‘There was a massive boom’: How comics have benefited from the popularity of TV

Comic store owner James Jagic said that the industry has benefited from the popularity of the Disney+ shows as fans search for answers to open-ended season finales.

Marvel comics are flying off the shelf after the recent success of hit Disney+ shows.

And it’s bucking the usual trend of minimal crossover between movie and comic fans.

Six original Marvel series have been released on the streaming platform since early 2020, when a nine-episode run of WandaVision brought the adventures of Vision (Paul Bettany) and the Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) to the small screen.

Brisbane comic store owner James Jagic said the industry has benefited from shows including WandaVision and Moon Knight as fans searched for answers to open-ended season finales.

“Suddenly the interest in the comics as the Disney+ shows started airing, and then particularly when they finished, there was a massive boom,” said Mr Jagic, who owns Comics Etc in Brisbane City.

“The unfortunate part about that is that Marvel specifically were caught off-guard and they didn’t have any books available.

James Jagic holding a Moon Knight comic book at Comics Etc in the Brisbane CBD. Picture: Josh Woning

“(But) when Moon Knight started, they actually had the books out there so we could actually gauge the interest of what was working.

“I can tell you for certain that the popularity of Moon Knight has definitely transported over to the books.”

Mr Jagic observed a similar boom to the popularity of comics during the early years of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

But movies have begun to “Bucky” this trend and reign “Sorcerer Supreme” over comics.

“When the whole Marvel movie thing started, sales of the comics obviously reflected the interest that was there for the movies,” Mr Jagic said.

“But then over time (there was) zero impact. None whatsoever.

“We actually found, weirdly enough, the worse a movie went the more the comic sales would go up… there was very rarely an exception to the rule.”

Spider-Man is one of the most well-known characters in pop culture, having first appeared in a comic book in 1962.

Unleash #MoonKnight 🌙 Watch Marvel Studios’ Original series, now streaming on @DisneyPlus. pic.twitter.com/F2vWETOw7y

— Marvel Studios (@MarvelStudios) April 4, 2022

And the character has been incredibly well received on the big screen, most recently with Tom Holland in the titular role.

Spider-Man: No Way Home became one of the highest-grossing movies of all time in December as fans saw three generations of the character assemble on screen (Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield reprised their versions).

But Mr Jagic said even though most would expect comics to share in the glory of successful cinema, there was a clear reason why that was not the case.

“If you’re a movie fan you’re a movie fan, if you’re a comic fan you’re a comic fan. The crossover is very, very, very minimal except for the case of the Disney+ TV shows,” he said.

Comics might not cost less than 50c like they did 50 years ago, but they continue to serve a purpose for the superhero genre today.

Mr Jagic spoke passionately about how the traditional form of storytelling still entertained fans in a way that was practically impossible for other platforms.

“You can do stuff in comics that you can’t do in TV shows and movies,” he said.

“TV shows have budgets, they’ve got actors, they’ve got contracts, (but with) comics the world is your oyster.

“They can do whatever they want to whoever they want, and they’ve more open to change which makes for a much more interesting story.

“You can’t really compare the storylines that go on in comics compared to the TV shows and movies in a lot of ways.”

Originally published as ‘There was a massive boom’: How comics have benefited from the popularity of TV