifer Walters tries to balance being an attorney, being a superhero, and having green skin. The response to these comics would have been hard to imagine even a few years ago.<\/p>\n

Comic book movies got bigger and bigger<\/h3>\n

Comic book movies have been going strong for years. But 2014 showed us how big they\u2019ve become\u2014and how much bigger they might get. Earlier this year Marvel became<\/a> the most successful franchise in movie history, surpassing Harry Potter. In October, both Marvel and DC announced schedules of movies<\/a> that will keep audiences entertained until 2020. Marvel\u2019s chief says its movies are being planned out<\/a> to 2028.<\/p>\n

Some of the details are sketchy (Unannounced Female Character Spider-Man Movie, anyone?), and not everyone<\/a> is thrilled, but audiences show no signs of losing interest.<\/p>\n

So what does 2015 hold? None of these trends show any sign of slowing down. There will be more movies\u2014many more movies. The increasing diversity of comics’\u00a0audience will soon be reflected by\u00a0the first lead superhero of color, and both DC and Marvel will have films starring female leads in the next few years. And these trends are likely to feed back into strong comic book sales.<\/p>\n

Oh, and Biowars<\/a> will be back, as well.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s hoping 2015 is even better for comics than 2014. Happy new year!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There were plenty of exciting, funny, and just plain spectacular comics to read in 2014\u2014almost too many for ordinary mortals to get through. With everyone compiling their best-of and must-read lists for 2014, what\u2019s the bigger picture for comic books at the end of 2014 and beyond? Sales were way up Everywhere you looked in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":14517,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[522,61,152,167,47],"tags":[39,358],"yoast_head":"\nComic Trends in 2014 (and what they mean for 2015) | Biowars<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Find out what trends will shape the comic book industry in 2015 and beyond!\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/2023.biowars.com\/blog\/comic-trends-2014-mean-2015\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Comic Trends in 2014 (and what they mean for 2015) | Biowars\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Find out what trends will shape the comic book industry in 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