Comics in Ukraine: 2018 results. Part 3

Large resources are more likely to write about the death of Stan Lee or the new trailer for the Avengers, but they are not interested in a dozen Ukrainian projects on fantasy or everyday topics that cannot be jumped on bones. I hope that next year we will see at least a project of such a resource.

One of the problems in Ukraine is the lack of communication. We respond quickly to Facebook messages or emails to the editorial staff and are always ready to make a publication about the release of the Ukrainian translation of the comics (as we did with The Witcher). Unfortunately, the editorial staff does not have time to track all the news on their own, so the situation is simple - if you do not find the time to inform us and get publicity, then we do not publish anything. We are also open to publishing profile columns, analytics, and interesting materials.


Forecasts for 2019

Publishing, and not only, the forecast for 2019. There will be no insider disclosures here, just some trends that you probably already feel.:

- the percentage of licensed products relative to Ukrainian authors will be even higher - about 85/15;
- new comic book publishers will appear. In addition, other book publishers will pay attention to comics. I think we will definitely see 2-3 new players next year.;
- within a year, we will see licensed publications on our shelves from most of the ten largest American publishers, and maybe from some small ones too.;
- European publications will also begin to appear, but in much smaller numbers than American ones. They will mainly be children's or teen comics.;
- there will be no "bold" licenses - there will be only those works whose publishers believe in the success of at least 95%. And these are classics, works by famous authors, award winners, comics based on high-profile franchises. The experiment time will be later.;
- after a 10% drop in the number of works by Ukrainian authors in 2018, there will be an increase in 2019. 20-30 percent;
- the number of comic books published per month will increase to about 10. Thus, the total number of publications in 2019 will definitely exceed 100, and maybe 150.;
- the share of children's comics will increase even more;
- the number of Marvel titles will almost double that of DC;
- Logically, Star Wars comics should finally appear, but I doubt it, because this is Disney and everything is not easy here.;
- It is unlikely that 2019 will be the beginning of manga publishing in Ukraine, but this is not certain.;
- the format of the editions will be varied, but the advantage will be given to singles;
- there will be new comic book festivals;
- At least 20 new comic book stores will open / or these stores will powerfully add comics to their assortment.

As I write this, publishers are actively working towards licensing. The market is developing very quickly, just instantly - two years ago, the number of Ukrainian comics could be counted on the fingers of several hands, and now licensing wars are already underway. And you will already see it in late winter/early spring. Hold on! intimkiev.com