North American comic books have changed sizes over the decades. From the late 1930s to the mid-1950s, comic books were an inch wider than they are today. They shrunk during the latter half of the â50s and throughout the â60s, only to grow slightly again in the â70s. In 1985, North American comic books shrunk again to what is now considered their modern size.1
With the sharp rise in the popularity of manga in North America,2 another size change may be just what the industry needs to stay competitive.
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Key takeways
Traditionally-sized North American comic books are inefficient for printing and less appealing to readers than manga, which has a smaller size.
Digest (5.5 Ă 8.5 in) and US Trade (6 Ă 9 in) sizes are more common, cost-effective, and durable than the current size. These sizes are also compatible with international markets and online printing services.
North American comic book publishers should focus on stories that can be collected into trade paperbacks or graphic novels that have similar page counts to manga tankĹbon (180 to 200 pages).
Publishers such as Alterna Comics, IDW Publishing, and DC have experimented with different sizes and formats for their comic books in an effort to stay competitive in the face of rising manga popularity.
Publishing formats
A brief primer on comic book formats
Comic books come in a variety of formats. The most common North American comic book formats are the single-issue comic book, trade paperback, and graphic novel. Single-issue comic books (commonly called âfloppiesâ) are what most people think of when they think of comic books. Trade paperbacks collect several issues of one or more issues and republish them as one book or as an anthology. Graphic novels are essentially presented in the same format, but tell a single story usually composed of original material. Because of their similarities, the latter two terms are often used interchangeably.
Single-issue comic books are typically saddle-stitched. Saddle stitching involves using two or more staples to bind the pages together. Trade paperbacks and graphic novels are perfect-bound. Perfect-bound books bind pages to the spine with glue.
MangaâJapanese comic booksâalso come in a variety of formats. The most common manga format seen in North America is tankĹbon, which is the equivalent of a North American graphic novel or non-anthology trade paperback. Like trade paperbacks and graphic novels, manga is also perfect-bound.
Standard comic book sizes and layouts
North American comic books have a 6.625-inch page width and 10.25-inch page height (6.625 Ă 10.25 in). This has been the standard for well over thirty years. Therefore itâs the most common size whether the comic is printed in single-issue, trade paperback, or graphic novel format. On the other hand, manga page sizes are quite a bit smaller. The most common sizes are 5 Ă 7.5 inâpredominantly in the North American marketâand A5 (5.8 in Ă 8.3 in).
In terms of layout, North American comic books have an average of five to nine panels on a page, while common practice in manga aims for six to eight panels per page. North American comic books tend to organize panels in three columns, while manga organizes them in just two columns. There are exceptions, such as the climactic single-panel âsplashâ that can take up two whole pages.
A North American single-issue comic book commonly has about 32 total pages, including ads and other non-story filler. This is said to be because 32 is the total number of pages that can be printed on a single sheet of stock paper, and therefore is the most economical number to print. Trade paperbacks and graphic novels tend to range between 120 to 200 pages (the lengths of a 4-issue and 6-issue comic book arc, respectively). Manga tankĹbon tends to average 180 to 200 pages.
It should be noted that North American comic book pages are usually printed with a quarter-inch (0.25 in) bleed all around. This is considered important when determining how many pages can be printed on a single sheet of paper.
Common soft cover publishing sizes
Two of the most common American book publishing sizes are US Trade and Digest sizes. Typically used for soft cover fiction, US Trade measures 6 Ă 9 in and is the most common standard offered by online and US-based print services. The most popular Digest size comes in at 5.5 Ă 8.5 in3 and is the most widely-circulated soft cover book size in the US.
The most common international book publishing sizes are A5, Demy, and Royal. A5 is an ISO 216 international standard paper size, and measures 5.8 in Ă 8.3 in. Demy and Royal are older, traditional Imperial sizes. Demy book size is 5.43 Ă 8.5 in while Royal size is 6.14 Ă 9.21 in.
Everything relevant on paper
There are only two types of printing methods worth considering when it comes to publishing comic books at scale: sheet-fed offset printing and web offset printing. Sheet-fed offset printing, as the name implies, feeds a fixed-sized sheet of paper through an offset printer. In web offset printing, a continuous stream of uncut paper is fed through the printer from a massive paper roll called a âwebâ.
Paper is primarily organized and ordered by weight. Some printers use metric weights (called âgrammageâ), while others use Imperial weights (called âbasis weightâ).4 Grammage is usually represented by âgsmâ, while basis weight tends to be represented by âlbâ, âlbsâ, or â#â.
The three types of paper that are most common for North American comic book printing are newsprint, book paper, and text paper. The last two are sometimes used interchangeably. Comic book quality paper basis weights vary from 20 lb newsprint to 80 lb glossy book/text paper. The current go-to standard for many comic books is a 60 lb wood-free uncoated book/text paper.5
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Sizes and formats compared
There are strong commonalities between trade paperbacks, graphic novels, and manga. All three formats overlap significantly. For example, a trade paperback may be a softcover or hardcover book, and republish a sequential collection of single-issue comic book stories that form one arc in a multi-book story. Graphic novels may also be softcover or hardcover, and usually contain an entire story from start to finish. Manga tankĹbon may be a âvolumeââone or more arcs in an ongoing story (like a trade paperback)âor a complete story in and of itself (like a graphic novel).
Binding certainly makes a difference in durability. Perfect-bound books are more durable, but itâs generally considered impractical for floppies. As a result, this binding style is usually only seen with trade paperbacks, graphic novels, and of course manga.
Some sizes are well-suited to both US and international markets. For example, Demy size is virtually indistinguishable from the Digest format (5.43 Ă 8.5 in vs. 5.5 Ă 8.5 in). As a result, Demy tends to be a popular size in North America for both fiction and non-fiction titles imported internationally.
When considering international book publishing sizes, itâs important to know that A5 is exactly half the size of a sheet of A4 paper. Therefore, two A5 comic book pages can be printed on and cut from a single piece of A4 with significantly less paper waste than the traditional 6.625 Ă 10.25 in format. Printing in A5 size is also offered by the vast majority of online, US-based, and international printers.
Both Demy and A5 are so close to Digest size as to be nearly indistinguishable to the casual reader. Meanwhile, US Trade size is slightly smaller than Royal size, which is popular in the UK for non-fiction books.
A prevailing belief is that 32 North American comic book pages can be printed onto a single sheet of paper. The advent and ease of access to web offset printing mean that is anachronistic thinking. But most comic books are still printed with this 32-page rule in mind, making it a useful way to measure and communicate differences in value.
Accounting for a quarter-inch bleed, 38 Digest-sized pages fit perfectly into the same amount of printing space as 32 North American comic book-sized pages. That means 19% more pages per sheet or 3 additional 32-page issues for every 16 comic books printed.
When it comes to comparing modern comic book sizes to US Trade, comic book publishers can squeeze 35 pages onto a sheet that would normally only hold 32. Thatâs 9% more pages per printed sheet.
Meanwhile, A5 comes in at 36 pagesâone page less than Digest sizeâper sheet. Thatâs a printing efficiency increase of just under 13% over standard North American-sized floppies.
An interesting fact is that when adding the standard quarter-inch bleed to Digest pages, they measure 6 Ă 9 in. That makes Digest pages the same size as US Trade pages before trimming.
The average panel layout varies based on paper dimensions. Unlike North American comic books, manga seems to emphasize vertical space more. This is evidenced by fewer panel columns but a greater number of panel rows in a typical manga volume. Thereâs an exception for 5 Ă 7.5 in manga, which can have just three or four panels split into two rows.
North American single-issue comic books have significantly fewer pages than tankĹbon. But classic five- and six-issue arcs, trade paperbacks, and graphic novels tend to fall within a similar page count range.
Finally, a wide variety of paper can be used.
Economies of size
Digest and US Trade sizes seem to be the superior choices to balance traditional North American comic book presentations with cost-effective printing and market acceptance. And that makes sense. Theyâre both common sizes that readers are likely already familiar with, and have wide market appeal both at home and internationally.
Digest size provides the most amount of savings to publishers. Although it has less area for artwork and storytelling, its thinner width makes for a superior handling experience for the reader. On the other hand, US Trade provides more area for artwork and storytelling but produces the least amount of cost savings. US Trade can also be more cumbersome for a reader to hold, manipulate, and store on the go, especially at higher page counts.
This makes A5 seem like a good compromise at first. But when compared to the Digest format, creators will find that A5 nets them barely 3% more area for art and storytelling for 5% less printing efficiency. Itâs also similarly unwieldy at higher page counts as US Trade, giving A5 more of the other two formatsâ worst qualities than their best ones. None of this is a particularly compelling argument for choosing A5 over Digest or US Trade.
Looking toward recent trends in the comic book industry, both Alterna Comics and IDW Publishing have published trade paperbacks and graphic novels in the same or similar formats in the recent past. Meanwhile, over at DC, theyâve begun publishing graphic novels for less popular brandsâsuch as Teen Titans GO! Undead?!âat a size thatâs as wide as but just slightly shorter than Digest.
Something that should be considered is a frequent complaint about modern North American comic books: theyâre easily damaged. This is likely due to a combination of paper weight, page size, and binding style not being able to stand up to common packaging, shipping, and handling practices. The larger page area of US Trade suggests that they would be more susceptible to damage, particularly if printed with heavier paper stock.
Publishers who want to stick to the traditional 28-page or 32-page storytelling format should focus on stories that have classic five- or six-part arcs. This will create a trade paperback or graphic novel that falls in the range of 140 to 192 pages, putting it on par with the amount of content many customers are used to finding in tankĹbon.
Cooke, Baron. âGuide to Comic Book Dimensions (Drawing Included)â, 19 March 2022, https://www.measuringknowhow.com/comic-book-dimensions/
Milliot, Jim. âComics/Graphic Novel Sales Jumped 62% in 2021â, Publishers Weekly, 1 Jul 2022. https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/financial-reporting/article/89752-comics-graphic-novel-sales-jumped-62-in-2021.html
Wikipedia controversially states Digest size as 5.5 Ă 8.25 in when the vast majority of publishers and printing services peg it at exactly 5.5 Ă 8.5 in.
Anonymous. âLBS to GSM â U.S. to International Paper Weight Conversion â Equivalent Weights & Conversionsâ, Solo Printing, https://soloprinting.com/resources/paper-weight-conversions/. Accessed 6 Oct 2022.
Anonymous. âWhat Paper is Used to Print Comic Books?â, Comix Well Spring, 21 Aug 2021, https://www.grekoprinting-comixwellspring.com/blog/what-paper-used-print-comic-books/