Comic Book Industry Salaries
- There are two types of companies in the comic book industry: large comic book companies and independent publishers. The large companies such as Dark Horse Comics, Marvel and Archie Comics use their employees to work on books and characters they own and put together the books in-house. Those employees that work for larger companies will tend to receive higher salaries. Marvel's salaries for positions range from $25,000 to $58,000, according to GlassDoor. Dark Horse Comics employees make $36,000 to $46,000, according to GlassDoor.
- There are also publishers that look for new books to publish, taking on the comics created by an individual. Top Shelf Productions and Humanoids are two companies that publish several graphic novels by independent artists and writers. Often these companies pay artists on the lower end, closer to $20,000. Renee French, who created "Grit Bath," told The Comics Reporter that many new graphic novel artists do this to get their foot in the door and make contacts in the industry. Sean J. Jordan, a comic writer, said on his blog that he broke into the business in a similar way.
- Comics that get picked up by Marvel or DC and jump from the page to the big screen can put millions of dollars in comic book artists' pockets. For instance, comic book creators Stan Lee, Larry Hama and Ken Johnson have grossed millions of dollars from their creations "Spider Man," "G.I. Joe" and "The Green Lantern." Lee makes 10 percent of the profits from all of his film and television spin offs, according to Guardian.
- Location can also be a factor on salaries in the comic book industry. Comic Book writer salaries in Los Angeles, California, can earn $97,000, while writers in New York earn $83,000, according to SalaryExpert. Those in Florida make the least with writers in Miami making $38,000 and those in Orlando making $41,000.
