marvel comic books diversity

Things We Saw Today: The List of 2017’s Best-Selling Graphic Novels Proves What We Already Knew: Diversity Sells

The list of top-selling comics tells us what we've been insisting for just about forever: diversity sells, both when it comes to characters and the real-life teams behind them. Publishing books from creators of color or ones that feature female leads is not a charity. These books make money. A lot of it.

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A company called BookScan, which tracks the “sell-through” of books (that’s the ratio of retail sales to wholesale distribution), and comics news business site ICV2 have collaborated to produce a list of the best-selling graphic novels of 2017. The results tell us what we’ve been insisting for just about forever: diversity sells, both when it comes to characters and the real-life teams behind them. Publishing books from creators of color or ones that feature female leads is not a charity. These books make money. A lot of it.

The results are interesting and worth clicking through to look at all the lists, as they’re broken down by audience and genre. Comics Beat has also created a chart for the Adult Graphic Novel list, highlighting the diversity of the books’ creators. It’s heartening to see the direct financial benefit of inclusivity in the comics industry.

It’s also pretty damn cool to see Rep. John Lewis nab the #1 and #4 spot on that list. (via ComicsBeat)

What did you all see out there on the internet today?

(image: Marvel)

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Vivian Kane
Vivian Kane (she/her) is the Senior News Editor at The Mary Sue, where she's been writing about politics and entertainment (and all the ways in which the two overlap) since the dark days of late 2016. Born in San Francisco and radicalized in Los Angeles, she now lives in Kansas City, Missouri, where she gets to put her MFA to use covering the local theatre scene. She is the co-owner of The Pitch, Kansas City’s alt news and culture magazine, alongside her husband, Brock Wilbur, with whom she also shares many cats.