It's comic book firms vs. recession

Most retailers also predicted that illegal uploading could increase.

But Hollywood might be able to inject some magic back into the market, several retailers said.

Last year, hit films like "The Dark Knight" helped attract casual readers. When the trailer for the movie adaptation of "Watchmen" debuted in July, DC Comics had to print 900,000 more copies of the graphic novel. Store managers are hoping the boost continues with upcoming movies like "Wolverine."

Otherwise, the sales skid could continue.

Fans such as Aaron Biscombe, 25, an animator from Koreatown, are already cutting.

"I stopped branching out," he said while browsing at Golden Apple.

Instead of visiting the store once a week and buying five books per trip, he now stops in just twice a month and buys fewer expensive back issues.

In the early 1990s amid the industry's largest boom, comics stores tripled over three years but slipped back after the industry collapsed into a downturn in 1994.

Around 1,100 stores closed that January, according to Comics Chronicles.

Blaming "the current economic climate," Wizard Entertainment recently canceled the Texas leg of its 2009 Wizard World convention.

Dreary sales forced Third Planet Games & Comics in Torrance to shut its doors in early January.

But in true superhero fashion, a longtime customer saved the day by buying the business.

The store will reopen with a smaller staff and stricter standards for ordering, manager Scott Grunewald said.

"Hopefully we have a happy ending," he said. "Because now, we're starting from scratch."

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tiffany.hsu@latimes.com