The Future of Comics and Other Publishing
by James HudnallYou can probably date yourself by remembering how much comic books cost when you were a kid. Was it a dime, a quarter, a dollar? Can you believe they cost $4 now?
As the greenies would say, that’s unsustainable. Comic books used to be common. If you went in any kids house in the 50s or early 60s you would probably find some. Not so much anymore. Comics once sold everywhere magazines were sold. You could buy them in drug stores, supermarkets, seven-elevens, newsstands, even some liquor stores. But the so called “newsstand market” was a hostile place to comics publishers, and a shrinking one.
These days, it’s hard to find comics anywhere outside of the comic book store. That means that comics have become a “destination product.” It’s something you need to know where it’s sold, you have to physically go there and if you’re lucky, they might have what you’re looking for. However, most comics retailers order to sell out. So the odds are, you may be unlucky if you don’t come on “comics day,” the day the books come in from the distributor.
And that’s another problem with comics these days. There is only one distributor. When I got in the business in the mid 80s, there were around ten distributors. But over the years they all went under leaving Diamond Comics as the sole place publishers can distribute through to the “Direct Market,” as we call it. It’s like government run health care, if there’s only one place to go for your needs, you have to like their terms.
To complicate matters, the stresses of running a comics distributor in this economy has hurt the last remaining company. They have had their share of layoffs and warehouse closings. If that wasn’t scary enough for comics pros, Marvel just got bought by Disney, DC just reorganized under Warner Brothers, and long time publisher Paul Levitz was moved out. There is now a Hollywood person running DC. The future of the direct market may be uncertain at this point.
Marvel and DC are what we call the “Big Two.” They are the largest and oldest publishers in the business. They drive the industry. If they decided to pull out of the direct market for some reason, they would effectively be turning out the lights on the rest of the publishers. There are many other comics publishers, but they can’t live on the book store market alone.
This situation is reminiscent of the industry in the late 70s. Newsstand distribution for comics was dying off and Marvel and DC were on the ropes. DC was looking to go to reprint material. No new stories. But a couple things happened that saved comics at that point, the birth of the “direct market” and the success of “Superman: The Movie,” and a few years later, the movie “Batman.” These re-energized the business in a big way which lead to a new boom in the early 90s.
Besides distribution, the other problem with comics now is the cost. You used to easily be able to sample new comics because they were so cheap. Now, if you can find them, they cost so much it’s hard for the average person to give a new book a try. That makes it extremely hard for new books to make it. And the industry needs to ideas. It can’t rely purely on old characters to keep going.
Enter the digital age. When music downloading became popular, fans started scanning comic book pages and uploading whole comics series online to torrent sites. In Japan, they started making comics (aka manga) available for download on your cell phone. And many comics started to run exclusively on the Internet. Marvel even started making their books available on the web by subscription to the service.
Print is dying, not just for newspapers and magazines. The cost of printing and paper, the problems with accounting for sales and waste in the newsstand business is what made it unviable for comics. Newspapers, magazines and books have been feeling the pinch for years. But the digital age is showing them a new path to future growth.
Digital book readers like Amazon’s Kindle started to grow in popularity. Sony’s Reader looked to be a threat, but now Apple’s rumored tablet PC may become the iPod for readable media.
Tablet PCs will be the future of the personal computer, being lighter than laptops, having touch screen interfaces, it will be like having a notepad you can take anywhere and work on. Except it will have Internet access, it’ll be a computer and you’ll be able to use it to read any book or comic. You can read in bed, on the beach, the toilet, everywhere you can take a book or magazine.
According to the Chicago Sun Times, major publishers may even be working with a software company to bring comics to that medium. And this can be a game changer.
Like iTunes was to music, electronic publishing on a tablet PC will be much more appealing than reading a comic on a computer monitor. With a tablet PC, you aren’t stuck to your desk or a heavy laptop. The tablet PCs will be as light as a book. Lighter even.
But even better, the two strikes against current comics will be removed. They will no longer be “destination products.” You will be able to get them anywhere, download them from the net right onto your tablet. And they will no longer be cost prohibitive. You might even see the return of the 25 cent comic. Imagine that.
Books, magazines and newspapers will more than likely follow suit.
And the tablet won’t be the only place you can get your comics. Marvel has just signed a deal with a company called Panelfly to bring comics to the iPhone. Expect to see the software or a competitor migrate to Google’s Android, as that open source platform will become more ubiquitous than Apple’s.
So if the “big two” decide to bail on the direct market (which we all hope they don’t), there are still plenty of places comics can go to survive. If anything, the future of comics looks bright if they can escape the shackles of print media.
For traditionalists who like the old printed form, there will always be collected trades. Those are increasingly available in book stores which is the other place comics have migrated to.
Email this to a friend | Print |
Share on Facebook
| Tweet this
| 
Follow Us on Twitter
Subscribe via RSS
Tips & Feedback
86 Comments
Thanks James. Good article. I will miss printed comics, not only for the nostalgia, but for the, say, 'materialistic' feel of holding that issue number 1 in your hand and knowing it's yours. A Kindle, iPhone or Tablet PC just won't have that same impression. Especially when, as in the case of the Kindle, the people you bought it from have the ability to delete it from your device if they wish. Then it's gone forever. No digging out of a box in the attic 25 years later and reliving your childhood for a few moments.
Sorry to hear about Paul Levitz. Always liked his interviews on DC's direct-to-DVD movies (New Frontier, Yay! Green Lantern: First Flight, Yay!).
P.S. Psycho was one of my favorite series when it came out. Right up there with Dark Knight Returns and Watchmen. Well done sir!
I had not read a comic book in a few years and I decided to stop at the comic store to grab 10-15 of them and… WOW!. The price blew me away. And they are skinny too. 4 bucks for what amounts to 10 pages of content, I don't hink so. Needless to say, I haven't been back to the comic book store…
A bargan on the internet are the independants, unlike marvel,dc or dark horsie they distribute via the net, they rely on cash purchases, through merchandise, the cons (you can see them off to the side or at the small tables waveing, not usually the ones with lines). You can rarely find these demented geniouse's work in comicbook stores, but on the net they promote each other, from whatisdeepfried I have found and purchased from many indies, spreading around my shrinking disposable income. From original art to teeshirts a virtual cornecopia of entertainment. (JaSon was this good enough to get my cat back? My daughter misses her fluffy)
I have been using the HTC family of smart phones for a few years now, they will do everything a PC, tablet, kindle or net-book will do. I read free ebooks on mine when traveling. I do not understand why they have not done better, they beat the IPhone to hell.
the comic most fondly remembered here is the old cold war era 'Blackhawk' series. Absolute fave- wonder if any of them are floating around.
Any suggestions?
They're starting to "come out", as it were, by advertising directly now…
I'll have to pick one up at my next contract renewal…
Every so often they bring back the Blackhawks. I haven't been following the latest status of it, but if you google Blackhawks you will probably find an answer.
The pamphlet comic will always be with us for the same reason there are so many horses. People love them. And don't forget the collector's urge. With e-comics, there's nothing to collect. I love holding a well-done new comic in my hand. You're probably right about them all becoming TPBs though.
If Comic Books were more consistently anti-american, the Democrats would probably offer some bailout dollars.
The problem is, kids who didn't grow up with them don't have the attachment you do. They grew up in the internet and cell phone era. So they are more familiar and used to that.
This is in all honesty for the best. This could increase self publishing and make it more cost effective to self publish.
As someone who follows and comments on comics quite often, there are other avenues to get comics in the "classic" form.You just have to look for them, but challenging Diamond is difficult. There used to be an alternative, Advance Comics, but Diamond was able to talk the "big names" into going exclusive with them. Advance was soon defeated.
For me, a trade isn't the same as the classic style, although comics have been writing for trades for a few years now, leading to comics being padded to make enough issues to qualify for trade collection. The classic style is easier for me to read at my chosen pace and at the breakfast table. I prefer save "long-form" reading (when I have the time) for prose novels.
To continue: trades used to be for special events, like the infamous "Demon in a Bottle" arc from the Iron Man comic. Otherwise, graphic novels were only for special stories that couldn't be told properly in the normal comic format. That's not the case anymore, and that's kind of sad. Each comic format, like every media format, has a certain style to it which in the case of the classic comic style has been lost as of late.
If this wasn't already long enough, I'd list all the reasons I think comics are falling by the wayside, because there are quite a few. It boils down to writers and editors-in-chief that don't seem to care anymore.
The problem with web comics right now is that there are a Gadzillion small web comics out there so anything good gets lost in the noise. This will change when there are big web "publishers" with pay gates who can demand a subscription price and pre-approve the good stuff that people will pay to see. The downside is that such gate keepers will impose a defacto value judgment on the material and we can once again have a cultural bias similar to the Hollywood one this site was created to expose.
This upsets me because, although I am not a huge comic book fan, I am a huge reading fan. And I hate reading from a digital screen or from anything electronic. I do it for blogs and forums, but for stories and comics give me a print version any day. Bookstores are my favorite stores. I am only 26 and I have a library of books that would fill at least 3 large book shelves (and I don't have more simply because my husband and I don't yet have a permanent residence). The thought of people making less print editions of anything bothers me. I think I am in the minority but thats where I am nonetheless.
It'll get better. We're still in the early stages of screen technology. It will be more and more like print, but better. Higher resolution and more color range. And the screens will be flexible, even rollable. They already have that kind of technology and its cheap to produce.
I have about 300+ comics stored away. A few years ago I opened the box and started reading the comics I hadn't seen for 20 years.
I remembered every story. I had read them over and over as a kid.
I stopped buying comics when they were being grouped together in packages of 3 and I didn't want the other 2. I have downloaded a torrent file a year ago that had 54 Uncle Scrooge comics. Too bad Gladstone stopped publishing.
You most definitely are in the minority for people your age, but there are a lot of us "oldies" who love our books(comics included). I get over 30 DC titles every month and have bookcases filled with books and stacks on the floor. I have books from when I was a child. I can't get rid of a book I have read, they are my friends. Luckily (or unluckily), my husband is the same way, heaven help us when we run out of room!
I personally remember when books were .20cents. I quite collecting comics except for Mike Mignola and Warren Ellis titles. And the occasional Mini series. $3.99 for a book is just to expensive.
I understand that cost has gone up because of the cost of production but also because the amount of total sales has also dropped. Yet when I can pay $6 for virtually any magazine and get an additional 100 pages of content I start to feel jipped.
The trend towards a digital market is starting to steamroll ahead, but I don't think print is dead. At least not yet. I figure there is at least another five years before that happens. About the time that today's 10 year olds become teenagers. Then the collectors mentality will be all but gone.
The move to digital is definitely a plus for all of us out there who have struggled with the cost of self publishing.
In the long run it may prove to be the boost that the Industry has needed.
Very good article. Thanks for writing it.
Speaking of e-readers, there's also http://www.barnesandnoble.com/nook .
I will always prefer a "pamphlet" comic book and I think they always will exist. I do expect the comics maket to develop into a healthy mixture of digital and print.
As a 36 year old longtime fan and colletor of comics, I am OPEN to moving SOME of my reading to a digital format. But I want a device that is capable of recreating the print experience. No little "pan and scan" a few panels at a time will do. I have to be able to appreciate the full page of art, as well as a 2 page "splash page." A digital comics reader should be designed to do this by perhaps folding out to allow view of two pages at a time. So pan and scan would only be used to zoom in on art detail if desired. Another important issue for me is "owning" what I purchase. Any digital comic I buy would have to be in some "universal" format that i could revisit in perpetuity on whatever current "reading" device I owned at the time. If these issues are answered by our (currently) free market then I'll jump in and test the waters.
If you are "the" Mike Baron who wrote The Punisher way back when, as well as many other fine works, thank you! Your Punisher, in my opinion THE Punisher, was phenominal and is missed. I don't much recognize the character today…
I don't have a problem with printed comics. But having been a self publisher, I know the realities of the economics. Also, comics take up A LOT of room. I have lots of long boxes in storage that I keep dragging around every time I move. Having them digitally would be nice.
Should comics maintain their future on the web?…
James Hudnall at Big Hollywood is talking about the death of the printed medium and how that’s affecting even the comics business…
Oh, comics have had a heavily liberal bias for quite some time. At least at DC and Marvel. As an example, I stopped buying DC comics when they did a storyline in Green Arrow bashing gun owners and attacking the Second Amendment.
[...] The Future of Comics and Other Publishing This entry is filed under America – Blogs, Big Hollywood. You can follow any responses to this [...]
I have a lot of fond memories related to printed comics.
As a kid I remember going to the supermarket where they had comics in plastic bags, 3 to a bag. It was both fun and frustrating trying to figure out what the middle comic was and if you wanted to read it or not since you could only see the covers of the two outer comics and there didn't seem to be much rhyme or reason to what comics were grouped with what beyond publisher. It did leave me with a preference for DC comics because you could never be sure you could get two consecutive issues of a particular comic and that made it hard to follow Marvel's multipart story arcs.
As a teen I would ride my bike down to the local Utotem to peruse the comics on their spinner racks.
In college I shared a two bedroom apartment with three other students and on comics day we'd load up in the car and drive down to the comic shop to see what was in, then return home and spend the evening reading our new books and going through each others piles.
Simple pleasures to be sure but gone now with e-publishing but then times change and we need to change with them.
My one experience with buying comics in electronic format hasn't been the greatest though. Some years ago I bought the complete series of one of my favorite independents, Neil D. Vokes and Rich Rankin's "Eagle", in electronic format but there was no real provision for moving them to another machine and so when I upgrade my computer I lost them. Hopefully that sort of thing isn't as much of a problem these days.
thanks for the heads up. Love to get some of the late 50's early 60's commie bashing issues…
Personally, I like comic stores. The one in my part of Portland, OR is always busy. Its nice to be able to talk to the proprietors and customers. Though, web distribution is popular, many people still want the hard-copy. Were there is a market, there will be a supply. Some web comics self publish books. They usually sell out. Notice, the people buying them have already read the comic online. Another point, beside the big names, there are many smaller publishers, some who cater to special markets. Dark Horse comes to mind, though much of their stuff is geared towards adults. I believe there is actually more diversity in the comic universe then ever before.
BTW, as someone who is actually working on a "Graphic Novel" for teens, I can tell you it is an incredible amount of work. What takes a few minuets to read can take weeks to create. There is so much to pay attention to. I am still learning, so I don't plan on having anything complete for a long time. I give the "real" artists and writers a lot of credit for their hard work and dedication. There are much easier ways to make a living with the skills they posses. I also like to commend the readers of online comics, who wait patiently for the next page to be published.
I didn't much care for comics when I was a child. And I certainly don't read them as an adult. This has become a nation of arrested development man-children. Grow up!
Comics are a medium like any other. They aren't limited by content.
One thing I remember that digital will never reproduce, that strange sweet smell of whatever ink that was that First used. Sure, the colors looked off lots of time, but whatever that stuff was, it was like some sort of nerd attractant. Nexus, Dynamo Joe, my fondness of them is inextricably tied to that scent from when I first discovered them.
(BTW, why isn't Dynamo Joe in the Wikipedia entry for First? And in its article, what do they mean there were only 15 issues? I might still have more than that many lying around, somebody better do a recount.)
To dcase: DC Comics has recently published a 500 page collection of "Blackhawk" from that era. See here: http://www.amazon.com/Showcase-Presents-Blackhawk...
"You used to easily be able to sample new comics because they were so cheap. Now, if you can find them, they cost so much it’s hard for the average person to give a new book a try."
I suppose I would believe that if I didn't see so many of those "average people" putting down $4 for a caffeccino, $8 for a lipstick, $12 for a movie ticket and $50/month for their cable. I don't read comic books, and haven't since I was seven or eight – but what is it about reading material that people don't want to pay to "try"? Before any book comes out – I imagine it's the same with comics – there are a variety of opportunities to get feedback on the content – some reviews may be feeble, some may be legit, you learn to sort them out. But this isn't the problem – the problem is people who pay for concert tickets, pay-per-view events, sporting events, restaurant meals, movies and gas for their car to get to all of them don't want to pay for books. Sell them on an e-reader and they will immediately try to bypass the controls to get the material for free, and feel entitled to do it. It's not the cost – gas, bread, haircuts cost more than they did 30 years ago – and it's not the trees – I recycle enough paper in a week to print a dozen books, it's what's mandated in most towns (if they can't figure out how to reuse the recycled material, well, that's a separate issue) – it's the sorry reality that we don't want to pay to read.
Perhaps it's a generational thing, but the one item I never gripe about is the cost of my reading material; and $4 seems reasonable to me.
gee thanks…
Blackhawks coolest uniforms and logo ever!
I hope you're right, because reading something at Marvel.com is unpleasant. I hate having to scroll both vertically and horizontally just to read a single page. They'll have to have a device that lets me see a full page in full resolution before I'll be anything but apprehensive. And, even then, gone are the days of the crazy eight page fold-out from Ultimates 2.
As opposed to a passive-aggressive, socially-stunted individual who lurks in the comments sections of blogs hiding behind a pseudonym and shoot off snarky judgments of people he's never met. Welcome to the club. Hope they drop some.
I wonder if you'll be disappointed to know that a comic writer/creator has been awarded the Pulitzer Prize? Probably not, after all comics are only for children. Just like animation or science ficiton and fantasy movies, TV Shows and books.
None of these may be your cup of tea but that would also mean that your knowlegde of and experience with the mediums are very limited. To make a general judgment based on ignorance is more indicative of your need to "Grow up!" than those who enjoy something that you do not.
Indeed. I suggest that anyone who thinks comics are just for children read Art Spiegelman's Pulitzer winning "Maus: A Survivor's Tale". It's a comic book that deals with the Holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors' lives and on the lives of their children. It may be a comic book and the characters may be cats and mice but it deals with very mature subject matter in a very mature way.
Yes, a lot of comic books are very immature but that's not a limitation of the medium. It's a limitation of the creators. It's like judging all movies based on the movies of Will Ferrell. Just because the most prolific types of movie are crap, because it's easy to churn out crap, doesn't mean that there aren't movies like "Casablanca" or "Citizen Kane" or "The Seven Samurai."
James, I'm old enough to return buying comics for 35 cents (50 cents for the bigger issues) at the newstand in the town I grew up in, Plymouth Indiana. I can even tell you the first two superhero comics I brought: JLA #137, with Superman and Captain Marvel on the cover, and an issue of Flash with a Neal Adams cover, where he's standing over the body of a "dead" Abra Kadabra. What I can't tell you is what is going on in the comics either of the "Big Two" have put on in years, because I haven't read anything from either of them in a long time, partly because of the price and partly because of the crap they put out. I agree with what you are saying 100%, but they need to go back to trying to reach a larger audience if they want to survive as well as going digital.
Ah the good old days…….
Remember them well your grandkids won't, they will remember the day the Socialists decide we no longer need to vote someone into office, they have a better idea.
Bet your a riot at a party Tony
Print media will get the bailout money anyway.
I remember when I stopped buying comic books. I loved comics… I would regularly go into a store with $1.00 and buy 3 quality comic books. Then, one day, I went in with my dollar and was shocked. They hadnt gone up by a nickel or a dime…They were selling for 75 cents now! Soon after, they were up to a dollar apiece. Then I started seeing "3 packs" for sale. They still bore the logo of DC and Marvel, but the logos and paper and layout had changed. Visually, it just felt "trashy". I never bought one 3 pack. That made me sad….I never bought another comic book….
TonyTooStupid…You are a sad person in many ways…Dont have fun, Tony, or dream…You will live a small life and die and go nowwhere, since you have no soul….
You call selection a problem? There are many great high quality webcomics out there for every taste and genre, many of them have been running for years. You don't need to pay to read any of them, or even catch up on years of archives.
There are also several "publisher groups" as it were that have gotten together to support one another. Top of my head http://blanklabelcomics.com and http://www.keenspot.com are two regular ones. Personally I haven't felt a need to read from the "Big Two" in years thanks to webcomics.
I think that the author of this comment isn't getting it. Distribution channels change. People will catch up and end up buying comics online and probably directly from the artists or small companies; especially if blogs and websites help steer traffic to them.
Jamie Gilcig
http://www.cornwallfreenews.com
Again webcomics are great. They're FREE no need to get into any pay cycle what so ever. You can suport the creators directly and even get direct feedback and communications with them. When was the last time you were able to do that with pretty much anyone at the big two? (Okay so at Comic Con I've bumped into and talked to some but besides there. :p)
Sure many webcomics are fly by night afairs, hell I've ran two that lasted for just past a year of updates each, but there are plenty of the "major" and several minor sites that have been going strong for years. Everything for any genre is available at no cost, you have but to look.
While I won't call print dead yet, it is slowly going away.
Well, I think comics will be made for the new media, So they will be designed to fit a screen. Right now they have to jury rig print comics for the web, which is a problem.
I experimented with web comics in 2000. Here was my test book: http://jameshudnall.com/after.php
While we're on the subject, here is a comic experiment I did in 2000 where I tried to see how to translate comics into flash for the web. I was just learning as I went so it's not as sophisticated as I would like. But I think future comics will be designed to be one panel at a time, for easier reading and story flow.
http://jameshudnall.com/after.php
DC Comics has their own approach at Zuda comics. http://www.zudacomics.com/
There's also flashbackuniverse.com, which has some rather fun comics. (Fun tends to be missing from a lot of comics these days. Maybe it was lost in all the "eventitis".)
As someone who wants to make comics someday, I'll be making webcomics to get exposure and practice, but eventually I want my stuff printed. Digital comics are ok, but they can't replace the experience of reading from a book anymore than online novels. It's a different experience, "unplugged" from the computer, where we spend so much of our lives as it is.
Try Lone Star Comics dot com.
I only buy trade paperbacks these days, and even those are usually either secondhand (my local library is great for that, because they have a major cleanout once every six months or so) or from the clearance table. But even at full price trade paperbacks are much better value than individual issues, although still overpriced.
Horses and riding have a broad appeal across both sexes in many age groups, cultures, races, and social classes. If horses appealed almost entirely to a subsection of semi-geeky guys born between 1950 and 1980, they'd be on their way out.
Just don't subject yourself to Spiegelman's In the Shadow of No Towers, a sickeningly partisan pile of shit cooked up as a stream of consciousness, triggered by 9/11 but propelled by a preset mind.
Why bother posting?
Gotta agree here. Everything costs more but 'too much' is when the market wont support it – problem is there is the market working that is buying something or not buying something and then there is the pirating and that is getting something free that youre supposed to be paying for – it seems to me that with books – and music – the real complaint is that the writer or illustrator is supposed to work for weeks months or years so that you can have the fruit of their labor for free.
For a slightly different type of comic, there's still Mad Magazine, now available at http://www.dccomics.com/mad/
I can't say as I've seen them on any bookstore shelves lately, but then I don't often browse bookstores.
But it's nice to know they're still there.
By the way one of their authors is a regular guest on Leo Laporte's techie weekend radio show (ref http://www.twit.tv).
Next year, DC is launching a new pulp fiction universe where there are no super powers and it is mainly street-level characters such as Batman, Doc Savage and the Spirit. Part of it is a new team of Blackhawks.
It is the same problem with newspapers being overtaken by the web. Comics are made for and by, hard-core Liberal writer/editors pushing PC Diversity, Multiculturalism, ages 35-45. Comics just don't appeal to younger readers. In the same manner, newspapers ignored their core readership of older, Whiter, more culturally conservative readers to … pursue bankruptcy. I've blogged on both comics, and newspapers, (and also e-readers) and it is striking how the LAT with a growth in the LA County from 1990 to 2008 of several million (White) potential readers, declined in circulation from 1.1 million to less than 700K today. The same way "Adventures of Superman" had 2 million readers in the early 1990s and now have about 50K readers/purchases.
Newspapers and Comics should be "mass" that is middle-of-the-road politically and culturally, because that is their cost/distribution structure, but they pursue NPR culture and politics without that subsidy and government support.
What e-comics offer is counter-intuitively, MASS. A more conservative (not hard) culturally and politically outlook, with genuine heroes and entertaining, uplifting stories. [Which are also, says "Life" producer/writer Rand Ravich, harder to write which I well believe.]
Comics from some of the non-DC/Marvel, and even the big Two, during the Comic boom/bubble/renaissance were more positive and fun to read. The Punisher War Journal and Armory were gloriously politically incorrect, Valiant with Jim Shooter was a ton of fun (and always tightly inter-connected), Malibu nearly as fun, with Dark Horse being just plain weird and surprising. All were far more entertaining and amusing than todays downer PC lectures on "evil White men" who happen to be Comic readers/purchasers.
By lowering barriers to entry, new comic "publishers" can end-run around the PC entrenched writers/editors. DC for example will not take submissions (nor will Marvel) from unpublished writers, and both are places for hacks who can't cut in movies and TV anymore to earn a few bucks. Joss Whedon being the best example. There is no room for a Siegel or Schuster or Kirby or Lee, just starting out, to propose new characters, situations, or even new takes on characters.
It is the same for publishing. Now, because of publisher first-readers being mostly 22-25 year old women with very set and PC/Liberal views, and also very female preferences, "hard" science fiction and action and mystery/action stories are routinely rejected in favor of "Lonely Werewolf Girl" (she is a werewolf, and a fashionista!) and a zillion Twilight Vampire rip-offs. A great book can't get past the first reader, because the whole structure is so stratified and there are few alternatives.
E-publishing is more than just low-cost entry for comics, it means generally a rejuvenation and re-massing of culture from the hard-left-liberal (and fairly feminine) aspects in publishing, seen from Comics to Sci-Fi to Fantasy to Mystery and Thrillers. It means characters more like the classic Punisher, or Malibu's Firearm, or Valiant's Ninjak, and less like the lesbian Batwoman. Whose chief aspect is her sexual identity (that's it, it is the only real aspect of her character).
"Don't miss a single spine-tingling episode!"
"Blackhawk (1952) is a Columbia movie serial based on the comic book Blackhawk now owned by DC Comics."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LzpT-RdCeF8
Comics on the web would have no appeal for me except reprints of classics I missed the first time around.
I share another poster's experience and memories of buying comics 'live'.
I likely began buying comics around 1959 as a kid. DC only, though I would look at the 'girl' comics my sisters bought, things like Richie Rich and Archie and Dot.
Comics were a dime. Period. I remember the day I saw my first 12 cent comics – I was in a new store – a magazine stand, I guess, in Huntington Station, NY. This place had the temerity to be selling comics printed with "10 cents" on the cover for 12 cents and had used what looked like a hand-held stamping device and had simply stamped the new price below the old! I thought I was in a gyp joint, but soon found out that the world had changed under my feet. This must have been around 1962 or so. Soon thereafter, I stopped buying comics.
But before them – Ahhhhhhh…the thrill of the new acquisitions! Comics were everywhere. I bought mine at news stands, luncheonettes, drug stores, etc.
I remember my Dad saying to me, "You want to see comics? I take you to a place." We went over to Shears Pharmacy on New York Avenue in Huntington Station, NY where I had never seen SO many comics books in one place, all on spinner racks. Oh, my God! A boy's dream come true. Every DC title in the universe was there. All the Supermans and all the spin-offs – Jimmy Olsen, Lois Lane, Superboy..everything. All the Batmans, the Justice Leagues, The Flash, Green Lantern, House of Mystery and whatever else. Oh – Wonder Woman. She was DC. And Supergirl – did she have her own book? My sisters bought Wonder Woman, so no need for me to. I had the prepubescent hots for Linda Lee aka Supergirl, so I wanted my own copies.
It was agony trying to chose what to buy at any given time b/c even though a dime wasn't much, it was a big part of my allowance which may have been 50 cents a week. I had to narrow it down to the 2 or 3 choices I was going to get…and it wasn't easy.
They were beautiful. I read them all cover to cover, even the pathetic "Jail Jests" and the full cover ads with Superman inviting me to Palisades Amusement Park in New Jersey.
My collection amassed little by little, but early on I found out I could sell used issues to my friends and get money for new issues. This was a good tactic at the time, but it eventually left me with only a handful or original magazines – the 6 that I still have today – all quite worn and often needlessly Scotch-taped across the cover.
Holding the magazine in your hands and reading it was a tactile and sensory pleasure that no on line viewing will ever compete with.
I've never even been in a modern day comic book store. There are a few in the immediate area and I guess I will stumble in one day and see what I might want to repurchase from the olden days or perhaps buy reprints of.
Even back in the very early 60s, I was reading things about DC comic book heroes that were no longer around or had been 'reborn' with new costumes…like the Flash. I had never heard of the Justice Society of America before.
If they were all only still a dime.
The most fascinating thing about this is the amount of "I did this" and "I loved that" in the comments. This industry (i.e. "We") must understand, adapt and grow- be it with pamphlets or online- that it's not about us, guys. For instance, I'd assume that few posters are into Twilight. But that represents a monster success twhere the industry missed the boat. (Except in the action figure mkt).
It seems to me that most comics are not aimed for younger readers these days. At least not Marvel comics. You really have to look to find something for kids. The artwork is much more realistic, as opposed to the cartoonish feel from the early ninties and back. The art quality also has to be driving up the price as well.
Also, most of the Marvel comics are pretty leftist. Spiderman cavorting with Obama, etc. Lotsa anti-Iraq war, anti-Patriot Act nonsense. There are sometimes pro forma pokes at democrat causes, but they are shallow and nothing compared to the subtlety of the story line attacks against conservatives.
How many comics can younger readers afford with a $4 cover price? Kids with even a small allowance could buy a fair number of comics back when they cost 10 cents each but now they're far too expensive. Then factor in that comics aren't as widely available as they once were. When I was a kid I could ride my bike to the local supermarket or convenience store, of which there were several in under a mile, and pick up some comics. Now if I want to buy comics I've got to go to a comic shop that is considerably farther away, farther than most parents would want their children riding their bikes, which means kids have to get their parents to drive them to get comics.
There are still some comic books aimed at the younger market, at least there were when last I bought comics 10 years ago, but they are no longer the primary demographic for comics.
Well, while I don't defend the prices, the average comic is 22 pages of content, not 10. Don't want to completely scare off anyone who might be thinking about checking them out.
I had a similar experience the first time I was told my dollar wouldn't cover the four comics on the counter. So, probably not TOO long before your experience.
In recent years Marvel and DC both have greatly expanded their youth lines. Marvel mainly offering continuity-free (relatively) kid-friendly versions of most of their heavy hitters and DC doing the same as well as a lot of books based on cartoons.
Check out these pics. You iwll probably like them: http://doclehman.wordpress.com/category/wanted-ti...
Check out these pics. You iwll probably like them: http://doclehman.wordpress.com/category/wanted-ti...
They have tried that more than once. Same problem as before, distribution. There aren't enough outlets to get those comics before the kids and the price is also a barrier. But it's good that they are at least trying.
It would be if they were worth $4. When you buy a cup of expresso, you usually get the same quality if you go to the right places. Same with other goods. With entertainment, it's a crap shoot. Certain creators tend to deliver a certain consistancy, but you have to know who they are and you have to find their work, The work is not that available.
Not everyone reads reviews or have an interest in them. The goal of any business is not to just keep the customers you ahve, you need NEW business. In order to grow that is essential. The problem is, the industry has fallen down in that area. They have not worked hard enough on reaching new readers. They keep catering to the old ones, who are graying as we speak. They made a decision to focus on the fans and thus made the stories harder and harder for non fans to get into. There have been some break away books, but not enough.
I'll date myself with this comment: I've never owned or even seen a physical comic book.
My only exposure to comics at all was when I was really young and my parents still had newspapers. Checking some out now online, it's not something that would interest me. I'm more of a book person and comics are decidedly short on text. I usually get through a novel in a single day. I'd be finished with a comic book in a few minutes. Perhaps if you liked the art that goes with it that would be something but I'm not an admirer there either. Perhaps it's a generational thing? I honestly can't say I understand the appeal.
That "downside" is exactly why having "gates" is terrible idea. But I do agree that really good webcomics are few and far between combared to most of the garbage out there. But hey, it's only garbage because the creators are still learning their craft hopefully will stick with it and we'll have a more and more really good ones in the future. But for right now I think the door is open for someone to go out and find the good ones and crate link list to make them easier for everyone else to find; sort of like what "the webcomics list" is doing.
I had a look at flashbackuniverse.com and you're right, they are a lot of fun (even if they do go a little too far into the realm of pastiche sometimes). They've got a lot of good stuff in their Free Comics Monday public domain comics posts, too. If I ever remember what my PayPal password is, I might even donate to them. Thanks for mentioning them.
Do you read for pleasure? If so, why would you want to read a novel in a single day? And how? Speed reading? What do you read? Reading a novel in a day, to me, seems like eating a good meal in a minute. What's the point?
It's generational to an extent b/c I talk with my younger music collector friends and not only have they never owned an LP record, but some of them have never owned a CD. All their music has been downloaded from the net.
There is no association for them between the tactile pleasure of holding an album cover in their hands while listening to music….kind of a pity b/c three of the senses has been removed from the music listening experience. Sight, touch, smell. A direct contact with the music has been sacrificed on more than one level.
Of course I read for pleasure. Finishing a novel in a day isn't exactly a rare feat though. I know several people who do the same. (Most of whom are in fact faster readers than I am.) If I didn't enjoy it, I wouldn't be doing it. Where food is to be savored, a good story is to be -finished-. I don't like putting down a good story until it's done. I tend to line up books months in advance when I have time for a reading binge. That said, I really like books that are long. Romance novels for instance tend to be rather short and I can whip out 2 in a day. Thrillers on the other hand are longer and suck up a day. I particularly like books that are very long and also challenge my command of english. I consider a book that has me checking the dictionary occasionally to be a very good thing.
You must be correct about the generational thing. I do own some CD's (primarily because I like to choose when and WHERE I play my music) but you lost me on the thrill of album covers. Album covers are right up there with book covers in my mind. I could care less what the cover is, I'd just better like what's inside.
I have to be judgmental as well as curious and astounded here, so please forgive my surprise.
I can't imagine why anyone who reads for pleasure would want to complete a long-ish good novel in one day. How do you savor the story and the characters, not to mention the language skills and craft of the author when you are gobbling down the novel at a breakneck pace? How can you fully enjoy a beautifully woven paragraph or a piece of memorable dialog when you are barely tasting it?
"A good story is to be finished" – well, fine, but why are you rushing the experience so? Don't you like to settle in and resume a relationship with the printed word in a story that has already captured your fancy? It's about quality, not quantity. I just cannot imagine the reading experience as you describe it. If you'd like to explain yourself more fully, I am sure many people would be interested.
Do you keep the books you have read? What all do you read? Do you ever re-read them? I'm guessing that you are a young, female reader based upon your comments regarding never having owned a printed comic book and that you read romance novels.
Album covers – the amalgam of art and information. I listen to Jazz and Jazz LPs have a long history of containing printed information about the artist, the recordings, the other musicians, the time and place of the recordings, information about the songs and recording dates, observations and critique about the artist and the music, etc. With the album cover in your hand and the music in your ears, you hear and hear of the music you are listening to. The cover is made of warm wood pulp and it and the information and even the photographs that may be printed on and in the LPs cover bring you more in tune to the music. CDs are just cold little pieces of plastic and the 'covers' are little cameos too small to appreciate and the information inside as good as non-existent due to the small size of the print and photographs and the awkward size of the liner notes insert or booklet; it's like trying to keep a tightly bound little paperback with an unbroken spine open in one hand as your fingers themselves block access to the wealth of words that may be there.
I have to be judgmental as well as curious and astounded here, so please forgive my surprise.
I can't imagine why anyone who reads for pleasure would want to complete a long-ish good novel in one day. How do you savor the story and the characters, not to mention the language skills and craft of the author when you are gobbling down the novel at a breakneck pace? How can you fully enjoy a beautifully woven paragraph or a piece of memorable dialog when you are barely tasting it?
"A good story is to be finished" – well, fine, but why are you rushing the experience so? Don't you like to settle in and resume a relationship with the printed word in a story that has already captured your fancy? It's about quality, not quantity. I just cannot imagine the reading experience as you describe it. If you'd like to explain yourself more fully, I am sure many people would be interested.
Do you keep the books you have read? What all do you read? Do you ever re-read them? I'm guessing that you are a young, female reader based upon your comments regarding never having owned a printed comic book and that you read romance novels.
Album covers – the amalgam of art and information. I listen to Jazz and Jazz LPs have a long history of containing printed information about the artist, the recordings, the other musicians, the time and place of the recordings, information about the songs and recording dates, observations and critique about the artist and the music, etc. With the album cover in your hand and the music in your ears, you hear and hear of the music you are listening to. The cover is made of warm wood pulp and it and the information and even the photographs that may be printed on and in the LPs cover bring you more in tune to the music. CDs are just cold little pieces of plastic and the 'covers' are little cameos too small to appreciate and the information inside as good as non-existent due to the small size of the print and photographs and the awkward size of the liner notes insert or booklet; it's like trying to keep a tightly bound little paperback with an unbroken spine open in one hand as your fingers themselves block access to the wealth of words that may be there.
we'll look forward to it; unfortunately all that is expected is more politically correct pablum…
very cool- didn't know it existed; must not have gone into TV syndication. Thanks…
I like the idea of comics being online with trades in print. Seems to me some creators are already utilizing this as a winning strategy. The most prominant I can think of are Order of the Stick (http://www.giantitp.com/) and Dr McNinja (http://www.drmcninja.com/). (as I read their comics online, for free, but still buy the trades)
Wait a sec… your rant sounds familiar…
http://natewinchester.wordpress.com/2009/02/17/co...
[...] Publishing | James Hudnall takes a broad look at shifts in comics distribution channels, from the newsstand to the direct market to "the digital age." [Big Hollywood] [...]
Tony,
I feel that way about major league sports, the iPhone, and almost all pop music. In other words, I'm a curmudgeon. On the other hand, I don't troll sites that discuss these things. What's your excuse?
I still have my Dynamo Joes. They were among a very few series of comics I kept when I joined the Navy. The rest, about 20 computer paper boxes full, were sold off to a collector. I was disappointed when it was canceled. 15 issues sounds about right. I'll have to dig it out and take another look at it.
Sorry, your memory is faulty or you skipped a decade between trips to the store. In 1975, Marvel and DC comics cost 25 cents. By 1984, they were up to 60 cents. In between, the prides progression was 30 cents, 35 cents, 40 cents, and then 50 cents. It took another few years to progress to 75 cents and, finally, to $1.00. Marvel did experiment with direct sales comics such as Moon Knight that cost 75 cents in 1981, but those books were only available in comic book stores (and the other, regularly priced titles would have been right next to them).
I suppose it's possible you recall buying Marve / DC books for 30 cents and then stumbling into the independent comics section, where low print runs required considerably higher prices for the creators to make any money. (Having written and co-published a couple of independent titles for most of the 1980s, I can promise you that I wasn't rolling in bucks from our $1.75 price tag for a black and white comic.)
*Sigh* This was supposed to a be a reply to the guy who said he remembered buying three comics for $1 one week only to discover them costing $1 the next. I hate when I do that.
You must be logged in to post a comment.