The Romanian comic book industry has evolved significantly in the last three years, in terms of number of publications and readers, according to representatives of HAC!BD, a local publishing house specialized in comic books.

“If there was no recurrent comic book in Romanian in 2010 and the number of readers of such foreign publications reached some 1,000 in 2012, there are currently 7 such publications on the local market and the number of readers is 15 times higher,” said Mihai Ionascu, co-founder HAC!BD, cited by Dailybusiness.ro.

The local comic book market mainly targets young people aged between 18 and 30, 85% of whom live in urban areas. Moreover, according to HAC!BD data, 75% of the readers are men who are usually passionate about pop culture, are active on social media websites, and are open to tech innovations.

The data also shows that 30% of comic book readers prefer to buy the magazines online, and 15% have subscriptions. The rest of the buyers make their purchases from classic selling points such as libraries, gas stations, and small shops.

HAC!BD was founded in 2012 by Roxana and Mihai Ionascu, two Romanian entrepreneurs who also had a web development business.

Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: HAC!BD on Facebook)