The Problem with the Comic Book Industry

[RJDiogenes]

The thing is we all acknowledge there is a problem but HOW?? Do you fix it? How do you compete with video games, TV, youtube, internet facebook etc... the list just goes on.

Gorillas on the cover. This has been known for almost fifty years.

But at the same time, I think comic book fans are a bit schizo in that regard. On one hand a lot of us want change, yet at the same time we want things to stay the same.

Well, speaking for myself, I'd be happy with change that evolves naturally from character and situation. Forty years later, I still wish that Sue had stayed home and Crystal had stayed with the FF, eventually to marry Johnny. I was happy with the Intelligent Hulk and would have been delighted to have Rhodey as Iron Man with Stark as his mentor. A married Spider-Man was fine. The problem is with the "nu" mentality that requires all characters to be corrupt and piles on the "shocking" deaths; ah, the irony of attempting to "shock" a demographic that hides behind an affected veneer of jaded cynicism.

I wish there was a way to write books that could appeal to both adults, young adults, a kids inclined to read them.

This has been done very well in the past, especially in the 70s. Those books, written by guys like Englehart, Moench, Gerber et al, are still readable and enjoyable by all ages (up to my ever-increasing bracket). There's no reason that this can't be done now.

 

[Sephiroth]

I haven't bought a comic book in years, mainly because EVERY comic I have come across is in the middle of some long-assed story arc, I hate picking a story up in the middle, oh, and the story isn't even continuious between title# to title# any more, you have to buy 6 or 7 different titles just to follow one linear story, it's so damn confusing, why don't the big pubishers either simplify titles or just break down and go Manga (and i DON'T mean the $30 an issue Omnibus things either, those are unwieldy, hellishly expensive, and only give you one side of a story in which you need 3 or 4 other of those damn things for the full picture)

 

[Tomato]

Why compete? Either these people have a love for this medium, the comic book, or they don't. If they don't they should get out and make room for those who do.

B/c comics as a medium are dying. 5.5M comics sold a month is chump change. Marvel made slightly more $ from movies than comics. If selling over 100k a month is considered a good thing. The thing everybody here bitches and moans about cheesy deaths, arc comics. Well those comics SELL!! The death of Cpt. america sold like gang busters. You can't blame the execs for asking for more especially when it works.

IMO I think leadership of comics need a shake-up. You need leaders who are going to focus on children and to a certain extent those young teeny booper / tween girl groups. Create a separate brand (that was Ultimates before god knows what happened), package dirt cheap comics, like less than $10, (cut corners on size, paper whatever) and place them with other childrens "books" in book stores. Create a focus on self contain stories and continuity be damned!!!! As long as spider man was bitten by a spider. Everything else could go. (tiny titans is a perfect comic that should take this approach)

Secondly for the tween group. Focus more on whatever the hot selling property is at that time. NOw it is Twilight. Do book adaptations, spin off stories whatever just pump that stuff out. Once again keeping price low ~$10.

Finally I think DC needs to promote Karen Berger to supreme overlord. How this woman took Vertigo and transformed it to being an "adult" brand of comics is exactly the same strategy we need for kids.

Just some of my random thoughts on how to fix the industry.

Oh and Omnibus are amazing. I have like 5 and never feel I need to buy more comics to get the full picture. And for those who are just reading superheroes. Go out and try something new. Try Planetary, Ex Machina, Y the Last Man, Sleeper, Fables. All amazing comics and should be read by everybody.

 

[ToddKent]

. The thing everybody here bitches and moans about cheesy deaths, arc comics. Well those comics SELL!! The death of Cpt. america sold like gang busters. You can't blame the execs for asking for more especially when it works.

Exactly. The problem is not the industry but rather the readers.

As long as people keep buying mega-giant event crossovers featuring cliched, "kewl" grim & gritty protagonists with paper thin motivations and paint by number plots then the comic book companies will keep producing them.

 

[scnj]

I've mostly stopped reading Marvel and DC, except Morrison's ongoing Batman arc. Now I read loads of Image stuff (The Walking Dead, Invincible, Haunt) and Dark Horse's Star Wars stuff (Legacy, KOTOR, Invasion and Knight Errant when it starts).

Beyond this I don't really bother unless it's something that really interests me like the recent IDW series that started, Kill Shakespeare.

 

[Andonagio]

Exactly. The problem is not the industry but rather the readers.

As long as people keep buying mega-giant event crossovers featuring cliched, "kewl" grim & gritty protagonists with paper thin motivations and paint by number plots then the comic book companies will keep producing them.

Well, yes, the readers do share part of the blame. However, I'm convinced that in the long run, publishers could widen their market considerably if they nixed a lot of their major crossover events and made comic book stories more self-contained. Everybody's trying to duplicate the Death of Superman phenomenon from the early 1990s, but that's an unsustainable practice.

 

[indianatrekker26]

I submit the proliferation of titles is a problem, too. When I was young each character had at most two titles of his own plus a team up book (most characters had a lot less), and each team had only one title. Now it's pretty much impossible to keep pace with all the developments your favorite characters are dealing with because you have to buy 20-30 titles a month just to know what's going on -- and that's aside from the one-shots and limited series.

Picking up comments above, it's strange that an industry that struggles to maintain the status quo (as I believe it should) keeps having these cataclysmic cross-universe events.

amen! that's what killed collecting comics for me. When i first got into batman, it was the "Knightfall" storyline. At that time, there were 3 Batman comics: Batman, Detective Comics and Shadow of the Bat.
Now, in today's market, there are i think EIGHT Batman comics. Batman, Tec, Red Robin, Birds of Prey, Azrael, Catwoman, etc etc. That's what killed it for me.
On top of that, superhero comics, at least DC's stuff, has become all flash with no substance. It's just one big action blockbuster movie after another.
About the only comics I buy now is stuff from IDW. Mainly the Transformer monthly and whatever trek they put out a month. At most that's 2 or 3 issues a month.

 

[C.E. Evans]

The thing about the "too many titles" argument is that I don't think anyone is required to buy all of them unless they really want to. I know I certainly don't.

I'm into the big Marvel and DC franchises, but I only stick with one title from them. I'm not that much of a completist and not being able to buy only one Spidey book a month is what forced me to drop Amazing Spider-man after some 20 years or so...

 

[Checkmate]

Eh, as far as I'm concerned, the problem with the industry is that artists get all the fame and can take their damn time doing whatever the hell they want. It's gone from affordable stories with pictures to overpriced artist showcases.

All the other bullshit is a symptom of that problem.

 

[Mike Farley]

Letting the big star creators have full reign to do what they want is certainly a problem. Why did Bendis get to write HOUSE OF M? Why does they guy writing AVENGERS get to write a story that fundamentally changes the X-Men books at their very core? Or what about SIEGE? Why does the Avengers writer get to kill off the primary villain of another major Marvel character. Now when the creative team of that character want to use their main villain, they have to first do a story that brings him back to life.

Once upon a time the CHARACTERS were the stars. They drove the books. Now the egos of the creators drive things.

 

[C.E. Evans]

I think the pre-crash boom of the '90--when publishers and creators discovered they could actually get very rich doing comics--is a mindset that never went away, IMO...

 

[Smiley]

The price of the monthlies is too high. Once Star Wars: Legacy and Dark Times end, I will be sticking strictly to the trades.

Personally, I miss the editororial references to other issues. If the characters are going to reference other stories anyway, I'd like to know if it's something I should remember from 20 years ago or if it happened in a guest-star appearance in another book.

The multitude of titles available is a concern, especially for my beloved X-Men. I'm glad that there are so many popular characters among the teams and villains, but it's gotten to the point where even devoted fans need to check Wikipedia or go broke buying all of the titles.

Crossover events are hit or miss. They can be a lot of fun, but they also take for granted that the reader knows the characters from many of the books in the shared universe.

The sheer number of issues is getting ridiculous. I would be in favor of anything that would retain the essence of the great characters in comics history while wiping the slate clean continuity-wise. The Ultimate universe and Crisis are two ideas that helped for a period of time but had their own problems later on.

 

[Broccoli]

amen! that's what killed collecting comics for me. When i first got into batman, it was the "Knightfall" storyline. At that time, there were 3 Batman comics: Batman, Detective Comics and Shadow of the Bat.
Now, in today's market, there are i think EIGHT Batman comics. Batman, Tec, Red Robin, Birds of Prey, Azrael, Catwoman, etc etc. That's what killed it for me.

What do you consider Batman comics? During "Knightfall" there were a ton of Bat-titles out there too: Batman, Detective Comics, Shadow of the Bat, Legends of the Dark Knight, Robin, & Nightwing. That is six Bat-titles and I am sure there are some that I am missing.

Also, to compare Batman with Superman, around that time, there were a ton of Superman related titles. There were 5 titles that just featured Superman alone. In addition, there were at least 3 spin-off titles at the time. Now, there has been a huge cut-back in the Superman monthly titles, which is probably a good thing.

 

[Mike Farley]

There was a Catwoman title during Knightfall too. And at that time the books were much more closely tied together than they are now.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Superman and Batman have always hogged a lot of books. Superman was in "Action Comics", "Superman", "Worlds Finest" and as Superboy "More Fun Comics" (later in "Adventure Comics")in the 40s. Batman was in "Detective Comics", "Batman" and "Worlds Finest" with Robin appearing in his own strip in "Star-Spangled Comics.". Many of these continued until the 80s. Plus they were regulars in the JLA starting in the 60s.

 

[stj]

I've not really followed them for years, but there seem to be three problems, as near as I can tell:
Too much sadomasochistic imagery and subtext
the abandonment of any narrative flow between panels
a boring fidelity to Japanese artistic styles

They're an adolescent medium but the blind acceptance of semisociopathic ideas about how the heroes are the people with the guts to be ruthless aren't helping either.

 

[Mr Light]

The problem is $4 for a single damn issue. Absolutely ridiculous. My local comic store is going out of business this month. But I'm definitely off buying singles forever. I'll stick with the trades (which I then sell on Amazon to make my money back).

 

[MNM]

Well, yes, the readers do share part of the blame.

As a reader, I accept no part of any blame. I pick up and buy the comics I like. If comic companies dont put out much that I like, I dont buy much from them, if they put out a lot of stuff I like, I buy a lot of stuff from them. Simple as that.

However, I'm convinced that in the long run, publishers could widen their market considerably if they nixed a lot of their major crossover events and made comic book stories more self-contained.

You mean the "major crossover events" that top the charts every time they get published? Yes, that's a good idea.

This whole widening their market, expanding to new potential audiences etc.. is a complete fallacy. It's the reason why all the fuss over digital comics is a waste of time, and it is one of the main problems with the industry. You know why? This new audience doesnt exist. Not in any appreciable numbers.

People know these characters exist. they go and watch them in their droves at the cinemas. They know comics exist, but they make no effort at all to go find these comics. And they dont because they dont want to read adventures of these characters. that is the fundamental fact of it all, comics are a niche medium these days that people in general just dont care about, and nothing that gets done, putting comics up on websites, making them digitally available, tieing in with the latest movie, putting Obama in the story, whatever, wont change that. People wont suddenly go, "hey, I want to go find the latest Spider-man!!" They will go, as they do now, "spider-man comics? meh, when's spiderman 4 out?"

Comics as a whole would be much better off if the companies focused on the auidence they do have rather than chase this mythical new on.

 

[RJDiogenes]

You mean the "major crossover events" that top the charts every time they get published? Yes, that's a good idea.

The fact that they top the charts is why the audience shares the blame. Also, they are topping the charts in an ever-dwindling market.

This whole widening their market, expanding to new potential audiences etc.. is a complete fallacy. It's the reason why all the fuss over digital comics is a waste of time, and it is one of the main problems with the industry. You know why? This new audience doesnt exist. Not in any appreciable numbers.

People know these characters exist. they go and watch them in their droves at the cinemas. They know comics exist, but they make no effort at all to go find these comics. And they dont because they dont want to read adventures of these characters. that is the fundamental fact of it all, comics are a niche medium these days that people in general just dont care about, and nothing that gets done, putting comics up on websites, making them digitally available, tieing in with the latest movie, putting Obama in the story, whatever, wont change that. People wont suddenly go, "hey, I want to go find the latest Spider-man!!" They will go, as they do now, "spider-man comics? meh, when's spiderman 4 out?"

Yes, literacy is decreasing and that's part of the problem. This is another reason why the audience is complicit. Johnny can't read and Generation ADD can't sit still long enough.

Comics as a whole would be much better off if the companies focused on the auidence they do have rather than chase this mythical new on.

That's what they're doing. Focusing on that ever-dwindling audience. That's why Comics mostly suck now and why they will go the way of old radio shows if something isn't done; and probably if something is done.

 

[Dusty Ayres]

I've not really followed them for years, but there seem to be three problems, as near as I can tell:
Too much sadomasochistic imagery and subtext
the abandonment of any narrative flow between panels
a boring fidelity to Japanese artistic styles

They're an adolescent medium but the blind acceptance of semisociopathic ideas about how the heroes are the people with the guts to be ruthless aren't helping either.

The problem is $4 for a single damn issue. Absolutely ridiculous. My local comic store is going out of business this month. But I'm definitely off buying singles forever. I'll stick with the trades (which I then sell on Amazon to make my money back).

You mean the "major crossover events" that top the charts every time they get published? Yes, that's a good idea.

The fact that they top the charts is why the audience shares the blame. Also, they are topping the charts in an ever-dwindling market.

This whole widening their market, expanding to new potential audiences etc.. is a complete fallacy. It's the reason why all the fuss over digital comics is a waste of time, and it is one of the main problems with the industry. You know why? This new audience doesnt exist. Not in any appreciable numbers.

People know these characters exist. they go and watch them in their droves at the cinemas. They know comics exist, but they make no effort at all to go find these comics. And they dont because they dont want to read adventures of these characters. that is the fundamental fact of it all, comics are a niche medium these days that people in general just dont care about, and nothing that gets done, putting comics up on websites, making them digitally available, tieing in with the latest movie, putting Obama in the story, whatever, wont change that. People wont suddenly go, "hey, I want to go find the latest Spider-man!!" They will go, as they do now, "spider-man comics? meh, when's spiderman 4 out?"

Yes, literacy is decreasing and that's part of the problem. This is another reason why the audience is complicit. Johnny can't read and Generation ADD can't sit still long enough.

Comics as a whole would be much better off if the companies focused on the audience they do have rather than chase this mythical new on.

That's what they're doing. Focusing on that ever-dwindling audience. That's why Comics mostly suck now and why they will go the way of old radio shows if something isn't done; and probably if something is done.

The solution to the problems of all three of you is called 'getting a lifetime membership and a pull box'! That's what I did this Tuesday, and that's what you three should be doing, too.