On the eve of Comic Book Day, Tebeosfera issues its report on the year with the most comic releases of the 21st century
In 2022 they were published 4,563 different comics, more than in all that we have spent this century. Apparently, the war in Ukraine and the increase in the price of paper have not affected the industry, and Panini has been the label that has launched the most noveltiesalmost a thousand.
The editorial fabric contracted slightly last year, with the edition very condensed in very few editors, who have had to assume a greater workload. Between all of them, they have produced more than 807,000 different printed pages, 20% more than in 2021. The standard comic in Spain is, generally, a book, which offers a translated comic work, which is numbered, consists of 174 pages , is sold for around 14.8 euros and is produced in Catalonia, but is served in Spanish. In 2022, 86% of the comic that was distributed was translated and the price per comic increased by 0.80 euros compared to the previous year.
The own edition, the Spanish one, has decreased despite the total increase in launches, especially the first edition, which no longer reaches 10% of the total. The production of Spanish authors is today half that of a decade ago. In 2022 they saw the light 632 Spanish comics450 of them with work that was published for the first time.
Currently, there are more Spanish signatures in translated American comics than in comics made here. Also, for the first time in history, more comics were translated from Japanese than those produced in Spain. He manga It is a product that is increasingly present in sales outlets (there were 1,515 Asian comic translations in 2022, a third of all releases). In sum, more than 86% of what circulates in our market is translation of work produced outside of Spain.
The number of female signatures in our comics has not increased as much as the male one (which is four times more than them). Only the translators are on a par with the comic book translators.
Comics with a youthful character are still the king of the market, and adventure, fantasy and superhero comics account for 60% of what is published each year (although there was a certain rise of the historical comic). Adult comics continue to offer interesting proposals that prospect current issues, getting involved with the restoration of memory, environmentalism, feminism, diversity and anti-war.
Here is the full report:
