Conway: Cancel every existing superhero comic

[ed2962]

One thing that's funny is that DC actually did try publish exclusive comics for Walmart and the Comic Book Store owners threw a fit!

[Adam Allen]

With the way that the MCU movies have just dominated in the box office in recent years, and the way that modern technology has allowed for comics characters and stories to be adapted to things like video games and the many various streaming options, I think it's easy to sort of forget how much comic books were really a pretty niche thing for most of the time the superhero characters have existed. Even still in the 90s, prior to the first X-Men movie and the first Spider-Man trilogy, while comics as an industry were enjoying what would be wild success for the medium, comics were still not viewed as being anything most adults would ever take serious, by most of mainstream culture.

I say this as someone who fell in love with reading comics as a kid in the 80s. This was going into what would be wild success for the genre, as the audience for comics evolved, because prior to the 70s and 80s, kids read comics and for the most part dropped them as they grew up. This necessarily limited how profitable comic books could ever be as an industry, given that it was reliant on the money kids would have available to spend. That changed when the fans kept reading, even as they grew older ... suddenly there were adults willing to put down hard earned cash for a growing number of titles, while brightly colored heroes in spandex with awesome super-powers still appealed to the kids the genre had initially been created for. Maybe moreso even, as updated printing technology produced books in better quality than had been available in prior decades.

But, that explosion of popularity and profit that comics saw by the 90s was inevitably not going to be sustainable. It only ever reached that pitch by some circumstance, and likewise circumstance has led to the more mainstream success and profit that we see today in movies, tv shows, video games and such. However, just as the progress of technology has helped our favorite characters reach ever wider audiences over the decades, the fact is that technology also has them competing with many, many other characters and concepts today, and the printed paper medium the genre was created in is unfortunately competing with computers and tablets with an infinite number of creators providing content for kids' attention these days ... so, in short, I don't think we should really place all the blame on faults in how creative the publishers are, or are not, if the young kids superheroes were initially created for are not flocking to the genre as their primary source of entertainment. Superman and Spider-Man were not created to compete with social media. I wouldn't even suggest they should aim to do so.

But look, some people read comic books in the 1950s, and supposing the world does not somehow end before then, I imagine some will in the 2050s, as well. They may not even be printed on paper anymore by then, but who knows. Anyway, people today still read the stories written well before any of us were born, so I don't think there's any reason to assume characters and concepts that have ultimately become as currently universal as superheroes will ever disappear completely ... but, I would be surprised if the future for comic books would likely be envisioned by someone from Conway's generation. Or my own, for that matter. Probably some kid making Tik-Tok videos will end up determining the future direction of comic books.

The direction of creativity and technology, ever forward, right?

[Kuro no Shinigami]

Comic books in printed forms are dinosours. Their best days are behind us. Quite frankly, they lasted much longer than I expected, and it is in a prolonged stage of disapearance. Probably not forever, but it is going to be even more niche than it is now. I don't know how limiting the superhero comic books to 5-10 titles will help the situation. What the big two are doing right now is exactly the only thing they can still do... Milk the situation for as long as they can.

One thing I feel some people refuse to accept is that, video games are a natural progresson of comic books. They replaced comic books. They aren't two different forms competing for the same prize. Comic books are hanging by a thread thanks to the nostalgia of an aging populace. (And few fanatics, of course). Video games offer all that comic books do plus more, because the players are involved in what they see. The next step in evolution is virtual entertainment, then who knows... Perhaps, a chip inplant in your brain?

Nothing lasts forever, and the only things that come back with a vengeance are viruses and diseases... The rest is residue.

Comic books especially superhero comics, in all formats are dinosaurs. They may be in competition with video games, but the other big competitors are manga, internet, cable TV, DVDs and Netflix.

In 1960's, when comic books were selling a bit highly, there were only three TV broadcasters; namely ABC, CBS and NBC. No video games. No VHS videos. No DVDs. No internet. No manga.

Nowadays, I still prefer manga to comic books, because of its abundantly diverse variety of genres. Not to mention that manga are in a cheaper format than comic books.

[The no face guy]

He is stating some of the things on distribution that I was on about 2 years ago in ....I think it's worth a try, but I've come to the conclusion comics are dying because....

1) They have become to expensive for young kids. In order to get full enjoyment, and to get kids hooked on comics they would have to be able to get 8 comics a month for under $25 dollars at least.
2) Comics have been dying for the same reason the music industry has been dying. People can download or stream them for free.

In terms of writing comics, as a twelve year old kid, I generally liked superhero comics that were written for young adults as opposed to kids, so I think writing comics for kids would be a mistake, if you want comics to survive you essentially have to...

1) expand the accessibility of the market digitally, 2) make them affordable for young readers 3) shut down illegal download and streaming sights.

The first two are something the industry can change, the last one...not so sure if that's possible, and maybe that's why AT&T is seeing the writing on the wall

[Crazy Diamond]

He is stating some of the things on distribution that I was on about 2 years ago in ....I think it's worth a try, but I've come to the conclusion comics are dying because....

1) They have become to expensive for young kids. In order to get full enjoyment, and to get kids hooked on comics they would have to be able to get 8 comics a month for under $25 dollars at least.
2) Comics have been dying for the same reason the music industry has been dying. People can download or stream them for free.

In terms of writing comics, as a twelve year old kid, I generally liked superhero comics that were written for young adults as opposed to kids, so I think writing comics for kids would be a mistake, if you want comics to survive you essentially have to...

1) expand the accessibility of the market digitally, 2) make them affordable for young readers 3) shut down illegal download and streaming sights.

The first two are something the industry can change, the last one...not so sure if that's possible, and maybe that's why AT&T is seeing the writing on the wall

1. There's trades and from my experience the kids I've encountered that read comics will buy trades on discount, used, or online. Also if you have access to a good library a lot of these comics can be read for free but that depends on where you're at. The problem begins when the spinoffs become better than the original source material. Growing up that wasn't the case. I liked shows like Batman: TAS, Spider-Man, Lois & Clark, and Savage Dragon but when I got to read the comics (which was rare tbf) it was like seeing the full picture rather than segments of it. A story like Knightfall was shocking at the time because I never thought that a villain could defeat Batman so throughly. The problem was with all the multiple titles at the time and the lack of trades there was no way to follow the whole story if you didn't go to the comic shop regularly and it didn't help that comics were fast disappearing from grocery stores and Wal-Marts.

2. If kids are able to read comics for free online that's a problem of distribution. Until DC and Marvel have better options for fans to read online and backup their digital downloads officially people are gonna go where they can. I'm not sure if Comixology is available outside of the United States though. Whether enough people know that's an option though I'm not sure. Come to think of it there aren't a lot of digital options for Marvel and DC comics. The only other ones I know of are Apple Books and Madefire.

3. Shutting down the download sites will only piss people off and make them not want to buy your product at all. What needs to happen is to provide a better solution than the free options. I'll use Nintendo for an example. They went out of their way to shut down sites like Emuparadise and LoveRoms but their 'legal' alternative is terrible in comparison. First you have to have a Switch. Then you have to sign up for Nintendo Switch Online. Then you have to wait for a drip feed of NES or SNES games (Virtual Console had WAY more variety) and there's no guarantee that they'll include games that weren't released in the United States. Then there's games that will never be on the service because they were licensed or their rights are tied up in copyright hell. ROM hacks or mods? You can forget that. In the end the roms are still available on multiple sites so at best they did the equivalent of a surgical strike that hit a target with barely anything in it.

In contrast, look at the PC. Multiple options to download games digitally and a few will even provide a physical copy for collectors (Limited Run Games). Are there still pirates? Yeah, but most people would rather have an easier way to access their games instead of risking malware or having to deal with the cease and desist from their ISP. Do your games carry over to a new machine? Yes and hell you can even play games going all the way back to the early 80s if you have an emulator (or just visit archive.org). Don't think there's any region lockouts either.

[The no face guy]

1. There's trades and from my experience the kids I've encountered that read comics will buy trades on discount, used, or online. Also if you have access to a good library a lot of these comics can be read for free but that depends on where you're at. The problem begins when the spinoffs become better than the original source material. Growing up that wasn't the case. I liked shows like Batman: TAS, Spider-Man, Lois & Clark, and Savage Dragon but when I got to read the comics (which was rare tbf) it was like seeing the full picture rather than segments of it. A story like Knightfall was shocking at the time because I never thought that a villain could defeat Batman so throughly. The problem was with all the multiple titles at the time and the lack of trades there was no way to follow the whole story if you didn't go to the comic shop regularly and it didn't help that comics were fast disappearing from grocery stores and Wal-Marts.

2. If kids are able to read comics for free online that's a problem of distribution. Until DC and Marvel have better options for fans to read online and backup their digital downloads officially people are gonna go where they can. I'm not sure if Comixology is available outside of the United States though. Whether enough people know that's an option though I'm not sure. Come to think of it there aren't a lot of digital options for Marvel and DC comics. The only other ones I know of are Apple Books and Madefire.

3. Shutting down the download sites will only piss people off and make them not want to buy your product at all. What needs to happen is to provide a better solution than the free options. I'll use Nintendo for an example. They went out of their way to shut down sites like Emuparadise and LoveRoms but their 'legal' alternative is terrible in comparison. First you have to have a Switch. Then you have to sign up for Nintendo Switch Online. Then you have to wait for a drip feed of NES or SNES games (Virtual Console had WAY more variety) and there's no guarantee that they'll include games that weren't released in the United States. Then there's games that will never be on the service because they were licensed or their rights are tied up in copyright hell. ROM hacks or mods? You can forget that. In the end the roms are still available on multiple sites so at best they did the equivalent of a surgical strike that hit a target with barely anything in it.

In contrast, look at the PC. Multiple options to download games digitally and a few will even provide a physical copy for collectors (Limited Run Games). Are there still pirates? Yeah, but most people would rather have an easier way to access their games instead of risking malware or having to deal with the cease and desist from their ISP. Do your games carry over to a new machine? Yes and hell you can even play games going all the way back to the early 80s if you have an emulator (or just visit archive.org). Don't think there's any region lockouts either.

Good points, I don't think you will ever be able to shut down free streaming sights, because most of them have offshore accounts, and are probably running outside of U.S jurisdiction.

Older teenagers in particular aren't going to pay if they find out they can easily go to so and so site and read it for free, so your right it's a problem of distribution. It's easy and more convienant to go to a site where you read comics for free, whereas with DC in particular and consequently Marvel now as well, your unable to directly download a digital comic for the website, you have to go to a third party like Amazon, sign in, hope they have the issue in digital and than go through the motions of downloading.

I don't think DC or Marvel would do this because it would uproot the industry alltogether, but it would be nice if you just paid a flat fee every month to read a certain amount of comics directly off of Marvel's or DC's website. They could have different packages for different amounts, but...

I like the idea of playing a flat fee every month where is automatically comes off my credit card like Netflix, and I don't have to think about it. If you have kids you could make a seperate account for them to, and have them go back to the days of silent reading in a bedroom for hours.

[skyvolt2000]

Shutting down the download sites will only piss people off and make them not want to buy your product at all.

If wasn't for those free sites there would be tons of books I would have never read.

Like Scalped, Savage Dragon or some of the books from Scout Comics-because the few stores I go to didn't carry them.

Books that in many cases I went back and got the trades or what I could find.

Not my fault Savage Dragon 100-192 was NOT sold in any stores near me.

Heck I didn't know Sam Alexander was Nova-because I never saw his book until 2016.

They have become to expensive for young kids. In order to get full enjoyment, and to get kids hooked on comics they would have to be able to get 8 comics a month for under $25 dollars at least.

Do stand alone single issue stories.

Like Crazy Diamond I have seen kids go after bins and bargains.

What I have seen is kid DESTROY bins not for Batman or who so many hold up as ICONS-it was Falcon, Fantastic Four, GL Kyle, Static and others that many don't care for.

[MyriVerse]

Kids 100% aren’t going to be reading comic books nowadays

Kids 100% weren't reading back in the day, either. Some did and some will.

My daughter loved the heck out of Runaways when she was 10-12. Couldn't get her to read a Spider-Man or Avengers book.

[Kuro no Shinigami]

In the 1940's, television was in infancy, people could listen to radio, go to theater or read comic books. You could also go to ball games or amusement parks. there used to be a few forms of entertainment. At the price of ten cents, Comic books are the cheapest form of entertainment. American people's support for America's entry into WWII helped comic books sell a lot. Kids, who were eager to join the war but too underage to be allowed to enlist, bought Anti-Axis comic books to provide them with entertainment.

That is one of the reasons why it is called Golden Age of Comics.

[mathew101281]

Manga is simply a more efficent form of comic. Each title is self sufficient ( you don't have to be knowledgable of a whole universe to understand them, and you dont have to buy five other titles to get the full story.

[Kirby101]

Manga is simply a more efficent form of comic. Each title is self sufficient ( you don't have to be knowledgable of a whole universe to understand them, and you dont have to buy five other titles to get the full story.

There are boatloads of comics from every publisher but the Big Two that are exactly like that.

[MyriVerse]

Manga is simply a more efficent form of comic. Each title is self sufficient ( you don't have to be knowledgable of a whole universe to understand them, and you dont have to buy five other titles to get the full story.

That's the main reason manga can't ever interest me much.

[Scott Taylor]

Here's the solution - you have to make comics into forbidden fruit. Make parents hate them and not understand them. Then kids will then seek them out.

[mathew101281]

That's the main reason manga can't ever interest me much.

But its also the reason why its selling well. Its simply an easier product to sell. Modern superhero comics simply have to many points of potential confusion. three and four different characters with the some name. Multiple continuities going on at the same time. You could probably get away with one or two of these things, but all of them together are a mess. Publishers should be making comics easier to read not harder.