Let’s get what you’re looking for out of the way: at least amongst the comic shops featured in this mid-year check-in with retailers, 2026 has been an unbelievable success.

That doesn’t mean every shop in the direct market, or the side of the comic industry comprised of a couple thousand comic shops, is thriving. But it’s been an unreal year for those who participated, as every retailer reported increases in sales, foot traffic, and new customers, and, to make things even better, they also shared fewer problems. And this is coming off a year in 2025 that was described by multiple shops as a record-setting one, which means the scale we’re talking about is higher than usual.

Which, to be honest, is all wild.

To better understand what this moment looks like, you need to know how a week typically works for a comic shop. For most, Saturday is the biggest sales day, as more people have the day off and come in to visit, and Wednesday is next, because that’s when new comics come out. While the days that see the biggest sales have stayed the same, Jen King from Shenandoah, Texas’ Space Cadets Collection Collection said a recent week underlined how unrecognizably huge they can be in 2026.

“We have a fun way of explaining what our daily sales numbers look like,” King said. “Wednesday was a Saturday. Saturday was a Free Comic Book Day.” 13

“This week was mind-blowing.”

Or, to simplify that success story even further.

“2026 is booming!” said Eitan Manhoff from Oakland’s Cape & Cowl Comics.

“Our 2026 is on fire,” added Patrick Brower from Chicago’s Challengers Comics + Conversation.

This isn’t an isolated situation, either. Every comic shop featured today hasn’t just continued 2025’s success, they’ve built on it — and then some. But how successful has it been, really? What’s leading the way? And even if there are fewer problems, is there anything that’s really holding shops back? We’ll be covering all of that, as we stare into the sun that is the glowing performance of comic shops from the first half of 2026.

Historically, frame of reference will be provided to help readers better understand what it looks like when a comic shop has a good year or a bad one. When is up outside the normal range? When is down worrisome? It helps folks contextualize this kind of performance, because otherwise, it’s just numbers that don’t mean much for those outside this world. So, this is where you’d normally hear about how plus or minus 10% is good or bad, depending on the direction reported.

You might as well throw out that type of context, because 2026? It doesn’t care about normal. Take Third Eye Comics, the ever-growing comic and pop culture shop chain in Maryland and Virginia, as an example. Per its owner in Steve Anderson, Third Eye was up 70% compared to the same period in 2025. That’s right. Seven. Zero. It was such a big number that it had to be confirmed with Anderson that it wasn’t a typo. 14

It’s only within that context that everyone else’s year didn’t seem absurdly huge. 2026 has hardly been a struggle, at least in terms of sales. Amongst participating shops, La Grange, Illinois’ Blerds Underground just lagged behind Third Eye’s results, per its co-owner Mike Davis. It only grew by 30.61% year-over-year in the first quarter. 15 Aaron Trites of San Diego’s Now or Never Comics said his store is up 20%, and that’s coming off its “best year ever.” Kate DeNeveu of Charlottesville, Virginia’s Hello Comics shared its two locations grew by a combined 16% over the first half of 2025, and that’s following multiple years of upticks. Everyone agreed that it’s been an incredible start to the year.

But it isn’t just how big these jumps are that’s bewildering retailers. Brower reported that Challengers saw its sales rise by 25%, but what really shocked him has been the consistency.

“Every single month has been our best month — for that month — ever, and our 2025 was excellent,” Brower said. “It is almost unfathomable how sales keep going up.”

While not every retailer saw gains like those shops, the floor was double digit growth. 16 At least through the first six months of 2026, business is booming, and everyone is doing their best to keep up in terms of staffing, processes, and their own mental health.

That’s not to say everything is perfect. Joe Murray from Newark, Delaware’s Captain Blue Hen Comics admitted that even though his shop’s sales were up 11% over 2025 and were 40% above 2024, his accountant said the store is “doing worse” despite that uptick. It’s a complicated environment everyone is operating within these days, especially when it comes to the “eldritch magic of accounting,” as Murray put it.

But when the average shop’s sales grew by 25% year-over-year, even that kind of thing is a bit more palatable.

So, if sales are booming relative to 2025’s often record-setting numbers, what’s leading the way? The funny thing is, it’s less of a what and more of a who. My look at how comic shops did last year was laced with commentary about how there was an influx of new customers, with many being younger and more diverse than your typical Wednesday Warriors. The good news is, that trend has only continued in 2026, at least according to featured shops.

“Foot traffic is up about 20% this year,” Trites said. “Lots of new and definitely younger folks for us.”

“Our customer count is up 22% versus 25 and 50% versus 2024 as we add new customers to our database from both online and in person requests,” Murray added. “The diversity in age, race and gender of new customers is eroding the historical homogeneity of our base and I’m happy to see it.

“The best part is these new faces aren’t looking for just one thing, giving me hope this isn’t a fluke.”

Foot traffic and transactions were up double digits for most retailers — both in-store and online, as Christina Merkler from Discount Comic Book Service, or DCBS, and InStockTrades, or IST, reported seeing “a lot of new customers” as well — and crucially, those two metrics were close to level for the most part, which suggests these newcomers aren’t just window shoppers. They’re looking to purchase comics.