Sigh. They're doing this again. Variant covers and other "Premiums" helped make the whole comic book industry fall down go boom after the early 90s. Since that and the constant re-#1ing were designed to lure in speculators who figured their comics would be worth a lot soon, and then when they weren't, quit en masse, and so comic shops were stuck with extra inventory and closed, so distributors went out of business and/or merged, and publishers made more "preimiums" to try and draw back the speculators, which drove prices down more, annoyed readers, and didn't draw back speculators, so more comic shops went out of business... Repeat. So now we're where we are, with few comic shops, a monopoly distributor (Diamond) who has exclusives to the big publishers. And so we end up with a really small market, where the top selling books are like MAYBE 100K. And mostly Superheroes being published, and really hard for any other publishers to get anywhere near Marvel/DC/Image size, especially since the others can help keep them out of a full spot in the front of Previews, like happened to Crossgen.
Yeah, I know way too much about this, as a result of being a wannabe comic writer, working in related business for retail, and talking with the comic shop guy and reading comic shop industry forums like DWP.
A-fraggin-men, the Remains of CrossGen is on the auction block...today last I heard. DC isn't TOO bad on the varient front, Marvel is re-booting with #1's on several titles to shore up sales.
*Sighs* First Chaos, then CrossGen fell, thank gawds Dark Horse is stable, I don't read anything Image.
Yeah I have regular chats with several comic creators and such so I know more than the average fan too, it's a sad state to say the least.
Yeah, I know way too much about this, as a result of being a wannabe comic writer, working in related business for retail, and talking with the comic shop guy and reading comic shop industry forums like DWP.
Reply
*Sighs* First Chaos, then CrossGen fell, thank gawds Dark Horse is stable, I don't read anything Image.
Yeah I have regular chats with several comic creators and such so I know more than the average fan too, it's a sad state to say the least.
SW
Reply
Leave a comment