At Lucca Comics & Games – a festival now in its 60th edition – the spotlight turns to the figures of the comic book market. In Italy, during the first nine months of 2026, a printed book bought through trade channels (physical bookstores, online shops, and supermarkets) is a comic (10.1% of the entire market). Overall, 7.1 million copies were sold (up 12.4%), for a sales value of €68.3 million (up 14.9%).
Also essential in this sector was the contribution of the library bonus: compared to a trade market that in the first nine months grew by 3.2%, comics are the genre that grows the most, followed by children and young readers (up 9.1%), foreign fiction (up 6.9%) and Italian fiction (up 4.9%).
The data were presented in Lucca during the meeting The market of comics in 2026, between adjustment and growth, organized by the Comics and Graphic Novels Commission of the Italian Publishers Association in collaboration with Lucca Comics & Games, and moderated by Luca Valtorta (Robinson – La Repubblica). After greetings from Giovanni Russo, head of institutional affairs at Lucca Crea, Rachele Marziolo of the AIE studies department outlined the market numbers, which were discussed in a panel with editors Claudio Curcio (Comicon Edizioni), Stefania Simonini (Panini Comics) and Giorgia di Tolle (Mondadori).
Graphic Novel Boom
In the first nine months of 2026, in particular, graphic novels sales rose by 34.8% in value, manga by 11.7%, children and young readers’ comics by 6.7%, while strips declined by 6.8%.
Prices Stable or Falling
The average selling price stands at €7.32 for manga (up 1.4% against 2025), €18.23 for graphic novels (down 2.6%), €14.07 for children’s and youth comics (up 0.1%), and €15.75 for strip comics (down 3.8%).
Production in Decline
In 2025, the number of new comic titles published was 3,339, down 4.4% from the previous year.
“The growth in comic sales in 2026 is excellent news and the weight of library purchases is fundamental,” emphasizes Emanuele Di Giorgi, the AIE delegate for Comics and Graphic Novels. “It’s a recognition of the work we publishers put into the catalog and a confirmation that comics have long ceased to be seen as a ‘minor’ genre. We trust that, also thanks to new comic purchases, libraries will become increasingly attractive, promoting reading across all segments of the population, and we urge the government to confirm and stabilize the library bonus for the years to come.”
