Comics Big 3

March 31, 2019

The comic and graphic novel industry is dominated by three huge publishers; Marvel, DC, and Image and this plays a large part in how we organize our shelves.

Most people you ask can tell you that Marvel and DC publish super hero comics. But compared to DC Comics founding in the 1930’s and Marvel coming around in the 1960’s, Image is a relatively new publisher that began in 1992 and features creator-owned works.

That’s right, writers and artists retain copyright of their characters and creations, most notable titles from Image include The Walking Dead and Saga. This method has proven to be successful for Image after pulling a 9.5% market share after Marvel Comics 40.2% claim and DC Entertainment pulled in 28.7% in February 2019.  The “indie” comics category sweeps up the remaining share and contains such publishers as Dark Horse, IDW Publishing, Dynamite Entertainment, BOOM! Studios, and more.

At Dragon’s Lair Austin, you can find each of these publishers featured along our wall of graphic novels. Each section also contains a full bay of staff recommendations to help readers get started with a new series if you’re not sure where to begin! After over 30 years as Austin’s local comic shop, we have a lot of experience in the newest and most recent comic releases, and we can let you know where to begin when delving into the vast super hero universes created by Marvel and DC Comics, or excellent indie recommendations from Image and other small publishers.

Whether you’re a seasoned comic pro, or are looking for a good graphic novel to get started in the visual storytelling provided by the marriage between talented artists and writers, let us help you get started!

And don’t forget our Kids and Young Adult sections with options for teens and young readers!

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