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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 132240
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| Posted: 01 February 2009 at 2:21pm | IP Logged | 1
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I have written before about the depressing aspect that haunts the current
comicbook industry -- that of looking upon sales that not so long ago
would have earned a title instant cancelation, and declaring them to be
"hits". A huge triumph celebrated when a title tops 100,000 units sold, even
if that represents multiple covers and other such fake events. And even if
that title happens to be, say, AMAZING SPIDER-MAN, which back when I got
into the "dying" comic industry was selling almost six times that
number -- and without stunts, promotion (beyond the Bullpen Page) or the
Direct Sales Market.
Thinking about this attitude of diminished expectations, tho, I came to
realize it is really not so new. It was just better hidden, when the numbers
were higher.
Consider: When I was doing FANTASTIC FOUR at the peak of my run, it was
pulling in just under 300,000 per month, while UNCANNY X-MEN was well
on its way to becoming the 800lb gorilla by racking up 400,000 every
month. And that was before the Speculator Boom got up a full head of
steam. Most of those issues still went each to a warm body.
Yet, puffed and proud as we were of those numbers -- I had boosted FF
sales by close to 50% -- the sales of UNCANNY were only what Stan and Jack
pulled in routinely in their days on FF, and my FF sales were not so very far
ahead of the numbers that had, just a decade earlier, gotten X-MEN
canceled!
The sad fact is, diminished expectations have been a cancer in this business
almost as long as its been around. Fawcett used to report 1,000,000
monthly sales for Captain Marvel -- and that without adding up all the
different titles he and his "family" appeared in. But by the time the Silver
Age was launched, publishers were looking at half that number can popping
champagne corks.
I suppose, then, it's no great surprise that each "generation" has accepted
lower and lower number as indicators of "success". But -- does that mean
we have to continue to do so?
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Brad Brickley
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 29 April 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 8286
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| Posted: 01 February 2009 at 2:29pm | IP Logged | 2
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I don't even think that the companies really care that much about the comic aspects of the characters. I think that all they care about is the license opportunities. Video games, movies, and other assorted products.
DC has a video game coming out this next year sometime, DC Universe Online, where you can actually be your own hero or villain and either fight along side or against your favorite heroes or villains. The thing is going to make a ton of money. No kid I know reads comics, but almost all play video games.
I think that comics will continue to eek out as a product, but only as a niche product to protect the license of what ever character involved. I think they'll have their big events every now and then, but just kind of go along. Old guys like me (42 yrs.) seem to be the main buyers any more.
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Joie Simmons
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 31 July 2007
Location: United States
Posts: 288
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| Posted: 01 February 2009 at 2:31pm | IP Logged | 3
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I'd like to see a size shift to magazine-sized comics that have lot of
pages. They could have new content and mine the last seventy years for
back stories as filler. A monthly magazine-sized Amazing Spider-Man
that was more of an anthology of original material that I could buy right
next to an Entertainment Weekly and would be pretty nice. Get 'em back
out there where a normal person can buy them and not feel like they have
to be part of some special comic book reader's social club.
I feel in my gut that this would increase sales of comics material.
But, going with this post and the numbers, pretty soon big parties will be
thrown by companies who sell 1000 copies, then 100. They'll be sitting
pretty in movie and TV money and not care about publishing at all.
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Brian Miller
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 28 July 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 30888
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| Posted: 01 February 2009 at 2:33pm | IP Logged | 4
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Aren't all print publications in the same boat?
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Brad Brickley
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 29 April 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 8286
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| Posted: 01 February 2009 at 2:36pm | IP Logged | 5
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Aren't all print publications in the same boat?
*********
I don't know about all, but here in the Seattle area it looks like the Seattle P-I, one of two major newspapers, will be folding if a buyer isn't found within 60 days. I'll miss it, but that seems to be the trend for newspapers.
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Aaron Poehler
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 19 April 2004
Posts: 298
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| Posted: 01 February 2009 at 2:36pm | IP Logged | 6
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Any work deserves to be judged by the standards of its own time rather than those of very different eras. If the 40's sales of Captain Marvel--a time when TV wasn't anything close to its current ubiquity, when there was no internet, when there were no video games, etc.--are the standard of success for all time, then nothing else is successful. It's simply unrealistic to expect comics to sell in those numbers again--which isn't to say it's impossible, but it's close.
Edited by Aaron Poehler on 01 February 2009 at 2:37pm
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Eric Kleefeld
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 21 December 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 4422
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| Posted: 01 February 2009 at 2:40pm | IP Logged | 7
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The overall format and distribution of comics has to be junked and remade from scratch.
And for the product to work in mass-market outlets like the big chain bookstores, we don't just have to rethink how the pages are packaged together — we have to rethink the content of those pages, too.
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Jozef Brandt
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 03 March 2007
Location: United States
Posts: 2657
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| Posted: 01 February 2009 at 2:41pm | IP Logged | 8
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If not for diminished expectations (artwork, writing, etc) I don't think anyone would still be reading comics.
Edited by Jozef Brandt on 01 February 2009 at 2:41pm
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Jodi Moisan
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 19 February 2008
Location: United States
Posts: 6832
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| Posted: 01 February 2009 at 2:57pm | IP Logged | 9
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OK this may sound stupid and I know I am not as informed on comics as most of you guys, but if comics aren't eye level to a kid in an area they see weekly, comics will continue to die. My feeling is, someone needs to make brightly colored , good guys wins in the end, self contained stories that are in the checkout lane at your local grocery store for under $2.00. (And if you can throw in a cool story about a unicorn all the better :0)
Edited by Jodi Moisan on 01 February 2009 at 2:58pm
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Kevin Hagerman
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 15 April 2005
Location: United States
Posts: 17995
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| Posted: 01 February 2009 at 3:01pm | IP Logged | 10
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"Increase profits, not sales". That's why no one in charge is concerned about dwindling readership. The money is still coming in.
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Joie Simmons
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 31 July 2007
Location: United States
Posts: 288
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| Posted: 01 February 2009 at 3:03pm | IP Logged | 11
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"Increase profits, not sales". That's why no one in charge is concerned
about dwindling readership. The money is still coming in.
------
Exactly.
Why make $400,000 from 400,000 comics when you can make that off of
100,000 comics? Big business and the quarter to quarter sales and money
expectations stuff sucks.
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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 132240
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| Posted: 01 February 2009 at 3:23pm | IP Logged | 12
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Aren't all print publications in the same boat?
••
Yes -- but comics don't need to be. They are a unique package, offering
something no one else does.
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Topic Closed)
