The beginning of the end of floppies?

[skyvolt2000]

Really Marvel and DC should ditch floppies, make YA graphic novels that are self-contained but feature their most popular characters and are not connected to universes that have been around for decades.

Who defines that?

Because some will take that as code word for "straight white male" only.
So what would you do with all those POC, LGBTQ & women?

Because when I have looked at sales of trades on Amazon-I have Batman books beaten SOUNDLY by Shuri, Ms Marvel, Vampirella, Red Sonja, manga and others. Before that Raven OGN came out-not one book from DC Rebirth was in the top 100 of books for teens.

You would lose more readers if you limit it to Batman and his entitled friends. I can go to ANY of my city (and school) libraries and see those books collecting DUST. Meanwhile there is a waiting list for Ms Marvel, Squirrel Girl, Wonder Twins, various books from Lion Forge & Boom. And READ to death Static Shock and Miles Morales trades.

Also even if you did a variety of OGN-you still have yet another issue that comic book stores at times tend to avoid. Shelf space and access.

Depending on where you live (mind you) some titles won't sniff a psychical store shelf.

I can go to Barnes & Nobles or Target or (SOME) Wal-Marts and get Raven's OGN. I couldn't do that with a LOT of books especially those starring POC. Imagine having Black Lightning or Cyborg on tv and you have to online order the trades. Yet you see Motor Crush, Spawn & Michael Cray on shelves.

For a lot of folks are IMPULSE buyers. They have to see it and get it right there and then.

Maybe a better solution would be Digests like Archie. Do a variety of stories and later on put out a trade of individuals.

[superduperman]

I'm embarrassed to say I kind of forgot I made this thread. Lot of good discussions here about where comics are headed and why. Here's my personal theory: Ongoings will convert to all digital sometime in the next decade or two just due to price. Trades and special series will still be print. So if you want a creator to sign something at a convention you will still have something. As far as manga goes, I think to some degree it's a matter of variety. Manga does way more types of stories than American comics. Whereas American comics are still largely super-heroes. Superhero comics are still seen as mostly "boys" comics. Manga has a larger appeal among girls because they're more geared to specific tastes. They are also usually finite. As opposed to having to feel like you have to buy a title forever. What this means for superhero comics remains to be seen but my theory is that they will do more with manga just to reach younger readers. Think Batman and the Justice League. DC has had a lot of success with their YA line. Although I have no idea if they will do this, I think things like the Wal-Mart books that are more stand alone, out of continuity stories are a good idea and hopefully will become more common. Marvel had something similar about ten years ago with their Adventures line. These are good for more casual readers. Provided they don't do a bunch of ongoing stories.

[kjn]

No disagreements on that the floppies are on the way out.

As for the popularity of manga, you can find it in Europe as well, but the European comics industry is arguably in a better place due to much wider distribution networks and a wider variety of genres.

DC has had a lot of success with Ink and Zoom, but I'm worried about office infighting, since they decided to lessen the output from the DC Young line "in order to market them properly".

As the the DC Giants, they're apparently filled with serials. To some degree that's OK, and good writers can write good stories that are both serialised and reasonably standalone, but creatively they seem like a pinch from the old block.

[Gaastra]

Video of comic shop talks about comic shops today.