Comics still aren’t selling nearly as well as they had in their heyday, but they do look as if they are selling much better than they had in the recent past. It looks as if sales are up by about a quarter of what they were even just last year. See the article detailing the sales growth here.

http://www.newsarama.com/marketreport/nov06sales.html

We might note that there have been more glbt characters appearing lately too. Is there a connection??? … OK, probably not a strong one, but it is worth noting that glbt characters don’t seem to be hurting comic growth. 52 is one of the best selling books in the country, and when you consider that it comes out more than 4 times as frequently as most comics, it is selling very, very well. And it has 2 lesbian characters in major roles. Ultimate X-Men has been more open with its gay characters this past year and sales are fine.

I remember when the comic bubble was bursting, Vertigo books with their many gay characters were effected less than their gay-free cousins. As comics struggle to appear up with the times and less like anachronistic barnacles, I’d think having gay characters would help to make them appear less like your grandfather’s entertainment and more like a vibrant, relevant commercial art form.

When a gay character fails to sell well, anti-gay readers are quick to point it out and say that it’s because readers don’t want gay characters. But what do they say when gay characters sell well? Oh, then it’s grousing about a gay agenda in the liberal media without ever seeming to realize that it is the pro-gay agenda in the readership that is making the sales and the gay characters.

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