Spider-Man character growth vs. staying in high school and Joe Quesada

[TinkerSpider]

Spinoffs from ASM are tough to sustain long-term. I don't believe Marvel expects those books to last.

Yet Batman is able to. Superman, too.

If Spider-Man is so successful bringing in younger readers as you said, surely that would extend to spin-offs?

But I do hope Spider-boy can hang in there awhile! Not quite ASM, but it still comes off the same character in 616.

My mistake, I left Spider-Boy off, although it has sadly fallen off the Top 50 chart. I’d love to see it sustain, however. Spider-Man should be able to sustain a second title, one would think. At the least, it would help counter arguments that ASM sales are mostly collectors for whom the story doesn’t matter, just the pristine condition of the issue, and variant covers. But until it does….

However, when looking at data, younger readers tend to gravitate to manga and non-superhero graphic novels (link is to a School Library Journal survey and you can see the breakdown between manga and superhero purchased for school and youth public libraries), with manga showing no signs of slowing down.

If you have evidence younger readers are picking up ASM, by all means do share! I’m fascinated by reader demographics and trends.

[wleakr]

Yet Batman is able to. Superman, too.

If Spider-Man is so successful bringing in younger readers as you said, surely that would extend to spin-offs?

My mistake, I left Spider-Boy off, although it has sadly fallen off the Top 50 chart. I’d love to see it sustain, however. Spider-Man should be able to sustain a second title, one would think. At the least, it would help counter arguments that ASM sales are mostly collectors for whom the story doesn’t matter, just the pristine condition of the issue, and variant covers. But until it does….

However, when looking at data, younger readers tend to gravitate to manga and non-superhero graphic novels (link is to a School Library Journal survey and you can see the breakdown between manga and superhero purchased for school and youth public libraries), with manga showing no signs of slowing down.

If you have evidence younger readers are picking up ASM, by all means do share! I’m fascinated by reader demographics and trends.

Books like Miles Morales, Spider Gwen, and Spider-boy seem more in-line for younger readers, although any age group can enjoy those books. The FCBD also put out a Spidey and his Amazing Friends issue. Granted, DC put out all-ages books, too.

I don't think any comic company is truly successful at bringing in younger readers right now, but that's just based on what I see at one comic store.

While the Spider-man spinoffs are not sustained, it "feels" like Marvel puts out more diverse options along the Spider-line of books in an attempt to draw different ages of readers in.

I'll have to look harder at the DC line - there was definitely a time where they were more all-ages than Marvel.

Regardless of that, just like you posted, young readers are more interested in other options for reading and entertainment, in general, besides comics.

With the current price point, I don't see what can really be done about changing that.

[Garlador]

Spinoffs from ASM are tough to sustain long-term. I don't believe Marvel expects those books to last.

But I do hope Spider-boy can hang in there awhile! Not quite ASM, but it still comes off the same character in 616.

I do think something has "changed" in that regard. Growing up, a great many characters started in Spider-Man books then launched into long-term, successful spin-off titles and enduring appearances outside of the Spider-Man books. Venom, Cloak & Dagger, Morbius, Silver Sable, The Punisher, etc.

If people respond positively to it, these characters can endure, but perhaps they need more originality than just "Spider-something" to carry a book and leave an impact.

[TinkerSpider]

Books like Miles Morales, Spider Gwen, and Spider-boy seem more in-line for younger readers, although any age group can enjoy those books. The FCBD also put out a Spidey and his Amazing Friends issue. Granted, DC put out all-ages books, too.

I don't think any comic company is truly successful at bringing in younger readers right now, but that's just based on what I see at one comic store.

While the Spider-man spinoffs are not sustained, it "feels" like Marvel puts out more diverse options along the Spider-line of books in an attempt to draw different ages of readers in.

Ah, so a feeling. Got it.

Sales and reading surverys/generational cultural studies say opposite.

I'll have to look harder at the DC line - there was definitely a time where they were more all-ages than Marvel.

Don’t have to take too hard a look, the top 50 monthly charts (insert caveat about squishy unscientific unreliable data here) show that Batman and Superman have multiple monthly family titles in the top 50.

Spider-Man…does not. There are minis like Edge of Spider-Verse, and Spectacular Spider-Men is just on its 3rd issue. Miles Morales wasn’t even in the top 50 for April, which is a shame because it’s probably the best monthly book in the 616 Spider-family IMO.

Regardless of that, just like you posted, young readers are more interested in other options for reading and entertainment, in general, besides comics.

With the current price point, I don't see what can really be done about changing that.

All sorts of things can be done!

First of all, studies of discoverability say people find new entertainment primarily through word of mouth. For kids, that would mean having a relative or a peer introduce them to comics. I know I got into comics because of my older relatives. They passed down their back issues and answered my questions about the characters.

You know what I’m not doing? I’m not giving the younger kids in my family 616 Spider-Man comics to read.

(I am creating collections of USM for them. I’m going to wait until the first arc finishes to give the comic to them.)

If people aren’t passing down their love of comics, that’s a problem that’s addressed by getting the older buyers back into the stories.

Second, create lower priced collections for school book fairs. Create digests. Print in black and white to lower costs - B&W doesn’t stop manga from being popular. Marvel Unlimited also exists, that’s just ten bucks a month IIRC. Find a way to create a pipeline from those readers to print, if indeed Marvel U isn’t just a supplementary service for people who are already reading print (I don’t think I’ve seen any data on demos/usage).

Marvel does do some of that, but via licensing their characters to Scholastic as I understand it. Miles is actually a pretty good seller for Scholastic. Back in the day, digest collections of Spider-Girl sold very well at school book fairs. But somehow that’s not translating to monthly floppy sales - and Marvel as publisher does TERRIBLE when it comes to graphic novel/trade collections (see link above).

Kids will read stories told in sequential art. GenZ is actually a huge consumer of sequential art. But they are reading manga and non-superheroes. Someone should be asking why. And no, it’s not because Peter once was married.

The second way people discover new entertainment is via browsing. Dan Buckley references some of that in his interview. That's why he wants the Wednesday Warriors back in the stores, because when you just come in to pick up your pull list and walk out, you aren’t glancing over shelves and spying books that look interesting and making purchases on impulse (this is a general publishing industry issue as Amazon/big bookstores closing means people are making surgical strikes - going to Amazon or a small bookstore to purchase one title - and then leaving without browsing the other titles on display. And Amazon’s algorithm is pretty much useless now thanks to their prioritization of serving ads that discoverability is more of a problem than before, but that’s an off-topic discussion). And if adults aren’t browsing in stores, their kids aren’t browsing in stores and finding books that speak to them.

So, yes, there are many things that can be done but it takes being creative, trying new things, and not letting “tradition””this is the way we’ve always done things and it can’t change” to get in the way.

Much like how hidebound storytelling also leads to diminishing returns.