Are Marvel and DC necessary for the future of comic?

[The Dying Detective]

I'd blame the changing marketplace ( and sometimes the specific retailers).

Tower Records shut down but it's not because people stopped liking music.

Really can you explain how?

[ed2962]

Really can you explain how?

Print in general is simply not as dominant in our culture as it was a generation ago. Single comics are getting more and more expensive. Even people who think that the content of modern comics is just fine prefer to trade wait because it's cheaper and a more satisfying reading experience. It's no secret that there's more than a couple of titles that actually do poorly as monthlies but do well as trades. The direct sales market is an old model that has been struggling for years, it's barely hanging on now.

[CaptCleghorn]

Let's take this a point at a time...

At this point I'm beginning to wonder if they no longer sell well

They still sell enough to make a profit.

why does Marvel and DC keep tormenting their readers

No one is tormenting you. If there's a mean old comic book out there bothering you, you could just not buy or read it.

with new number ones and cosmic changing events that don't deliver.

That's what sells better for marvel and DC, so they produce more of them. And deliverance may vary for different readers. Some of them have purdy mouths, others not so much. (sorry for the out of place joke, but it is funny)

Just cut them out and become a studio because that's where all the money appears to be at and comics to them are chump change.

Why should anyone or any company stop making money doing something if it's not their top money earning activity?

But thena gain they don't get the bulk of the merchandising and

Nope, they get licensing money for owning a copyright. Money for nothing and chicks for free.

Of course comics will survive without Marvel and DC but that's going to be hard to explain to those fans who think of them as their source of comfort.

Marvel and DC Comics aren't going anywhere.

Me I just read for the heck of it.

Reading's a good thing.

[MRP]

So I reiterate why do people think comics are no longer their core business and that they can survive without being a publishing house? Because as it stands comics continue to exist in either company yet everyone thinks they don't matter to them. And if they ddin't matter to them why continue to create these comic book worlds that are so confusing it's like trying to wade through sludge? But it doesn't change my mind that the memories of Marvel and DC are not important to the future of comics.

Because DC and Marvel are no longer independent entities, they are divisions within larger media companies who were acquired because of their library of intellectual property and merchandising potential, not for their publishing division. Disney acquired Marvel because of the success of Marvel Studios and the success of Marvel toys in the boys toys market which they had struggled to do well in, not because of their comic publishing division. The publishing division is a way to keep those IP active and keep trademarks active, and as long as it doesn't lose money it will continue, but Marvel publishing is not the core business of Disney and there is no Marvel that is not part of Disney so it cannot have a core business outside the parameters of the corporate umbrella it exists under. The same is true of DC as part of the larger corporate entity of Time Warner. Marvel and DC exist as brands within larger companies, not as independent businesses and not primarily as publishing houses. They are IP farms within larger companies and publishing is the tiniest fraction of how those corporations choose to exploit their IP brands. If it were 1975, then yes, publishing was the core business of Marvel and DC, but it's not 1975 and it is no longer the core business, and Marvel and DC as such no longer exist as independent entities.

-M

[ed2962]

Let's take this a point at a time...



They still sell enough to make a profit.



No one is tormenting you. If there's a mean old comic book out there bothering you, you could just not buy or read it.



That's what sells better for marvel and DC, so they produce more of them. And deliverance may vary for different readers. Some of them have purdy mouths, others not so much. (sorry for the out of place joke, but it is funny)



Why should anyone or any company stop making money doing something if it's not their top money earning activity?



Nope, they get licensing money for owning a copyright. Money for nothing and chicks for free.



Marvel and DC Comics aren't going anywhere.



Reading's a good thing.

The bolded made me laff out loud.

[icctrombone]

No problem maybe unless your favorite character gets the change on race or sex.

I've just never had a problem separating the movies from the comics I grew up reading. In my mind it's totally different.

[The Dying Detective]

I've just never had a problem separating the movies from the comics I grew up reading. In my mind it's totally different.

Unfortunate the problem lies in making sure the characters are recognisable if you don't do that it's not a very faithful portrayal.

[icctrombone]

Unfortunate the problem lies in making sure the characters are recognisable if you don't do that it's not a very faithful portrayal.

They are making these movies/tv shows for the non comic book reading public not the few 100 thousand comic readers. The only change I though was dopey was making Johnny Storm a different race than his sister.

[Cosmicbeing]

I must not have read enough content, I think most of what I read is great haha

[RLAAMJR.]

Well, we have a pretty decent indigenous comic book industry, and before the movies, Marvel, DC, and superheroes in general were fairly obscure. They mostly existed in cartoon form on tv.

You are correct. Actually all comic publishers started from scratch but DC and Marvel Comics came as the most successful among them. We may not like the way they handle comics today but time has changed and so they have to change too and despite of negative feedbacks, most people still buy comics from DC and Marvel.

[The Dying Detective]

They are making these movies/tv shows for the non comic book reading public not the few 100 thousand comic readers. The only change I though was dopey was making Johnny Storm a different race than his sister.

Well if they care about the source material then they should not do that because you are representing your own characters fumble and it shows how little you think of your own creations then again Harry Potter couldn't even decide which character should have African heritages or not when it was adapted.

[Carabas]

You are correct. Actually all comic publishers started from scratch but DC and Marvel Comics came as the most successful among them. We may not like the way they handle comics today but time has changed and so they have to change too and despite of negative feedbacks, most people still buy comics from DC and Marvel.

I seriously doubt that Marvel and DC combined would make up even 1% of all comics sold in Belgium.

[The Dying Detective]

I seriously doubt that Marvel and DC combined would make up even 1% of all comics sold in Belgium.

I wonder how much percentage of the comic book industry in America is all about them?

[CaptCleghorn]

I've just never had a problem separating the movies from the comics I grew up reading. In my mind it's totally different.

This was the first issue of FF I ever read. I wanted it because it had the heroes from that cartoon I liked. Why was Sue's hair orange and why were they calling her Crys? I was 8 and confused, but I lived. Keep in mind this was totally on my own and without the help of a fandom or an internet.

Also, in the Sherlock Holmes books, Watson's not an Asian woman. Comics are far from unique in multiple versions of fictional characters.

[Carabas]

I wonder how much percentage of the comic book industry in America is all about them?

Point is, healthy comic book industries without two massive companies turning the entire thing into a single genre medium are a thing. Comics won't end without Marvel/DC.