Who has time to read 3,300 graphic novels?
In a promo for their new ICv2 Guide #52: Graphic Novels ICv2 offers a few stats:
…the number of graphic novels released in the North American market in 2007 was 3,314, a 19% increase over the 2,785 volumes published in 2006. All indications are that the tsunami of graphic novels will only increase in 2008, further fueling the competition for shelf space in bookstores and comic shops that one longtime graphic novel publisher described to ICv2 as ‘brutal.” The number of releases is so high that one direct market retailer admitted that he ordered all but the very top tier of manga titles “like periodicals to sell out quickly, rather than like graphic novels that we intend to keep in stock.”
Are there too many graphic novels? Not enough? Just right? What do you think, Goldilocks?
