But HN is a tiny minority. It is barely a drop in the ocean. Printed media is losing a lot of market (except books globally and comics in certain asian countries). Look at how manga works - most manga don't get that many sales. They rely entirely on their niche. There are just a lot of authors of them and a lot of buyers. However, in the western world comics seem to be dying like newspapers. The Internet just stomps them, so comics are trying to hold on to the niche they do have as hard as they can. You have to realize that this is afterall a business - the fact that there are very few comics that do portray what you're talking about disagrees with your "tremendous evidence".
Also note that I do not care for these types of comics you describe or even the "sexy" ones. I do not like western art in comics at all. I just think that people who say "oh, but I would read comics if only they had X" talk a lot about it, but not enough of them follow through for extended periods of time when offered the chance.
> But HN is a tiny minority. It is barely a drop in the ocean.
It is, although the comments aren't HN readers talking about themselves—the comments are HN readers talking about what comic book readership in their country looks like. To pick a random example, see https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8898345. Pay attention to what the author is saying: not "I read X", but "the best selling comic in Norway for decades was Donald Duck", "The best selling French-language comic is usually Spirou".
> You have to realize that this is afterall a business - the fact that there are very few comics that do portray what you're talking about disagrees with your "tremendous evidence".
The fact that there are very few comics in the US. There are very many such comic books outside of the US, and they sell well. My point is, the way the US comic book market looks is not inevitable; instead it's a result of many years of poor decisions by the US comic book publishers to appeal to a single niche.
Or to turn your phrase back on you: it's a business for comic producers all over the world. However, elsewhere they have found success selling to audiences that US comic book producers have long neglected. I know given how popular US cultural products are, it's easy to assume that things outside the US look just like things inside the US, but that's not always the case. HN has an international readership; check out what they say to see what things are like in other countries.
Also note that I do not care for these types of comics you describe or even the "sexy" ones. I do not like western art in comics at all. I just think that people who say "oh, but I would read comics if only they had X" talk a lot about it, but not enough of them follow through for extended periods of time when offered the chance.