(CBR) This story was co-written by Senior Editor Albert Ching
As a torrent of publishing news already starts to hit the web just days into 2014, CBR News takes one last look back at the year that was with our traditional Top 10 News Stories of the Year countdown!
2013 was a growing year for the comics industry in many ways. In a general retail sense, the direct market which serves as the economic backbone for the industry saw another 12 months of rising growth. More and more comics were released in digital format, as well, from pay-what-you-desire releases to the now ubiquitous tablet-ready offerings from major publishers to experimental comics posted on social media platforms like Tumblr. The convention calendar continued its slow and steady march, eating up nearly every available weekend from coast to coast. And in a bigger, more ideological sense, discussions on creator’s rights, new financial models and our professional conduct as a community remained lively, sometimes painful and often helpful in terms of building a stronger, more responsible community.
So as we head full-bore into a new year, CBR has ranked its Top 10 News Stories from 2013. This is by no means an exhaustive list of every important thing that happened to comics in the past 12 months, but rather an overview of events, actions, discussions and more that we felt left an impact on the industry and will continue to affect us all in the future.