Sales of comics and graphic novels in the US and Canada hit an all-time high of about 2.2 billion US dollars in 2025, passing the COVID-era peak, as comic-shop sales jumped nearly 30% and closed in on 1 billion dollars (ICv2, White Paper 2026). That reversed a roughly 15-year run in which the book channel outgrew comic stores, and it lifted the market from 1.94 billion in 2024, which had risen 4.0% over 2023’s 1.87 billion (ICv2, 2025). The collectibles side set its own record: an Action Comics #1 graded CGC 9.0 sold for 15 million dollars in January 2026, the priciest comic ever (CGC, 2026). Meanwhile Diamond Comic Distributors collapsed into Chapter 11 and was sold, remaking the direct market’s plumbing. This analysis consolidates data from ICv2, Comichron, Circana BookScan, CGC, and 13 other primary sources covering the US and Western comics industry.
TL;DR
- US and Canada comics and graphic-novel sales reached about 2.2 billion US dollars in 2025, a new record (ICv2 White Paper, 2026).
- The market was 1.94 billion in 2024, up 4.0% from 1.87 billion in 2023 (ICv2, 2025).
- Comic-shop (direct market) sales rose nearly 30% in 2025 to close to 1 billion dollars, reversing a ~15-year trend (ICv2, 2026).
- An Action Comics #1 (CGC 9.0) sold for 15 million dollars in January 2026, the most expensive comic and pop-culture collectible ever (CGC, 2026).
- Diamond Comic Distributors filed Chapter 11 on January 14, 2025, and was sold to Ad Populum that June (Comichron; ICv2 2025).
- DC took the direct-market lead with a 32.6% comic-shop dollar share in Q4 2025, ahead of Marvel’s 29.6% (ICv2 / ComicHub, 2026).
- US graphic-novel unit sales rose 9.2% in 2025 to 25.9 million units after two years of decline (Circana BookScan, via Comics Beat 2026).
- Dog Man: Big Jim Believes sold 767,342 copies as the sixth best-selling book of any kind in the US in 2025 (Circana BookScan, 2026).
- Superman (2025) led comic-adaptation films with 615.2 million dollars worldwide (Box Office Mojo, via Collider 2025).
- San Diego Comic-Con 2025 maxed out at 135,000 attendees; New York Comic Con drew over 250,000 (City of San Diego; RX Global 2025).
- Kickstarter comics projects raised 46.5 million dollars in 2024 across 3,414 campaigns, the highest success rate of any category (ICv2, 2025).
1. Market Size: A New All-Time High
The headline number is the level and the direction at once. US and Canada comics and graphic-novel sales reached about 2.2 billion US dollars in 2025, outstripping the COVID-era highs of roughly 2.08 billion in 2021 and 2.16 billion in 2022 (ICv2 White Paper 2026; Comichron). What makes 2025 different is where the growth came from: the comic-shop direct market, not the book channel that had led for years. The market had dipped to 1.87 billion in 2023 before recovering to 1.94 billion in 2024, so 2025 represents a genuine breakout rather than a rebound.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| US/Canada comics and graphic novels 2025 | ~2.2 billion USD (record) | ICv2 White Paper, 2026 |
| US/Canada comics and graphic novels 2024 | 1.94 billion USD, +4.0% | ICv2, 2025 |
| US/Canada comics and graphic novels 2023 | 1.87 billion USD | ICv2, 2025 |
| Prior peak (COVID era) 2022 / 2021 | 2.16 billion / 2.075 billion USD | Comichron, 2022 |
| Comic-shop (direct market) sales 2025 | close to 1 billion USD, +~30% | ICv2 White Paper, 2026 |
| Graphic novels’ share of dollar sales 2024 | 76%+ | ICv2, 2025 |
| US comic book publishing industry revenue 2026 | 2.8 billion USD | IBISWorld, 2026 |
| Global comic book market 2026 (soft estimate) | 18.6-20.5 billion USD | Fortune Business Insights / Grand View Research, 2026 |
Treat the global figure as directional only: market-research firms diverge widely, from Fortune Business Insights’ 18.63 billion (4.75% CAGR) to Grand View Research’s 20.5 billion (8.9% CAGR) for 2026, because they blend physical, digital, and licensing in different ways. The audited US and Canada channel figures from ICv2’s 2025 White Paper and Comichron’s yearly sales tables are the trustworthy anchors; the IBISWorld industry estimate measures publisher revenue rather than retail sales, which is why it runs higher.
2. The Direct Market and Diamond’s Collapse
The direct market’s revival happened during the worst distribution crisis in its history. Diamond Comic Distributors, the near-monopoly middleman for comic shops since the 1990s, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on January 14, 2025, and was sold to Ad Populum in June 2025 (Comichron; ICv2, 2025). ICv2 estimated Diamond may still owe up to 70 million dollars to creditors, with small presses whose consigned inventory Diamond tried to seize hit hardest. Penguin Random House, Lunar Distribution, and Canada’s Universal Distribution have moved to fill the gap, and comic-shop sales grew anyway.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Diamond Chapter 11 filing | January 14, 2025 | Comichron, 2025 |
| Diamond sale to Ad Populum finalized | June 2025 | Comichron / ICv2, 2025 |
| Estimated Diamond debt to creditors | up to 70 million USD | ICv2 (Top Five Stories 2025) |
| Comic-shop dollar sales 2024 | +13.3% | ICv2, 2025 |
| Periodical comic growth 2024 | +12.2% | ICv2, 2025 |
| Direct-market comics growth 2025 | +30% | ICv2 White Paper, 2026 |
| Direct-market graphic-novel growth 2025 | +28% | ICv2 White Paper, 2026 |
| US comic book publishing businesses 2026 | 214 | IBISWorld, 2026 |
Diamond stopping its weekly reorder reports in September 2025 also ended one of the last public windows into unit-level direct-market sales, so channel tracking now leans on point-of-sale samples. Full detail on the ranked disruptions in ICv2’s Top Five Comics Industry Stories of 2025.
3. Publisher Market Share: DC Retakes the Lead
For the first time in years, the direct-market crown changed hands. DC Comics held a 32.6% comic-shop dollar share in Q4 2025, up from 26.9% a year earlier, while Marvel slipped to 29.6% from 33.3% (ICv2 / ComicHub, 2026). DC’s rise tracks almost exactly with its Absolute line, launched with Absolute Batman #1 in December 2024 and expanded across 2025. The swing is real but the sample is narrow: ICv2’s shares come from ComicHub point-of-sale data at 125-plus comic stores, not full-market distributor totals, which no longer exist publicly.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| DC comic-shop share Q4 2025 | 32.6% (No. 1) | ComicHub, via ICv2 2026 |
| DC comic-shop share Q4 2024 | 26.9% | ComicHub, via ICv2 2026 |
| Marvel comic-shop share Q4 2025 | 29.6% | ComicHub, via ICv2 2026 |
| Marvel comic-shop share Q4 2024 | 33.3% | ComicHub, via ICv2 2026 |
| Marvel / DC share, Q3 2025 | 36.6% / 29.5% | ComicHub, via ICv2 2025 |
| Marvel direct-market share, Spring 2024 | 38.9% (DC 21.6%) | ICv2, 2024 |
| Comic stores tracked by ComicHub | 125+ | ComicHub, via ICv2 2025 |
The longer arc is striking: Marvel led the direct market by nearly 17 points in spring 2024 and trailed DC by three points by the end of 2025, with Image Comics also gaining share into 2026. Quarterly detail at ICv2’s Q4 2025 market-share report.
4. Graphic Novels and Kids Comics
The book channel tells a different story from the comic shops: steadier, kid-driven, and dominated by one dog. US graphic-novel unit sales rose 9.2% in 2025 to 25.9 million units, recovering from an 11.5% drop in 2024 and a 22.4% fall in 2023 (Circana BookScan, via Comics Beat 2026). Kids graphic novels led the rebound with a 5% unit gain to 36% of the category, and Dav Pilkey’s Dog Man carried most of it, taking 13 of the 20 slots on the 2025 Kids Top 20. Manga’s own book-channel story, which returned to growth in 2025, is covered separately in our manga statistics for 2026.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| US graphic-novel unit sales 2025 | 25.9 million, +9.2% | Circana BookScan, via Comics Beat 2026 |
| US graphic-novel unit sales 2024 | 24.4 million, -11.5% | Circana BookScan, via Comics Beat 2025 |
| Adult / kids share of GN units 2025 | 61% / 36% | Circana BookScan, via ICv2 2026 |
| Manga in the book channel 2025 | +4.6% dollars, +8.1% units | Circana BookScan, via ICv2 2026 |
| Manga in comic stores 2025 | +33.1% | ComicHub, via ICv2 2026 |
| Dog Man: Big Jim Believes, 2025 US sales | 767,342 copies (No. 6 book overall) | Circana BookScan, via Comics Beat 2026 |
| Dog Man: The Scarlet Shedder, 2024 US sales | 1,266,780 copies (No. 3 book of 2024) | Circana BookScan, via Bleeding Cool 2025 |
| Horror graphic novels 2025 | +25% year over year | Circana BookScan, via ICv2 2026 |
Concentration is extreme: outside Dog Man, most of the Kids Top 20 also belonged to Scholastic’s Graphix imprint, and manga took all but one slot in the Adult Top 20. The anime-to-page feedback loop behind those manga gains is quantified in our anime industry statistics for 2026. Full charts at ICv2’s Full-Year 2025 Circana BookScan report and Comics Beat’s 2025 sales analysis.
5. Collectibles and Record Auctions
The gap between a 4-dollar new comic and a vintage key is now measured in eight figures. An Action Comics #1 graded CGC 9.0 sold for 15 million US dollars in January 2026 through ComicConnect, the most expensive comic ever and, per CGC, the most expensive pop-culture collectible of any kind ever sold (CGC, 2026). It topped a record set only weeks earlier, when a Superman #1 (CGC 9.0) found in a California attic realized 9.12 million dollars at Heritage Auctions in November 2025. Scarcity drives the numbers: roughly 100 copies of Action Comics #1 survive from an original print run near 200,000.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Action Comics #1 (CGC 9.0), Jan 2026 | 15 million USD (record) | CGC / ComicConnect, 2026 |
| Superman #1 (CGC 9.0), Nov 20 2025 | 9.12 million USD | CGC / Heritage Auctions, 2025 |
| Action Comics #1 (CGC 8.5), Apr 2024 | 6 million USD | CGC / Heritage Auctions, 2024 |
| Superman #1 (CGC 8.0, Mile High), 2022 | 5.3 million USD (private) | CGC / Heritage, 2022 |
| Surviving Action Comics #1 copies | ~100 of ~200,000 printed | Heritage Auctions, 2024 |
| Total comics graded by CGC (census) | 12 million+ | CGC Population Report, 2026 |
The record changed hands three times in under two years, a pace that mirrors the wider collectibles boom, where graded-comic supply and demand overlap heavily with the trading-card crowd tracked in our trading card statistics for 2026. Sale detail at CGC’s coverage of the 15 million dollar Action Comics #1 and the 9.12 million dollar Superman #1.
6. Conventions and On-Screen Comics
Comics’ cultural footprint dwarfs its retail one. San Diego Comic-Con 2025 sold out at its 135,000-attendee capacity and was projected to deliver more than 160 million US dollars in regional economic impact, including 96.8 million in direct attendee spending (City of San Diego, 2025). New York Comic Con went bigger on headcount, drawing over 250,000 fans across four days. On screen, Warner Bros.’ Superman led all comic-adaptation films of 2025 with 615.2 million dollars worldwide, and crowdfunding stayed hot: Kickstarter comics projects raised 46.5 million dollars in 2024 at the highest success rate of any category.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| San Diego Comic-Con 2025 attendance | 135,000 (sold out) | City of San Diego, 2025 |
| SDCC 2025 economic impact / attendee spend | 160M+ / 96.8 million USD | City of San Diego / Fox 5, 2025 |
| New York Comic Con 2025 attendance | 250,000+ (1,250 exhibitors) | RX Global, 2025 |
| Superman (2025) worldwide box office | 615.2 million USD | Box Office Mojo, via Collider 2025 |
| The Fantastic Four: First Steps (2025) | 521.4 million USD | Box Office Mojo, via Collider 2025 |
| Kickstarter comics raised 2024 | 46.5 million USD, 3,414 projects | ICv2, 2025 |
| Kickstarter comics success rate 2024 | 67%+ (highest category) | ICv2, 2025 |
| Transformers Compendium (2025) | 4.6 million USD (most-funded comics campaign ever) | Publishers Weekly, 2026 |
Fandom skews young and multi-platform, overlapping with the audiences in our Gen Z media statistics for 2026: SDCC 2025 taxes alone were projected at 3.2 million dollars for the city. Convention figures via the City of San Diego and RX Global’s NYCC 2025 wrap; crowdfunding detail at Publishers Weekly.
Summary: Comic Books by the Numbers
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| US/Canada comics and graphic novels 2025 | ~2.2 billion USD (record) | ICv2 White Paper, 2026 |
| US/Canada comics and graphic novels 2024 | 1.94 billion USD, +4.0% | ICv2, 2025 |
| Comic-shop (direct market) sales 2025 | close to 1 billion USD, +~30% | ICv2 White Paper, 2026 |
| Prior peak 2022 / 2021 | 2.16 billion / 2.075 billion USD | Comichron, 2022 |
| US comic book publishing revenue 2026 | 2.8 billion USD (214 businesses) | IBISWorld, 2026 |
| DC comic-shop share Q4 2025 | 32.6% (No. 1) | ComicHub, via ICv2 2026 |
| Marvel comic-shop share Q4 2025 | 29.6% | ComicHub, via ICv2 2026 |
| Diamond Chapter 11 filing / sale | Jan 14, 2025 / June 2025 | Comichron, 2025 |
| Estimated Diamond debt | up to 70 million USD | ICv2, 2025 |
| US graphic-novel unit sales 2025 | 25.9 million, +9.2% | Circana BookScan, via Comics Beat 2026 |
| Kids share of graphic-novel units 2025 | 36% (+5% units) | Circana BookScan, via ICv2 2026 |
| Dog Man: Big Jim Believes, 2025 US sales | 767,342 copies (No. 6 book) | Circana BookScan, via Comics Beat 2026 |
| Action Comics #1 (CGC 9.0), Jan 2026 | 15 million USD (record) | CGC / ComicConnect, 2026 |
| Superman #1 (CGC 9.0), Nov 2025 | 9.12 million USD | CGC / Heritage, 2025 |
| Total comics graded by CGC | 12 million+ | CGC Population Report, 2026 |
| San Diego Comic-Con 2025 attendance | 135,000 (sold out) | City of San Diego, 2025 |
| SDCC 2025 economic impact | 160 million USD+ | City of San Diego / Fox 5, 2025 |
| New York Comic Con 2025 attendance | 250,000+ | RX Global, 2025 |
| Superman (2025) worldwide box office | 615.2 million USD | Box Office Mojo, via Collider 2025 |
| Kickstarter comics raised 2024 | 46.5 million USD, 3,414 projects | ICv2, 2025 |
Methodology and Sources
Data was gathered in July 2026 by tracing each statistic to its original report, sales chart, financial disclosure, or auction result, cross-referencing market-size estimates across two or more firms and flagging soft or dated figures. Sources cited:
- ICv2 - White Paper: Comics and Graphic Novel Sales Reached New High in 2025 (2026), Comics and Graphic Novel Sales up in 2024, Q4 2025 direct-market share, and Top Five Comics Industry Stories of 2025
- Comichron - Comic Book Sales by Year (annual North American market totals and Diamond history)
- Circana BookScan - US graphic-novel and print-book unit sales, via ICv2’s Full-Year 2025 BookScan charts, Comics Beat, and Bleeding Cool (Dog Man 2024 sales)
- CGC (Certified Guaranty Company) - Action Comics #1 record 15 million dollar sale, Superman #1 9.12 million dollar sale, and the CGC Population Report; Heritage Auctions and ComicConnect for auction results
- IBISWorld - Comic Book Publishing in the US (2026) industry revenue and business counts
- City of San Diego / Fox 5 San Diego - San Diego Comic-Con 2025 attendance and economic impact; RX Global (ReedPop) - New York Comic Con 2025 attendance
- Box Office Mojo, via Collider - 2025 comic-adaptation worldwide grosses; Kickstarter, Skybound, and ICv2 via Publishers Weekly’s Kickstarter comics feature - comics crowdfunding
- Fortune Business Insights and Grand View Research - global comic-book market-size estimates (directional, methodology-dependent)
Data watch: ICv2 publishes its annual comics and graphic-novel White Paper in the first half of each year, with the next edition covering full-year 2026 expected in early 2027; Circana BookScan and ICv2 update graphic-novel charts monthly and full-year; Comichron logs monthly direct-market data; IBISWorld refreshes its US comic book publishing report annually; the CGC Population Report updates continuously; Kickstarter issues a year-in-review each winter; and convention attendance figures land after San Diego Comic-Con (July) and New York Comic Con (October). We prioritized 2025-2026 releases; figures older than 2024 (the 2022 Comichron peak and Spring 2024 publisher shares) are flagged as most recent available or period-specific.
Last updated: July 17, 2026.
We review and update this page quarterly as new data is published.