With over 50,000 copies sold in less than 2 months for – Sfida all’Ultima Battuta –  and 70,000 copies for – Ridi che è meglio! – Pera Toons also confirmed as an editorial phenomenon as well as an undisputed star of the web.

These record successes are part of a general trend that sees a strong growth in the reading of comics in Italy. According to a study conducted by Associazione Italiana Editori (AIE) in collaboration with Lucca Comics & Games, ALDUS UP and Eudicomin, there are in fact almost 9 million comic readers in Italy.

The results of the research show that the reading of comics is widespread in all age groups, with a prevalence in those young: readers of comics from 14 years old and up are 8.7 million, or 18% of the population and 35% of the total audience of readers.

The search – explains Emanuele Di Giorgi,  head of the commission Comics and Graphic Novels of AIE – shows as the reading of comics is diffused in all the age groups, above all those youths, and as the readers of comics are also strong readers of other genres, thus denying the commonplace that sees comics as a world separated from the rest of the editorial landscape, the culture considered “high level”».

According to the AIE research, comics are read more by men (21%) than by women (14%) and in terms of age groups reading is very transversal with a significant presence up to the under-55. Those who read comics, moreover, in 83% of cases also read fiction, non-fiction and other genres (against a national average of 52%), read e-books (48% against an average of 23%), listen to audiobooks (27% vs 11%).

Emanuele Vietina, General Manager of Lucca Crea, said “The research commissioned by AIE confirms the observatory of Lucca Comics&Games: the enthusiast of graphic novels is an active and conscious cultural consumer, distributed over all age groups. Knowing it means understanding the reasons why comics, today, is one of the main languages of contemporaneity”.

Data compared to other research in the past also show a remarkable growth: comic readers were 3.96 million in 1996 and 7.28 in 2019.

The study also shows a powerful growth of comics that in 2021 is the genre most purchased by Italians in 2021 in terms of number of copies and the one that records in percentage the largest increase compared to 2020 at volume:+ 134% (Source: AIE Studies Office elaboration on Nielsen BookScan data).

Also strong of this data, Pera Toons confirms itself as a Property with great potential, which through the irony of its original comic book jokes can intercept a very wide and transversal consumer target. In addition to the successes in the publishing field, the property is activating interesting collaborations for projects in the licensing field, where negotiations for new agreements are underway. The partnership with Biembi for the creation of gift items and accessories distributed in selected stores of stationery and gadgets continues with flattering results and two new collections are planned for 2022: Summer and Christmas.