future of comics

[LP22]

As long as DC and Marvel are backed up by big companies it will survive but if the direction the industry took this decade won't change they will only serve as IP farms.

[Digifiend]

Comics? I imagine a lot more is going to be going on there than whats approved by the comics code authority *wink*


There's a market for comics as manga exists and is doing pretty well. I hear that dc recently got bought by At&t or... some such. I should have paid more attention.

The thing is... there will be change. Thats the only constant. Before comics there were pulp books from long ago. For a while cheap kids entertainment was a thing, and now they're something else.

I'm certain that they'll be sometime else again, but if you're asking will things always be the way they are with DC and Marvel doing what they're doing now. Probably not.

Already I an avid reader has switched over to DC's sub service (though I mean to quit, I bought it for swamp thing) and spend less than ever on paper books, but there are a lot of ideas here stories worth selling.

AT&T didn't buy Warner for the comic books.

[Marblocks]

Maybe the monthly issues will die out. Or they'll be digital first. But DC characters will always exist in comic form somehow.

[skyvolt2000]

If by "comics" you mean "monthly 20+ page superhero stories that are primarily sold in specialty stores", then yes, I can see comics ending. They are too expensive, too impenetrable, and too difficult to purchase.

OTOH, if you mean the medium of comics, as opposed to the narrow genres promulgated by the Big Two, then I would say that things are better than ever. As of this post, 3 of the top 10 best-selling books of any kind on Amazon are comics (and 3 of those are in the top 5). But they aren't superhero comics…

Bingo.

And at other times the top sellers are not books starring who the entitlement community likes.

I remember on Amazon the top 100 selling books with females were from Jane Foster, Ms Marvel, Carol & Vampirella. One time Shuri was outselling every DC title not named Heroes in Crisis.

There's generally a pattern in the habits that these prophets of doom display as well. Typically, fans that constantly try to predict the imminent collapse of DC tend to be ones with a perpetual personal grudge. They don't like DC's current direction or it's treatment of their favourite character therefore 'We're doomed!'. It's like they actively want the whole enterprise to come crashing down just to justify their own sense of entitlement and resentment.

Entitlement fans nor comicsgate can't stop the ability to get a book at a LOWER price.

Blaming Zoey Quinn or Gabby Rivera or whatever SJW writer you want-can't stop that.

A store I go to did a $1 all issues before November sale for 7 days.
Guess what I saw NOBODY was running in there to get those books.
A sale they Heavily promoted.
A sale that included VARIANTS-some that are going for blood money on Ebay.
If you wanted to try a book-this was your sale.
Books in MINT shape.
It was a bust.
If there was EVER a shot to get new readers and get nice looking variants.
That says there is an issue.

Also excuse Wally and other comic book fans who are sick and tired of seeing their favorites trashed.
Asking for a well done book with a POC (*who is NOT wearing someone else's outfit) is not entitlement. It's called you need to compete with everyone else who is doing it.
It's one thing to compete with Miles Morales but it's another when you have to face Bitter Root, Black, Goldie Vance and Wicked & Divine.
There is a consequence to poor management.
It's called "if you want my MONEY-you have to EARN it. Badly done books don't get my money."
If building up Hal means trashing the rest of the Lanterns-don't expect those fans to support the franchise.

[superduperman]

I think it depends on how much people are still willing to pay for floppies. We're already up to nearly $5.00 a book now. I doubt even most fans will be willing to pay that much for one book. I predict that AT&T, or whoever owns them by then, will phase out floppies sometime within the next decade. Things like OGNs and out of continuity stuff will still be published. At least until maybe the middle of the century. If that. I think it also depends on how many times DC reboots themselves. If we're looking at yet another hard reboot, we could be looking at severe decline in sales. I think it also will depend on if AT&T still wants a publishing arm or if their number crunchers decide that it's just more profitable to use the characters as an IP farmhouse for things like movies and TV shows. Keep in mind, stuff like Black Label are mostly just limited series. So it makes sense to invest in that since the risk is minimal and creatively they can do more with it. What is the price ceiling for floppies? This is what AT&T has to ask themselves.

[Lee Stone]

I think it depends on how much people are still willing to pay for floppies. We're already up to nearly $5.00 a book now. I doubt even most fans will be willing to pay that much for one book. I predict that AT&T, or whoever owns them by then, will phase out floppies sometime within the next decade. Things like OGNs and out of continuity stuff will still be published. At least until maybe the middle of the century. If that. I think it also depends on how many times DC reboots themselves. If we're looking at yet another hard reboot, we could be looking at severe decline in sales. I think it also will depend on if AT&T still wants a publishing arm or if their number crunchers decide that it's just more profitable to use the characters as an IP farmhouse for things like movies and TV shows. Keep in mind, stuff like Black Label are mostly just limited series. So it makes sense to invest in that since the risk is minimal and creatively they can do more with it. What is the price ceiling for floppies? This is what AT&T has to ask themselves.

I agree.

I think something to consider is the future of self-published and indie comics. Things driven more by creativity than by dollars.

If indie creators move more to Print-on-Demand, webcomics, animation shorts and other internet-based distributions because it gives a larger audience with less cost, while giving readers cheaper and more accessible content, the big companies will follow suit to exploit it and 'do it better'.
Especially if they see that it works.

[CTTT]

Marvel will be ok, they feature all of their characters in some capacity. While over at DC, Dumbo Dan, Bob Harris, and Jim Lee will run it into the ground with character preferences, character assassinations, and Batman, Batman, Batman!

[Flash Gordon]

Comics are in a new golden age. There's really something for everyone out there.

Superhero comics are in the decline, which is probably a good thing. They'll survive, they just won't be the primary thing in the mainstream American market.

I think DC Comics will be fine. They seem to be really invested in diversifying their lines in real ways. I think Marvel Comics will end at some point, though. That's become an IP farm that can just continue in a different capacity.

[My Two Cents]

The irony is even if comics become a thing of the
Past, in the far distant future if civilization
Ceases to exist and the plant goes on
There will be thousands of protected books
Books waiting to be discovered by some
Alien explorer

[Gaastra]

We have been talking about this here also.

https://community.cbr.com/showthread...perhero-Comics!

Also looks like dc is now aiming for the smile/ lumberjanes young adult crowd.

https://www.bleedingcool.com/2019/11...-gretel-lusky/

Ashley Rayburn is an upbeat girl with a decidedly downbeat past. Her father is a known criminal who once used Ashley to help him elude justice, and in his attempt to escape, a life was taken. He now sits in federal prison, but still casts a shadow over Ashley’s life. In the meantime, Ashley has bounced from foster home to foster home and represents a real challenge to the social workers who try to help her–not because she’s inherently bad, but because trouble always seems to find her.

Ashley’s latest set of presumably short-term foster parents are Kitch and Yuka Nolan. Like Ashley, Kitch happens to be an artist. Yuka, on the other hand, is a geneticist working for a very high-level tech company, one that’s contracted out to work for the government and the military. And it’s Yuka’s latest top secret project that has her very concerned. Developed for the military, it’s a set of body paints that, when applied to the wearer, grant them a wide range of special powers. Fearful that this invention will be misused, Yuka sneaks the set of paints home, substituting a dummy suitcase with an ordinary set of paints in their place.

From here, signals get crossed. Ashley comes home from school one day with her new friend Luke and, thinking that the Nolans have purchased a surprise gift for her upcoming birthday, finds the set of paints. Being an artist, Ashley naturally assumes these are for her. It isn’t long before she realizes that she’s stumbled upon something much bigger and a lot more dangerous. Although she uses her newly discovered powers for good, it’s not long before the military becomes wise to what happened to their secret weapon. And this spells big trouble not only for Ashley, but for her newfound family and friends as well.

[IMG][/IMG]

[Godlike13]

Joker made a billion dollars, they aren’t going anywhere. They are property farms.

[Vampire Savior]

What we should really be asking is if Diamond and comic book shops are going to go anywhere, and when. They will likely be the ones that disappear, not DC. DC will likely just eventually change.

[Buried Alien]

Exactly. Comic books in general, not just DC, have apparently been on borrowed time for as long as I can remember, certainly stretching back decades. There comes a point where you just grow numb to the constant fear mongering.

There's generally a pattern in the habits that these prophets of doom display as well. Typically, fans that constantly try to predict the imminent collapse of DC tend to be ones with a perpetual personal grudge. They don't like DC's current direction or it's treatment of their favourite character therefore 'We're doomed!'. It's like they actively want the whole enterprise to come crashing down just to justify their own sense of entitlement and resentment.

Saying all that, there will certainly be some kind of 'day of reckoning' for the direct market at some stage in the future as it's business model grows increasingly obsolete. Of that there's no doubt. I'm pretty sure that DC will survive at that time in some shape or form.

Marvel will be ok, they feature all of their characters in some capacity. While over at DC, Dumbo Dan, Bob Harris, and Jim Lee will run it into the ground with character preferences, character assassinations, and Batman, Batman, Batman!

Affirmation upon demand, Willie.

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

[Aahz]

Maybe the monthly issues will die out. Or they'll be digital first. But DC characters will always exist in comic form somehow.

I wouldn't be surprised if the market would shift from floppies to trade paper backs (especially if the direct market collapses), and if DC starts to publish more high profile out of continuity graphic novels.

[Omniscient1]

Comics will live on. THere is a growing market in Graphic Novels and not just the stitching togather of 6 monthly comins into a re-release but true novels in graphic form, ironically kicked off by Dark Knight and Watchmen, two books routed in super heroes. (Plus some others, notably Maus of course).

Monthly comic fiction - now thats a thought, too expensive, too much 'padding - esp now DC are publishing fortnightly, and too violent - where are the comics designed to pick up younger readers and bring them in? Most kids I know (and I have some that live in the same house as me) love the movies, but when presented with a comic book (and come on, a publication 20 pages long full of pictures) its not engaging, its tone is different. So I think the periodical comic book with just wither and die, we will all tire of 'specials' and tie-ins as cynical.low qualty ways to get us to spend money.
What is needed is a rethink or reboot (and I dont mean in the way of the Rebirth or New 52). The only comparison I can think of is compare the output of Disney Animation after the man himself died up to before little Mermaid, it comprehensively lost its way. Then look at post-Lion King Disney. They realised something had to be done and did it.
I think the comic book industry has to do something similar, better art, better scripts, less variations, I don't know, but as someone has said it will just become a licensing house otherwise.