Why Marvel and DC Are Losing the Comic Book Battle

The Harsh Truth About Comic Book Sales No One Wants to Admit

If you ask most casual fans about the state of comics, you’ll probably hear a familiar refrain: “Marvel and DC are killing it.” But here’s what no one wants to admit—they’re not. In fact, in 2023, Marvel sold less than 4% of all graphic novels in North America. DC? Just 5%. And that’s not including manga. If you do include manga, the combined share of Marvel and DC plummets to under 5% total.

Let that sink in. The two giants of American superhero comics—the same companies responsible for Spider-Man, Batman, the Avengers, and Superman—are no longer even close to dominating the shelves.

And the craziest part? It’s not because comics are dying. It’s because comics have evolved—and the Big Two haven’t kept up.

📉 The Superhero Slump

According to longtime comic retailer Brian Hibbs, individual Marvel title sales are “as low as they’ve ever been.” While superhero IP still dominates movies, their print counterparts are struggling. And it’s not because people aren’t reading—they’re just reading other things.

Graphic novels, particularly those targeting kids and teens, have exploded in popularity. And who’s behind that boom? Not Marvel. Not DC. Not even Image.

It’s Scholastic.

In 2023, one single publisher was responsible for nearly 40% of all non-manga graphic novel sales in North America. That publisher didn’t even exist 20 years ago in the comic space.

So what happened? How did the house that built Batman get lapped by the folks behind “Clifford the Big Red Dog”?

💥 The Jeff Smith Effect

It all starts with Jeff Smith, a cartoonist with a dream—and a refusal to compromise. After being dismissed by newspaper syndicates for wanting to tell a fantasy story in comic strip form, Jeff walked away from the industry altogether. But in the 1990s, he made a daring move: he self-published a black-and-white fantasy comic called Bone.

At first, Bone barely moved. Just a few thousand copies here and there. But slowly, it picked up steam. Creators like Neil Gaiman sang its praises. Retailers noticed readers were coming back for more.

Despite being mislabeled as “just for kids,” Bone struck a rare balance: accessible to younger audiences, but packed with enough depth, emotion, and world-building to hook adults.

And then came the turning point: Scholastic picked it up.

📚 The Rise of Scholastic and the "Graphix" Revolution

With Scholastic’s marketing power and school book fair distribution, Bone became a phenomenon. Over 10 million copies sold. But it didn’t stop there. Scholastic saw the opportunity to publish comics for kids, something Marvel and DC had largely abandoned.

And it paid off. Hard.

Series like Amulet, Smile, and Dog Man exploded in popularity. The publisher’s Graphix imprint went from an experiment to the #1 graphic novel publisher in the U.S.

Kids weren’t reading single-issue superhero floppies. They were reading graphic novels with full stories, clear numbering, and engaging characters who weren’t locked behind 80 years of confusing continuity.

🎌 Manga, Accessibility, and the New Normal

While Scholastic was rising, manga was also taking over North American shelves. Kids who fell in love with Bone and Smile aged into Demon Slayer, My Hero Academia, and One Piece. These stories were easy to follow, widely available, and respected their audience’s intelligence.

Meanwhile, Marvel and DC were stuck in the past—weekly serials, bloated events, confusing reading orders, and reboots every few years. They didn’t just lose readers. They trained them to go elsewhere.

What do Scholastic and manga have in common? They both prioritize reader-first storytelling. One-and-done volumes. Clear creative voices. Emotional stakes that don’t require decades of backstory.

🤷 Why Marvel and DC Can't Keep Up

Let’s be clear: Marvel and DC haven’t stopped selling comics. But they’ve become increasingly niche. The modern direct market caters to hardcore collectors—not casual readers or kids walking through a bookstore.

Even collected editions aren’t selling like they used to. And as Hibbs points out, you can’t blame the market. “The market clearly wants comics. They just don’t want what Marvel and DC are putting out in the way they’re putting it out.”

Want proof? Just look at how Strange Academy, Ms. Marvel, or even Batman trades perform compared to something like Smile. It’s not even close.

The idea that superhero comics are synonymous with the comic book industry is officially outdated. Marvel and DC are no longer the center of the universe—they’re just one galaxy in a much larger storytelling cosmos.

Kids are reading comics more than ever. But they’re reaching for books that are thoughtful, emotional, easy to access, and created by authors with a clear vision. That means Scholastic. That means manga. And yes, that means creators like Jeff Smith, who refused to play by the rules and ended up changing the game entirely.

So no, comics aren’t dying. But superhero comics as we’ve known them? They might be on life support.

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