ICv2

ICv2 is a trade publication and information service focused on the business of pop culture products. Its coverage centers on comics, graphic novels, games, anime, manga, toys, and related entertainment categories. The name is commonly expanded as “Inside Comics and Games,” reflecting the publication’s industry-facing rather than fan-review orientation.

ICv2 was founded by Milton Griepp in 1998. Griepp had previously worked at Krause Publications, where he was associated with the company’s comics and collectibles publishing efforts. Creating ICv2 gave him a venue for reporting on specialized retail channels and the companies that produce and distribute merchandise through those channels.

Its reporting treats distribution and retail as subjects. Articles have examined comic-shop sales, bookstore sales, licensing, publishing programs, convention business, and the changing role of digital platforms. This emphasis makes ICv2 useful for people who need market context: publishers, distributors, retailers, licensors, creators, and investors rather than casual readers alone.

A visible part of ICv2’s work is its market reporting on graphic novels. The publication has partnered with Circana, formerly NPD BookScan, on monthly Graphic Novel Bestseller Lists. Those lists track sales through bookstores and help identify which manga, superhero, and other graphic novels perform in the bookstore market.

ICv2 also publishes analysis of the comics and games trade through interviews, retailer perspectives, company announcements, and convention reporting. Its coverage has included major publishers such as Marvel, DC, Dark Horse, Image, and Viz Media, while its games reporting reaches tabletop role-playing games, board games, card games, and miniatures too.

The organization’s convention presence is tied to ICv2 conferences, which bring publishers, retailers, distributors, and professionals together for business-focused programming. These events have been held alongside conventions, including Comic-Con International: San Diego, giving participants a setting for discussions about sales, publishing, licensing, audience development, and the commercial economics of fandom.

ICv2’s editorial record is valuable because it preserves industry information that is scattered across press releases, retailer conversations, sales reports, and convention panels. Rather than presenting a single entertainment brand, it follows the infrastructure connecting creators to readers and players: rights, formats, shelves, databases, stores, and the communities that sustain them.

Today, ICv2 remains identified with Milton Griepp’s business-oriented approach and with detailed coverage of markets that overlap without being identical. Its reporting helps explain why a manga publisher, game manufacturer, comic retailer, or licensing executive may watch trends from different angles. That specific trade perspective is ICv2’s defining contribution.