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Posted: Sun Oct 15, 2006 11:08 pm Post subject: The Future of the Comic Industry
Ok, if you haven't picked up Wizard...then I lost you, but if you're here, you most probably have.
With the newer generation needing instant gratification with video games or the wave after wave of anime cropping up in the mainstream, how can our medium stay fresh and capture a new audiance.
I started reading comics a little before Kindergarten, by 1st grade I had a ton of Archie and Lil Red Hot comics, sprinkled with Spiderman, I then advanced and became a Superboy and the Legion of Superheros fan, then the Teen Titans...my mom was asked to pick me up a comic book and messed up and brought home X Men 164, and then Marvel became re opened to me. Years have passed since then but damn near everything I collect is related to those three titles....I'm trying to think of something that isn't...the JSA...nope, loved the Titans, picked up Infinity Inc's debut in the All Star Squadron, kept up both books which have heavy JSA roots...but I digress.
Now I have a 16 (17 around the corner...scary) and a 9 year old and they can't stand comics, but love comic movies. My 9 year old is an advid JLU, Batman, Superman, Titans fan but the comics don't appeal to him.
How does the medium adapt to kids who are interested but with so many comic related stuff out there and quality at that (before anyone recalls, the old, Capt America,Iron Man, the Incredible Hulk...Hulk, Hulk, and FF of the 60's or the Superfriends and Shazam, Blue Falcon (?) of the 70s, FF, Iron Man, Spiderman and his amazing friends of the 80's.
I won't discuss the Xmen cartoon of the 90's but all of those don't hold a candle to the hero cartoons of today.
*Off topic somenone need to bring Static to mainstream DC*
Well I have way too much on my mind and don't want to end up cluttering up forum, but how do kids now get into comics? Will it eventually lead to anime for all and Comics as we know them are gone all together?
*Off topic someone really needs to bring Static to mainstream DC, really*
Posted: Mon Oct 16, 2006 7:19 am Post subject: Re: The Future of the Comic Industry
Well one way is to use the animated things (that you listed) as a springboard. They have some of the best comics around or at least used to. Use them to get the kids interested.
The thing is that comics require kids to read and that just isn't cool today. That is the biggest hurdle that every publisher has to face these days. I am greatly simplifying it but that one of the main problems.
Another is that the market has gone a bit older, and better written with darker tones. Parents are too busy to supervise, a lot of the comic stores don't even allow minors alone in so they go, even more, to the video games.
One thing that a friend of mine does (and a couple of other friends because of it) is that they give comic books (ones that they have read and are a bit more kid friendly) out for Halloween instead of candy. They kids love it and come back for more. They also might have some candy just in case too.
Just spread the word and make them accessible and it might help.
I didn't pick up Wizard, but I read John Bryne's column and he's made the same observations - and others. So have other comic industry writers, artists, and insiders/analysts.
Another factor that's contributing to the decline of the comic industry is, interestingly enough, The Crossover. And: The MEGA Crossover. And... Continuity. ;]
In order to get into and enjoy comic reading today, you can't just go down to the corner drug store and pick up a couple of Spiderman titles and a few other issues of other books off the shelf. You grab a Spiderman... and you find that to keep track of the story, you also need New Mutants #3091, Captain America #6028, X-Men #4033, and several other titles, PLUS the latest issues of the most recent Shared World crossover story. Stories aren't self contained any longer, nor are titles.
I'm exaggerating a bit... but not by much.
Also, Continuity has become King. And that, sadly, to a large extent has been fan-geek driven. It's become difficult for writers to tell a story without making sure they have all of their i's dotted and t's crossed in making sure they don't outrage fan sensibilities by getting a past refference wrong.
All of this taken together makes it hard for them to produce comics that can get new readers into the genre. Old readers and diehard fan-geeks buy books... but that's not growing the industry. You have to attract the younger readers... and if it takes $2.50 to $4.50 per issue and you have to buy 10-12 issues just to follow a storyline, that makes it an adult fan's genre.
Not many 12 year old kids can afford to plunk down $45 per trip to the comic store. _________________ "I'd add a legitimate comment here, but that would mean reading everything, which I have no patience for." - Slynky
You know... this might be an avenue where 'net comics have an "in". _________________ "I'd add a legitimate comment here, but that would mean reading everything, which I have no patience for." - Slynky
Posted: Tue Oct 17, 2006 4:15 pm Post subject: Re: The Future of the Comic Industry
I forgot all about the price...I remember 35 cents (what happened to the cents sign on the keyboard...was there ever one on there, I remember one when I took typing way back when). Then later on I remember 60 cents being the staple for awhile, I would take ten bucks to a comic store weekly come out with a big bag of comics, now...three books...maybe (and damnit I'm not that old).
Yes, the paper quality has improved and the covers, but you know what if they went back down to a buck a piece, I'd take the crappy paper with a big grin. I read comics for the fun of reading them, they are not a nest egg. I don't even want to get into the wire things that take 20 minutes to remove an action figure from the clam shell, and then it takes great effort to get it out of it still. I won't even mention Spawn...four hour effort.
Too many "collectors" and not enough straight fan boys!
Joined: May 31, 2002 Posts: 637 Location: Planet Mongo
Posted: Tue Oct 17, 2006 7:04 pm Post subject: Re: The Future of the Comic Industry
Wait a few months, or a few years and the toy figures will become smaller and easier to manage. The size of toy figures will shrink whenever there's a recession. Remember how full sized GI Joe disappeared in 1978.
Now you're scaring me, I like the scale of DC Direct figures...I think the Marvel legends line needs to "grow up". Hell I'd be happier if all super hero lines were done in the same scale, so when I have my ultimate assasins set up (different theme on my computer table weekly) Deathstroke and Deadpool don't look goofy side by side.
But then again, some of my DC Direct guys aren't scale to each other....damn it, somebody with money buy me a toy company where I can make all my figures on a inch for foot ratio.
Oops need a new topic...I'm digressing.
Posted: Tue Oct 17, 2006 11:29 pm Post subject: Re: The Future of the Comic Industry
almeidapusmc wrote:
With the newer generation needing instant gratification with video games or the wave after wave of anime cropping up in the mainstream, how can our medium stay fresh and capture a new audience.
I think Anime raises the bar on storytelling. The Japanese take their time with storytelling and can make one moment be an entire story and it's not forced at all like us Westerners would wanna do with it. Have you ever seen DragonBallZ movies? They'll make an entire hour-and-a-half movie out of one fight scene and through the whole thing you'll be sitting on the edge of your seat and the whole time the viewer doesn't realize how they're being manipulated - it's pretty darned good storytelling techniques... I wouldn't downplay immediate gratification. Anime is perfect for it because it keeps the viewer in the immediate 'now' of what's important in a story.
In my opinion the best I've ever is the Samurai X 'Trust and Betrayal' movies... the 'Trust' portion uses flashbacks in a way that is something I've never seen in any western movie or TV show. It uses flashbacks so well the audience is always in the immediate moment whether the story is in the past or present - it's incredible, masterful storytelling.
The problem is (to me) it probably gets looked over in the West exactly because it's 'Anime'.
I don't think videogames are all that bad either.
If you think about when us oldtimers were kids, Disneyland was the 'livingstory' we kids would've loved to experience. If you were lucky enough to go there you could go into 'pirate adventure' land - be inside the story.
Videogames now allow everyone to do that without having to go to Disneyland.
But at the heart of it, everyone is still wanting to experience 'story'... I think.
Dungeons and Dragons' boardgame of the 1970's/80's gave a new way of experiencing a story - readers became the characters in their minds and could experience firsthand what it felt like for King Arthur to fight with a holy sword.
Now, you can join some Halo webgroup and live immediately a story that is unraveling live... the reader becomes the story as it happens... experiences it firsthand... STILL in a fantasy setting.
What about in the future when like Star Trek, there's holodecks where you can walk in and tell the computer to play your favorite fantasy? You will walk into the fantasy and experience firsthand a story... you will be able to live inside an actual story.
The medium won't make the experience more or less what it has always been.
We enjoy reading, perhaps the younger generation doesn't - but I think the basic need for 'story' will always be a human need to explore.
Recently watching the latest X-Men DVD, I realized I was always bored by the old 1960's/70's X-Men comics. Something about them never seemed to get my juices going.
Now the 1960's/70's Fantastic Four... damn, I grabbed every copy I could when I was a kid. But the movie version seemed to lack something.
Could someone make a better Fantastic Four movie that was as fun to watch as the X-Men movies?
There's a question: are some stories told better by different media?
Tomb Raider was fun to play as a videogame (story) but I always found most of the superhero games boring.
Was it because of the story or the medium used to tell the story?
What about in the future when like Star Trek, there's holodecks where you can walk in and tell the computer to play your favorite fantasy? You will walk into the fantasy and experience firsthand a story... you will be able to live inside an actual story.
Immersive Online Worlds - Second Life, Active Worlds, MMORPGs, Virtual Worlds: creating the story interactively. Possibly the next step in the evolution - reader as author and protagonist, rather than reader as passive viewer.
I think the circle goes round and round though. AD&D and GURPS spun off fan fic, BBS's, card games, novels, and other continuations of the campaign and world stories in other mediums. Computer games have spun off movies [Ok, BAD movies, but nonetheless ], book series [Wing Comander novels, anyone?], graphic novels, and fan fic.
I think this may happen in the comic industry as well: something will come about to revitalise the print industry versions, and then the cycle will start again - interest, explosion of titles and story, quality, fandom, exploitation, and decline.
"All things cyclical imply futility" - Ironbear _________________ "I'd add a legitimate comment here, but that would mean reading everything, which I have no patience for." - Slynky
Joined: Jun 13, 2003 Posts: 169 Location: southern california
Posted: Wed Oct 25, 2006 1:51 pm Post subject: Re: The Future of the Comic Industry
Want em to read? Turn off the TV and limit computer use. Face it, all of us that are over the age of 25 (which is most of the regulars in the forums) grew up with a whole lot less media influence. Sure we watched TV about as often as we could (i did anyway). Maybe went to the movies now and then. But, i dont think i went anywhere without a book of some sort. i even read in the car on trips. i think we had our first computer in 85 ( c-64) and i did the BBS scthick in the late 80's early 90's but wasnt on the net regularly until 97 or there abouts.
Kids now have TV in 31 flavors to choose from and a zillion channels. 22 screen cinemas, internet, ipod, etc etc etc finding one who likes to read is a miracle it seems and i have worked in education.
i'm not downing on our modern media madness as i am a techno-phile too but it can be damaging.
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], book series [Wing Comander novels, anyone?], graphic novels, and fan fic.
