Stop the trend with the events!!!

[matthewaos]

OK, I really liked CW, WWH could be better if it was not that huge, and SI seems really interesting. But I really hope that thinks should go quiet for a little and start rebuilding. You know, after CW things are a little messy, so I think that heroes should try to find their way into trusting each-other. Or hating each-other more, I don't care, just stop those huge events every summer!!!!

[ShaggyB]

OK, I really liked CW, WWH could be better if it was not that huge, and SI seems really interesting. But I really hope that thinks should go quiet for a little and start rebuilding. You know, after CW things are a little messy, so I think that heroes should try to find their way into trusting each-other. Or hating each-other more, I don't care, just stop those huge events every summer!!!!

lol but its how you know its summer. Dc has a crisis and marvel matches with an event.

[agrich]

How else are they going to get people to buy books they don't normally buy?

[Beast]

Things won't slow down. Marvel's seen how big events sell. Until folks burnout and don't buy, it won't stop.

I do somewhat miss the days where big events were special. But get used to 2-3 a year now.

[CyberCoyote]

If you don't buy it, it won't come.

But we're nothing but sheep, they sell, it returns. Baaah.. Baaaah. That's us.:biggrin:

[Baltho08]

My only problem with the events is that they're entirely too long. I mean, 7-8 issues is almost an entire year, and once it's over the next event comes along, making the entire year's worth of stories JUST the event. When are the actual storylines going to be fit in? If the event was 3-4 issues, or something, that would be a lot more reasonable, cause it would be contained in the summer, not start in May and end in January or something.
Peace.

[rZi]

I think they said it would cool off after SI...i mean it has been HoM/CW/WWH/SI kinda back to back

When they are so frequent it takes the buzz out of them

[matthewaos]

Oh you're right, I forgot HoM!! An event is cool, but it's what Beast said, I also miss when an event was frequent and special. Now we have every summer another event, and the rest of the year (the rest half of the year actually) we see what everyone is doing after the event, and building the way for the next big thing!
To be honest I wish things to cool down and see some character development more.

[Magneto Rocks]

I'm not too bothered. They tend to be different "genre"s after all.

Put it like this, if you love Spidey, the only one of the four (HoM, CW, WWH, SI) you really had to read was CW. Spidey's role in the rest was just a bonus.

Likewise, if you love Avengers, you could easily skip over HoM or WWH.

If you're an X-Men person, the only big summer event that mattered was HoM, the other three all have peripheral X-involvement at best.

If the FF are for you, then only Civil War and possibly Secret Invasion (Though even then, maybe not) are that important for you.

Hell, one could argue HoM ONLY mattered to the X-Men and WWH ONLY mattered to the Hulk. (Whereas CW and SI are both definitely wider scale)

So yeah, I don't think it's really required you buy them all unless you have an interest in all different areas of the Marvel universe.

[XPac]

I'm personally fine with one big company wide cross over every summer.

In my mind, they're the comic book equivalent of Wrestlemania for wrestling fans. It's this big event that ideally you've been slowly planning and building towards all year long (well, maybe not ALL year but at least put some long term planning into).

The key is really that it's done well, planned in advance, and brought about from a real organic place. Past big events like Atlantis Attacks and Evolutionary war were just thrown in there. Those were events for the sake of having events.

[Affinity]

I think with all the planning and foreshadowing and sheer awesome Secret Invasion is building up to be, it'll be hard to have next year's event be super. I wonder what they'll do?

Maybe a low key event like WWH was in relation to the scope of Civil War.

[Pach!]

I don't mind the events at all.

I didn't even buy WWH. If you don't want them, don't buy them.

I do hope they keep them in their own book... and not "Messiah Complex" style which I loved because I was already buying the 4 books, but I'd probably hate if I had to buy 3 other books just for a complete story.

[rescura]

Oh you're right, I forgot HoM!! An event is cool, but it's what Beast said, I also miss when an event was frequent and special. Now we have every summer another event, and the rest of the year (the rest half of the year actually) we see what everyone is doing after the event, and building the way for the next big thing!
To be honest I wish things to cool down and see some character development more.

Totally agree, the thing just turned in a never-ending cycle when the special thing now is the "calm" and the normal is the event... It's just a total inversion of the concept that takes away much of it's feeling...

I'm not too bothered. They tend to be different "genre"s after all.

Put it like this, if you love Spidey, the only one of the four (HoM, CW, WWH, SI) you really had to read was CW. Spidey's role in the rest was just a bonus.

Likewise, if you love Avengers, you could easily skip over HoM or WWH.

If you're an X-Men person, the only big summer event that mattered was HoM, the other three all have peripheral X-involvement at best.

If the FF are for you, then only Civil War and possibly Secret Invasion (Though even then, maybe not) are that important for you.

Hell, one could argue HoM ONLY mattered to the X-Men and WWH ONLY mattered to the Hulk. (Whereas CW and SI are both definitely wider scale)

So yeah, I don't think it's really required you buy them all unless you have an interest in all different areas of the Marvel universe.

I think that CW hardly had any effect on X-Men, Hulk or Thor readers... And even for Spidey readers after the OMD retcon... It was hyped as wide but in the end turned out to be a very Avengers thing...

[Grimm]

The constant events keep the peripheral titles solvent. I'm not really sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing though, just look at Black Panther.

Most of the books I read aren't prone to cross-overs, so I'm not really bothered by events. If one looks interesting, i'll pick it up in the shop and read it. If it's actually any good I'll buy it.

I suspect most people are more tired of event-hype burn out though. If that's the case, just stop getting sucked into reading every damn article about them then! :tongue:

[HepOne]

Only 2 Marvel comics sold more than 100,000 in March 2008 (Dark Tower with variants, New Avengers SI crossover). Only 2 DC comics sold more than 70,000 (JLA, ASS). Sales are down across the board and events is the only way to get them up.

I think that comics will always be a stagnant market and events/gimiks are the only way to increase sales. Marvel bosses know this, Quesada and senior editors are delivering what the fans want.

[earl]

I think keeping it more contained to the main mini-series is a much better way to go. Some of these big mini-series don't make much sense as a read like Civil War and Infinite Crisis if you only read the main series.

World War Hulk worked in that if you just read the mini-series front to back, you have pretty much the main part of the story. I also read the issues of the Hulk at the same time, but none of the other crossovers and I don't feel like I missed any of that much.

[Baltho08]

When an event comprises the majority of a year, and not JUST the summer, then it's prolly too big...that's all I think is wrong here. 8 issues, that's 3/4 of a year; real stories have no time to be made. Bleh. Whatever.
Peace.

[StoneGold]

When an event comprises the majority of a year, and not JUST the summer, then it's prolly too big...that's all I think is wrong here. 8 issues, that's 3/4 of a year; real stories have no time to be made. Bleh. Whatever.
Peace.

I don't think most books are crossing over that long. I might be reading the crossover chart wrong, but I don't believe any regular title crosses over with SI for more than three issues. Thunderbolts might have a fourth, but hell, if it gets out four times in four months, that's more Tbolts than we've had in ages.

[Crimson]

Really, do Marvel have any reason not to do events? Events (And by this I include big storylines, not just crossovers) and creative talent changes are the only things that result in big boosts in sales. Even for a few months it can doubling the sales of a book can bring in alot of money for Marvel and extend the life on the book for the fans reading it.

And I know people will say that it should be the writing and art that is the focus but lets be honest... Brubaker's Captain America, Bendis' Daredevil etc. don't set the sales charts on fire.

Captain America seems to prove that, we have the same longterm storyline since #1 but as soon as it became an event with Captain America's death and later Bucky becoming Cap, sales took a huge jump.

I think we are at risk of being overexposed to events now we are on our five summer event in a row but I don't see them stopping any time soon.

[matthewaos]

I don't think most books are crossing over that long. I might be reading the crossover chart wrong, but I don't believe any regular title crosses over with SI for more than three issues. Thunderbolts might have a fourth, but hell, if it gets out four times in four months, that's more Tbolts than we've had in ages.

Yeah, but what about fill in stories, so the writer can catch up with the changes that are going to happen after the event? Spider-Man had only "events" from "The Other" and forth and the other two titles (which were great and better than Amazing) had to follow, so no one (David or Sacasa) wrote what they wanted to.

[Berkey]

I like a good event, but I agree that they need them to increase sales. Comics are always going to be a cult thing unless a huge change happens, sales from a single title are not going to cut it. They wouldn't need as many events if there were more readers overall.

[Adset]

My only problem with the events is that they're entirely too long. I mean, 7-8 issues is almost an entire year, and once it's over the next event comes along, making the entire year's worth of stories JUST the event. When are the actual storylines going to be fit in? If the event was 3-4 issues, or something, that would be a lot more reasonable, cause it would be contained in the summer, not start in May and end in January or something.
Peace.

Agreed. One of the reasons I thought Onslaught worked so well (yeah, I said it) was because Marvel released two book-end issues, and let each individual book tell the in-between of the story. Marvel even did a solid by labeling the important tie-ins differently than the non-important tie-ins. So the "summer blockbuster event" was contained... to the summer months

[StoneGold]

Yeah, but what about fill in stories, so the writer can catch up with the changes that are going to happen after the event? Spider-Man had only "events" from "The Other" and forth and the other two titles (which were great and better than Amazing) had to follow, so no one (David or Sacasa) wrote what they wanted to.

It looks pretty limited this time around. Generally, it's been the case that if a writer didn't want to join in the fun, but they wanted to use the character, they'd give them a mini, like they're doing with the FF, X-Men, Thor and Spidey this time around.

[Maestro]

Events are just regular comic stories that get hype, you know.

House of M was a small event when compared to Civil War. It's been small, large, small, large. Next is a small one

[matthewaos]

Agreed. One of the reasons I thought Onslaught worked so well (yeah, I said it) was because Marvel released two book-end issues, and let each individual book tell the in-between of the story. Marvel even did a solid by labeling the important tie-ins differently than the non-important tie-ins. So the "summer blockbuster event" was contained... to the summer months

Actually I liked Onslaught too, and I prefer crossovers rather than a mini and tie ins.
And just to clarify, my problem is not with the stories, but with the hype, the tie ins and such.

[Beast]

Events are just regular comic stories that get hype, you know.

House of M was a small event when compared to Civil War. It's been small, large, small, large. Next is a small one
House of M was hardly a small event. It had roughly 80+ tie-in issues after all.

[Shellhead]

Only 2 Marvel comics sold more than 100,000 in March 2008 (Dark Tower with variants, New Avengers SI crossover). Only 2 DC comics sold more than 70,000 (JLA, ASS). Sales are down across the board and events is the only way to get them up.

I think that comics will always be a stagnant market and events/gimiks are the only way to increase sales. Marvel bosses know this, Quesada and senior editors are delivering what the fans want.

When sales dropped below 200,000 per issue, Marvel canceled the X-Men in 1969. Today, those kind of sales would be very impressive. The reality is that DC and Marvel have lost 90% of their former audience, and they aren't replacing those lost fans. The big events aren't attracting new readers either, they are just milking the existing fans for every last dollar. Just say no to big comic events and vote with your dollars.

[Imraith Nimphais]

[QUOTE=HepOne;6759562Quesada and senior editors are delivering what the fans want.[/QUOTE]

I would disagree with you on this point...in fact, I see it as the opposite...the powers-that-be are doing what they want in the hope of the fans buying into it...personally, if I don't care enough about it...I don't buy it...but I would have to agree with prefering a 4-month "event"...any longer just seems drawn out and tedious..no matter the story.

[Berkey]

When sales dropped below 200,000 per issue, Marvel canceled the X-Men in 1969. Today, those kind of sales would be very impressive. The reality is that DC and Marvel have lost 90% of their former audience, and they aren't replacing those lost fans. The big events aren't attracting new readers either, they are just milking the existing fans for every last dollar. Just say no to big comic events and vote with your dollars.

I second this. There are very few new readers omming into the comic world and I feel that Marvel has to milk out the money from it's remaining readers with the big events. I wish there was a way to bring in new readers so smaller comics would last longer and big events actually were a huge event.

[IronStarks]

i was brought into the Marvel Comic world because of Civil War

[psm]

When sales dropped below 200,000 per issue, Marvel canceled the X-Men in 1969. Today, those kind of sales would be very impressive. The reality is that DC and Marvel have lost 90% of their former audience, and they aren't replacing those lost fans. The big events aren't attracting new readers either, they are just milking the existing fans for every last dollar. Just say no to big comic events and vote with your dollars.


You're really not trying to compare a 10 cent comic in a newsstand market (which allowed returns) with a 3.00 dollar comic part of the direct market (which doesn't include newsstand, foreign or bookstore figures). Its really two different animals. Also when you say "sales" you really mean volume. Do to changes in price point, Marvel and DC could very well be making the equivalent amount in their publishing departments as they did back then (especially when you bring in the other markets). Now, in terms of volume I would wholeheartedly agree. I still don't see how this would support your theory that new people aren't being brought in though events. There is nothing in there to support or contradict your statement. Plus, how do you account for the continual increase in sales for the publishing department in the past few years. That trend alone should indicate that new readers are coming to Marvel (though it could easily mean they are coming from DC). Not saying its because of events mind you but its obvious events aren't hurting Marvel either.

[matthewaos]

I second this. There are very few new readers omming into the comic world and I feel that Marvel has to milk out the money from it's remaining readers with the big events. I wish there was a way to bring in new readers so smaller comics would last longer and big events actually were a huge event.

If you ask me, there are a lot of comic fans. I don't know if they are more or less than what they were back in the day, but consider the fact that there are more comics now than back then. I think that now more super heroes have their own comic, and there are more super heroes. Also there are more publishers, and the independent scene has their own share. I think that the comic readers just don't read every comic there is, and considering also the TPB market, it's not a surprise comics don't sell that much.

[Berkey]

If you ask me, there are a lot of comic fans. I don't know if they are more or less than what they were back in the day, but consider the fact that there are more comics now than back then. I think that now more super heroes have their own comic, and there are more super heroes. Also there are more publishers, and the independent scene has their own share. I think that the comic readers just don't read every comic there is, and considering also the TPB market, it's not a surprise comics don't sell that much.

I disagree and agree (if that makes sense), I travel back and forth between three towns and three diffrent comic stores and I never see anyone below the age of 20 something. There are a lot of readers now, but they are either long time readers or recently returning readers. Getting those returning readers is great, but brand new readers, those who realy never read comics, is the goal Marvel and all American comic bboks should be doing. I mean as compared to the past, and I know things are diffrent, but back in the day it wasn't uncommon to see kids pick up a comic and look interested. Today I never see new readers because it's not "cool" to read them. In the 70's it wasn't a big deal to pick it up, but today I feel our society plays a big role. In Japan and other countries reading comics isn't just for "nerds" but rather anyone whos interested. For instance.....

"According to the Japan External Trade Organization, sales of manga reached $212.6 million within France and Germany alone in 2006" -wikipedia.org
(that's just those two countries, you toss the sales from Japan and the US...wow)

Here is a link to a site that gives an estimate for all of diamond comic press' sales for 2007 (not including magna) http://www.cbgxtra.com/Default.aspx?tabid=1857

Dollar Sales for Diamond's Top 300 Comic Books from each month (est.):
$270 million (not including magna)

Combined Dollar Sales for Diamond's Top 300 Comics and Top TPBs from each month(est.):
$327.1 million (not including magna)

This is the sales estimate for 12 months combined even with TPB it's low.

Overall, around 40 million comics were sold in France last year, with sales turnover worth 398 million euros (618.9 millon dollars).-christiancomicsinternational.org



Don't get me wrong I love me some Marvel/DC/Image and about 10 other diffrent companies, but I personally feel we need to get more readers (which is too damn hard) Other countires are making a big bank of comics and I wish the American comics were as well. Also yes TPB do hurt individual sales a lot.

[IronKing]

Yeah I don't mind smaller events like Messiah Complex, but these earth-shattering, mind-numbing, all-consuming "Benders" need to end with Secret Invasion.

And I've thoroughly enjoyed most of them. But man, let the dust settle finally settle and start establishing some stability. Wait a few years, then tear it down again.

[Libaax]

I try to make a change for myself and others who are sick of events.

I didnt read CW more than one tie in or two. Havent read any DC event since Infinite Crisis. I dont even think about buying events these days even if the heroes in the big roles are my favs.

Annihilation is the only event i felt was interesting since i became a comic fans in 2005. Conquest i buy cause cosmic marvel are so much more interesting than Iron Man,the wuss that are spidey these days etc

I stopped reading 5-10 marvel superheroes i liked cause of the events. Spidey,X-Factor,Hulk etc Now that there is SI there is no read to start reading them again.

The events are doing me a favor i think more about not wasting my money on them.

If they dont stop i dont care i have Bru's comics,Max Punisher,Vertigo,Image(Invincible,Walking Dead,Darkness,Fell etc),independents comics i enjoy.

[2-4-5_Trioxin]

I dont want them to stop them, I just wish they would streamline them a bit and not scatter the background material through other series so much.

Dont think they will go away though with folks like me, hell if it werent for like world war hulk I wouldnt have gotten a single issue of the hulk because I dont care for it much.

I like them if the story is worth it though, I can see them very easily becoming nothing special after awhile and the stories just a excuse to have a event.

[MakeshiftHero]

I don't really mind the events that much. It gives me somthing new to look forward to, something out of the ordinary.

Would I like them to slow down: yes

But I wouldn't mind having events as much if not every single one of them had to make the MU "never be the same again"

I'd perfer more big "team up event" books where the avengers ff x-men and others team up to fight some bad guys with a "doomsday" weapon that will destroy the earth. They beat them and things are fine again. A couple minor changes could be made but nothing "earth shattering that will break the net in half."

Or how about a story where the heroes have to get their costumes washed and for a mini series you just see them hanging out in a laundry mat, waiting for their costumes to get washed and dryed but there's a huge line so they have to wait, and Dr. Doom stole the downy sheets or something so they need to get more fabric softener. And in the other book Jarvis is cleanig the MAs stuff.

I don't care what it is I just don't want to have to get bombarded with something HUGE every year. I like to be able to read stories of my fav heroes in their book and not have to get inturrupted with the next CW. But if it was an event where nothing big was changed like a "self contained event" I would be more for it. Something that happens in modern continuity but could be put anywhere in time and heroes could refrence it now and again.

[Shellhead]

You're really not trying to compare a 10 cent comic in a newsstand market (which allowed returns) with a 3.00 dollar comic part of the direct market (which doesn't include newsstand, foreign or bookstore figures). Its really two different animals. Also when you say "sales" you really mean volume. Do to changes in price point, Marvel and DC could very well be making the equivalent amount in their publishing departments as they did back then (especially when you bring in the other markets). Now, in terms of volume I would wholeheartedly agree. I still don't see how this would support your theory that new people aren't being brought in though events. There is nothing in there to support or contradict your statement. Plus, how do you account for the continual increase in sales for the publishing department in the past few years. That trend alone should indicate that new readers are coming to Marvel (though it could easily mean they are coming from DC). Not saying its because of events mind you but its obvious events aren't hurting Marvel either.

You want a comparison, try this... I researched it myself:
..............Minimum....Price of....Comics
Year..........Wage.......Comic....per Hour
1939..........$0.27......$0.10.......2.70
1940..........$0.30......$0.10.......3.00
1941..........$0.30......$0.10.......3.00
1942..........$0.30......$0.10.......3.00
1943..........$0.30......$0.10.......3.00
1944..........$0.30......$0.10.......3.00
1945..........$0.33......$0.10.......3.30
1946..........$0.40......$0.10.......4.00
1947..........$0.40......$0.10.......4.00
1948..........$0.40......$0.10.......4.00
1949..........$0.43......$0.10.......4.30
1950..........$0.75......$0.10.......7.50
1951..........$0.75......$0.10.......7.50
1952..........$0.75......$0.10.......7.50
1953..........$0.75......$0.10.......7.50
1954..........$0.75......$0.10.......7.50
1955..........$0.75......$0.10.......7.50
1956..........$0.79......$0.10.......7.90
1957..........$1.00......$0.10......10.00
1958..........$1.00......$0.10......10.00
1959..........$1.00......$0.10......10.00
1960..........$1.00......$0.10......10.00
1961..........$1.06......$0.10......10.60
1962..........$1.15......$0.12.......9.58
1963..........$1.19......$0.12.......9.92
1964..........$1.25......$0.12......10.42
1965..........$1.25......$0.12......10.42
1966..........$1.25......$0.12......10.42
1967..........$1.25......$0.12......10.42
1968..........$1.40......$0.12......11.67
1969..........$1.60......$0.14......11.85
1970..........$1.60......$0.15......10.67
1971..........$1.60......$0.18.......9.14
1972..........$1.60......$0.20.......8.00
1973..........$1.60......$0.20.......8.00
1974..........$1.91......$0.23.......8.49
1975..........$2.12......$0.25.......8.48
1976..........$2.30......$0.28.......8.36
1977..........$2.33......$0.33.......7.17
1978..........$2.67......$0.35.......7.63
1979..........$2.92......$0.38.......7.79
1980..........$3.12......$0.45.......6.93
1981..........$3.35......$0.50.......6.70
1982..........$3.35......$0.60.......5.58
1983..........$3.35......$0.60.......5.58
1984..........$3.35......$0.60.......5.58
1985..........$3.35......$0.63.......5.36
1986..........$3.35......$0.70.......4.79
1987..........$3.35......$0.75.......4.47
1988..........$3.35......$0.88.......3.83
1989..........$3.35......$1.00.......3.35
1990..........$3.73......$1.00.......3.73
1991..........$4.18......$1.00.......4.18
1992..........$4.25......$1.25.......3.40
1993..........$4.25......$1.25.......3.40
1994..........$4.25......$1.25.......3.40
1995..........$4.25......$1.38.......3.09
1996..........$4.42......$1.73.......2.56
1997..........$4.92......$1.97.......2.50
1998..........$5.15......$1.99.......2.59
1999..........$5.15......$1.99.......2.59
2000..........$5.15......$2.12.......2.43
2001..........$5.15......$2.25.......2.29
2002..........$5.15......$2.25.......2.29
2003..........$5.15......$2.25.......2.29
2004..........$5.15......$2.25.......2.29
2005..........$5.15......$2.38.......2.17
2006..........$5.15......$2.75.......1.88
2007..........$5.56......$2.99.......1.86

I obtained an average minimum wage rate for each year based on changes in federal minimum wage. I got the average price of a comic per year by going to Mile High Comics and tracking the changes in cover price of long-running comics like Action Comics. I ignored sales tax, because that varies from place to place. To adjust for inflation, the final column shows how many comics you could buy with one hour of minimum wage pay, before taxes.

1969 stands out as the best year to be a comic fan in terms of buying power, because you could buy nearly 12 comic books with one hour of minimum wage pay. And that was the year when X-Men was canceled for only selling 200,000 copies per issue, despite the recent issues at that time feature solid writing by Roy Thomas and outstanding artwork by Neal Adams.

Right now is clearly the worst time to buy comics, because you can't even buy 2 comics with an hour of minimum wage pay. Accordingly, kids are almost completely priced out of this market, and even teenagers and college students will tend to feel some strain buying comics today. For DC and Marvel to respond by constantly running big event stories to soak the dwindling number of readers who can still afford comics is heinous, and frankly poor strategy for the coming years.

[psm]

Right now is clearly the worst time to buy comics, because you can't even buy 2 comics with an hour of minimum wage pay. Accordingly, kids are almost completely priced out of this market, and even teenagers and college students will tend to feel some strain buying comics today. For DC and Marvel to respond by constantly running big event stories to soak the dwindling number of readers who can still afford comics is heinous, and frankly poor strategy for the coming years.

Although, the amount of work you did is impressive, it still doesn't change anything I said. There is nothing in your research that indicates that events aren't drawing in new readers. You are working off the false assumption that the readership for comics is stagnant or dwindling. Which may be true but kinda hard to believe when you hear testimonies of people getting into comics again because of CW and seeing the publishing division of Marvel increasing every year.

[Shellhead]

Although, the amount of work you did is impressive, it still doesn't change anything I said. There is nothing in your research that indicates that events aren't drawing in new readers. You are working off the false assumption that the readership for comics is stagnant or dwindling. Which may be true but kinda hard to believe when you hear testimonies of people getting into comics again because of CW and seeing the publishing division of Marvel increasing every year.

I actually agree with you that comics are selling better right now, but only compared to a few years ago. It's possible that these new fans are being drawn in by the events. But the long-term trends indicate that DC and Marvel lost the kid market sometime in the mid-'80s, as the spin racks vanished from grocery stores and drug stores across America. It's a shame, because superhero comics still offer things that kids instinctively enjoy: bright colors, action, weirdness and excitement. There is nothing wrong with adults enjoying comics, but if kids could readily obtain comics (through better distribution and lower pricing), the economies of scale would be worth it for both DC and Marvel.

[mikekerr3]

If you ask me, there are a lot of comic fans. I don't know if they are more or less than what they were back in the day, but consider the fact that there are more comics now than back then. I think that now more super heroes have their own comic, and there are more super heroes. Also there are more publishers, and the independent scene has their own share. I think that the comic readers just don't read every comic there is, and considering also the TPB market, it's not a surprise comics don't sell that much.

When I was 13 (1968) I don't think I knew anybody that didn't read comics among my peers. Take a look at the comics shops now, my current peers are more common than teens. There are more comics now but the massive increase in price has allowed more people to compete for the shrinking market. A small publisher doesn't need to sell huge to make a profit and a large publisher can make money with moderate sales. I think they are reaching a limit on how far they can push the price to cover the decrease in volume anf they will have to addapt or die off.

[matthewaos]

Point taken, you don't see young readers, but it happens to know some "new" readers, but average age is not 13, it's 20. Either way you need money, with all the back issues and TPBs, plus what it is published now.