What's Wrong With The Comic Book Industry, And How To Fix It
► The following is probably rambling and slightly incoherent. I apologize.
Yesterday I had a conversation with a friend regarding DC Comics' impending line wide reboot/relaunch in September and the general state of the comic book industry. Over the course of the discussion I made several points regarding both, which I think are valid, only to have everything dismissed. According to my friend, who is a tireless fanatic and booster of DC Comics (he is seemingly incapable of finding fault with the company), the collapse of the comic book industry is inevitable, and there are no new collectors or readers because "kids don't read anymore".
Off the bat, I just want to say that I think the idea that "kids don't read anymore" is laughable because I heard it when I was a child, and I'm pretty sure my father and even my grandfather did too. It's a cop-out, plain and simple.
The comic book industry is dying. But it's solely because of and the result of Marvel and DC Comics. Comics used to routinely sell in the millions through the golden age of the 40s to the 60s. The industry was still healthy and thrived in the 70s and 80s, up to the unexpected industry wide speculator boom on the early 90s. Since the boom spiraled and crashed after a few short years in the mid 90s, we've been seeing a steady and increasing drop in comic book sales and readership. Nowadays a comic book that sells 40,000 copies is a success, whereas 20+ years ago titles were routinely canceled for falling under the 200,000 mark. Why did this happen?
Through the 40s to the 80s, most people (kids and collectors) bought comic books at convenience stores, newsstands, grocery stores and even department stores. You could find spinner racks full of titles! Back then the comic book companies had return policies set up with all these places. If you ran a corner store you could order comics and any that were unsold could be sent back to DC or Marvel. The publishes might have to swallow a bit of a loss but they were still making a lot of money.
What happened is in the late 70s and early 80s comic book specialty shops started cropping up. Those comic shops would directly buy comic books from the publishers (through distributors) and the publishers wouldn't have to worry about returnables anymore. When the boom happened in the early 90s, more people flocked to comic book shops than they normally would. The publishers got greedy, preferring the short term defined sale and abandoned the returnable policies and that was the end of comics. From that point on you had to go to a comic book shop to buy your comics.
But this is where the unforeseen problem has been growing. The early 90s boom aside, people don't go to comic book shops unless they're already collecting comics. There is little to no new blood coming in. All those spinner racks in all those mom and pop corner stores were the gateway for kids to discover comics. How many people over the age of 25 bought their first comic books in a comic book shop? What each of us collectors did, growing up, was discover our first comics in stores on spinner racks, occasionally buy our comics and get interested, our hunger for them growing. Eventually a friend or acquaintance would tell us about a shop were you could buy and and all titles, and that would feed out collections and our comic book loving bellies.
That's how the industry boom happened, and that's why the industry is dying. DC Comics and Marvel Comics have cut off the early access of their future costumers to their product. Those new curious readers are not going into comic book shops because they don't know about the product. You have superhero properties all over cartoons, TV, movies, games, toys, and merchandise, and they can't sell the comics to them because they're not giving kids access to them.
DC and Marvel need to restart the returnables policy and need to get comic books back out to the public. But they shouldn't just stop at grocery, convenience, and drug stores. They need to get spinner racks in movie theaters, video game shops, toy stores, any place that sees a lot of kid traffic. They need to expand their nets. It'll be easier to sell Batman and X-Men comic books to people walking out of a movie theater after just seeing the movies if there are spinner racks in the lobby. You need to cast your nets and your hooks to catch fish. You do not just sit back and hope they jump out of the water into your boat.
This is what is wrong with the comic book industry. This is what the publishers need to fix. DC Comics' big relaunch in September will not amount to much more than a reshuffling of the sales and collectors they already have, and maybe some minor interest from Marvel fans. It's a futile gesture when they're not selling to anyone but the faithful. If the industry needs to succeed, they need to take a real monetary risk.
► DeviantART: Costume Design by jollyjack - This is exactly what happens to me every time I try to design a "normal" female character of superheroine. I just can not help it. Hence the Bush League.
► Woman Shoots Cops, With Breast Milk - Not surprisingly, alcohol was involved.
► Madoff: I'm a 'Human Piñata' - Really? I would have said "human douchebag". You bilked countless people and charities out of billions upon billions of dollars in a Ponzi scheme, ruining untold lives. Fuck you, sir.
► QUICK HIT: Jennifer Love Hewitt in a Tank Top - Jenny Love in a tank top... **guuuhhh** This is what I'd want in a dream woman. Slightly thick and delightfully curvy. She's not big at all, just merely a full gorgeous woman (and still unrealistically slimmer than "average").'She used to be hotter, but...'
And fuck you, sir.
► Conan O'Brien interviews Ryan Reynolds (06-16-2011) - I love Ryan Reynolds.
Quote of the Moment
The Dude: Yeah, well, you know, that's just, like, your opinion, man.
- The Big Lebowski (1998)
Yesterday I had a conversation with a friend regarding DC Comics' impending line wide reboot/relaunch in September and the general state of the comic book industry. Over the course of the discussion I made several points regarding both, which I think are valid, only to have everything dismissed. According to my friend, who is a tireless fanatic and booster of DC Comics (he is seemingly incapable of finding fault with the company), the collapse of the comic book industry is inevitable, and there are no new collectors or readers because "kids don't read anymore".
Off the bat, I just want to say that I think the idea that "kids don't read anymore" is laughable because I heard it when I was a child, and I'm pretty sure my father and even my grandfather did too. It's a cop-out, plain and simple.
The comic book industry is dying. But it's solely because of and the result of Marvel and DC Comics. Comics used to routinely sell in the millions through the golden age of the 40s to the 60s. The industry was still healthy and thrived in the 70s and 80s, up to the unexpected industry wide speculator boom on the early 90s. Since the boom spiraled and crashed after a few short years in the mid 90s, we've been seeing a steady and increasing drop in comic book sales and readership. Nowadays a comic book that sells 40,000 copies is a success, whereas 20+ years ago titles were routinely canceled for falling under the 200,000 mark. Why did this happen?
Through the 40s to the 80s, most people (kids and collectors) bought comic books at convenience stores, newsstands, grocery stores and even department stores. You could find spinner racks full of titles! Back then the comic book companies had return policies set up with all these places. If you ran a corner store you could order comics and any that were unsold could be sent back to DC or Marvel. The publishes might have to swallow a bit of a loss but they were still making a lot of money.
What happened is in the late 70s and early 80s comic book specialty shops started cropping up. Those comic shops would directly buy comic books from the publishers (through distributors) and the publishers wouldn't have to worry about returnables anymore. When the boom happened in the early 90s, more people flocked to comic book shops than they normally would. The publishers got greedy, preferring the short term defined sale and abandoned the returnable policies and that was the end of comics. From that point on you had to go to a comic book shop to buy your comics.
But this is where the unforeseen problem has been growing. The early 90s boom aside, people don't go to comic book shops unless they're already collecting comics. There is little to no new blood coming in. All those spinner racks in all those mom and pop corner stores were the gateway for kids to discover comics. How many people over the age of 25 bought their first comic books in a comic book shop? What each of us collectors did, growing up, was discover our first comics in stores on spinner racks, occasionally buy our comics and get interested, our hunger for them growing. Eventually a friend or acquaintance would tell us about a shop were you could buy and and all titles, and that would feed out collections and our comic book loving bellies.
That's how the industry boom happened, and that's why the industry is dying. DC Comics and Marvel Comics have cut off the early access of their future costumers to their product. Those new curious readers are not going into comic book shops because they don't know about the product. You have superhero properties all over cartoons, TV, movies, games, toys, and merchandise, and they can't sell the comics to them because they're not giving kids access to them.
DC and Marvel need to restart the returnables policy and need to get comic books back out to the public. But they shouldn't just stop at grocery, convenience, and drug stores. They need to get spinner racks in movie theaters, video game shops, toy stores, any place that sees a lot of kid traffic. They need to expand their nets. It'll be easier to sell Batman and X-Men comic books to people walking out of a movie theater after just seeing the movies if there are spinner racks in the lobby. You need to cast your nets and your hooks to catch fish. You do not just sit back and hope they jump out of the water into your boat.
This is what is wrong with the comic book industry. This is what the publishers need to fix. DC Comics' big relaunch in September will not amount to much more than a reshuffling of the sales and collectors they already have, and maybe some minor interest from Marvel fans. It's a futile gesture when they're not selling to anyone but the faithful. If the industry needs to succeed, they need to take a real monetary risk.
► DeviantART: Costume Design by jollyjack - This is exactly what happens to me every time I try to design a "normal" female character of superheroine. I just can not help it. Hence the Bush League.
► Woman Shoots Cops, With Breast Milk - Not surprisingly, alcohol was involved.
► Madoff: I'm a 'Human Piñata' - Really? I would have said "human douchebag". You bilked countless people and charities out of billions upon billions of dollars in a Ponzi scheme, ruining untold lives. Fuck you, sir.
► QUICK HIT: Jennifer Love Hewitt in a Tank Top - Jenny Love in a tank top... **guuuhhh** This is what I'd want in a dream woman. Slightly thick and delightfully curvy. She's not big at all, just merely a full gorgeous woman (and still unrealistically slimmer than "average").'She used to be hotter, but...'
And fuck you, sir.
► Conan O'Brien interviews Ryan Reynolds (06-16-2011) - I love Ryan Reynolds.
Quote of the Moment
The Dude: Yeah, well, you know, that's just, like, your opinion, man.
- The Big Lebowski (1998)