One-fourth of Italians, or 24%, have read comic books in the recent year. However, the audience for this genre is far larger, comprising roughly two-thirds of Italians. Another 3%, although having previously read comics, have not done so in the recent year, and a further 39% had read comics in the distant past before moving on to other genres. To put it another way, only 34% of Italians have never read a comic. Over the past six years, from 2019 to the present, comic book sales across bookstores, online platforms, and supermarkets have experienced an overall record growth of 193% in units sold, totaling 6.28 million copies in the first nine months of 2025, and 196% in revenue, amounting to 59.5 million euros. However, the annual trend has been markedly inconsistent, with the most recent three years (data referring to the first nine months of each year) showing declines of 15.9% in 2023, 9.5% in 2024, and 2.8% in 2025. 48% of those who have not read comics in the last twelve months, but have done so in previous years, declare that they have only temporarily shifted to other genres such as thrillers, horror, romance, fantasy, and science fiction.