From It’s Raining Money To Comics Are Dying!
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- Опубликовано: 1 май 2024
- The about face from comic book journalist's the past year is jarring. Suddenly many are parroting what Wes and others have stated for years. American comics culture and sales are dying. Dogman, Manga and Solo Leveling selling massive amounts of graphic novels in books stores has not created a new audience for DC or Marvel Comics. They've only helped shine an enormous light on the failure of DC and Marvel Comics the past decade. Wes and Aaron Sparrow discuss a recent article from the comic book shill media stating the obvious 5 years too late. From it's raining money to comics are dying.
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Marvel comics weren't even selling when the Marvel Cinematic Universe was at its peak. The level of sheer, gross incompetence it would require to NOT sell comic books during that era is breathtaking.
I consider this to be the greatest sin of the MCU.
Marvel was dominating sales before the MCU even started though
Taking the mantle away from established characters to give it to "all-new, all-different" ones at the time probably didn't helped either in my opinion, it alienated old fans, and the new fans weren't gonna bother with a Captain America or Thor that wasn't either Steve Rogers or Odinson (something that the MCU is learning the hard way too).
"I like Iron Man, and he has comics. I'm gonna check out his comics"
*Iron Man is a black girl*
They killed Doctor Strange just as Multiverse came out. 👏 👏 👏. On the off chance a potential new reader was drawn in they would have found Clea fronting the book.
Adventures are barely existent in American mainstream comics. It's all lectures and pageants. It's racist and phobic to point that out.
Yea and that’s the problem, and it’s why manga is so popular, it has so many stories of characters going on a journey, going on adventures, and having fun along the way. People need to just abandon comics and switch to manga, but some people just won’t do it, they’d rather be miserable than be happy.
Finn: It's not Adventure Time, any more.
If you point it out, you will be falsely accused of being sexist, racist, homophobic and transphobic. I know from personal experience, as an ASIAN-AMERICAN whom a WHITE MALE Disney shill falsely accused of being "WH173 5UPR3M4C157!!!"
And these shills wonder why they're EPIC FAILing.
"Adventures" is the keyword here. None of the characters do anything worth wanting to follow on a weekly, monthly, or yearly basis.
I'm a 30some year old woman who got into comics in 2011, I just didn't start with new Comics, I started with back issues.
You missed out lol
Smart.
That's provable why you're still here
In the 70s, Marvel was very savvy and downright shameless about imitating whatever was seen as popular with young people. The Punisher was just Mack Bolan in spandex and gogo boots, Luke Cage was a ripoff of blaxploitation movies, Shang Chi and Master of Kung Fu were Bruce Lee ripoffs, Ghost Rider had a motorcycle because Evel Knievel was popular. And when classic movie monsters had a resurgence, Marvel cranked out Werewolf By Night, Tomb of Dracula, Godzilla, etc. The people that run comics now have no clue what is popular with normal people and clearly don't care about making money the way they did in the old days.
I'm not really seeing Frank as Mark Bolan but agree with what you said.
Yup
great point! I was a kid in the 70s and loved reading Godzilla, Shogun Warriors, Micronauts - lots of books based on monsters and toys. Punisher might have also been inspired by the Charles Bronson movies thinking about it. Iron Fist also was from Bruce Lee probably. Marvel back then was much more about cool stuff, sci fi and even macho men, sexy strong women and heroic adventures. I don't buy new comics anymore as they just don't have that cool vibe anymore.
@@toad1971 Charles Bronson was always the fan cast for Wolverine back in the day.
@@Whalewraith That makes sense. Thanks for sharing.
My local comic book store did this. Stopped selling comics and now sells statues, Warhammer and other table top gaming.
Local Glendale, AZ Arrowhead Mall looks like the vendor tables at a comic convention. Storefronts and kiosks sell all the anime I love, have no room for, and can't really afford. Eating, water, utiltiies, transportation, roof over head are minor inconvenience.
They should just start selling manga lol
I'm sorry for them, considering warhammer decided to also try and aim for a modern audience to boost sales.
That's what my shops around here did as well.
What's happening to comic industry is basically the narcissists prayer
When you stop trying to tell good stories, then the business will be in the toilet.
There is no newsstand anymore. Most magazines like Playboy, Sports Illustrated, etc. have gone out of business. Kids don't care about comic books anymore because their reading skills are subpar. They would rather watch a video of someone summarizing a comic storyline than actually read. In order to get kids into comics, you need to get them to love reading first. Scholastic sells books not comics. I remember the book fair in elementary during the 70s. Comics are eventually going to die because of lack of talent and readers.
The kids who read comics - or read anything - were always the smart ones, a minority.
my lcs when 75% Japanese/gaming products almost 15yrs ago. it was the only way to keep the bills paid.
“Denying things until it’s catastrophic” isn’t that just the way of humanity?
I have a friend that grow up with the French "Asterix" and another friend growing up with "Dragon Balls" neither are remotely interested in reading DC and Marvel ever, it's not the same interests at all.
Yea I can’t see how anyone who started reading manga would ever start reading comics. I switched to manga when I realised how much better it is, and I’ll never switch back. Comics have done irreversible damage to themselves over the last few years.
@InfamyOrDeath-__- They're the same thing. Comics are the Americanised version of manga. The biggest difference between comics and manga is that comics are monopolised by two companies who do nothing but put out crap and disrespect their own characters while the manga industry promotes new ideas and less serialised storytelling
I grew up reading Donald Duck, and I also have no interest in DC or Marvel. Not entirely against read The Phantom comics though, since they were pretty relevant back in my childhood.
Since my teens though, it has been manga only.
My daughter’s friend actually started with manga and is starting to read DC comics but she prefers the old (90’s early 2000’s) ones not the modern ones.
I'm 34 and got in to comics at 5 years old after reading a Justice League comic. Lol Martian Manhunter turned into a Red Martian and had captured the Justice League except for Batman.
My local comic shop is doing fantastic. Tons of customers, big sales in new and old comics. But when I asked the owner about it he said he frankly found it baffling, because everyone else he knows and sees in the industry is failing. He knows he's the outlier, but he's enjoying it.
Good that he knows he's an outlier.
John Buscema, Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, Wallace Wood, George Perez, Mark Gruenwald, Mark D. Bright are dead. So, why should I buy new comics? Well, I will when AI will understand prompts such as 'draw a 22-page issue pencilled by John Buscema and inked by Tom palmer, with a story à la Roger Stern'
Idk but that ine AI comic about batman being a full time orphan was pretty entertaining
And as far as I know John Byrne isn't being published much these days. He's the greatest ever for me personally. Once he's no longer alive comics will be totally dead for me. I know he did a fan fiction X-Men book or books in the last few years and Marvel was too dumb to make a deal with him and publish that work. How dumb can they be?
it's insane that you have black panther and cap making billions at the movies and can't even sell over 30k for their comics. like. WTF why are you leaving money on the table by not syngerizing w the momentum the movies create for you?!
The writers are people who used to write cringe fanfics. The kind of people who like shipping, furries and all kind of stuff that has nothing to do with the genre or characters true personality of the source material.
Here is the reality...Scholastic books are easier to find then comics. You can find Scholastic in Walmart, Target, books stores....they have better distribution period. For whatever reason the people who control the comic companies over the decades have always had a short sighted view of the product. No other "billion" dollar industry has ever had that problem from my view point. Look when I left the industry at end of 2021 there were 3 reasons why. One was I had lack of faith in the industry to grow and really produce product that was going to bring readers from across all generational viewpoints. Two was that I lacked faith in ownership to look forward and correct all the things the company needed to do to adapt to the 21st century of retailing to customers. Three was inability to exploit the movie successes with larger and more substantial sales for the industry. From my view not much has really changed from those 3 aspects. I have my toe in it now, but I am still hesitant to go all the way and risk being employed in something that could "die" and be dead before anyone registers the corpse. And Wes is DEAD FUCKING RIGHT...there is no need to put every damn story in a trade. All you do is overwhelm the retailer with a massive inventory to look through and figure out where to utilize his money. Sorry..WRONG! All you need is your best to most popular, the rest be damned! If someone wants something not collected in a trade they can go find the actual issues. I said what Wes has said here over 10 years ago. And Aaron is right too, just do what works for the characters that the fans loved and were fine with to begin with. Stop altering things that nobody asked you to do (like...aka have Wolverine stop smoking cause someone in your family died from cancer. Wolverine is a fucking mutant with A HEALING FACTOR. Every damn person knows that and doesn't hold him to same standard as a regular person. )
I mean what they have said in this video here is dead on for the most part. The store I ran in Brockton had to sell more then just comics over 15 years ago because you needed to and because the customers wanted that stuff. Damn! Hi Aaron! WTF20.
"You should probably not drive that way, the bridge is out!"
"We haven't fallen off the road yet" (continues driving)
I will never understand ignoring 40 year old customers. All these writers will be old by the time we die. We have another 30-40 years of spending if you keep us interested.
I’m 44 and now have more expendable income than ever before like most my age but they offer nothing for me to buy. I would buy ten x-books a month if they were decent just like I used to all those decades ago!
What did they expect would happen after filling their writing staff with the same kind of people that turned off over 3 generations of students away from reading?
The publishers, distributors, and “local” comic shops are loyal to each other. No one is loyal to the readers.
I got a LCS who only sells back issues and pre-owned trades/collected works. Independants like that are cool people.
@@PrivateCitizen84 Yeah, he sounds cool, but generally the shops are in it for the geek merchandise and 1:25 variants. Shop owners and some comic book stores that influencers want to gaslight us into thinking we owe shops loyalty. Shop owners can get a job like everyone else and snuggle up with their variant covers to cry themselves to sleep.
@@davidfarrington4308 I know I am lucky. Got two independant toy collector shops. I donate stuff to all three when done with stuff and I end up getting discounts off them so it all works out. We got the corporate style geek store that do all new stuff, but it's not a fun place to shop. Staff are in it for the paycheck not for the love of it.
There's some new information that tells us comics are in trouble. This information suggests that despite the best efforts of the writers and editors, the hateful masses are winning.
For years there were claims that comics weren't selling, due to silly things like sales tracking and comics stores begging for "better" content. But for the writers and editors and the major publishers there was no reason to care. After all, their comics tell the stories they like and win diversity and industry awards; despite these so called "numbers", the comics must actually be selling. They may not be selling to filthy, toxic teenage boys, who have never been a major market for comics, especially super-hero comics. But some stat no-one has access to says non-racist and queer-phobic adults are buying them by the boat load, and since no one has this stat you can't prove otherwise.
But now, for completely unknown reasons, the writers and editors are finding it hard to make money writing comics that nobly entertain themselves while teaching the unwashed masses a lesson. How can these creators do the work of saving the world from hate by fixing every comics character if they can't get paid to do so?
The only explanation is an increase in racism and queer-phobias, which can only be cured by doubling down on the amount of teaching the comics do. The increase in social justice profit will convince the major corporations to spend more money on writers and editors.
The writers and editors would also accept being paid only for the virtuous task of tweeting about how hateful comics fans are, which is more important than writing the comics.
I have to be honest. It's funny that Scholastic books are more popular than Marvel and DC comics. Books about a superhero dog is bringing in more eyes than a book about a superhero that's been around for over 50 years.
Scholastic is a power house to hook young readers, they were instrumental in getting Harry Potter popular in the states. I mean they wheel in their product straight to kids in school.
My comic store doesn’t really carry manga. His most in demand comics are indies. The customers want Skybound, Image, and other non-Marvel and DC titles. It’s the first store I have been in where they more indies then anything from big two. The reason he doesn’t keep manga in stock is cause they buy it online or from the bookstore. He does sell a lot of Funko pops.
The meteor impact coming for LCS's is the inevitable death Funko Pops and the Woke take over of table top games.
For real. Mainstream tabletop RPGs are following the same path as comics. Preachy lecturing. It'll be rare for a store to stock many indie games, if their main products aren't moving. Same as comics. Those 200-ish LCS around the US are gonna be halved in the next few years. Or more.
We had a new comic shop open in my town last year (the first one in many, many years) and, as usual, their entire new comic book section takes up less than 10% of their store space. Everything else is Funko Pops, Manga, graphic novels, back issue long boxes, tabletop gaming merchandise, and even refrigerator magnets & placemats.
Kinda feel bad for my local comic shop, most of the customers are there for pop vinyls and statues despite the owner clearly being passionate about comics, feels like I'm the only one that buys them
Although I watch A LOT of RUclips, I rarely actually give a "Like" to videos, not because I didn't enjoy the video, but because I'm kinda stingy with my "Likes",...which may or may not make me kinda a jerk. Either way, I had to give a like to this video, because Aaron was preaching,... preach, brotha,...preach!!! Really enjoy his passion and the points he made. To quote T-bird, in Brandon Lee's 1994 The Crow,..."This is the really real world. There ain't no coming back! There ain't no coming back!" 😂😂😂 Good video, gentlemen!!! 👍👍👍👍👍
Yup. The death of comic racks in grocery stores and drug stores cut out a ton of potential comic fans. Magazine racks still exist! Archie comics are still there, but Marvel and DC aren't anymore.
What's doubly damning about Skybound's performance is that their primary influence are the 80's cartoons of GI Joe and Transformers, but their letters columns are FULL of eager fans who've never touched either of those shows. The most common letters they get are lifelong Larry Hama fans who weren't sure if newer Joe stuff would shape up, people who've avoided GI Joe as a whole their entire lives and people like me who hated the 80's Joe movie and Cobra-La...and ALL of them end with some variation of, "but you won me over and this is my new favorite comic."
Transformers is one thing, but GI Joe has always been a polarizing series and they're winning new fans hand over fist...and the comics are written by nerds who've loved these series since they were kids and can make deep-cut references but STILL know how to make themselves just as accessible to people who've never liked these franchises. They can do this with an unpopular American military series but Marvel and DC can't do it with superheroes everyone has loved since the 60's?
Chris Claremont, John Byrne, Len Wein, Roger Stern, Marv Wolfman, George Perez, The list goes on and on. Creators who loved these characters, many characters they didn't not create themselves, some that they did. But they loved who the characters were before they got there and tried their best to add to their stories without altering who they were and what they became fans of. They also understood that sometimes you never tell the readers everything about a character, keep the mystery going, it allows for so many more ideas if you do it right and it keeps readers intrigued.
The thing that started in the 90s was new creators who didn't understand certain things, or they did but didn't care because they wanted to put their stamp on a character. So you have someone giving us Wolverine's origin, when Mystery was a big part of his draw for most people. But no, someone had to stamp his name on the character, and Wolverine as been much less interesting ever since. Same with Apocalypse, We should never know his origins, it keeps us guessing, speculating, makes him more interesting because we want to know, but we never actually find out the truth. By keeping it hidden it leaves you with more options. In the 2000s, we started to see things get rolled back, we got Hal Jordan back, when you had a whole Generation that Grew up with Kyle Rayner as GL and loved him. We got Barry Allen Back when you had a whole generation who grew up with Wally West and Loved him. You had a story that Made the Satellite Era Justice League look like Tyrannical asshole who Wipe minds at the drop of a hat (not to mention that terrible grape story with Dr. Light and Sue Dibney). You had DC wiping out a lot of popular 90s characters for shock value. Almost every major DC hero was damaged in some way in the 2000s. Then they reboot everything and screw things up further. And this isn't like COIE where you had some thing that didn't gel while a good deal of it worked well. Nothing about the New 52 was a good idea.
one reason the industry is in the shape its in is that the Writers think they are more important than the characters thamselves.
sorry, I got rambly there, probably makes no sense to any one but me
They had to change the gas in their gaslight.
I like Sparrow's idea of donating to pediatrician offices. However, I had a comic book retailer in Memphis tell me that the children's hospitals there would no longer accept donated comic books due to occasional inappropriate adult content. This is what we have done to all-ages comics.
to the people in the Comments. if there is an episode to bookmark it's this one. wes and Aaron delivered some Cold hard truths with this episode a lot of us need to consider and think on. I hope the next generation of creators and readers take this exchange and use it as fuel to get inspired and motivated to get in a space to talk comics with these two great friends of mine. because look as bleek as it sounds - it still has a chance for a change it just there not seen YET. I've never considered scholastic to be apart of comics in no shape or fashion cause the feeling was never mutual. the ones who suggested it ironically are the ones who say the old folk is dying and get this Most of those who say that are almost older than you and I. LOL Aaron ask you all to think hard on this... in the past 5 or more years in that position what is jim lee actually doing for this community? is it time to ask him these things as well? should we allow him to get grace because he is a great artist ? one of the modern best? always remember even a guy like that is not above reproach. if he is not producing he is not effective and it's time to keep him responsible to his duties. and Aaron ask a the hardest question to think on too.. do you think Tom is into comics ? did you see how he was on that stage w mckay and simone? i said it before.. he and them as well LOOK OLD how can they make us excited about comics when we are more excited about than they are? it's time to ask questions and keep everyone accountable and PS these websites and journalists who deflected for the past 7 years or so ? your time is up too we need change and action must be put in place. reminded them of their errors and their underperformance as much as possible.
Back in 1999, DC in its eternal shortsightedness cancelled one of my favorite titles, Sandman Mystery Theatre because it was only selling 35,000 copies a month. They'd kill for a book that sold that many copies now.
Also, if you are a fan of the Justice Society, you must absolutely read Sandman Mystery Theatre. Push past the Matt Wagner stuff as quickly as possible to get to the Steve Seagle stuff.
Wasn’t that the Vertigo title about a guy in the 1940’s with a gas gun?
@@rootfish2671 It was, and Steve Seagle introduces the rest of the Justice Society before and after they become heroes throughout the series. For a prime example of what I'm talking about, check out The Hourman arc that begins in issue #29. It was a great little title, even the Guy Davis artwork was appropriate for the setting and mood of the series.
Thats why the copyright clause restoration act is literally needed to put half of chunk load of stuff in public domain and only 56 year rule then after that work goes public domain regardless of what year it was created
Aaron's comic looks so good I'm all in street fighter gamer girls amazing Props to the homie ARRON
Thank you, my friend! 👊🏻
Escanor, Sin of Lion's Pride: DC and Marvel narcissism impresses me...almost.
BTW that Buckley interview had to be insulting to people who closed their shops in the last two years.
My first comic was uncanny x men 177.. there was a 7-11 across the street from my house ..they had a spinner rack of comics and with 60 cents my journey began ...the next month for 178 I scrounged up enough change around the house and couch cushions to buy issues and keep buying them ..once I got the paper boy job I was heading to the local comic shop buying every back issue I could get my hands on..had it not been cheap enough for a 5th grader to buy I never would have found an interest in comics ..I can't wrap my head around a kid having 6.00 to just try a comic..then if they did ..why would they buy a " slice of life " comic of sitting around talking ??
I spent my allowance at the liquor store. They had the closest comic rack. This was a straight up liquor store. The bottles behind the counter were floor to ceiling, wall to wall. But even they had a comic spinner, a full magazine rack and a half aisle of paperback books, mostly mens adventures but also mysteries, science fiction. We used to be a much more literate society.
I started reading Spider Man comics when I was SEVEN (back in the mid 70s) because Miss Crow, my 2nd grade teacher, had Richie Rich, Wendy, Spiderman, & Superman comics on the shelf in the reading corner. Because Spidey dealing with Flash bullying him and then having to stop Doc Oc from stealing some new invention from some scientist (with a little actual science lesson thrown in) was perfectly acceptable reading for a seven year old.
What Spiderman comic from the last thirty years would any 2nd grade teacher would want to have in their classrooms? They have Dogman. They might have some EZ-reader Spiderman BOOK.
When my kids were very little, Marvel ran a bunch of classic Spiderman 8-page stories that they dropped in with our Sunday newspaper (they were literally giving them away!). They were really plugging Spidey - it was the early 90s and comics were HUGE - and Peter and MJ were finally about to actually get married (and they were up against Clark and Lois about to get married both in the comics and on Lois and Clark: the New Adventures of Superman TV show).
I remember when Transformers and GI Joe were launched with comics written for the eight to ten year old kids who were buying and playing with the toys.
But then Dark Knight Returns and Watchmen came out and the comic companies decided to shift to a target audience of 16-24-year-olds. On the one hand, it worked and within a decade of DKR and Watchmen comics had bubbled and burst. On the other hand, Marvel and DC stopped doing things to attract kids who might become life-long customers. Instead, they started reaching out to "new" audiences by making books that (theoretically) appealed to female and LGBT readers (that is, the people reading webcomics).
Why do these comic book owners lie and say everything is good and doubling down on what’s killing their industries. Why not just tell the truth do they just have that big pride or something?
Politics. Politics kills everything because its based on lying.
It’s because the consequences for speaking out are so high for some people. These people are total cowards, they’d rather see their business actually close down than be seen as one of the “bad guys”. Because their minds are totally captured.
They spend a lot of time on social media from their stores, trying to develop their business reach. So they are terrified of a Heidi doing a Glen to them. They stay in line for fear of losing business, when if they had spoken out years ago as a group, they could have averted a lot of this damage. Just by being honest about which writers sell books, and which don't.
Beyond content, comic book is a media that need exposure. If you go to the grocery store and see a superman comic you are far more likely to try it than if you most go to a specialist store. Grant accessibility and exposure and half the battle is won. Then you have , first, a acceptable pool of appreciation to orient your stories toward what would sale or not, and , secondly, the 'you should do ...' who by comics to make a statement get the way back seat they deserved. Finally, if instead of making the annoying covert flood for every 1st issue they put some more effort in building a more then six month lifespan title, maybe they could rebuild, or at least stop de decrease of their sale.
It isn't that hard. But the big two are too greedy: does anyone know why there is a disproportionate number of Spanish, italian, brazilian and Portuguese artists doing american mainstream comicbooks? Their generation (80s and 90s) had reruns of the golden and silver Marvel and DC stories, hundreds of volumes, at an affordable price. Publishers like Panini would reprint in a smaller format, with 5 to 6 issues per volume, for the price of two current issues. A kid like me could afford 2-3 a month, follow the characters from their origins all the way till mid 80s.
All you have in the US are things like Epic Collections , with a price tag that even adults are not very willing to buy. Cut the volumes by half, cheaper paper, a quarter of the price, and release them monthly. Combine that with cards, or videogame skins, and you have a new generation of readers fed on some of your best stories.
13:11 my local Dollar store is flooded with copies of DC New 52 and Wonder Woman graphic novels which are not moving off the shelves
Yeah you should see my lcs. Its like a pawn shop with a decent back issue section, new stuff that doesn't sell, and mostly cards of all kinds, games, consoles etc etc. Nothing wrong with all that but damn i miss the days of walking into my shop and seeing nothing for sale but comics wall to wall. Oh comics that were good and sold.
By the way where is our Arron Sparrow body pillow?
Video games, manga have replaced comic books. More value for the money.
DEATH SPIRAL!!
00:00 - The Survival Of Mainstream Retailers In The Comic Book Industry
00:54 - Calling Out The Problems In The Comic Book Industry
01:45 - Troubling Trends In Graphic Novel Sales
02:38 - Scholastic Book Fair And Getting Kids To Read Comics
03:21 - The Changing Demographics Of Comic Book Fans
04:13 - The Pattern Of Denial In The Comic Book Industry
05:04 - The Transition From Kid Lit To Comic Stories
05:56 - The Lack Of Diversity In Graphic Novels
06:46 - Discovering Comics Through Archie And Mad Magazine
07:35 - The Bridge Between Marvel And DC Comics
08:25 - The Rising Costs Of Comic Books
09:22 - The Evolution Of Comic Books
10:09 - Promoting Comics To Kids
10:54 - The Disheartening State Of The Mainstream Comic Book Industry
11:36 - The Disappearance Of DC And Marvel In The Book Market
12:33 - The Decline Of New Comic Book Sales
13:22 - The Flawed Strategy Of Selling To Retailers
14:13 - Competing With Solo Leveling In The Graphic Novel Market
15:06 - Understanding The Mentality Of The Comic Book Fan
15:54 - Satisfying The Fans
16:48 - The Insanity In The Comic Industry
17:39 - Dysfunction And Failure Of Marvel And DC
18:33 - The Survival Of Mainstream Direct Market Retailers
19:22 - The Death Spiral Of The Comics Industry
I think that if you dont get people into comics as a kid its going to be a really hard sell as they get older. The one time i recall that actually working was in the 1st 5 years or so of Vertigo with a lot students embracing Sandman and the like.
Honestly, I don’t think Marvel & DC would be much more successful selling floppys at current price points even if they put out exactly the type of comics you want. Or even had spent the last decade doing so. Market forces, splintering of pop culture in general and $3.99 & $4.99 an issue aren’t going to bring in new readers period.
I got a free comic from Nickelodeon on free comic book day, and I start to read it to my 5 year old Daughter, and I am 1 page in and they got some middle school girl with her gay girlfriend in the characters descriptions. Only comic I have ever thrown out.
The Scholastic thing was always a lie… I went through three years of their little fliers they send out for book fares, with 100-200 books profiled in each flier… and not one single comic trade paperback ever features in that flier. None. It’s so unimportant and sells so little that they can’t be shown in the flier
This actually reminds me of something that happened in my hometown of Trotwood, Ohio. The Salem Mall started having a severe decline, with numerous businesses leaving. Someone inexplicably decided that the way to save the mall was to build a Home Depot next to the mall. If you’re wondering, “Wait…how would building something near a mall make people visit the mall? What’s to stop them from visiting the other business and then going home without visiting the mall?” then congratulations, you’re smarter than whoever made this decision. Sure enough, the Home Depot which was completely separate from the mall and had no connection to the mall did not save the mall. Even worse, I think they actually tore down part of the mall to build the Home Depot. Did they think, “We have to destroy this mall to save it!”? Whatever their reasoning was, it failed.
It's been nearly 20 years since I slung comics for a living (geez, I'm old!), but even back then, when the industry was pretty healthy, shelf space was at a premium, even for trades, and you ALWAYS knew what monthly books were selling and what didn't. If a series wasn't selling, *especially* a mini-series, you didn't get the trade unless someone specifically requested it. Some were no-brainers (the original Ultimate Marvel runs, Wolverine: Origin, etc.), but most other collections would have to sell through so very quickly to justify having more than two or three in stock, and one one copy on the floor.
And actually, we were selling quite a bit of manga even back then, so the smart comics shop owner should have already transitioned to carrying a shitload of that crap so that they DON'T turn into pop-culture bogedas!
The ya DC novels lead people not to other comics but to the other spice of life gay life teen novels from scholastic on the target shelves that don't sell....just look at the piles of books left on them ...
it's been 85+yrs for Supes/Bats. there are no stories left to tell.
Their are always potential stories to tell its just that writters aren't hired for any kinda talent these days. Nobody who is a decent writer wants to work at Marvel or DC anymore, at least not from the newer generation.
Clearly you could turn it all upside down and change their gender or sexuality!
85 years so you're wrong. Too bad Hollywood who infests comics agrees with you.
As someone who has recently gotten into comic books, I typically buy 15 to 20 comic books from 1990 to 2015 for every modern comic book. The art from the past was astounding and sexy; nowadays, it is outright disgusting.
I agree with aaron sparrow with that, todays era of comics most the fact some are still ornery to give WONDER WOMAN her star spangled trunks back i mean for God's sake she wore the exact same thing in 70s nobody complained about that at all i mean today's kids will never know joys of pop culture stuff
Even beyond just naming the actual problems with the industry the "journalists" will never be willing to name the writers who are causing the problems. You will never see an article talking about how Tee Franklin, Steve Orlando, Leah, Williams, or Stephanie Phillips alienate longtime fans with their BS politics they cram into every issue.
Facts are a dangerous thing Wes 😂😂
Incredible video
Btw put Dan DiDio on your list because he hated doing doing kid’s books
He said that at the old Boston comic con
I live in a town of 60,000 and we don’t have a movie theater or a comic book shop. I’m in my 60’s so I’ve been reading since the 70s. I’m not their audience, I buy my books online. But, there’s no outlet here in town to grab new readers. There’s no place for kids, 20 or 30 year olds to buy comics. I can get on Facebook and mention a new title to my community and no one knows what I’m talking about. New Comics, new music and new movies are pretty much non existent in this town.
I want to add when I was a kid I found my first comic book in a quick shop. When I got back into comics in ‘88 I found out about comic book stores and we drove to Oklahoma City to get comic books. We had Previews and Advance Comics. We lost our comic book shop in the late 90’s and I started ordering online. I think it’s a mistake comic books went to direct only. Where are kids going to find new comic books? Not in quick shops, they are too expensive for a kid to buy too. I’m even missing out on books because I can’t pick up a title and thumb through it. I’m not willing to take a chance on a book if I can’t see what it looks like. I think comic book companies are missing out by not having books as accessible to families traveling and will pick up a book at a convenience store so their kid can read something on the trip.
Comics are victims of globalism. Anyone who actually likes the medium can see that BD and manga are superior and always have been. It’s just that they were unavailable before.
6-12 yr olds do love Marvel & DC, but they don't read the new crap. My two conversations with students of mine this week were Steranko's Captain America with 7 yr old (with Hulk in no.110, Penguin Collection) and Batman Long Halloween with a 12 yr old. They love the old stuff and complain about the new stuff in the school library.
I don't know ultimate spider man was ok but this last issue #4 I felt like it was like she hulk a date lunch in.
As an Ultimate Spidey enjoyer so far, I have to admit, that issue was a tad disheartening. C’mon, Hickman! 😂
These days I buy more facsimile comics of DC/marvel than anything else from them. I still buy all the spawn comics and SIKTC comics and that’s it a month. I keep my Batman and detective comics runs up to date but I’m not reading them and I m only getting 1 cover of each.
EXCELLENT WORK. THINKING CRITICAL
Don’t worry, gen z is probably discovering the classic marvel and dc comics now
6:00 I don't know, man. I went from Sonic the hedgehog to Spawn. There was no real in between.
Oh wait. I almost forgot about Disney Adventure. They published Bone in there.
Comics are a pyramid scheme.
At the top are the
Publishers
Promoters
Press
Retailers
Then at the bottom are the customers.
Doubt me.
Try to sell your collection.
It's a hustle. It's a popularity contest that is not grounded in any logic.
You go to your local retailer every week like your supposed to.
You shell out $4-$5 dollars for that latest issue. 6 months later you gotta pay a bill so you try to sell.
Guess what.
They wanna say your comics are worth less than a buck.
You pay $4-$5 if not more
But your books are worth less than a $1.
That's like over a 80 percent loss your taking.
Plus you gotta store the books$
You got gas and wear and tear on your car $$$$.
Bags and boards$$$$$
Boxes$$$$$
So you actually never stop paying for the comics you buy.
LoL
I'm currently selling my collection and my experience has been what you described. There's some comics that I paid cover price for that will never sell. The listings on ebay won't even get a view! So those end up in my free book stack and I'll end up giving them away. Which sometimes if I'm not careful, will up the weight to the next shipping bracket and then I'll have to pay extra for shipping! I'm at the point where I wish I never stated collecting again.. I hate comics.
@@PubeStache
But you can't stop now
@@OnionSavoya-jf5hz I already stopped buying. Only selling now. I moved on to other hobbies.
@@PubeStache
Your a bold face liar
I am literally buying comics for 5 and 10 cents. Good comics (XMEN, Batman, Superman, JLA, Avengers, Spiderman, etc). Bagged and boarded. The market has both a deflation and inflation issue right now. My suspicion is buy the dirt cheap stuff at this historic low because there is a rebound effect coming. As bad as it sounds the market collapsing will allow someone who is paying attention to jump in for pennies. Maybe its best that the market bottoms out to force change because no one is being pressured to think of something better. We need that push comes to shove.
Meanwhile in other 'news': Turns out that water is fucking WET!
Also, what's crazy about DC and Marvel putting everything in trades is that they charge so much for them and the comics themselves sell so so badly its often cheaper to get the 6 issues out of the dollar bin than it is to buy the trade itself.
Man, the more I listen to Aaron, the more I wish he was EIC at one of the big two.
He’d do a great job.
Comics are too expensive for me and I have a job. lol I am willing to buy my kids Western comics but they have refused.
Skybound is doing the G.I Joe omnibus
Hell. Yes.
0:7:40 ahh yes I remember the days as a young boy, running into the liquor store to see if the latest spiderman was released. lol.
Yeah but Dan Buckley said that we’re mostly fine, you guys.
DC's omnibus strategy has actually been a little bit better lately and they seem to finally be competing with Marvel. After a year or so of nothing, they've started to print/solicit some of the most wanted classic runs in omni format (i.e. the Superman Triangle Years era, Aquaman by Peter David, Hitman by Garth Ennis, Deathstroke by Marv Wolfman, Flash by Mark Waid, Swamp Thing by Mark Millar, etc.)... you know, the stuff that people actually want to read lol
don't forget W.I.T.C.H.!
Gotham Academy was loved, but they Killed it by not selling at the book store and not making more stories.🤷♀️
Back issues.
Lower prices (because the price ain't $4 or $5)
Merch.
Get product in front of people where they are who actually want it.
I keep hearing people claim, “It’s not about the money with these writers, it’s the message!” No, it’s about both. They want money while pretending they’re not in it for the money. You can tell by the way they go from acting like they’re some great revolutionary to complaining about their employers and followers not giving them enough money. Remember that writer last year who went on Twitter claiming her followers were racist for not donating more to her. It’s like the college athletes who talk about what great things they’re going to do for the school and team, then complain about not getting enough playing time and talk about how they’re going to transfer to another school if they’re not put in the number one position.
I miss comics at drugstores and supermarkets. 😔 😭
Another great video!
Awesome work guys
GREAT THINKING CRITICAL ATTACKING THE AUDIENCES WHO BUY COMICS 💭 BOOKS 📚
AWESOME! WES
I remember starting with rebirth era and it was so easy to follow a handful of titles and they were shipping biweekly and it was great. Plus ultimate marvel was easy to follow. But thats almost a decade ago now. Atm it feels like ultimate marvel 2.0 could bring in new readers maybe?
FCBD 2024 is going to make or break for a lot of comic books stores this year imo.
I think it does every year
I got into Marvel's all ages line Marvel adventures because of my school's book fair
I have to disagree on your stance on trades. I prefer the modern way of collecting into trades because it makes the stories more available in libraries and big box stories like Barnes and noble and even target (I just saw a volume of willliamson’s Superman at target). Yeah, a lot of crap is collected but not everyone likes reading issues and honestly reading in trades is a different experience. Venditti’s original GL run is better IMO in trades than issues.
Kids are not reading Marvel/DC comics, they are reading Dog Man and My Hero Academia. Marvel and DC are too late to tap into book retailers with Manga. Floppies are dead
Its not how much they are charging.
Its the fact that comics are losing the resale value as soon as you leave the store. Ill pay 4-5 dollare for a new comic. But what im finding is noone is willing to pay more than a dollar for new comics!!!
Thats the problem. You buy varients thinking you have a collectable but retailers say the 'standard ' covers are worth more!!!!!
Aaaaarrrrrggghhhh
What is that painting behind Aaron?
Art from Kneel Before Doomface.
Kneel Before Doomface cover by Leonel Castellani!
I don't think it's a problem that comic shops are geek bodegas, A&M comics was like that when i lived in Florida
Is that supposed to be Raven on the cover? 🤣🤣🤣🤣
I'll hit comic stores on FCBD, support the store and get the free books that may interest me, then get the books meant for young kids. MAKE SURE they are age-appropriate and save them for Halloween. The store has stamped their name and address? That's great! Put those comics in the candy bowl for trick or treaters and they go quickly. Maybe they'll wind up in the garbage within a week, but maybe it's that kid's first comic.
Journos lied comics died.
Listening to this ....wait...my left arm is GOING NUMB!!!
he... It would be funny if it wasn't tragic. My comicshop sells Lego and playmobil nowadays. often looks more like a toyshop than anything else...
Yeah unfortunately actual pure comic book shops seem to be rarer and rarer nowadays and most have been forced to diversify their product and morphed into more of a general nerd store with Denali section dedicated to comics and even the it’s mostly graphic novels.
My LCS is investing more in procuring back issues from the past 50 years rather than new releases because that's where the money is.
This is an interesting intellectual pursuit to itemize the whys and wherefores of the trend for comic books, so I'm happy to just watch in the sidelines. For me, the mainstream DC and Marvel superhero stuff simply doesn't interest me anymore. Alternative genres...I keep my eye out. But for one thing--your average comic book is too damned expensive now...what? $3.95 for 24 pages of content? The core superheroes now have sex and gender switches, they're kinda woke as well, and I'd say since 2011 or so, my interest has diminished regularly. It's still strong for alternative publishers; sci-fi, western, historical stuff...war...but then there's also the damned easy download nature of piracy of comic books.