yesterday. The new company location will be Portland, Oregon, where Oni is currently based, and Oni publisher James Lucas Jones will be president and publisher of the consolidated company.
It's a big move in an industry that, thanks to a surge in superhero blockbusters over the past decade, is gaining more mainstream attention than ever while remaining relatively small.
The US has an estimated total of less than two million regular comic book readers, according to Kidman, meaning that while popular titles sell over 100,000 copies, the majority move fewer than 20,000 copies. In addition, the shifting demographics of the readership means that while certain genres like children's graphic novels are doing better than ever, the more traditional genres are losing readers.
"Industry representatives will be quick to note that 2018 was the biggest year on record for the business, and that publishers brought in nearly $1.1 billion in sales," saysKidman. "But that number hasn't changed a great deal in the last four years, and most of the growth was in children's graphic novels , not in issues of superhero comics from Marvel or DC. Sales at comic book shops have been declining.