Readership Statistics, I: Participant Information

We’re really excited to publish research conducted by Janelle Asselin on gender and comics audiences on Ye Olde Ladydrawers Blogge. Email her at janelle.m.asselin@gmail.com.

Howdy folks! You ready for statistic overload? I’m currently a grad student at Pace University studying publishing and also an associate editor in comics. Because of my passion for the field and my concern about the place of women in it, I opted to write my thesis on the topic of “How can the comic book industry increase sales among women?”

To support my thesis, I put together a lengthy but casual survey on women and comics, especially focusing on how the industry perceives itself currently, and distributed it through my Twitter and Facebook feeds and the feeds of any willing cohorts. Because I think it’s important for people to see outside of the context of my thesis, here are the stats from the multiple choice and yes/no questions on the survey (AKA the easy ones to do statistics for). I avoided commentary for the most part to allow the stats to speak for themselves.

1,763 responses

Participant Information

What is your gender?

Female	678	38%
Male	1043	59%
Non-binary	29	2%

What is your age?

Under 18	82	5%
18-25	588	33%
26-34	686	39%
35-50	369	21%
50+	25	1%

How long have you been reading comics?

Less than a year	63	4%
1-2 years	106	6%
3-5 years	262	15%
5-10 years	274	16%
10+ years	1026	58%
I don’t read comics!	16	1%

What sorts of comics do you read?

Superhero	1495	86%
Crime	675	39%
Autobiographical	439	25%
Fantasy	1101	63%
Licensed (based on movies, TV, etc)	565	32%
Horror	659	38%
Comedy	838	48%
Western	375	22%
Manga	842	48%
Other	380	22%