[Resource of the Day] – 5 Things Wrong With Comic Books Today

Today’s article: Comicscape: 5 Problems With American Comics
by: Kurt Amacker
via: Mania.com

I just noticed this well-written little article today, and I think it does a great job of summarizing the problems that today’s comic book industry is facing. And though I’m going to touch on the author’s views here, I’ll be adding a full original article of my own to approach the problem from a business perspective.

The article lists five reasons why the American comic book industry is in trouble. To be fair, the article should be titled “5 Things Wrong With Marvel and DC,” but since they control 75-80% of the market in any given month, they are representative of the entire industry. The author’s five points are thus:

1. Marvel and DC books have a complicated continuity that doesn’t welcome new fans. And indeed, this is a self-defeating tactic for both companies; hardcore fans crave that established continuity, while new fans don’t want to have to keep up. What’s more, the constant attempts to retcon goofy stuff from the 1970s and 80s and to correct continuity glitches with techniques that make Deus Ex Machina advocates blush only make things worse on everyone.

I remember sitting in at a Marvel panel in 2007 and a fan asking the Marvel people “Why do you hate us?” The Marvel PR rep responded, “We don’t hate you… we’re fans too.” Based on my experience with Marvel, that’s absolutely true. But that fandom comes at a price, because fans tend to get mired in the minutiae of properties instead of focusing on giving a mass audience good stories.

2. Marvel and DC books have too many crossovers and tie-ins. The author refers to the fact that DC is now flagging its essential books so that readers will know which ones are crucial to read. If it works, Marvel will likely be doing it too down the road. I’m not surprised; both companies have been cranking out crossovers for decades, and every year seems to get more involved than the last. Crossovers used to be a summers-only thing (since kids were out of school and more likely to buy comics); now, they happen year-round. Most of them aren’t even that good. Marvel’s Civil War in 2007, for example, was pretty much an excuse to cram as many characters into each issue as possible. If you wanted the real story, you had to read each character’s book. Oddly, the best of the bunch was Civil War: Front Line, which didn’t focus on the superheroes as much as it focused on two journalists covering the conflict.

Again, Marvel and DC have created a fine mess for themselves — they’re choking the life out of the industry by trying to make their products the only books that fans will want to buy. Comic book readers have a limited amount of money to spend on books, and the industry is still in the stages of decline, with only marginal growth in the last decade that’s mainly due to prices going up and graphic novels and manga getting more popular. If fans have to buy several Marvel or DC books to read one story, they’re less likely to try books from other publishers. But as fans get tired of Marvel and DC books (and as history has shown, most do), they tend to leave the market rather than to shift their money into other titles. This is a bad thing for everyone involved.

3. Marvel and DC have too many delays and problems with scheduling: The author refers to some current problems. And it’s true; a lot of today’s books are late. There are lots of reasons, ranging from personal problems that crop up in artists’ lives to prima dona attitudes that make everyone involved miserable.

Back in the 1980s, I don’t think I ever remember Marvel or DC comics being late. Maybe it’s because I wasn’t really paying attention, or maybe it’s because books then weren’t trumpeted the way they are today. But actually, I’m pretty sure it’s because the books simply weren’t late. They couldn’t afford to be; they were sold through a magazine-style model and were supported primarily through subscriptions and ads. That probably accounts for the quality; most of the comics I read as a kid were pretty awful by today’s standards.

In the 1990s, comics went through a transformation from mass-market pulp content to collectible items. The rise of companies like Image and Valiant led to books that were higher in quality and, eventually, that were higher in price. Some of these books went on to sell legendary numbers of copies; Spawn #1’s million-selling debut is an oft-cited example. The speculation on the collectibles market caused a huge shift in the reason why people were buying comics, and it almost killed Marvel and DC, both of whom were slow to keep up, and both of whom alienated a lot of readers. As the 21st century dawned, still more changes occurred in how comics were distributed and sold. The old style of “magazine books” just wasn’t working anymore. The new books had to be flashier, and better written. They had to be something people would buy for their own merits, and not just for guilty pleasure reading.

Hence, Marvel and DC employ fan-favorite writers and artists who often disregard deadlines and who often push the limits of what the books are allowed to do. This contributes heavily to delays. But the other side of the coin is that Marvel and DC also spend a considerable amount of time hyping their books, which makes the delays all the more noticeable. Once again, the status quo exacerbates the problem.

4. Marvel and DC focus too much on superheroes: Obviously. Both companies have tried to stray from this formula, and neither’s really done well outside the “comfort zone” of in-house superheroes. And don’t think they haven’t tried; both Marvel and DC have created all sorts of licensed books that have completely tanked. Marvel even attempted a crossover with a soap opera in 2007. I’m not sure what their plan was there, but it didn’t work out too well.

I think, however, that the author gives too much credit to Joss Whedon for bringing new fans into comics. Buffy doesn’t sell that well — only a few thousand copies are sold each month through the comic book market. It does a little better in the bookstores in graphic novel form, but it’s hardly a bestseller. Plus, Buffy is hardly different from the superhero stuff; it’s the same sort of story in different clothes. It’s even using ridiculous plot twists, like Buffy having a same-sex sexual encounter, to try to hold on to its dwindling audience. It’s hardly better than what Marvel and DC have been doing with their own stories.

Marvel appears to have hit it big with The Dark Tower … until you factor in the cost of the license and the marketing costs involved. They’re making money, yeah. But they’ve made it by taking on an enormous amount of risk, and the book still isn’t selling anywhere close to what a Stephen King novel would. And once again… there’s not a lot of evidence that they’re bringing new blood into the industry. In fact, it could be argued that they’re simply riding on a popular license and selling books to a niche market of diehard Dark Tower fans who would buy anything associated with the novels.

My point? Comics can be so much more than superhero books, as publishers such as Fantagraphics have consistently proven. But those aren’t the books people want to talk about, because as far as most casual consumers are concerned, comic books and superhero books are the same things. The industry isn’t going to change; it’s going to die a slow death while a different comics industry featuring a new type of book emerges in its place.

5. Marvel and DC behave the way they do because the fans let them: The author argues that because the fans keep buying books from Marvel and DC in sheep-like, completionist style, Marvel and DC continue their practices. He urges fans to vote with their wallets, and eventually, things will change.

Unfortunately, I have to disagree with him here. Marvel and DC have never been about doing things “for the fans” — they’re both heavily interested in doing what they want and telling the fans to accept it. This is part of the reason that the comic book market isn’t really growing; both of the icons in the industry insist on doing things their way, regardless of the reaction. If it weren’t for licensing, neither company would be turning a profit, because both put out a substantial number of books that don’t make any money. Only a handful of titles on either side produce a profit, and they’re often offset by the books that don’t.

Both companies have dragged their feet on digital distribution, despite the fact that fans want it. They’re trying to appease the retailers, who fight digital distribution tooth and nail. But seriously… if Marvel or DC offered its enormous library of backlist books and charged 25 cents to “buy” a virtual copy of each issue, wouldn’t fans who were nostalgic for the “good old days” consider revisiting their favorite sagas? And wouldn’t such a service attract the attention of casual fans whom would never enter a modern comic book store, but who have fond memories of the books they read as kids? The answer to both questions is “Absolutely.” The profits from such a structure would be enormous. But it won’t happen, because Marvel and DC are both trying to keep the retail channels happy. They’d far rather sell subscriptions to a limited digital service than to take digital distribution seriously.

And that’s what I mean when I say that neither company’s interested in what the fans think. They both do a great job of promoting, but a lousy job of relationship marketing. Many other publishers in the industry follow suit. The result is what we have today… a comic book industry that is dying off slowly, as evidenced by the large number of retailers who exit the industry each year.

Anyhow, I recommend that you read the article I’m responding to, and share your own thoughts on the matter. And feel free to say how you think the industry can be saved!

-SJJ

2 Comments

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  By Antionestrife, June 28, 2008 @ 11:05 am

  Ways to save te industry… I’m not sure if these would work but, I think they are sound suggestions. For one since Marvel and DC are spear heading this cross over agenda it might be prudent that small er publishers don’t follow suit but blaze a new path. There are plenty of well written books out there, like ann rice titles that could be turned into a comic book. Jump on these before the big comic publishers do. Dare I say even Haryy Potter! I think it’s important to do this in more force to get comic books or rather creator owned comics more of a seperate idenity from Marvel, Dc, Darkhorse, ect… By brantching off like this and doing more comics that are not superhero like comics (but good)will also give comics more crediability. Not to leave superhero’s entirely just get more types off comics that don’t have that super hero feel. Maybe thats why Sin city had some success. I along with you want comics to grow out of that kiddie label. Now that being said. we should follow the path of video games. Playstation made a rather alsome discovery which could have been by accident. The focused their games at the 18-28 market. Of coarse I’m in my thirties and still play. In there first system the show cased games like Resident evil. What I’m saying in short is that we should throw some mature themes in are art work. Yes, we may be handcuffed with a mature rating but, it didn’t seem to hurt God of War or Resident evil. I would cuation to don’t go overboared, just brush up against edge ever so gently. I much more enjoy anime cartoons becuase there stories usually very engrossing, dark and mature. Last but not least we need figure how to use the internet to tap into that cash cow. I read here that Marvel and DC have there hands tied in sales online. They haven’t pursued this seriously. If they was to do this what would they do? I believe this could be a hidden answer to self publishers if they could find a way to effectively sale their work online as online subscriptions or downloads. Therefore not being killed by the publishing process. I have no answer to this since I have sold nothing online yet. Still I have not promoted in the expensive comic online spots, ethere. Anyone have anything to add to this?

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  By SeanJJordan, June 28, 2008 @ 11:48 am

  There are many, many factors that contribute to the current state of the comic book industry; it’s hard to point to any one thing. But what I will say is that both Marvel and DC are making far more money off licensing than they are off their comics. All the comics serve to do is to keep both companies functioning as icons.

  No, the real problem is that comic books aren’t as mainstream as the other things you reference, such as video games and cartoons. Think about it this way: the population of the United States is around 300 million people. If 50% of these people are into something (say, the Super Bowl), it makes headlines. If 10% of these people are into something, it’s a sensation. If 5% of these people are into something, it’s an industry. If 1% of people are into something, it’s a niche. That’s 3 million people, the size of an audience for a hit video game or music album.

  And what about comics, where less than a half of 1% of people are into something? I’m being charitable in saying that 1.5 million people are regular readers of comics. It’s really more like 300,000, or .1% of the entire population. Comics used to be more mainstream than this, but the industry is waning because it’s not relevant anymore. The books are too expensive, and provide too little entertainment. They often are not very good, and sometimes even insulting to readers. There are also numerous substitutes that provide a better “bang for the buck.”

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