In the past four years, the agency has signed 37 contracts for publishing works in ten markets across America, Europe, and Asia.
Offering comics for publication in various countries wasn’t the original plan when Brazilian Marvel and DC Comics artist Geraldo Borges and Claudio Alvarez, writer and founder of Chilean publisher Acción Comics, started ArtistGO!
The agency initially aimed to bring South American talent to the global comic market by offering local artists’ services to U.S. publishers. This quickly led to Chilean artists working on characters like Wolverine, Darth Vader, Catwoman, the Fantastic Four, the X-Men, the Ninja Turtles, and the Power Rangers. A year later, the idea to offer South American titles to publishers in America, Europe, and Asia emerged.
The experiment has been successful. In the past four years, ArtistGO! has licensed 15 comics to the international market (13 Chilean and 2 Argentine) with 37 agreements in ten markets across America, Europe, and Asia.
The main destination country? Brazil, with 11 publications, followed by Italy (6), France (5), and Denmark (4). Germany, the United States, Puerto Rico, the Czech Republic, and even India and Japan are among the destinations for these graphic novels now seeking new audiences in other parts of the world.
“It’s been a journey full of successes and mistakes,” acknowledges Claudio Alvarez. “Through the publishing house, I had explored purchasing foreign licenses, so I learned how works were offered and what the industry standard was. The rest has been about researching, building databases, establishing contacts, and getting to the right editors. The final part, which is the most important, is done by the works themselves, as they captivate international editors. You can work hard to get noticed, but in the end, it’s the art and the story that make the main difference, leading a publisher to stop publishing a local work to give them that space,” he says.
A Global Market
The comic industry seems to be in good health globally. Although it’s difficult to quantify in South America due to a lack of reliable data, globally, according to a study by Mordor Intelligence, the comic market is currently valued at around $16.24 billion. It’s expected to reach $21 billion by the end of 2029, with an annual growth rate of about 5.37% during this period.
“These figures are uncertain in a country like Chile, where the average consumption of books in general is about five books per person per year. Therefore, making comics in countries like ours is complex, with limited sales volumes and print runs, considering the work involved in making a comic, from the hours of work by the artists to the need—often—of having an artistic team (colorist, letterer, etc.), which must be financed with a percentage of sales that rarely exceeds 10% of the cover price,” says Alvarez.
To put things in perspective, in 2022, 85 million comics and mangas were sold in France. This means that one in four books sold in that country was a comic. Over the past decade, comic sales have multiplied seven times, and the French comic, manga, and graphic novel market has doubled.
In the case of Brazil, for example, local production reached 2,130 titles in 2021 and 2,262 the following year, with an annual growth rate of 6.19%, in a country with over 100 million readers, where comics attract around 20 million readers monthly.
“Looking towards larger and more developed markets is an intelligent way to grow this art form, not just to spread our works but also for the economic factor, which is essential to keep telling stories. I feel that what we’re doing is catching up with an international connection that countries like Argentina have had for decades with markets like the Italian one,” the agent says.
“Something Mind-Blowing”
For Chilean artist Félix Vega, widely published internationally and who released works through the agency in Brazil (“Juan Buscamares” and “The Ghosts of Pinochet,” the latter with writer Francisco Ortega) and France (“The Ghosts of Pinochet,” soon), being published abroad implies a special feeling: “satisfaction for being recognized and read by new readers and for being able to spread our mythology and history, our heritage, in other cultures,” he says. He also considers it “imperative for the continuity of our careers as authors.”
For his part, writer Miguel Ferrada, author—along with artist Ítalo Ahumada—of “Mortis: Eternal Return” (published in Denmark, France, and Italy), adds, “that foreign publishers are betting on our work, in markets where, in most cases, readers don’t even know we exist or our track record, is something mind-blowing.” “One understands that their work is speaking to a niche, and it would be strange if it reached the popularity of the latest manga. Therefore, for your work to reach new markets is an opportunity to reach those small niches in other places, making it more worthwhile, in terms of numbers, to continue the creative work,” he complements.
Similarly, writer Gonzalo Oyanedel, author of “London After Midnight” (with publishing deals in Brazil, Italy, and Denmark) and “The Adventures of Filippa Nox” (Italy), created in partnership with Argentine master Enrique Alcatena, points out that “it’s hard to grasp, but there’s a smile of satisfaction in recognizing the journey taken and how much is still to offer.” “Reaching other markets involves measuring up against works whose demands can be very high, and achieving it—through effort—means we’re responding and can still improve,” he adds.
Gonzalo Martínez, artist of “Mocha Dick” (published via ArtistGO! in Brazil and France), and “Alex Nemo” (with a publishing deal in Germany), both works created together with writer Francisco Ortega, delves deeper into the last point: “After having had the opportunity to travel and get to know other markets, I’ve come to believe that Chilean comics have a good level and a personality worth showing abroad. Not just from a purely commercial perspective (which is fine) but also as part of the cultural profile of our society. Chilean comics have the quality and personality needed to accompany poetry, prose, music, cinema, performing arts, and, in general, all the arts that showcase and help describe a people,” he concludes.
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