Q&A Hannah Berry


so I have a bit of experience in that side of comics. But no, I didn’t grow up with superheroes. When I grew up, I was reading Calvin and Hobbes, Asterix, Tintin. I guess I didn’t really like stories in which people hit other people really hard. That has never floated my boat. Ok, there’s rough in tumble in Calvin and Hobbes, but it’s fun hiting.


How is the indie comics scene in the UK? It’s tough to say conclusively, because I really don’t know where to draw the line around “indie”. I class myself as an indie comic creator, but I’m published by Penguin Random House, which isn’t too indie, is it? But the self-publishing market is really flourishing and creativit is really exploding


Graphic novels are such a brief and succinct way of telling a


story, I like to create things that you can go back to and get more in your second or third reading


around that—there are some really interest- ing experimental things going on. But that model can be difficult. There are fewer gate- keepers, which means it’s more difficult to get your book into the hands of people who might want it.


This may be an inevitable question, but can you talk about women in comics—is it still more difficult for women in the industry? I don’t find it that tough, to be honest. I’ve never had any issues. I don’t think anyone has ever said anything to me that they wouldn’t say to a male creator. But maybe that’s the side of the industry I’m on: I think there’s more tension in the Marvel/DC main- stream old guard, which can be an old boys’ network, but I think even that is changing. I appreciate the privileged position I am in, and how much has changed. I was delighted to write for 2000 AD but I was working it out, and I think I was about the sixth or seventh woman to write for it—and it’s been going for 40 years. And Dani K, the woman who did the artwork for my story with 2000 AD, figured out that we were prob- ably its first all-female writer/artist team. The industry has come a long way. ×


11:30 16


Hannah Berry is speaking today at the International Literature Showcase:


Voices of London at 11.30 in the Gallery Suite, Room 2, Grand Hall Gallery


F


45,469 copies sold


Alan Moore is the bestselling writer in the Graphic Novel sector since records began


OR THE FOURTH year running, in 2016 the Graphic Novel category hit a new high in value terms, soaring 13% year on year to £29.8m. Since clocking £14.1m in 2011, in the past five years, it has rocketed faster than Iron Man in value terms, soaring 110%.


Cover your eyes, comic book fans: the extra £1.25m the Graphic Novels: General sub-category earned in 2016 was achieved solely by YouTubers. The bestselling Graphic Novel of the year was Daniel “DanTDM” Middleton’s Trayaurus and the Enchanted Crystal, which sold 97,730 copies in just under three months. The next two in volume terms were both Joe “Broella” Sugg’s: Username: Evie and Username: Regenerated sold nearly 80,000 copies between them. Sugg and Middle- ton’s débuts are both among the five top-selling Graphic Novels of all time. But don’t throw away your pencils—vlog- gers weren’t the only ones boosting the sector. The Manga sub-category had a bigger year-on-year rise than any other, swelling 24%. Sui Ishida’s Tokyo Ghoul: Vol 1 was its 2016 bestseller, with Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata’s Death Note Black (Manga’s all-time bestseller in the UK) in second. Aſter growing by nearly 25% in value terms in 2015, the Superheroes sub-category had a quieter year, pulling in £9.5m for a year-on-year rise of 7.2%. Mark Millar’s Civil War was its top title for a second year, boosted by its Marvel film adaptation hiting cinemas.


WORDS Kiera O’Brien


SUPER HEROES


the rise of graphic novels £30m £20m £10m 2015


Since 2012, the value of the Graphic Novel market in the UK through Nielsen BookScan has grown


78.6%


from a value of £16.69m to £29.82m. Sub-categories Graphic Novels: General, Manga and Superheroes all grew by more than 150%, with its smallest constituent, Non-fiction & Literary, growing 322.5%—albeit from a far smaller base.


Graphic Novel: breakdown by sub-category 40.2%


24.9%


G. Novels: General (£11.99m)


Manga (£7.44m)


32.1%


Superheroes (£9.57m)


BY SUB-CATEGORY


THE BESTSELLING GRAPHIC NOVELS OF ALL TIME:


NON-FIC/ LITERARY


195,874 copies sold


MANGA


59,260 copies sold


GENERAL


150,810 copies sold


15th March 2017


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