The Indie Comic Book Report #10 - Differentiated Markets
Welcome to the Indie Comics Report for statistics and reports on segments of the indie comic book market. The website this report was published on https://ecency.com/ is built on top of the Hive Blockchain. This report will also be shared on Reddit at the Indie Comic Books subreddit.
To have your project mentioned in the report contact me on X.com at - https://x.com/GentlemanRural
What's an Indie Comic Book?
Indie Comic Books is a bit of a "catch all" term that essentially means not-Marvel and not-DC Comics, but doesn't narrow the category much more. Some might include certain titles from IDW or Dark Horse in the not-indie column, but some titles from those same publishers might be classified as Indie. Indie comic are sold in comic book stores, via direct order, crowdfunding, and through channels like Amazon. Not everything that is crowdfunded is Indie, a Transformers omnibus was recently offered to great success on Kickstarter. Rippaverse Comic books founded by Eric July, is categorized as Indie by some, even though the titles take place in a shared universe.
The Audience is Differentiated
Every genre of graphic novel imaginable can be found within indie comic books - from standard superhero fare to quirky underground books. Readers of Indie Comic books cluster around social media outlets from Reddit, Twitter, to Youtuber. These audiences have different characteristics and preferences. Loose banners like Comicsgate use conflict marketing on YouTube to drive crowdfunding, and the content on the larger channels. Similarly pop-culture commentary YouTubers like Yellow Flash and Drunk 3PO have launched graphic novels. Yellow Flash is offering a graphic novel titled the "Mighty Golden Patriot" and Drunk 3PO has the "Achromatic Chronicles", both books can be viewed at RippaSend.com
The Indie Comic Book Report focuses on social media driven marketing and discovery, but this may understate the comic book shop as a point of discovery for indie comic books. Astute comic book staff often make recommendations to customers, about books outside the framework of large corporate publishers. Likewise readers who have backed at east one crowdfunding project on Kickstarter.com are somewhat more likely to browse and discover subsequent projects.
In these reports I am focusing on adult readers, but it should be noted that the graphic novel market for young readers is massive - Dog Man and other series sell 100,000s of copies of graphic novels via Scholastic and other channels.
For every reader who takes to YouTube, Twitter, or Reddit to discuss the graphic novel, a larger number of readers do not. The most negatively opiniated commenters can skew perceptions of the indie comic book market, while those same users are likely a small fraction of the readers and consumers of indie comic book market. Publishers and independent creators likely will find their time is better spent positive engaging with their core readers, rather than sparring with belligerent critics.
Sales Numbers for Rippaverse, and Comicsgate Crowdfunding.
Rippaverse Comics is on course to reach the $3,000,000 mark within the next week or two. Saints and Sinners an anthology graphic novel, with multiple YouTubers contributing stories is trending to garner over 10,000 orders during the collection campaign. The numbers below are through Friday - June 6, 2025.
Rippaverse Collection Campaigns
Comicsgate Crowdfunding
Comicsgate Crowdfunding year to date is still under $500,000. No single Comicsgsate crowdfunding campaign has earned over $100,000 in 2025. This could potentially change later this month as Shane Davis launches "Anatomic"; however it appears the book is not drawn by Davis, and it is unclear if Davis's audience will generate support equivalent to previous campaign. Likewise Ethan Van Sciver is offering a graphic novel featuring a CyberFrog character Heather Swain, drawn by a guest artist in July 2025.
