Is comics a dying trade?

[GOLGO 13]

...Final issue is value for entertainment. It takes me less time to read a comic than it does to drink a beer. What's a better buy for my money? How about video games? Novels? Movies?

I'd rather spend my $$$/time with new musical equipment, firearms & beekeeping. During the winter, I dabble more with tabletop games/WH40k painting.

[mrbrklyn]

I don't think that comics are dying, but changing, for good and bad.

They are doing both but without the standard comic format, there is no industry

[kjn]

They are doing both but without the standard comic format, there is no industry

What is the standard comic format?

You're making a huge assumption there. The Swedish comics market looks entirely different, both in distribution and in format, to the American one. And the Japanese is entirely different. And webcomics take wholly another tack.

[mrbrklyn]

What is the standard comic format?

You're making a huge assumption there. The Swedish comics market looks entirely different, both in distribution and in format, to the American one. And the Japanese is entirely different. And webcomics take wholly another tack.

It is a folded booklet with three staples in it sold at Tijuana bible shops and otherwise retailed around the globe. You asked, so I am responding. FWIW, glad I don't live in Sweden or Japan... particular Sweden which is a country roughly the size of nyc. I only mention this because it is held up as some example of what other countries and cultures should be like....(in this case about comics) but not for me.

[mrbrklyn]

And webcomics take wholly another tack.

IMO, web comics are not comic books at all. You can't trade them, collect them, resell them and they have no inherent value. It is like web baseball cards or web images of Rembrandt. They are nice but not the real thing. Without the standard form, the business is dead, and the art form is dead. It is already a niche market.

[DrewHLMW]

it's not exactly dying but they might need to switch to a new format.
Floppies cant support a $4 and $5 market and Marvel is pushing real hard to make $5 the norm for comics, that's simply insnane.

honestly going to a weekly/monthly anthology title like manga magazines in japan may be a better idea.

[kjn]

It is a folded booklet with three staples in it sold at Tijuana bible shops and other retailed around the globe. You asked, so I am responding. FWIW, glad I don't live in Sweden or Japan... particular Sweden which is a country roughly the size of nyc. I only mention this because it is held up as some example of what other countries and cultures should be like....(in this case about comics) but not for me.

Who said something about better, or emulation?

The way comics are sold in the USA is a historical quirk based on internal and external market factors, political interventions (or fear of political interventions), cultural biases, personal preferences, and sheer chance. Just as it is in Sweden or Japan.

The most likely cause for the American comics industry to disappear would be that it refused to change.

[mrbrklyn]

it's not exactly dying but they might need to switch to a new format.
Floppies cant support a $4 and $5 market and Marvel is pushing real hard to make $5 the norm for comics, that's simply insnane.

honestly going to a weekly/monthly anthology title like manga magazines in japan may be a better idea.

An anthology might be a good idea and they started out with that format, and it changed over time to a single story in a single issue.

[mrbrklyn]

Who said something about better, or emulation?

The way comics are sold in the USA is a historical quirk based on internal and external market factors, political interventions (or fear of political interventions), cultural biases, personal preferences, and sheer chance. Just as it is in Sweden or Japan.

The most likely cause for the American comics industry to disappear would be that it refused to change.

well, it has changed quite dramatically. These are now glossy magazines. I think my main concern is access. Access has always been the stranglehold on comics and it continues to be so. The subscription model was nearly 500K strong for a large number of golden age titles. That is probably shot as well as they handed that off the to Local Comics Shops and there pull lists.

[dancj]

IMO, web comics are not comic books at all. You can't trade them, collect them, resell them and they have no inherent value. It is like web baseball cards or web images of Rembrandt. They are nice but not the real thing. Without the standard form, the business is dead, and the art form is dead. It is already a niche market.

That's like saying that digital music isn't really music - or Netflix isn't really TV.

I love physical comics and am not going digital any time soon, but there's a very real chance that going digital will be necessary for the industry to survive.

[comicscollector]

I am going to say that if the comic book industry stood the competition of Electronic Video Games,VHS Cartoons,DVD Cartoons,Anime,whatever trends of specific years as Pokémon,Magic the Gathering in many decades it´s not now that the comic book industry will not survive.
Especially now with the super heroes movies being the most popular they ever had been.

[abulafia]

monthly books lost me when marvel switched to glossy stock. before it was reserved to graphic novels. i worked a lot as a teenager and had a huge pull list. as far as i remember, they doubled prices. mhhh, maybe not, but it was a significant increase. i also loved vailiant at the time which was also more expensive, and when marvel prices exploded, i decided motorbikes and girls were a better way to spend my money.
i still pick up something here and there, but i am not even close to my the amounts of my old pull list.

imho marvel universe is dead. everything after onslaught is "what if.." in my personal canon. can´t milk the cow forever. good things need to have an end

[Speed Force League Unlimited]

From comichorn


Comic-book Title: Return of Wolverine
Issue: 1
Price On sale: $4.99
Publisher: Marvel
Est. units: 260,410



If an issue of Wolverine can sell this many copies, you shouldn't worry about comics being a dying industry. Sales will drop and rise as the business keeps running, but it won't die.

[mrbrklyn]

That's like saying that digital music isn't really music -

It is not like saying that at all. It is completely unrelated.

[skyvolt2000]

From comichorn

Comic-book Title: Return of Wolverine
Issue: 1
Price On sale: $4.99
Publisher: Marvel
Est. units: 260,410

If an issue of Wolverine can sell this many copies, you shouldn't worry about comics being a dying industry. Sales will drop and rise as the business keeps running, but it won't die.

That is books ordered.

The question is how many got bought at that price VERSUS a bin sale or warehouse sale.

I see that number and guess what? That is a book I will NOT buy at cover price. Because I KNOW someone will have it WAY cheaper if I wait and that includes Ebay, used book stores and even some comic book stores.

Books like that pack bins way too much than the constantly targeted books like Moon Girl or Ms Marvel. While it might sell HALF of that 260K-it will still leave a large unsold group.

I went to a Warehouse sale for Half Price books today-guess what current DC rebirth books were there in bulk-Green Lantern & Hal Jordan & TGLC. And from what I understand they came from a comic book store trying to get rid of access stock and they happen to be the most recent series there. ANd NOBODY was touching them.