Embracing The Unusual Death Of The Single-Issue Comic Book
Remember the thrill of grabbing a freshly printed single-issue comic off the shelf? Ah, those were the days, weren’t they? The crisp pages, the smell of ink, the rush of anticipation as you held a piece of a story in your hands.
Now? That era is circling the drain.
I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but the single-issue comic book—the format that was once the beating heart of this industry—is gasping for relevance in a world that’s already moved on.
Don’t get me wrong, I was one of those kids. You know, the kind scraping together pocket change just to score as many comics as possible. And even now, the nostalgia for those times tugs at my heartstrings.
But no amount of wistfulness can change the cold, hard truth: the game has changed, and the single-issue comic isn’t keeping up.
Graphic novels and manga are the reigning champions, raking in sales left and right, while platforms like Webtoons attract millions of readers every day.
And the once-mighty single-issue?… It’s barely holding on by a thread, as sales plummet in both print and digital formats.
So, is it time to throw in the towel? Do we pack up our pencils, fold up the inking tables, and admit defeat? Is this the end of an era?
Not so fast.
Before we start mourning the loss, let’s get our hands dirty and figure out how we ended up here. Spoiler alert: it’s not just one thing. It’s a graveyard of issues that have piled up over time, and it’s time to start digging.
The Glory Days… and the Gory Decline
There was a time when single-issue comics weren’t just surviving—they were thriving, selling millions of copies worldwide.
Now, we’re lucky if a title cracks 500,000. Meanwhile, the comic book movies those issues birthed are breaking box office records. It’s a weird paradox: how can the medium that gave rise to the Avengers and Batman be dying?
Everyone’s got theories. But after being in the trenches myself, I can tell you: that passion, as fiery as it may be, isn’t enough to defy the cold, unforgiving rules of business.
So, let’s rip the Band-Aid off and get into the nitty-gritty.
Let’s start with the painful truth: single issues aren’t giving readers their money’s worth.
When you shell out $4.99 for a single issue, you get about 22 pages of actual story. The rest?… Ads.
Compare that to manga—200 pages for around £7.99—and you can see why readers are flocking to other formats. Manga’s basically handing you a full-season binge-watch, while single issues are like getting a teaser trailer and being told to wait another month for the next one.
New readers see that issue number climbing into the hundreds and think, “Yeah, I’m good. I’ll pass.”
Oh, and then there are the variant covers.
Three, five, fifty, a hundred covers for the same issue? We’re not even selling stories at this point; we’re selling packaging.
It’s like if every time you bought a bag of chips, they came out with a dozen different designs for the bag—and none of it changed the taste of the actual chips inside.
It’s not just confusing—it’s frustrating. Readers are hunting for the story, not playing an art gallery scavenger hunt.
Manga nails serialized storytelling.
Chapters drop weekly, get bundled into volumes, and boom—you’ve got a streamlined, continuous narrative. Single-issue comics? Not so much.
You need to hop across multiple issues, maybe even different titles, to get the full picture. It’s the storytelling equivalent of trying to complete a jigsaw puzzle with pieces scattered across different rooms.
And here’s where things get divisive. When publishers cram overt political themes into stories, it doesn’t just alienate readers—it turns the comic into a battleground. Look, exploring social issues is fine, but it needs to be done thoughtfully. The forced insertion of politics fractures the readership, and when you’re already teetering on the edge, that’s a dangerous game to play.
Comics take time to produce, and that’s understandable. But when you’re serving readers bite-sized pieces that take minutes to devour, the monthly drip feed just isn’t cutting it. People binge content now. They want their stories fast, and they want them complete.
And guess what?… That’s why graphic novels are thriving.
The Rise of Graphic Novels: A Story Revolution
All of these hurdles? They’re why the graphic novel has taken the crown.
Readers want complete, satisfying stories. They want beginnings, middles, and ends wrapped up in one package. But they also want the door left open for more—more adventures, more characters, more of what they’ve come to love.
When I write graphic novels, I give readers that full meal. But I don’t abandon serialization altogether. My graphic novels are structured to be broken down into single issues, too, giving collectors their fix and casual readers their complete story. It’s the best of both worlds, but even I’m evolving beyond that as I adapt to this shifting landscape.
In a perfect world, the single-issue comic should have evolved into a single-volume graphic novel. That’s what the medium was begging for.
But thanks to the speculator boom of the ’90s and the nostalgia of old-school fans, it never happened.
The collector’s bubble burst, but the industry kept chasing those fleeting dollars instead of embracing a model that could’ve brought long-term success.
Graphic novels are what the single issue should’ve become—complete, immersive storytelling with room to expand. But instead of evolving, the single issue stayed stuck, and now it’s paying the price.
Looking Forward: The Path Ahead
The single-issue comic book is standing at the edge of a cliff. The question is: do we let it fall or do we pull it back, kicking and screaming, into the future?
The single issue will probably never fully die.
Nostalgia and collectors will keep it on life support for a while longer. But as a business model? It’s time to face the facts: the single issue isn’t the future. The graphic novel is.
So, where does that leave us?
It’s simple: we need to stop clinging to what was and start embracing what works. Graphic novels aren’t just a trend—they’re the natural evolution of the comic book medium. They offer readers a complete, satisfying experience in a way that single issues simply can’t compete with anymore.
If we want to keep this industry alive, we need to let go of the past and fully step into the future.
And that, my friends, is how we move forward.
Thirsty for more?… Click the button below to join Lucifer’s VIP Lounge.
You’ll snag a FREE digital comic, stay up to date with my latest content, and receive my monthly newsletter—in both written and audio formats.
‘Cause, let’s face it… Even Hell’s a bit dull without a good story or two.
