Hollywood Exposure Helping Comics

There is a very clear trend now with comics that are made in to movies or TV shows.  No matter how well the property does, especially in the case of a movie, it still helps drive sales of the comics they are based on.  This is a interesting trend now as traditionally print comics have not been able to capitalize on Hollywood success.  April’s Book Scans top 2o and the most recent NY Times Best Sellers lists helps illustrate this trend.  The collected version of Kick Ass has topped both despite the movie not doing quite as well as the producers hoped.  The most surprising on the lists is that first volume of the Losers.  Even before the movie came out it was doing well with the NY Times list showing that interest only grew after the movie’s release.  Early hype of the Scott Pilgrim movie has lead to the first volume of the comic to jump in sales as well.  The Walking Dead already does well in collected form but those numbers will likely grow as well with the TV show coming to AMC later this year.  It will be interesting to see how Jonah Hex does once the hype for that movie kicks into full gear.  I should stress these are sales outside the direct market.  It is a trend among the average bookstore shoppers.  It is very good to see this happening, as it is likely being helped by the steady decline of manga related titles and the general acceptance of the graphic novel as something more then the old disposable entertainment view comics uses to have.