Local comic stores surge in sales following new movie releases

Texas (KMID/KPEJ) — As summer comes to a close, comic shops in the Permian Basin are seeing heavier foot traffic — all centered around the trendiest pop culture heroes

“The ones that we restocked today are probably going to be gone by the end of the week,” said Adriel Marquez, comics specialist at Retro Hall Video Games & Collectibles.

This surge in demand comes after the release of the latest comic-book blockbuster, Spider-Man: Brand New Day, Marquez said.

Brand New Day, which came out in late July, sits on a record-breaking $2.3 billion in box office sales as of Tuesday.

It’s now the fourth highest-grossing movie of all time.

“A lot of people ask me, ‘Do you know where the Spider-Man comics are at?” Marquez said. “I’d show them where they would be, [but] we wouldn’t even have a single one.”

Sold-out shelves and heightened sales aren’t unique to Spider-Man; whenever a comic book property hits the screens, be it a movie or TV show, its success directly impacts the demand for comics, said James Laws, owner of The Hive Comics & Collectibles.

“The demand for it is still there because of people’s imaginations,” Laws said. “They enjoy having fun and reading great stories.” 

As Marvel Studios rolled out movies with characters like Captain America and Iron Man throughout the 2010s, those comic lines were the hot items for customers to grab, Law said.

Demand for those characters has shifted going into the current decade. While Spider-Manstands out as the exception, Law noted his customers tend to gravitate towards the material often seen on streaming services, including series like Invincible and X-Men.

“A lot of great stories are relived in those cartoons, and people are looking for them,” Law said.

While Law and Marquez’ stores continue to thrive off comic sales, both planning major business expansions in the coming months, they acknowledge the medium isn’t as in demand as it used to be.

Although publications continue selling around 90 million comics each year, Law noted that each individual comic series sells in the ballpark of a few hundred thousand, compared to the millions each comic run sold in the late 90s.

This doesn’t mean trouble for local comic shops; however, Laws said the rules of engagement are just different.

With more comic books being adapted for screens, salesmen like Laws and Marquez are able to build their stock around the latest hero on the block.

“The way comics are written today is the same as back then,” Laws said. “They’re relevant stories about what’s going on in life, and it’s still a lot of fun.”

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