Comic book industry questions for the era

[Aubrey]

What would make the comic book industry better in the states?

[Lorendiac]

I voted for the first four choices, all at once. Let me explain some of my reasoning:

I don't think the U.S. comic book industry is ever going to be as popular as the Hollywood movie industry, which was what you seemed to be asking at the top of the Poll, so I clicked on the first choice.

But I do think the U.S. comic book industry's popularity could be significantly improved, which would at least "narrow the gap" between it and the movie industry. With that in mind, I went ahead and clicked on #2 (the idea of having lots of series that are "direct sales" and only available in specialty comic book shops is ridiculous, so the distribution needs to be changed), and I clicked on #3 because American publishers need to offer a wider range of material, well-written, in order to attract a broader audience, and I clicked on #4 because I believe that making real progress in #2 and #3 would, in turn, lead to a much more diverse demographic if things were done properly.

Hope that clarifies why I voted for all four of those at once! :)

[Generic Eric]

I would like to see thick monthly magazines printing a wide range of new genre comics to be distributed through news stands, magazine racks, comic shops and mail order subscriptions. I'd imagine a thick ass magazine printing material comproble to vertigo comics would find an audience. 96 page giant comics for 4.99 centering on differant genres. One would be a detective book, romance, Science Fiction and horror. Why not have a magazine with new material that also focusing on popular superhero franchises. A gaint size Spiderman, Superman, Batman ,Justice League Marvel Comics Presents made especially for magazine distribution but also have quality stories that are self contained for new readers and have popular creators to attract the specialty store crowd.

Let it be so.

This idea sounds so plausable and workable. What prevents this from happening.

[Citizen V]

Distribution,that is the only way comics can reclaim what it has lost.

[pringlesman]

I think that the real goal should be getting kids to read them, and most importantly get them to keep reading them as they grow up and not drop them around the age of 13. And in order to do that I think some comics need to change from the spandex cosmic heroes and for some comics to be more reminiscent of things like the TV show "The Shield".

[Reptisaurus!]

I don't even read much Manga.

But, hell:

(A) If I ran Marvel's publishing division and

(B) If I was really trying to turn a profit which

(C) Is what big ol' corporations should do, and what they're designed to do.

I'd focus most of my resources on selling Manga. Find stuff, translate it, somehow try to get the 9-15 year olds to read Manga written by our guys.

Back in the forties and fifties when comics were an important aspect of pop-culture in and of themselves, they'd follow cultural trends, doin' westerns one week and monster comics the next.

Plus Manga has a much larger female readership than floppies, it works in different genres for different tastes much more so than mainstream comics, and it seems to be able to bring in new readers, which Marvel and DC are havin' the damndest time with.

Smells more'n more like the superhero mainstream has outlived it's usefullness as a viable pop-culture element. I'd be sad to see it go, 'cause I'm a nostalgic boychild with dat Peter Pan syndrome. :) But it does feel like it's on it's way out.

[Aubrey]

I don't even read much Manga.

But, hell:

(A) If I ran Marvel's publishing division and

(B) If I was really trying to turn a profit which

(C) Is what big ol' corporations should do, and what they're designed to do.

I'd focus most of my resources on selling Manga. Find stuff, translate it, somehow try to get the 9-15 year olds to read Manga written by our guys.

Back in the forties and fifties when comics were an important aspect of pop-culture in and of themselves, they'd follow cultural trends, doin' westerns one week and monster comics the next.

Plus Manga has a much larger female readership than floppies, it works in different genres for different tastes much more so than mainstream comics, and it seems to be able to bring in new readers, which Marvel and DC are havin' the damndest time with.

Smells more'n more like the superhero mainstream has outlived it's usefullness as a viable pop-culture element. I'd be sad to see it go, 'cause I'm a nostalgic boychild with dat Peter Pan syndrome. :) But it does feel like it's on it's way out.

A lot of people argue that the genre of superheroes is becoming more viable in today's mainstream audiance with all the movies and cartoons and the popular "Heroes" tv series. What would you say against this?

[Reptisaurus!]

A lot of people argue that the genre of superheroes is becoming more viable in today's mainstream audiance with all the movies and cartoons and the popular "Heroes" tv series. What would you say against this?

Yeah, that's a good point.

First of all, we should license "Heroes." Successful licensed books can at least get people to check out comic product, and maybe a couple will stick around.

And second: As head of Marvel, I wanna sell products to women and children. Heck. Guys too.

I don't know how to do this.

And I don't think the actual head of Marvel (or DC, or Image, or Dark Horse) does either.

But, hell. There are people who *DO*.

The limited appeal of the product that's bein' produced as a problem. But not a huge problem. There's good examples of every genre of fiction being produced in comics right now, and most of the stuff above the micro-indy level is quality product.

But I think insufficient or inept markeing is just as big a problem.

What we need is people in marketing who know how to sell stuff, to women and children. Heck. Guys too.

If the comic industry wants to be more successful, they should hire people who know how to sell comics.

[Trey]

You guys are missing something quite important. People hate to read. Period.
People that enjoy reading fiction, especially genre fiction = less than 10%.

People that read comics on a regular basis: between 400,000-700,000, less than .02% (My estimates for the US)

[stealthwise]

You guys are missing something quite important. People hate to read. Period.
People that enjoy reading fiction, especially genre fiction = less than 10%.

People that read comics on a regular basis: between 400,000-700,000, less than .02% (My estimates for the US)

So then the idea would be to get people who DO read to read your comics. Hence the theory behind hiring Brad Meltzer and Greg Rucka, publishing an adaptation of Laurell K Hamilton's bag of crap, and producing a new Dark Tower comic book.

[Generic Eric]

I'd focus most of my resources on selling Manga. Find stuff, translate it, somehow try to get the 9-15 year olds to read Manga written by our guys.

Traiter

Kidding aside. All the good manga series have already been liscenced and translated by companies that beat Marvel to the punch. In Japan they publish big, thick anthologies that come out weekly, monthly and bi-monthly. Each one is targeted to a different audience. Whether that is boys, girls, teenage boys, teenage Girls, men, women, old people, etc. You get the idea. One part of Manga's success in the States is that the best and/ or most popular material is translated first. American Publishers just need to market to more than post adolescent males.

Alot American comics that do not focus solely on Superhero adventure is as good as alot of manga. Fables, Sandman, Bone, JTHM, Maus,etc attract a great deal of new comic readers all the time. After those titles the new reader will often have a hard time finding more material they might like.

[K'Nort]

You guys are missing something quite important. People hate to read. Period.
People that enjoy reading fiction, especially genre fiction = less than 10%.

People that read comics on a regular basis: between 400,000-700,000, less than .02% (My estimates for the US)

10% of what?

A federal study in 2004 determined that 47% of American adults read fiction.

[Norrin Radd]

I honestly think that at some point in a person's education, they should be taught at least one graphic novel, be it MAUS or whatever. The question is, where do you teach it, art class or english class?

[BizarroBeachHead]

I honestly think that at some point in a person's education, they should be taught at least one graphic novel, be it MAUS or whatever. The question is, where do you teach it, art class or english class?

I know Maus is being taught in various College English courses.

[stealthwise]

I honestly think that at some point in a person's education, they should be taught at least one graphic novel, be it MAUS or whatever. The question is, where do you teach it, art class or english class?

English, depending on the text, of course. But the ability to convey a story and construct a coherent narrative usually puts the comic into English class by default. If someone's a lot more interested in the style and composition of the artwork, then it might fit into an art class, but usually art classes focus on single examples of "cartoon style art," rather than entire comic works.

Incidentally, I'm doing my master's thesis (in English and Anthropology) on comic books and have written papers for courses on issues of V for Vendetta, Maus, Sandman, Transmetropolitan, and currently, DMZ and Ex Machina.