That's why you hire authors and artists who can and will do kid's books. You don't have to be a prolific writer or anything to create something kids can enjoy. You can have your cake and eat it too here, since creation of youth and adult books doesn't have to be mutually exclusive.
Absolutely. It's kind of a shame that Marvel Adventures and Johnny DC aren't doing better since there's some quality stuff in there that all ages could enjoy.
Absolutely. It's kind of a shame that Marvel Adventures and Johnny DC aren't doing better since there's some quality stuff in there that all ages could enjoy.
Really though, hasn't Marvel said that those are their books that sell best in bookstores and in digest form? Runaways, Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane, and Spider-Girl have all, to the best of my knowledge, only survived as long as they have because they sell very, very well in bookstores compared to Marvel's other offerings.
I really don't think content is the comic industry's problem right now, but distribution is. I think that the expensive single-issue form is an outdated way of getting comics into people's hands. Eventually, I can see comics being distributed monthly by being put into large magazine bundles and printed on cheaper paper to be sold on magazine racks much like Shonen Jump or sold directly from DC/Marvel/Image's websites in a digital form, with higher-quality trades becoming available in bookstores later.
I honestly find it harder and harder to justify buying single issues because they A) take up a lot of space and can't really be displayed like trades can are filled with ads that completely take me out of the story and C) are more expensive than trades, with none of the special content or perks that trades have. The only thing that stops me is DC's erratic trades policy, where they only collect what they feel like, skipping lare chunks of a series or not even bothering to collect certain minis at all.
I'd love it if subscribing to a comic could be handled by giving them your money, getting the comic month by month in digital form, and then eventually getting a trade in the mail. If you happened to subscribe after the first issue, you could still download it so there's no risk of missing anything.
I don't know how it'd affect comic shops if they only sold trades, though.
I guess it comes down to personal taste. To bring this back to what started this whole little debate, I'd rather see Grant Morrison writing Seaguy or Vinmanarama than Batman, for example.
Where is there to go with Batman? The character is sixty years old. He's been deconstructed, reconstructed, revamped, ad naseum. He is old and boring. Kill him. Bring in Az-Bats. Better yet, write something new.
Like Brian K Vaughan summed up in the last issue of the Escapists mini: It's better to write your own destiny, make your own stories, than settle for writing fanfiction about some other guy's characters.
I hate to see this dragged even further offtopic, but I see trades as the best way of increasing mainstream sales.
To use an example, say Marvel managed to get Astonishing Xmen singles on the shelves of Tesco*. You really think Johnny-come-lately is going to pay a few quid for something that is probably halfway through and may or may not be continued? And even if it is he may or may not be able to easily get hold of it?
Now say in an alternate universe a company (Err, Amaze Entertainment) gets a book (Shocking Y-Men) onto the shelves. Ten quid gets you a complete story arc (or two) printed on higher quality paper.
Of course that will sell better.
Note: I personally stopped buying singles a few years ago, and stick near exclusively to trades now. Waiting a bit longer is worth every second)
Trades only would work for me so long as they were on high-grade paper. Shitty newspaper print would not do most artists justice, and it just doesn't hold up. It definitely disappoints me that I can't display my singles in a bookshelf rather than closed up in some box, so that's appealing too.
I think the industry is making strides in terms of getting new readers interested in comics. Marvel's done a lot of work pulling in new readers with that Dabel brothers acquisition, and I'd imagine the Dark Tower will bring in a ton of people. Vertigo has always pulled in a decent amount of mainstream attention. And when you get people with a solid non-comic fanbase like Joss Whedon coming in and bringing some of their fans with, good things can happen.
Look at it this way, most of the attention comics have been getting recently is due to the content, whether it be because of how good they are, or how "relevant" they are. When the comic industry was huge back in the nineties, it was for all the wrong reasons, and the industry imploded as a result.
And superheroes are in a much better place now. Look at how much money movies like Superman and Spider-Man bring in. Hell, look at how much buzz Heroes is getting.
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I think the industry is making strides in terms of getting new readers interested in comics. Marvel's done a lot of work pulling in new readers with that Dabel brothers acquisition, and I'd imagine the Dark Tower will bring in a ton of people. Vertigo has always pulled in a decent amount of mainstream attention. And when you get people with a solid non-comic fanbase like Joss Whedon coming in and bringing some of their fans with, good things can happen.
Look at it this way, most of the attention comics have been getting recently is due to the content, whether it be because of how good they are, or how "relevant" they are. When the comic industry was huge back in the nineties, it was for all the wrong reasons, and the industry imploded as a result.
And superheroes are in a much better place now. Look at how much money movies like Superman and Spider-Man bring in. Hell, look at how much buzz Heroes is getting.
I agree 100%. I think the industry is really getting on its feet actually. And with comic book movies coming out they only really help the industry. Even if the movie is horrible - some people might get interested enough to pick up some comics. And if they don't, well they weren't going to buy them in the first place anyways. Heroes just goes to show how much people do enjoy the comic-genre. I think they are usually just misinformed about it, or don't know of a good way to start reading a series.
Look at it this way, most of the attention comics have been getting recently is due to the content, whether it be because of how good they are, or how "relevant" they are. When the comic industry was huge back in the nineties, it was for all the wrong reasons, and the industry imploded as a result.
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Absolutely. It's kind of a shame that Marvel Adventures and Johnny DC aren't doing better since there's some quality stuff in there that all ages could enjoy.
Really though, hasn't Marvel said that those are their books that sell best in bookstores and in digest form? Runaways, Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane, and Spider-Girl have all, to the best of my knowledge, only survived as long as they have because they sell very, very well in bookstores compared to Marvel's other offerings.
I really don't think content is the comic industry's problem right now, but distribution is. I think that the expensive single-issue form is an outdated way of getting comics into people's hands. Eventually, I can see comics being distributed monthly by being put into large magazine bundles and printed on cheaper paper to be sold on magazine racks much like Shonen Jump or sold directly from DC/Marvel/Image's websites in a digital form, with higher-quality trades becoming available in bookstores later.
I honestly find it harder and harder to justify buying single issues because they A) take up a lot of space and can't really be displayed like trades can
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I don't know how it'd affect comic shops if they only sold trades, though.
Where is there to go with Batman? The character is sixty years old. He's been deconstructed, reconstructed, revamped, ad naseum. He is old and boring. Kill him. Bring in Az-Bats. Better yet, write something new.
Like Brian K Vaughan summed up in the last issue of the Escapists mini: It's better to write your own destiny, make your own stories, than settle for writing fanfiction about some other guy's characters.
To use an example, say Marvel managed to get Astonishing Xmen singles on the shelves of Tesco*. You really think Johnny-come-lately is going to pay a few quid for something that is probably halfway through and may or may not be continued? And even if it is he may or may not be able to easily get hold of it?
Now say in an alternate universe a company (Err, Amaze Entertainment) gets a book (Shocking Y-Men) onto the shelves. Ten quid gets you a complete story arc (or two) printed on higher quality paper.
Of course that will sell better.
Note: I personally stopped buying singles a few years ago, and stick near exclusively to trades now. Waiting a bit longer is worth every second)
*Popular British supermarket.
Look at it this way, most of the attention comics have been getting recently is due to the content, whether it be because of how good they are, or how "relevant" they are. When the comic industry was huge back in the nineties, it was for all the wrong reasons, and the industry imploded as a result.
And superheroes are in a much better place now. Look at how much money movies like Superman and Spider-Man bring in. Hell, look at how much buzz Heroes is getting.
I agree 100%. I think the industry is really getting on its feet actually. And with comic book movies coming out they only really help the industry. Even if the movie is horrible - some people might get interested enough to pick up some comics. And if they don't, well they weren't going to buy them in the first place anyways. Heroes just goes to show how much people do enjoy the comic-genre. I think they are usually just misinformed about it, or don't know of a good way to start reading a series.
PARKER, YOU'RE FIRED! <-- My comic book podcast! Satan look here!
Perfectly put.