However, it gets worse for DC Comics, as he writes, “DC had a pretty bad year, with their lowest sales since 2004 – down 25% from 2022 in the bookstore market – even with their highest ever number of titles in the total list. In 2023 they had only 14 titles in the Top 750; in 2013, ten years ago, they had 130. That is a huge and troubling drop – but maybe laying off nearly your entire sales and marketing team is not a great strategy for growth? If someone had been been making a concerted effort to dismantle DC Comics, they couldn’t have been more surgical – luckily, DC still has talented execs like Marie Javins, Jim Lee, Annie de Pies and the rest of the staff who have thwarted those plans. And from what we’re hearing, 2024 will see some more moves to reverse this concerning trend.”
I wouldn't hold my breath.
the comic book subreddit is full of people twisting themselves into absolute pretzels to avoid acknowledging that manga is absolutely skull-fucking the western comics industry into irrelevance. They're all too wrapped up in analyzing the next inscrutable cross-over or wanking themselves off over which author is going to get to scribble all over their favorite character's continuity next, completely missing any of the glaringly obvious reasons why manga might be casually destroying the entire western landscape entirely by accident.
Got my first Manga (Oh My Goddess, and now I have 7 volumes) in 22 and when I go to comic store I try to buy at least one. Just wish there was a manga dollar bin as well
Have you tried your local public library?
I've got the first 8 volumes of Naruto and started rereading them recently. When I finished volume 8 I just put a bunch of volumes on hold at my library and now I'm plowing through volume 20. They're not gonna have everything, but they have a lot.
I have but I’m weird and like to own the mangas or books but it would be a good way to sort through what I want to keep
You must have way more storage space than me man. I tried that at the outset but Berserk and Nausicaa remain the only mangas for which I've got a full collection. The only other things on my shelf of any note are a handful of Naruto and Bleach.
Berserk is really the only one I think was worth acquiring without any reservation. If you're going to buy a manga, buy that one.