The Death of the Superhero Comic

[Lapis Exilis]

Well, I didn't read the entire rant there, but here's my thoughts. First off, the reason superheroes dominate the comic format is because they essentially created it, along with smaller newspaper comics, which are still around too, though I guess that's not technically the same format. And also because they still sell. It's not really a big secret.

Superheroes were not the format that created comics. In fact, they were somewhat late to the game and one of the last genres created. Westerns, crime comics, romance and war stories, along with a variety of "funnies" were around long before Superman. And it's not that superhero comics outsold the other genres, it's that the other genres were gutted in the 1950s after Dr. Frederic Wertham published his indictment of comics, Seduction of the Innocent, which convinced parents and lawmakers that comics were destructive influences on children. A very few superhero titles (pretty much only Superman, Wonder Woman and Batman) barely survived and the industry rebuilt on the superhero genre because, under the restrictive comics code authority, it could be presented as wholesome and palatable for children. And to say they "still sell" is to ignore that their sales have been steadily dropping for over 20 years. Manga, on the other hand, which is largely fantasy and romance and sells to adolescent girls for the most part, has been blowing off the shelves for 15 years with steadily rising sales. That's the reality of which genres sell.

 

[DaleC76]

Haven't comic book sales been pretty stable over the past decade, though?

I haven't seen any comprehensive numbers, but by browsing the monthly stats, the latest list, December 2008, looks a lot like the earliest I could find, October 2001. The names of the comics change, but the numbers stay pretty constant (they may even be a little better now). The top 3 or 4 books are 100K+, 80 or 90K is enough to get you in the top ten, and 40K will put you around #50.

 

[DarKush]

I think that guy's predictions are a bit dire and hopefully won't come true. But I've got to admit the increase in price, even without the looming recession/depression, would force me to cut back collecting comics.

Especially because there hasn't been much of an increase in quality storytelling since I started really buying comics in earnest in the early 1990s. Though the artwork is much better.

I think the price increase is the wrong move and will only alienate fans and keep casual fans or curiousity seekers away from comics. Who has the discretionary income to plop down every week or two weeks on comics, esp. if they tie them to crossovers? Plus, I've really started to note the repetitive quality of most of the stories and there's too much using the reset button in the mainstream comics. When is the last time that something truly consequential and lasting happened? The independent comics have much more freedom to take their characters in places that the big two can, or are afraid to go. That being said, there is a definite nostalgia factor that keeps me coming back to the books I read as a kid, and I take issue with the article's insulting depiction of comic book fans.

The death of the superheroes would mean the death of comics period. I don't think the independents alone could sustain the market, or generate the kind of wide spread appeal that the superheroes do. The guy mentioned Watchmen, but what is Watchmen about? Heroes, and even though Moore might've been trying to deconstruct superheroes, look at how the movie is being marketed?

 

[Gryffindorian]

I for one welcome our new Manga overlords.

I was just thinking about manga as another form of comic books. Essentially, they are not comic magazines in the sense that DC or Marvel titles are published on a biweekly/monthly basis. Even the format is different (with chapters and story arcs, published in volumes), but they are "graphic novels," nonetheless. Since the author talked specifically about the superhero genre, the article doesn't really apply to the popularity of manga, but it makes for an interesting discussion.

Manga books have gained more popularity in recent years (especially among younger readers) with the emergence of various anime TV shows, most of which are based on the original published materials (Naruto, Dragonball Z, Full Metal Alchemist, and hundreds of other titles). I personally don't believe mostly teenaged girls are the targeted demographic; manga/anime stories have an appeal to older readers, too. As the average younger viewers become introduced to more Japanese-made anime shows, I think there will always be a market for manga.

Is the superhero comic book a dying breed? Only time will tell, but as for the future of comic books in general, technology hasn't really made huge leaps in terms of available media. Sure, nowadays we have electronic book readers and Adobe PDF files that can be downloaded for a price. Even those haven't quite caught on yet. People are practical, if not old-fashioned, and they tend to go for the cheap, traditional printed books that they can carry with them anywhere.

 

[miraclefan]

As a comic reader, collector, I love comics! since 1995 when I picked up my first comic at a waldenbooks. There are 3 comic shops in in my area alone! one has been around for quite some time and the owner is a great guy! It's your standerd comic shop, it has a a cupple hundred maybe a few thousend back issue's and a few New toys and collectibles, I mainly get my new books from him.every time I go I talk to him about the current state of the industry and the overall economy and he ADMITS thigns dont look good for the comic biz.

 

[miraclefan]

Also what the original poster was saying rings TRUE...to a POINT. I try to remember what Alan moore said in a interview about how rediculas it was that superheroes NEVER aged! and I agreed with him. Come on! to a lot of new readers who try to pick up a comic today they ask ( this comes from experiance) SHULDENT spider-man be pushing 60 by now? And there right, it's crazy! it seams time passes in the books,( when superman first started they used phone booths,today cell phones )but the heroes themselves never change! And I think problum originates from ...THE FANS!

 

[Gotham Central]

A big part of the turn off is that the people running the comic industry are stuck in a time warp. Over the last year DC has essentially turned back the clock to the way things were prior to 1985. They've ditched the new versions of old characters and then replaced them with the old characters from the writers youth. They've essentially gotten rid of the characters that young readers know just because they prefer the old ones.

That was the last straw for me. I've officially dropped DC.

 

[Skywalker]

Eh. I only buy trades, and even then they're rarely mainstream superhero books. I absolutely hate monthlies.

 

[Professor Zoom]

I absolutely hate monthlies.

I think the monthlies should die. Basically how they are written now is for a trade release.

Just stop publishing the monthlies and go to trade paperback. They are much more cost effective and I get the whole damn story.

 

[Norrin Radd]

I absolutely hate monthlies.

I think the monthlies should die. Basically how they are written now is for a trade release.

Just stop publishing the monthlies and go to trade paperback. They are much more cost effective and I get the whole damn story.

But the trades are cheaper for customers and more lucrative for companies due to the fact that they're just reprints of material that's already been sold. If they get rid of monthlies, the trades will be original material; DC and Marvel will be forced to increase the prices just to recoup their costs.

 

[DaleC76]

There's also the collectibility of monthlies to consider. Collectors are a large part of the comic community.

 

[RobertScorpio]

I think Comic books will die. The internet is going to see to that. And if DC/MARVEL were smart they'd start coming up with ways to sell a 'product' on the internet...perhaps comic books could be printed on little chips (the kind that go into camera slots on your computer) that were coded so they couldn't be dupicated. So instead of collecting the comic you'd collect the ships, or downloads, or whatever...but I predict that along with Newspapers, which or dying as well, Comic books will die as well....which is fine with me....the current storylines, like dc's latest Final Crisis, are proof to me that the industry needs a giant enema...and its coming, not due to the economics, but technology.

Rob

 

[Dick Whitman]

Monthly titles = adverting revenue

Trades don't have ads. DC and Marvel are never going to which completely to Trades. Unless you only want to see a few printed a year.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Also what the original poster was saying rings TRUE...to a POINT. I try to remember what Alan moore said in a interview about how rediculas it was that superheroes NEVER aged! and I agreed with him. Come on! to a lot of new readers who try to pick up a comic today they ask ( this comes from experiance) SHULDENT spider-man be pushing 60 by now? And there right, it's crazy! it seams time passes in the books,( when superman first started they used phone booths,today cell phones )but the heroes themselves never change! And I think problum originates from ...THE FANS!

They arent real people, so there is no reason they should age. Do you also wonder why Bart Simpson and Charlie Brown never age?

 

[stonester1]

The internet will not kill comics. This thing that the internet will take over everything is just silly.

I don't have to own a computer to read a comic. I don't need electricity to read a comic. My comic collection won't be wiped out if my hard drive goes tits up.

Plus buying a stack, the tactile experience of turning a page is part of the enjoyment of comics.

I will never read internet books as long as their paper forebearers are available.

Same with comics.

I also refuse to consign my music library, movie library, etc etc to computer storage space.

 

[TheSeeker]

The internet will not kill comics. This thing that the internet will take over everything is just silly.

I don't have to own a computer to read a comic. I don't need electricity to read a comic. My comic collection won't be wiped out if my hard drive goes tits up.

Plus buying a stack, the tactile experience of turning a page is part of the enjoyment of comics.

I will never read internet books as long as their paper forebearers are available.

Same with comics.

I also refuse to consign my music library, movie library, etc etc to computer storage space.

QFT

I feel exactly the same way.

 

[Gov Kodos]

People read stuff, so unless folks are going to abandon reading all together there will be a market for comics as there is for a host of other print media. Superheroes? There is a market, but how much is there for the cohesive, continuity heavy universe? Perhaps the companies would do better to abandon the model of a continuous world/universe story and go back to the story telling style of the golden/silver age where the characters kept a consistent characterization, but the events of previous tales didn't necessarily have to impact the current story.

Take the last crisis tale from DC, was it any suprise that it was Batman and Superman to save the universe? It would have been far more fun to me to have found that it was all a vast prank orchestrated by Ambush Bug and solved by Green Arrow figuring it out and Dinah pole axing him. However, the DC universe today can't act or think in any terms that do not center around Batgod and Supergod. If your a fan of those characters it's fine in the long run, but if not, there is very little on offer, especially if it is some multi-book crossover event.

 

[Icemizer]

Kodos are you reading the Green Lantern stuff right now? Brilliant work there and no Bat or Supes to worry about. Also just wrapping up was a terrific run on JSA, again with out the two big guns. I like that everyone lives in the same comic universe. But the guy at the top has to keep a good handle on all the minutia.

 

[Gov Kodos]

Kodos are you reading the Green Lantern stuff right now? Brilliant work there and no Bat or Supes to worry about. Also just wrapping up was a terrific run on JSA, again with out the two big guns. I like that everyone lives in the same comic universe. But the guy at the top has to keep a good handle on all the minutia.

I haven't been reading GL since they made Hal the badguy way back when. I have been tempted to jump back on board with Darkest Night, though. I expect I will wait for the trades. That has been largely my way of reading anything from Marvel or Dc since the early 90's.

 

[Admiral2]

I think the author of the rant needs to take the stick out of his ass and read more manga. That's what he really wants.