YA Graphic Novels Won't Save Comics
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- Опубликовано: 12 сен 2024
- YA Graphic Novels Won't Save Comics
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Thinking comics should focus on YA novels is like thinking anime should just be isekai. Nothing wrong with making them just reliance gets an already niche media more saturated to breaking point. Too much supply, not enough demand.
Do these businesses not know economics for dummies.
The YA novel genre doesn't widely sell well enough for them to be profitable as comics or movies for that matter. The surge in reader interest, after The Hunger Games and Harry Potter were made in to successful movie franchises didn't last long. Hollywood keeps trying every now and then to recapture the success of those movie franchises, by making another YA book series into a franchise, but they basically ALL have flopped.
more like their so dummies of economics that their business shouldn't exists.
@@neilprice513 Which ones?
@@sunflowers9791 Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief
Artemis Fowl
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children
Divergent
Vampire Academy
Eragon
The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones
The Maze Runner
Ender's Game
The Golden Compass
(To name a few off the top of my head)
@@neilprice513 Interesting. Do you feel that Hollywood should stop making YA novels into movies for the big box office? There have been some that go to Netflix and become TV series like 13 Reasons Why. That wasn't bad. Now I want to read the book. These movies might have done better if they went only to a streaming platform.
Middle school girls and cat ladies are not just fickle, they also *notoriously tend to hate comics and those who read them.*
Best response ever, man. 😉
I hate the fact that Disney Channel, and E! Entertainment pander to these demographics, and that's the reason why I avoid them like the plague.
both groups pine after the same age group of guys though.
@@scottcolson9366 Yeah, and those guys usually know enough to avoid them like the plague.
Which is why the cat ladies have spent 5 years destroying the American Comic industry.
I teach middle schoolers, and I'm a comic reader. Rarely have I seen these books snuck out during class, or students talking about the characters. Right now, these YA books are competing with TicTok and Instagram, and they're failing.
God. That’s me. I used to sneak a book out and read it during class whenever we went over material I had already gone over myself.
Even after I became older, I still read YA novels. Heck, my English teacher was the same way. But it’s been a few years since I’ve bought one. The last one I bought to read reminded me of Worm, the internet novel, which was why I bought it, but when I actually started to go through it, it was... well, typical of the kind of stuff you’d expect to come out these days.
Peter Ford as a highschoolers I’m proud to say I sneak reading comics in class, physical books or the digital copy I’m always reading in class after I finish my work.
Haha, I remember when I read a comic one time in class in high school and my friends were surprised af. it's such a rare thing to see
@ichaelis Read the Queen's Thief series by Megan Whalen Turner. Technically YA high fantasy but with incredible plots and twists, solid worldbuilding, lively and complex characters, a romance that actually enhances the main plot instead of derailing it, and just awesome writing.
Back in my Middle School we had a big book of Ed Brubaker’s Captain America in the Library
I actually agree with ditching single issues in favor of trades. I hate reading 15 minutes worth of a story per month. Follow the manga stile of 5 chapter volume releases. Something you can actually sit down and enjoy. But the other big problem is the content itself. Trash won't sell no matter what medium its in
I never really got into comics (aside from the one comic book store run by an absolute troglodyte of a man) for that reason.
I haven't read a comic since 2012 and that was stuff from a series that ended so I could actually finish a story instead of 5 minutes of reading followed by nothing else for a week or 2.
I tend to agree with ditching the monthlies. Less for these reasons but more because it would allow writers and artists more time to do their work and they can only use as much continuity as wished. So, they could do three trades, with their own stories and connect (or not) as much as they want while keeping the backstory as well.
So, Batman is still Bruce Wayne, his parents were still murdered when he was young, etc... Then three different trades. Maybe one is him going against Joker, another where he goes against Riddler and so on and maybe they mention each other, or not but still have the same reality behind them.
I've stopped buying singles because it's cheaper to buy trades. But I still buy the single issues for Zdarsky's Daredevil. Great writer. Sometimes I might buy the first issue of a new indie comic to see if it's good enough to buy the trade.
@@sprint7412 Lately, I've been buying older trades or reading back issues digitally on the company's paysite (I already pay for it monthly for movies and such) and that is also, normally older stuff.
They just need to write good comics, stop preaching their personal politics, oh and the most important stop telling people to not buy comic books.
What does Gotham High have to do with "preaching personal politics"?
which is why japanese comics are roasting american comics faster than godzillas atomic breath.
@@Shiirow What are you talking about ?Manga has plenty of socially conscious/ political commentary.
@@neosoontoretro comic Pros and writers have been pushing their politics into books for the last 5 years. When the book had nothing to do with politics
Since they don't know how to compete against Manga with excellent stories and characters, they may as well accept defeat to Manga who knows their craft. Manga has the upper hand due to the creator has complete control of the story arcs.
I'm afraid they don't want to target boys because of feminism, targeting boys wouldn't be inclusive of girls and that's a no-no but targeting girls and excluding boys is a-ok because girls need safe-spaces where they aren't threaten by boys or some other mental gymnastic... Meanwhile, I read that in Korea they want to produce more Shonen Manga (boy's comics) because the publishers over there feel there's a huge market for that type of comic.
If the film industry in Korea is any indication (Parasite, Train to Busan for movies, Kingdom for TV shows are my personal recommendations), then comics coming from Korea is only a good thing.
Also Korean food. My sister in law is Korean and I gotta tell you, I almost look forward to her cooking more than seeing my brother when I go visit.
Didn't Korea have a crazy feminist running the country not long ago?
Shounen give young Boys better role Models anyways
@@yaryar5828
Really? Are they Korean or femanist from the west?
@@yaryar5828 and she was depostted for let a cult to make decisions for her
I get the impression that the bulk of the YA audience comprises middle-aged women. My niece never had any interest in the genre - she wanted to read books targeted at adults.
You are correct!
I used read alot of YA novels. But I kept seeing the same things over and over again and hated almost every single protagonist that I just wasn't interested in the genre as a whole anymore.
@@SushiCat4Life EXACTLY! Hell, that's partly how I got into comics to begin with because, well.....action.
I mean, there are YA books that try to instill more action and adventure into their narratives but as a whole, I just never got into a lot of modern YA books that were out at the time I was a teenager. I liked a lot of older, classical epic novels but YA to me just didn't work and that may have been because of how awful the protags were and the constant use of school settings or Cali/New York as a backdrop.
I just couldn't get into it.
But I didn't mind super heroes fighting in New York for some reason. Go figure,
@@SuperCosmicMutantSquid Haha same. I got into more manga/comics/webtoon because the lack of any YA books that caught my interest.
I was into adventure/fantasy/supernatural YA books but the one thing I hated in almost all of them were the protagonist. Either they were boring af or complete dicks (I mean I've had favourite characters that are somewhat dicks but they at least had some reedeemable qualities)
Also those god damn love triangles. Why does almost every YA have them?
@@hitandruncommentor Hey, it's what happened with Star Wars. KK turned it into YA fiction because that's what SHE likes and what she assumes every other woman on the planet wants to see in Star Wars.
"The Force is Female" indeed.
As someone who knows a lot more about the YA book community, I can say with certainty that no, these ya books will not get people into comics. Honestly the YA community is much more interested in shonen and shoujo manga then it is American comics. Mostly because they involve younger characters and school settings. Also superhero YA books (as in YA books with original superhero stories with no ties to DC/Marvel) do not get published because they do not sell. The only ones who get published are the ones written by big names authors like Brandon Sanderson or Marissa Meyer.
Yeah, manga and anime in their stories tend to have protagonists and other main characters as children, teenagers, young adults and/or characters that appear young.
@Immanuel Ntim-Addae Yeah, I'm aware. Just during something I've learned that I found interesting.
@Immanuel Ntim-Addae A lot of people even young people love superheroes. In fact Superheroes or Western Comics in general could have been one of the most popular things in existence if weren't for the fact that these companies kept hiring no talent hacks who cannot write or draw story at all and would rather push political propaganda then actually entertain people. Don't you find it strange that no one was talking about the comics of Marvel when the MCU was at the peak of it's popularity. This is because the comic pros kept attacking the audience changing the things that like and calling people bigots for disliking anything they made. Believe me the Western Comic book industry would be in a way better place if these people did not infect comic books like the parasites they are. These lunatics destroyed the Comic Book Industry and if they had a chance to get in Manga and Anime they would believe me. A lot of young people would be reading western comics if these pros hadn't push them away with horrendous art work, terrible writing, political lecturing, and expensive prices. I hope this industry burns so that true creators may rebuild it and make stories people would actually want to read.
I would also like to add that Western Comics isn't just Superheroes. There could have been many different kinds of stories created if the companies actually cared about appealing to any one other then the 1% crowd on twitter who just want to lecture people on politics.
Mcheetah I have read her Lunar Chronicle books and I have to disagree. They actually hold up pretty well. She ain’t a Tolkien but she’s good.
At this point I'd rather have Rob Leifeld run Marvel or DC, at least we'd get more pouches and shoulder pads.
And weird headsets
Better physiology too.
Rob Leifeld self identifies as a belt pouch and his pronouns are zip and per.
At least he's earnest, well meaning, and clearly loves what he does, unlike the Social Terrorist Degenerates which operate with open contempt for their audience and well everyone and everything else!
That is genuinely true. Yes, fucking Liefield of all people would better off running the industry than who we got now.
The big two always chasing phantom audiences and pushing away established fans.
Imagine if MTV, Disney Channel, and E! decided to abandon their existing girl audience, and go after boys, and men instead.
@@Launchpad05 They would make billions.
@@mysticlegion8088 In their dreams, more likely.
They just can’t stop pandering.
Of course not. If they stop and it helps, then it would prove that THEY are the reason why their industry is on it's way down. ...that THEY are the bad guys.
And we can't have that, can we now?
What the need to do (to get new people) is pander. But guess what, it's against their socially moral code to do the kinda pandering. A nice heavy rack, thin waist and wide hips. Girly girls and action.
Why do these people keep trying to go after audiences that dont exist?
@Immanuel Ntim-Addae Yeah, but right now they can't afford to do that because that is a minority. If they want to make more money, they need to appeal to the masses.
@Immanuel Ntim-Addae We've seen them attempting to court "new audiences" for years now to no real success while also telling their existing audience to piss off. The industry should NEVER have tried to chase phantom audiences in the first place and instead be grateful for what they already had.
@Immanuel Ntim-Addae Branching out is fine, but that doesn't mean you just give kids crap.
@Immanuel Ntim-Addae failing to do that fir a decade now because that audience doesn't exist. Meanwhile they trash the real existing one. But who wants to be called nazi on constant basis?
They should focus on writing good stories and not political propaganda and bullshit highschool fanfiction
They're patholigically incapable of doing so, if they try they will start getting increasingly angry at themselves and lose any (for want of a better term) faith in the audience to get the intended message out of the story so they will dial up the heavy handedness as they progress writing, this can even be observed in real time with how certain stories devolve from okay to good at the beginning with some satirical subtext to not as good and the subtext becomes more of an overtone, to full on propaganda that the story takes a back seat to. For an example look at the "His Dark Materials" trilogy by Philip Pullman, he's not a SocJus cultist as far as I'm aware but he is an antitheist, and the trilogy is the perfect example of the degradation I described!
I agree
@@GodOfOrphans what do you think about the show?
@@rajyavardhansingh4491 Haven't seen the show so I have no opinion on it yet. I have read all 3 books though that's what I was pulling from when I wrote the previous comment.
Kirk - “Let Them Die.”
To be fair, the YA genre needs to be purge
I'm still bitter at them for unleashing 'Twilight', and it's ilk.
It's the same problem with RomComs the genre has as much potential as any other in theory but they've become so stagnant and lazy, constantly following the leader and chasing trends into the ground, while putting in the bare minimum amount of effort and budget to make that the well becomes poisoned and the genre becomes a dirty word, same with Pop music now that I think of it, it's metastasizing like cancer!
YA isn't a genre, it's a demographic. Twilight is not the same genre as Harry Potter, which is not the same genre as The Hunger Games, which is not the same genre as Asylum, which is not the same genre as Eleanor and Park etc.
Exterminatus?
At this point comic book pros aren't doing this to save comics but to stick it to comicsgate. That's all they care about, beating comicsgate. They'll save comics 'their' way and not the way comicsgate says they should do it.
they call them young adult novels but they are really just cheap dime store romance novels that only young girls and thirsty soccer moms read. which coincidentally are two demographics that dont buy comic books. though even if they did, they wouldnt buy enough to save the comics industry.
They are pretty popular at the library I work at
@@woobiefuntime pretty sure your library isnt a large enough sample size to disprove the statement. Ill concede there are always outliers but I figured that went without saying. though some people like to use that as a gotcha to prove me wrong or something.
These demographics also, as another commenter noted, tend to think comics, video games, geek stuff, is for boys and has cooties anyway, so why these marketing strategies are so far out of their lanes and causing pile-ups is easily apparent. They're stretching awkwardly to try to feed a vegan demographic at the end of the table, a bit of turkey, while the audiences that want it are *starving* and the vegan is just scowling at the mere presence of a turkey.
“......It’s on the best seller lists,even though you can literally buy your way onto those lists......”
Oh,well that certainly explains why so many books are on those lists these days especially “NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER!”
Thank you for finally saying copy the Japanese and Korean formula. I have been saying this for years. Monthly, single issues is dead. Too expensive for a 22 page story for your average kid. Anthologies would be the way to go. Multiple stories collected in a big book, soap opera in nature and hopefully weekly or bi-weekly. Make people want to follow your stories. It will also let people get introduced to a Batgirl story, as she would be in the "bat" anthology, without spending another $5 on a different comics. You build the fan base to other characters with their stories. And finally, tone down the art to make it story driven not pin-ups with dialogue so you can charge $9.99 for a 100 page book. BOOM, you basically created america manga...
Oh and because of the low page count per story(maybe 10-15 per story) you can try out new artist and writers easier.
In Italy instead of the single issues we have anthologies, for example in one "volume" of Batman you will find an issue of Batman, detective comics, and Nightwing, in "Batman The Dark Knight" you used to find All Star Batman, Batgirl and Batgirl and the birds of prey, each of these volumes is 3,50€, one euro more for The Dark Knight(4,95€), the same system for other superheroes, and the same system for Marvel Comics as well. Comics aren't selling well here either, manga would still have the upper hand, aside for the variety(caused by the fact that manga are not tied to a certain brand), and the quality of today's comics, a manga volume still cost a little more than comics and has double the pages, and in this one volume is the same story that is been told, without other useless parts that are not of my intetest, for all the 200 pages, that is like the lenght of the average graphic novel.
Anthologies don't work, even if I have other stories I would not be interested in them, thus not reading them or doing it only because I have them, I think it is best to make the issues last longer, in this way they will be closer to manga, but ultimately if they do not come back to their old quality they wouldn't sell no matter what
I LOVE FIRST WORLD PROBLEMS! everyone should have them
The sad thing i see is a waste of a charactr model, cause i thought theat the latest wasp was cute and VERY cool locking. but aside from that the book wasn't good
The Marvel Universe died for me after the release of the original Civil War comics (Superhuman registration act). The characters took a complete departure of who they were as people and what they stood for when they fought, and in some cases killed one another. Everything that has transpired since then: SJW stories/hollywood, political drivel on twitter, and events that made comicsgate what it is today, were simply the nail in the coffin for industry that produces the comics.
You read "Civil War" wrong then. Sticking to the major characters Captain America and Iron Man, they were consistent to their comic personae but painted into corners they had to act very "wrongly" to function at all in or get out of. This is illustrated well when Cap realizes what he was doing and the way he was doing it was a horrible mistake. He is not used to passive resistance and had to fight which led to the "big fight". It is one of the major reasons why CW is so revered. Heroes can be right but still be wrong. Something children might grasp but not understand.
You might be thinking of "Civil War 2", basically "Minority Report" with superheroes, where the main characters were not consistent to their comics personae. Helps if you actually read the comics and not parrot what others said only because you want to sound relevant. Most of the current character arcs stem from Civil War [2], but also Original Sin, and for Thor
[Thor]: God of Thunder".
Moreover, you might want to actually say OUTLOUD what you want from comics instead of kvetching about what you think is wrong with them. What you are doing is like complaining about bright sunny days, when what you mean is you hate having so many bright sunny days in a row because it kills the grass, and raises the ambient temperature day to day, making everything hot and uncomfortable.
What year was that?
That was right around the time that I quit reading marvel, just like new 52 caused me to stop reading all DC comics.
@@istillfunction8691 2006-2007
@@DocWolph Civil War isn't revered, it's one of the most polarizing comic events in history! More importantly there is no such thing as consuming media "wrong" there is no wrong way to read a book, watch a movie, play a game etc. you cannot force people to get the same message and or experience from art as you!
@Lord Kuuga that is a good point.
The slide began when comics disappeared from the local stores.
yes. When you couldn't pick them up at newsstands or local stores and had to go to dedicated stores which only existed in cities and larger towns the industry had effectively chased off casual readers and parents buying them as a treat for smaller kids which effectively turned off the tap for attracting new readers.
spawn, Spawn, SPAWN!, SPAWN!!, SPAWN!!!, SPAWN!!!!
Spawnie Spawnie he's our man, if he can't kill 'em, no one can!
Yay Spawnie! S to the P to the A to the Awn! S to the P to the A to the Awn! Go Spawnie! Go Spawnie!
@@funkyweapon1981 LETS GO SPAWNIE LETS GO!(CLAP) (CLAP) LETS GO SPAWNIE LETS GO!
I really hope the rumors of the remake with Jaime Foxx are true, and that John L returns to play Clown again.
The comic book store I work at has dozens of these books and none of them sell. We are still sitting with crap tons of copies and not a single one has moved since we got them.
I still won't forget at Barnes and Noble, a dad said to his daughter, "look, there's Ms. Marvel" and the girl, reading another book, said, "Mm-hm."
Like you said JSG "Does it hurt being this Stupid?"
Stjepan Sejic has said that his stories, like Sunstone and Death Vigil, don't do well in floppies. But the trades (Sunstone especially) do pretty well.
Obviously, this is Sejic, who's a great writer and artist.
As a normie who doesn't really read a lot of comic books, Death Vigil is a great read and I absolutely enjoyed it all six times I've read it, and I want to read it a seventh since I'm at home anyway.
As a normie, what JSG and Ya Boy Zack have been saying is actually really true; I'm not someone who is against the idea of reading comics, but the constant reboots, the fact that Status Quo is God, and the constant cross overs means that it's near impossible to get into a story or the characters before everything is ripped away. I think the only two American comics I've enjoyed are Death Vigil and The Walking Dead (Great book, hated the tv show), simply because it's impossible to get invested in the characters for too long before everything is changed.
There's also the fact that I'm a pretty avid reader, so "Floppies" don't interest me in the slightest. I'll buy an Omnibus or a Volume and sit down to read it over a day or two, but a regular comic book that has like 20 pages is over for me in like five minutes. $5 for five minutes is not really worth my time or my money, when I can buy actual books that will last me days for $20 or a Comic Omnibus that will last a while as well.
@Mcheetah oh shit it is, well whaddya know
If you hire fanfic writers who grew up in a world with pronoun announcements and trigger warnings and sensitivity readers, you’re going to find that they will argue to write fanfic with pronouns and trigger warnings and sensitivity and none of that is 1) male or 2) comics.
So they will go write what they would have written on fanfic forums and nobody will buy it because it was all garbage when they were amateurs and it’s still garbage now.
Kudos
i think that you shouldn't just clamp fanfic writers and snowflakes into the same category. i read so many great works that might've as well been their own book with how brilliant and well-thought-out they were. and a lot of them don't shy from touchy and controversial topics (stories such as those are frequently tagged simply as "dead dove: do not eat", specifically to ward off people who think that everything needs to be "safe" and heavily censored)
This is an insult to Fanfic writers. Lol
Seriously though, there's plenty of highly talented Fanfic authors that write amazing material. Some of them take manga's and stories and create authentic experiences. These writers make the story into their own and write literal novels. The industry should hire those people, but they won't. Because they don't line up with their ideology or agendas.
You should read some Labyrinth fanfics... you'd think that shit was a fantastical horror story the way their able to draw out the world and it's characters. ~sighs~
@@opaluni Yare Yare Daze.
@@spacejunk2186
Ur not wrong.
What happened to being edgy? What happened to being cool? Im more apt to give my son my older novels and comics than any crap put out today. They made me want to be something, strive to be awesome, try to be the best.
Now? These books make kids want to be Beta, politically correct, sensitive, quite literally just making everyone gay... not everyone can be gay, some of us must be straight... you know, to propagate the species, just sayin.
The thing is most YA books don't usually sell well, yeah you have the occasional standout that is widely popular, but the majority of them are forgettable. I really like the Percy Jackson universe books myself, as well as Harry Potter, but I know that most YA book series just have a small to medium following. The fad surge in interest after Harry Potter and the Hunger games became hit movies, was very short lived and none of the other attempts to make a moderately successful YA novel series into a film series have worked (including the two abysmal Percy Jackson films). I doubt the comics industry making YA comics is going to work either. There just isn't a big enough audience for them for it to be profitable.
good ya books are so bloody rare. so many are held back by the young adult brand. they want to be edgy but not too edgy
they want to be sexy but not too sexy
they want to be graphically violent but not too graphically violent
they mostly come of as a nook thats been censored.
(Summoner Series by Taran Matharu is a hidden gem)
I'd also suggest lunar chronicles
And the six of crows duology! It's a fantastic duology with an adaptation coming soon
I'm still bitter about the Percy Jackson films being so _boring._
@@stormisuedonym4599 yeah they made an EPIC story into "meh"
About Spider-Man in the MCU: Peter Parker and Tony Stark DID have a mentor-student relationship, beginning during several months of both Spidey's books and "The New Avengers" when he was part of the team, even though Peter was himself a 20-something adult. This culminated with the first "Civil War" mni. When the MCU creators decided to make their iteration of Spider-Man an actual inexperienced teenager, they cherry-picked from Spider-history and opted to use the Tony Stark mentoring as one of the foundations. But, this was ten years after "Civil War" ended, so yes, there was some confusion. I don't believe there was much, however, as both movie-going audiences and long-time comic book readers understood and accepted the difference -- Fiege & Co. respected the intelligence of both audiences enough to realize that that would happen.
Are these YA novels gonna have 75% more "Food Scenes"?
Is it sad that they even suck at that considering you have series like Shingeki no Soma, Addicted to Curry, and hell, Dungeon Meshi who's premise revolves around literal food porn are better? XD
@@PERSONAfan01 Really is, some of the food they produce looks pretty flat and inedible or just really basic foods.
@@austin9568AuraMasterDX Which is impressively bad, considering how easy it is to get images of food to work off of.
For fuck's sake, if I can draw a dragon that looks alive - something that doesn't even come close to existing - how can these professional artists fail at doodling food?
I don't think putting comics in convenience stores will help anything. Adults go there for gas and most pay at the pump never going inside. I'm not sure kids go to convenience stores anymore either. I'm thinking the japanese model of cheap anthology only works as Japan has more mass transportation than the US. There are news stand selling manga near stops and stations.
I remember reading my first Spawn comic in a 7-11 when I was a little kid. Sad that things have gotten so ridiculous.
I’m about to be in middle school and I don’t want to read these.
It probably also wouldn't hurt if they did go the anthologie route to adopt a more A more Eastern art style for some of these stories. Especially the Shonin styles tend to be more energetic than a standard Western house comic book art style. It would also go a long way to hooking in Manga readers.
Once upon a time, when comic book artists were hired for their ability to draw, one of the biggest, most important things for them was the ability to draw *action.* I knew then I'd never make it as an artist, because my pictures tend to be rather... staid. There was energy and motion in comics, even if the detail or other technical points were somewhat lacking.
Nowadays, it galls me to see these diversity hires spewing garbage I'd have been ashamed to make back in high school.
@@stormisuedonym4599 I remember. Sprawling action sequences that look like they're about to move on their own or hop off the page. The people making comics don't care about them anymore and haven't for a long time. Maybe it's time for the artist to take back the art form. Including the writers who are artists in their own right. And stop worrying about over representing 2% of the population. Which isn't even real diversity.
I don't own many comics, but I do enjoy owning single issues. It just feels right.
Same. When I bought comics, they would be large events or entire runs. I loved being able to read 70+ single issues to show the full picture of an event like Blackest Night. The trades don't really preserve the timeline of the story as you have to figure out which parts came before and after other parts of the other trades.
What’s gonna save comics is a return to campyness. We’ve been through the goth faze now it’s time for dad jokes.
we need a return to cheesy action movies and quippy one-liners.
Another possibility for book stores and comic shops is a print-on-demand system where the comics are printed right there at the shop either to keep up current issue stock or for those customers who ask for comics that weren't ordered because of limited space.
Hmm, actually a PoD model might work best with independent creators and webcomics who'se fans would like to have physical media to own but their local bookstores and comic shops have limited shelf space.......hmm......
Just stick with manga, it's still doing great.
I have no problem with manga, in that I have no problem with *other people* reading manga, but I really can't engage with it (and I've tried, repeatedly). For me, a world with no comics except manga would be a world without comics. I suppose the American industry isn't *completely* dead yet, there are about 80 years of back issues to read, and I have a soft spot for Euro comics, so it probably won't come to that for me.
@Sonic You do realize that manga has several stories like Gotham High, right?
@@jic1 It's fine if you can't engage with manga but manga is just a medium it's not a genre.
@@neosoontoretro Do any of them push agendas over well written stories?
@@lightning116 Er, ever heard of Miyazaki? Who is known for having environmentalist and other left leaning themes in his stories.. And his just one of many examples.
What they should really do is come up with some good stories for comic books
Not sure why Dynamite isn't out doing Marvel and DC. They have the writers and the artists. I suppose it is a case of getting established in the market place.
Comics in the American consciousness will never be the same. You could make the argument that the way how we do comics need to change. I personally had though about the idea of how we and the eastern markets do the vol. and trades but realistically, that could only work IF you have a series worth a damn. Imagine if you did what Alterna is doing, but instead of doing the normal issue by issue you do the Eastern Style Compilation Books. Shonen Jump isn't the only one who does that, there's still plenty of smaller publishers that effectively do the same thing. Hell, even Comiket does it. Now when I think about it, plenty of western indies do their whole Zines where they get multiple people to contribute.
Compilation style, where you can do Alterna style paper printing and location stocking, with a entry point that's not too high that you can argue that you're getting 6 to 8 different series stories. Do the same community involvement they do. Get special illustration spreads for certain editions (think the Shonen Jump Popularity Illustrations where it has the top 10 favorite characters in full color). Maybe even make them posters that can be removed from the books. THEN you can do Trades, for popular series. Print it on better, paper and hell, probably making them pseudo art books where you can go all out and get them in full color, they have the illustrations from that run, with concept sketches, fan QnA, that sort of stuff.
And once again, just like with the Comic Shop Charities, we're back on square one. The companies are putting out trash, and you have literal propagandists in charge of these companies. People need to be shit canned. You would need to bring on tons of good artists and writers you can pair up, so you can have the stories/series on rotation.
EDIT:
AND YOU SAID THAT IN YOUR VIDEO AFTER I WENT AND TYPED ALL THAT 4 MINS IN YOUR VIDEO. I'm glad you said it though. I added on a bit, but that's the reason why I love you man.
LMAO.
For someone like me who likes buying mangas and graphic novels i can see the appeal of trades.
I'm planning on buying batman hush trades actually.
But it doesn't matter how i like to buy things if there's nothing good to buy, well nothing new
At some point in the future, comic book readers will completely ignore Marvel and DC comics and focus only in japanese manga. At least those are more honest and straightforward with their target audiences.
THANKYOU for suggesting the Japanese anthology model! I feel validated I had been saying that was an option for Years now. Literally right after seeing Into the Spiderverse I was leaving the theater with my siblings and telling them "Right NOW would be a time for Marvel to put together a Spider-man themed Anthology book, Start up some mini/Maxi series for a few of the characters that appeared in the film that didn't get a bigger comic presence Like Penny Parker or Spiderman Noir, Grab up a new mini/Maxi series for some spider totems that aren't as well known because they weren't in the film, say Silk, Aracnea, Venom, the spider-man from england and India, etc. Fill in space with back issues of Miles Morales spiderman, some Spider Gwen reruns, Some good old fashioned Spiderman-Spiderman, rerun Web Warriors or the Spiderverse Event from the comics, etc. and just... test the waters and see how people feel subscribing to a large cheaply printed spidey anthology book while riding that Spidervese wave!
That... kinda goes for their girl targeted comics too! Instead of changing their WHOLE target demographic, poopooing on their previous mostly male fanbase, why not put out a variety of anthology books for target demographics? It would be so much easier to read comics for girls knowing that they're all crammed in a nice big book for me to try out! Same goes for Boys! Heck that could actually help to with seeing WHAT stories those demographics want and tailoring them because let me put it this way...
I am a girl and Marvel isn't doing a great job making these books for "Girls" appeal to me.
Love your videos.
Brilliant analysis.
Hopefully the comic book industry is listening.
Fun fact: the "anthology then trade" system you're talking about and that works so well for manga in Japan is exactly the system that I grew up with and that is still in use in France. As you predict, it works wonders and it makes branching storylines/crossovers SO MUCH EASIER TO FOLLOW. Especially seeing as, when a huge crossover happens, the anthologies make sure to take on the name of the crossover and include "Part X of Y" subtitles so that the reader knows exactly what to read and in what order. We're never lost and we occasionally discover new stuff as an anthology picks up a new book because a previous one ended its run or whatever.
It only fails when there's not much going on in one single universe and the publisher doesn't know what to put together (the first Spawn anthologies where just a couple of Spawn books published together, for instance). But for DC and Marvel it works absolute wonders and it's a treat for the reader.
I seriously don't get why West don't want to adapt manga-like anthologies publishing.
It's so obvious solution for most of comic industry problems.
Yeah....that’s gonna fix the crap they keep making. You know, by piling it all up in one big pile instead of multiple small ones. 🙄
Side note: in the 15 years we’ve been selling we have yet to sell even ONE trade to a non-adult.
I guess it's assumed that making good comics is always the first step in saving the industry.
Wrack3D THAT would really help
I wish I was a boy than a girl. The mainstream media makes me hate that I'm a girl of how they see as a trophy than a person.
Reminder to buy MiddleWest.
*“The Best Comic you’re not reading.” JSG*
That is what Antarctic Press is doing. I am shooting to get my story into one of those. Exciting comics is my fav followed by Jungle Comics. (Granted I am credited in Jungle, Incorrectly funnily)
Y'know, CrossGen tried that anthology idea back in the early 00's. For about a year they put out monthly editions of Forge and Edge that collected their entire line. Alas, the company died abruptly. I don't know if releasing the anthologies (Compendiums, as they called them) hurt the company, but it certainly didn't save them...
I think the shonen jump model is a great idea. I’d rather get a mix with a chance of having a few I like versus what we have to deal with as of late.
Thinking Critical talked about this, and I took issue with most of the poi's they made about this strategy. It's not that girls don't like super heroes, but the industry is thinks that by catering to the same people who watch Disney Channel, MTV, or E! that comics will be saved, well, they're sadly mistaken. The day you see a 'Twilight', or a 'Kardashian' read a super hero comic is the day you see Jerry Lewis' clown movie get released on Blu Ray.
Which video was this mentioned in?
@@xavier8951 ruclips.net/video/9ohonydHOi4/видео.html
That's because the people who pitch this type of shit ARE the people who watch MTV, E! and Disney Channel LA shows. They are doing what they know and assuming that this is how you get girls in when a lot of girls went to comics to get away from the super-sugary Disney Channel LA shit. It was a welcomed alternative to the entertainment a lot of us felt we were obligated to like because 'girl'. Turning it into something that people want to ESCAPE FROM is the worst thing you can try.
@@SuperCosmicMutantSquid THANK YOU! This kind of mindset is why I avoid Disney Channel, MTV, and E! like the plague. They're not 'geek friendly' at all, and I try to escape from that crap. This is the equivalent of a commercial where a pretty girl who reads YA novels lures a comic geek into a washing machine, shoves him inside, and he comes out looking like Robert Pattinson.
I perfer buying the graphic novel or vol books. I feel it's cheaper than buying the single issue except on free comic book day. And i like how image comic makes the first vol cheaper than the next. It allows be to check out new series easier.
Okay let's be real for 60 seconds here. What's killing the comic book industry is the fact that doesn't understand how to use principles such a synergy to generate profits. By that I mean over the past few decades or so movies weren't used effectively to promote the plots in comics weren't used to effectively promote upcoming movies and neither group did anything at all promote weekly TV shows. If they would have done that you wouldn't have had the industry we have now. How so let me explain.
When you're using Synergy as part of a way to Market a product line you do so with the understanding that all parties involved really have to be on the same page. Likewise you also takes to do your best not to alienate any potential customers in any one form of media link to this endeavor. What they've been doing is a pain going after one particular group at the cost of others. This is without question is bad marketing. Additionally the industry has been very slow to adapt or should I say implement the modern habits of consumers. I mean we live in a day and age where most people get audiobooks then they do comic books. Why because the culture has changed.
So any strategy that would look to pull the comic books Industries fat out of the fire needs to understand this. Well that and the industry needs to stop treating every Tom Dick and Sally who writes comic books as the next Neil Gaiman. By that I mean yeah you can pay Neil Gaiman top dollar to write comic books because well he is Neil Gaiman are there such every dollar you're spending on him really is an investment in a quality product. Why? Well it is because Neil Gaiman is a talented writer not some Psychopaths trying to push an agenda.
Where to put things in more simpler terms you wouldn't pay the grill cook at McDonald's the same amount of money you would a classically trained chef with 15 plus years in the industry. Additionally when someone buys a burger they get asked one question at the local McDonald's.. "Would you like fries with that?" Which is what these films need to be doing for the books and the books need to be doing for the TV shows and the TV shows need to be doing for the films. As in the relationship Dynamics found and your movies should Echo the ones found in your comics and should Echo the ones later found in your TV shows. that way your fanbase has a clear idea of the product they're dealing with.
Likewise comic book industry needs to take a hint from the Auto industry. By this I mean you don't just build pickups and you don't just build sedans if you're someone like GM Dodge or Ford. Oh no you stay in business by being that guy who also builds a wide range of vehicles to meet the needs of everyone you're looking to sell your product to within your industry.
Likewise you don't let any member of your staff discourage somebody from buying a product whatsoever. So if you want a comic book that appeals to young girls then write a comic book that appeals to young girls. Yet also write it in a way that if a young boy wants to pick it up they can. For this allows some level of diversification in the product line you're offering people.
keep in mind this would mean that you'd have maybe not fewer titles but maybe not 5 books devoted to Spider-Man and 10 books devoted to Batman within the market so you can in fact once again reach a broader audience by actually telling a wide range of stories that are narrative not agenda-driven
I like the point you made about making comics for certain a demographic but also writing then in a way that other people can enjoy. Reminds me of the My Little Pony cartoon. It was targeted mostly at young girls but a lot of boys liked it too. Even older teenage boys liked it.
@@sprint7412 My Little Pony friendship is Magic is a shining example of how a corporation should probably manage and market and intellectual property. By that I mean that the universe created in the TV show is the saying Universe showcased in the movies as well as the same universe being referenced in any print media. Do you have that with say Marvel and DC? No. A key example of this would be the treatment of Phil Coulson over the course of the MCU. In the film he is dead. On TV he's alive sort of. And in Comics he more or less ended up a somewhat villainous anti-hero. So you have three forms of media with three radical different interpretations of who this character is. Which sadly is how a lot of these characters are handled.
So in a lot of ways Hasbro did a far better job of handling their intellectual properties then Disney and Warner Brothers has over the years. They accomplish this by having their writers and other such creatives actually take the time to flush out the world the main characters inhabited and at no time did they green light these writers putting politics over good storytelling by allowing them to turn their intellectual properties into sad unappealing caricature of the hero villain archetype like so many comic book writers seem to enjoy doing.
Do some of the My Little Pony such as Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy half personality quirks? Oh God yes, but these quirks help in making them feel like believable characters. Likewise they give the writer something for these characters to overcome in an attempt to give them real character growth over the course of the series. Which is something sadly you won't be seeing when you pick up a Marvel or DC Comic.
So yeah in my opinion Comics are dead. Likewise they died due to an overdose of corporate greed with a side order od political correctness.
Marketing is also a key to selling comics, like Walking Dead piggy backed off the show adaptation and Tell Tale Games and it began to sell even better.
Eh I'm just gonna still stick with manga and inde comics and graphic novels
Image huh can you explain more about what image is because I would like to check them oit
@alastor I don't think you can get away from Gotham High-like stories by sticking with manga and indie comics. As manga and indie comics has it's share YA slice of life like stories.
Yeah true but manga and anime does slice of life right while Gotham high does it in a wrong way and it's woke and manga and anime isn't woke
@Immanuel Ntim-Addae But I thought the problem with Gotham High is that they are stirring from being superhero obsessed. But now you're saying the problem is that they are too superhero obsessed? So which is it?
@Immanuel Ntim-Addae But that's what DC is trying to do with their YA line, using their IP to make non-superhero material. It seems as though you're criticizing them for doing the very thing you said they should do. Also, Gotham High is supposed to an elseworld story, it's not supposed to add to the narrative.
Furthermore, Amulet may be great but not every YA book has to be next Amulet.
"Narcissistic pretty girls who don't know their own beauty and are good a everything" that line cracked me up.
The title oddly made me imagine a "young adult" series chronicling the early life of "Diversity and Comics", starring "YA Boi Zack".
I have a friend that works in a library, and he's gotten advanced copies of the YA stuff. What he's read (and if it's not all, it's most), he's seemed to enjoy.
I understand I'm probably not the target demographic for any of these, but I'll at least give "Shadow of the Batgirl" a shot. I'm a big Cassandra Cain fan, and I doubt the book can do worse than what Tynion did reinventing her.
I have an issue of my own to pick with the modern graphic novel. In the DC "New 52" run of comics, the novel format was jumbled and made no sense without buying every companion book and crossing back and forth between them. When compared to a piece like "Death in the Family" or "Death and Life of Superman", where the narrative told a consistent story throughout, the newer stories take far more effort to follow because they are not delivered in logical parts. This will also drive away readers of all ages.
I made two videos about the Batman: Child of Dreams manga by Kia Asamiya from 2003, when the Japanese manga industry managed to handle Batman better in the beginning of the millennium than the western comic book industry can do now 17 years later. Also the manga managed to give believable and likeable female character stronger than the Mary Sues of today and an antagonist whose motivations were perfectly stated within the theme of the story.
Graphic novels have been an aspect of comic book spectrum since the 1970's. It was part of the momentum following the Marvel Comics upswell. . I recall browsing Elfquest at Waldenbooks & B. Dalton at the local mall.
When comics sales plummeted, it would be naive to think that graphic novels would be spared.
And as always I partially agree with you.
I've always referred to the single issue as a dying art form. I can see why the old guard want them to stay and there are still brilliant ones like most of Allstar Superman or X-men Red #5, but most issues are already written with the trade in mind. Lots of people covering comics, among them Professor Thorgi who used to work at a comic store, have been calling for the single issue to get removed for years and there's even country's like the two I'm from, where they don't sell at all. In Germany you only get singles of Action Comics, Detective Comics, Justice League, Avengers, Deadpool and Spider-Man. Everything, and I mean everything, else just comes out immediately as a trade. I get why you made the points you made, but times are changing or at least they will very soon. Still you've made another great video with very well presented and explained points. And if you like Meddlewest maybe make a video about that. Your video on New Frontier gives me chills at the end every time, so maybe it's time for a positive one again. 😉
I remember the awesome days where grocery stores, drug stores, our local gas station and 7-11 had carousels of good comics just waiting to be bought.
In Japan Manga come out as weekly and biweekly comics in really cheap huge books. They have multiple artists and stories in them and they are printed on cheap news print. People typically don't keep those books, they end up in the recycle bin with the rest of the weeks paper. If some of the comics hit or get picked up again then you will see them turned into the manga books we here in America and the rest of the world buy, better paper, good cover art, more collectible. Those that don't do well get dropped and don't get a book.
I can see some stories doing better in trades. A lot of YA readers loved Saga and a lot of them only bought the trades. But Superheroes just aren't popular enough in the YA community even though the big comic companies have been trying to appeal to them. It's also telling that manga does better selling to YA readers than American comics.
JSG
I think we need to consider who will still be around after the Pandemic. Talk about how we reinvigorate the comic book industry depends on who is in business. If the LCS is all but gone then the Young Adult section of the book store may be all they have left. Young boys don't tend to read there. They tend to read Fantasy and SciFi stuff so Super hero based trades for them would have to be sold there. The store is probably not required to sell the comics to stay afloat so the no return policy probably won't fly.
SciFi stores left what will they be. My assumption is the ones that survive are LCGS (Local Comic and Game Stores. These are essentially Game Stores that sell comics. usually they are split into two with almost half the store dedicated to comic books and back issue bins and the other half dedicated to Role Playing Games and Table top Minitures both Fantasy, 40K and Historical being possibly highlighted. There will also be Collectible Card Games, some Gamer related board games such as Munchkin and possibly Board Games as well. Not Monopoly or such but Euro Games, Fantasy based games etc. that are usually not in ToysRUS. These stores have a diverse product line that can help them keep afloat. Comics may significantly decline as a percentage of their sales in the future due to how the industry is impacted. This may leave open more options for independents to get in there.
Here is the one advantage the LCGS has over Amazon and crowdfunding. They have a second room attached to the store, usually only able to be accessed from inside the store with the door near to the counter so that people can be seen entering. This is the game room. It is usually just an open space with 8'x4' or 6'x4' sturdy wood tables and chairs though some have shelving space under the tables. There may be a few folding tables as well. People use the game room to meet and play games. They pack up there gaming gear in tool boxes and sometimes wheel it in and find a table and set up their terrain and armies to fight, or they set up their RPG with miniatures and scenery if needed. Sometimes it is used for board games and other times just to play CCGs. There is a erasable marker and calendar where people can leave notes and reserve tables and advertise games. This meeting place becomes the basis for a community of gamers and geeks that people can gravitate around and can bring people into the store as well. LCGS usually sell Heroclicks too because this is a miniatures game revolving around super heroes.
I have found that these stores are not as prevalent as one would think. While there are many LGS's (Game Stores) the LCGS is rare because the knowledge base for a merchant to sell comics and the knowledge base for a merchant to sell games are different. Most Geeks love both but to sell Comics you have to know which issues are which and how much books are really worth for the back bin and which are the really rare ones worth something that go behind the counter. To sell Games you have to know which RPGs are out there, which ones are selling, what the core books are and what the addns and worlds are and when they are coming out. If you sell miniatures you have to know how they are painted, hat tools are required and the paints that are best especially for those starting out so that you can guide interested newbies into the hobby without them being overwhelmed. Running an LCGS is twice the work.
Still I think going forward this is what will survive in the brick and mortar market. There are risks. Many of the RPG companies are going digital because printing costs are skyrocketing so the nature of the gaming market will change as well. Board Games are becoming more prevalent that I see. I think going forward there will be a lot of changes and business will have to adapt.
The other thing that might happen is that the small retailers will sell out cheap and a wealthy owner will start buying up stores in several cities and forming a LCGS brand if you will. I think Cool Stuff Games is already attempting this but their product is light. They seem to make their money off of magic. This might give a retailer an advantage of having a lot of store space available which the Big 2 or whoever they lease their IPs to as well as the game companies. Right now an individual store owner is essentially the lowest man on the totem pole. This might alter the dynamic giving them a better deal on distribution.
Just some thoughts
DC's Earth One line made changes to the characters but kept the lore in tact as well just as you said with Smallville and Gotham.
This is the sort of stuff I avoid, being a female, but they just had to leak that nasty YA shit onto other things. They already have their own category but they still infected the hero genre.
You are so intelligent and articulate. It is amazing that these ppl cannot see common sense. Back in the day, the "Customer" is always right
You are the first person that actually mentioned grouping titles in one book like manga in japan
That is a great idea
Then they could print on demand after the fact for single issues or have issues sigle for only those people that do subscriptions and the subscription single issues are the only ones that should have a variant cover
Making the Comics focus (even more) in YA is like Making games focus even more On Battle Royale
Manga works as serialized production because they are rarely sold as stand-alone releases. They are bundled in magazines and subscribtion services containing multiple mangas, and then, once there are enough pages for full book of one series, a big book with multiple chapters is released.
Bundle model grants additional marketing for other series, because if you buy the bundle, why not read the rest... Hey, this is fun, I'll read also that... But I don't know what happenned before, I'll buy previous chapters or watch the anime (which tends to be relatively faithful adaptations compared to western ones).
Speaking of anime. Once a season of anime ends and manga continues the same story, it gives additional incentive to spend money. In case of western cartoons it doesn't work, those stories are completely different.
I sometimes buy trades, but for important stories or for my favorite teams, I buy the single issues. I don't have the Titans Hunt trade. I have every individual issue. Those are more important than trades to me.
I instead always preferred trades instead of single issues for the important things xD
Great points on this one. I find it hard to understand how a site supposedly dedicated to comic books continue to have takes that are usually detrimental to the comic book industry! Would really like your take on Brian Hibbs' latest hissy fit.
Hell I'm starting to read Manga a lot more and I want to do the same for comics but as you listed, I'm confused on where to start with the series because I know the new shit is trash lol.
(Young adult) graphic novel series that beat comics: amulet, bone, the last kids on earth, captain underpants, diary of a wimpy kid, star wars jedi academy, pvz books, etc.
And though this one isnt a graphic novel i feel it should be put here as it is amazing and does have some drawings in it: the origami yoda series
At least i think there graphic novels, not really sure what counts as a graphic novel 🤔, either way there amazing!
Also no the YA graphic novel audience is not all middle aged women. Im not middle aged and im certainly not a woman.
Young boys seems like a very hard demographic to break into nowadays for comics. Because you're essentially competing with video games for their attention.
Give me a comic book with a decent story or some thought-provoking themes (or both) I'll buy it. Otherwise ya I'm going to stick with video games.
I will also buy comics that are excessively violent.
Well, not just video games. It's anime and manga also.
@@xavier8951 good point though I don't usually read manga the very few I have are typically higher quality than the comics I've read. The only reason I don't read them more is I'm not a big fan of a lot of the troops in anime and manga.
@@demonichumor4917 "I will also buy comics that are excessively violent"... a man after my own heart. 👍👍👏👏
If you need to *completely* change what you are just to appeal to something or someone that otherwise *wouldn't* notice or care about you, then odds are it isn't worth it.
I agree with a lot of what you said except for everything that had to do with comic book stores. Unfortunately they are not viable and will eventually be out of the equation. They have to focus on other ways to get comics into readers hands and getting people who are stuck in the old ways to purchase comics in this new way. Digital comics, big retailers, and having comics sold and shipped directly are the best ways to move forward.
The thing about trying to do YA Graphic Novels is that YA is a style of writing focused at an age group rather than say a Genre like Sci-fi or Fantasy where there would be (for lack of a better word) generic fans present who would try out anything under the Genre listing.
Another thing to consider is that if the Publishers (DC/Marvel) were to correct course and try to recapture the Male/Boy demographic, those boys have likely walked away and began consuming Anime/Manga simply due to the amount exposure Anime has had in the past few years.
For what you described using a Japanese model of using a weekly/semi-weekly/anthology publishing model with more evenly paced stories would help, but the issue of switching to this model is that the demographics who would go to that method have likely already found their fill in the manga world and likely won't come back at all or for a while. An example of this would be those boys who are watching and reading My Hero Academia; the series has captured their interest in not only the Superhero market but also the male demographic since MHA is aimed at the young boy demographic and does it well with them and dominating most of those outlets that Marvel and DC really don't have.
So if DC/Marvel were to come back to their original audience with the new model and creative talents focusing on not only Boy/Male demographics, but also Girls/Female, and non-comic readers; they will likely meet a group of people who distrust them or won't be willing to buy into their new model/content since their sub-conscience would say "Hey, they could mess up" or "you'll be mistreated for XYZ reason" and struggle for a long time before being successful in that new model and rebuilding their audience.
As an electrician, failure is not acceptable. Not for yourself, for your company, or your peers. Imagine failing in the same way, refusing to change and just fu ming up over abs over and claiming you are empowering somthing that does not need or gain from your bullshit
"and I didn't even get a reacharound"
lol okay Dr Cox.
As a comic book collector I enjoyed the option of trades as well as single issues. Some one might not be able to afford the trades but can get the singles over time.
I think Marvel would have a better chance if they just start making their own Hen-
Study Hall of Justice series was a good one. I recently got one off a thrift store for my 8 year old brother. His first ever actual DC "comic". He's been practicing his reading with it ever since.
I read it. It's cute.
When I was young (18 million years ago it seems) I was able to get a yearly subscription for the titles I liked. We lived in a rural area, so it was either that or the local grocery store. Each week I looked forward to going to the mailbox wondering if my issue was going to be on time that week. I have no idea if they still do this but if they don't, I think they are missing out on a good opportunity.
It wasn't until I saw this video that I realized how many Dark Horse comics through Dark Horse Presents. I would pick them up for an Aliens and Robocop story, and there would be a short story about Hero's World or Barb Wire and I would get me curious enough to buy the actual comic.
I think a part of the problem is that we have had the same lead characters around for generations. Comics got their start before there were televisions in every home, so grinding them out for pocket change per copy worked. Now there are so many titles, and so little demand.
How many Spider Man titles are running right now?
We need to let the industry fall down, and let what grows up in its place to match the new market demands take over. I love and follow many webcomics. Dead tree format is optional, so is donation level.
I bring you tidings from 8 months in future! No, YA graphic novels haven't saved comics. But that still hasn't stopped DC from going all in.
Hi. I enjoy your analysis as it is clearly communicated and well thought out. However, it tends to be warning based as in Watch Out, They’re messing up again! I’m older but would enjoy reading comic books again. I used to collect. I have also purchased graphic novels and I enjoyed the X-Men Evolution and Bruce Timm led Batman, Superman, JLA tv series. I can’t decide if I should be buying comic books now or downloading them to an iPad. Have you considered creating additional content with recommendations? Clearly you recognize thoughtful interesting story lines, art produced by artists that actually completed life drawing classes and maintain a broad view of the industry. I would welcome your opinion as I am a fan.
I think they are banking on Book Stores, Scholastic, and Libraries for the sales... there are more of those, all together, around the country than Comic Shops. And they are more apt to put in higher orders.
The reason people are more nick picky with reading complete comics/manga is because we live in a time where we have access to every episode of a show and every movie in a series. When in the past we had cable tv which made it so you had to start watching whenever a new episode aired. If you didn’t start when the first episode aired and when you missed an episode you had to rely on reruns or not watch it at all.
Monthly cape comics already are published in anthologies sold in newsstands... in Brazil, and probably other countries. Though I’d wager sales numbers here are much smaller than those in the US, because our economy is significant smaller.
Don’t ask me about the exact numbers, though. Both Marvel and DC are published by an Italian company called Panini, and they don’t divulge sales figures.
Also, the Brazilian newsstands business has been in decline for a while now. Many are selling stuff like bootleg toys and candy in order to make ends meet.
If you change the business from comics to light novels, even if the success of the moment is the children's stories, if what you want to sell does not tell a story and are simply pamphlets the failure will be repeated again and again.
Hate to say it JSG, if you live in the Chicago area - check out the Cook and DuPage County Library Systems once they open up again. You are going to find that library systems have been pretty lucrative over the last ten years or so, with a good deal of bargain bin titles like 'Squirrel Girl' taking up a good deal of shelf space. With that being said, that article from Mr. McMahon can really be considered dated - given that most libraries and school systems are going to be dealing with restricted budgets for the next few years. Hell, with most school districts around the country announcing they will not be continuing the 2019-2020 school year, and facing the possibility that the 2020-2021 school year will be affected - I will not be surprised if we hear of 'corporate trouble' for the likes of Scholastic some time later this year or early next year. No... the publishing business, not just comics, is facing a crisis that they have not seen since the Spanish Flu - in an era when most of the world's accumulated knowledge and prose is merely a tap of a keyboard or a click of a mouse away.
Watching these videos makes me want to make my own comic book and im soo fuccing close