Free Comic Book Day has just passed us by, but Comics & Graphic Novels are still in the limelight in this instalment of our Subject spotlight series.
It’s not the first time this subject category has taken centre stage lately — Comics & Graphics Novels was one of the subject areas that was talked about in the recent Tech Forum presentation Emerging trends: Book subjects on the move in the Canadian market, led by BookNet Canada’s project manager Monique Mongeon and product coordinator Hannah Johnston.
In collecting data for our recently released Canadian Book Consumer Study 2021, we discovered that 7% of Canadian book buyers purchased a comic or graphic novel in 2021. The vast majority of these purchases were print books — 50% paperback and 31% hardcover.
And these purchases were intentional — almost half (45%) had planned to buy the particular book they bought at the specific time of their purchase, while another 30% had planned to buy the particular book they bought, but not necessarily at that specific time. These numbers are higher than for the entire group of Canadian book buyers we surveyed. Out of all Canadian book buyers, 39% had planned to buy the particular book they bought at the specific time of their purchase and 25% had planned to buy the particular book they bought, although not necessarily at that specific time, in 2021.
How have Comics & Graphic Novels been performing in the Canadian market so far this year?
Below, we’ll take a look at the sales and library circulation of Comics & Graphic Novels in the first quarter of 2022, with the help of our SalesData and LibraryData services.
Buying Comics & Graphic Novels
Canadian book buyers' interest in Comics & Graphic Novels titles continued to rise in the first quarter of 2022. Compared to 2021, the overall sales of Comics & Graphic Novels titles were up 59% over the entire quarter.
Looking at the graph below, sales of Comics & Graphic Novels titles trended up during the first quarter for both 2021 and 2020. From January to March 2022, sales of Comics & Graphic Novels titles increased by 44%. Sales of Comics & Graphics Novels in the first quarter of 2021 saw less volume, but a bigger increase in sales — up 82% from January to March.
The first quarter of 2022 also saw big increases year-over-year in many of the 23 Comics & Graphics Novels BISAC subcategories, especially:
Non-Fiction / Comics & Graphic Novels / Religious — up 22,127%;
Non-Fiction / Comics & Graphic Novels / LGBTQ+ — up 127%; and
Non-Fiction / Comics & Graphic Novels / Crime & Mystery — up 79%.
From January to March 2022, the most purchased Comics & Graphic Novels subcategories were:
Non-Fiction / Comics & Graphic Novels / Manga — 84% of all Comics & Graphic Novels sales;
Non-Fiction / Comics & Graphic Novels / Superheroes — 6% of all Comics & Graphic Novels sales; and
Non-Fiction / Comics & Graphic Novels / Media Tie-In — 2% of all Comics & Graphic Novels sales.
Borrowing Comics & Graphic Novels
The library circulation of Comics & Graphic Novels titles during the first quarter of 2022 tells a different story. From January to March 2022, library loans and renewals of Comics & Graphic Novels titles were down 6% and 15% respectively from 2021.
Loans and renewals of Comics & Graphics Novels titles trended down for the most part in the first quarters of both 2021 and 2022, shown in the graph below. The loan of Comics & Graphic Novels titles began 41% higher in January 2022 than in January 2021 but dropped 39% by February 2022. Over the entire first quarter of 2022, loans decreased by 12%. Renewals for this subject category had a similar trajectory from January to March 2022, down 23% over the entire quarter. The first quarter of 2021 was different for the library circulation of Comics & Graphic Novels titles. Over this quarter in 2021, loans steadily increased 37% from January to March, while renewals decreased 5%.
Which Comics & Graphic Novels BISAC subcategories were the most popular in Canadian libraries? From January to March 2022, these subcategories saw the greatest increases in library circulation compared to 2021:
Non-Fiction / Comics & Graphic Novels / Religious — loans up 890% and renewals up 88%;
Non-Fiction / Comics & Graphic Novels / Erotica — loans up 141% and renewals up 122%; and
Non-Fiction / Comics & Graphic Novels / Reference — loans up 133% and renewals up 100%.
During the first quarter of 2022, the most circulated Comics & Graphic Novels subcategories were:
Non-Fiction / Comics & Graphic Novels / Manga — 54% of all Comics & Graphic Novels loans and 52% of all Comics & Graphic Novels renewals;
Non-Fiction / Comics & Graphic Novels / Superheroes — 19% of all Comics & Graphic Novels loans and 20% of all Comics & Graphic Novels renewals; and
Non-Fiction / Comics & Graphic Novels / Literary — 3% of all Comics & Graphic Novels loans and 3% of all Comics & Graphic Novels renewals.
Reading Comics & Graphic Novels
These are the top selling and top borrowed Comics & Graphic Novels titles in the first quarter of 2022.
Top borrowed
Naruto series by Masashi Kishimoto
Bone series by Jeff Smith
Bleach series by Tite Kubo
My Hero Academia series by Kohei Horikoshi
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba series by Koyoharu Gotouge
Top selling
Jujutsu Kaisen, Vol. 1 by Gege Akutami
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba, Vol. 1 by Koyoharu Gotouge
Jujutsu Kaisen 0 by Gege Akutami
Chainsaw Man, Vol. 1 by Tatsuki Fujimoto
The Stranger in the Lifeboat by Mitch Albom
Until next time!
Stay tuned for future instalments of this series or sign up to our eNews for more digestible data on the Canadian book market.
You can easily request advance reading copies (ARCs) on CataList.