Are teenagers not reading X-Men as much as they used to?

[jwatson]

The problem is the comic shops and access. Can anyone pull up a quick google of the location of comic shops in comparison to things like transportation, schools, easily walk able system, the non reliance of a parent having to take them and then like why would a teen want to go hang out a comic shop with a bunch of 40 and 50 year olds at the comic shop unless they had a group of friends themselves to go with. It's not a simple matter as the question is stating. Are comic shops and comic creators really reaching out to teens? I don't see how they can be if their whole mentality is always back to basics and the basics were 80 years ago.

This industry assumes modern teens want to read what the old industry thought was popular while the old guard fences out new material and change.

[Omega Alpha]

No, but neither are adults. The business model at Marvel/DC is massively outdated and they show no real interest in change.

Besides, there's no cartoons to generate interest in children, who will later read the comics.

[jwatson]

Then there is also the absolute joke of what the industry did during covid well what marvel did. instead of using it as an excuse to push the future and digital and it's digital brand etc, the powers that be doubled down and did a whole 180. Now mind you teens are some of the last ones to get vaccinated so in what sense could the industry be trying to cultivate a market that was for all intents and purposes stuck in the house. By pimping digital comics to them to read at home? of course not.

Heck i will even throw a freebee. How hard would it had been to partner with schools doing at home learning for a campaign or something for digital comics. After a long day of classes. "take a break with Marvel..." i mean it markets itself.

[ZuLuLu]

No, but neither are adults. The business model at Marvel/DC is massively outdated and they show no real interest in change.

Besides, there's no cartoons to generate interest in children, who will later read the comics.

Exactly, while there are other reasons why manga has surpassed comics in sales, a major driving force behind manga success is anime adaption.

Just look at Invincible, how a cartoon affects the sales of a comic.

[Jackraow21]

At this point the comics are just a big writers lab for movies and streamers/shows. Their publishing sales to Disney are immaterial AF.

[jwatson]

At this point the comics are just a big writers lab for movies and streamers/shows. Their publishing sales to Disney are immaterial AF.

Which is cylindrical in of itself. marvel doesn't care about sales, but they do care about sales. So basically if they aren't looking to expand disney is only mining information about what's popular among the same group of people who have quite a bit of control in what is presented as "popular. i mean if marvel is okay just being a home of ideas and everyones dream is a break at disney that is cool it is what it is but that does sort of kill the argument about sales being the reason characters aren't given a chance.

[jwatson]

The payment system is also a problem too. Like at some point some merchants need to eat the merchant fee. How many teens in 2022 are walking around with cash. Example i went into a comic shop and bought two comics because i wanted the physical copies for the art, when i went to the counter i was going to use debit and was told in order to use that it was a 10 dollar minimum so i left because for me it was like i literally already own these online and only wanted physical copies but i digress. Most teens have debit cards etc and as stated before finite funds so what are the odds a kid who saw one comic and rushed in to buy it like the days of yore may change their mind if their told they need to buy two more. Or are we expecting teens to stop by the atm before going to comic shops too.

[Omega Alpha]

Disney might not care that much about comic sales, but I'm pretty sure the people at Marvel comics do, or at least are supposed to.

[The Overlord]

No, but neither are adults. The business model at Marvel/DC is massively outdated and they show no real interest in change.

Besides, there's no cartoons to generate interest in children, who will later read the comics.

But there will be, X-Men 97. Now that Disney owns X-Men completely, they will extract as much profit as they can from it.

The success of the MCU shows that super heroes are still popular with kids, it's the comic book format that no longer works. Kids would rather consume other media with these characters than read them in comics.

[CrimsonEchidna]

Straight up part of the issue is access and no location for teens to be drawn to. I'll be honest the politics of Krakoa for teens is not interesting what would be is a book around a group who has powers and can do cool things. Its why the school I think works far better than the mutation nation.

I know the finale changed the perception around it, but once upon a time Game of Thrones was one of the most popular and discussed shows in pop culture.

No, but neither are adults. The business model at Marvel/DC is massively outdated and they show no real interest in change.

Besides, there are no cartoons to generate interest in children, who will later read the comics.

And this is it. It's beating a dead horse at this point, but in this day in age where you can sub to service like Shonen Jump for $2 a month it really shines a light on how outdated the current comic book landscape really is. A single 20-page story released one month at a time is not enough to sustain interest in this day in age to stay engaged in the medium.

[ChronoRogue]

My Hero Academia being one of the most popular manga and it being a superhero anime where some kids inherit powers and others do not, moment.

[Rev9]

What is the real intent of the question? If it's a question of demographics then I don't know if a study/survey has been done to get the answer or trend. In a digital age ,presumably no as comic material is more readily available. However if the answer is a definite yes, then the question is why? Seems to me like asking such a question presumes a worry about falling comic sales despite claims of good business. Perhaps the publishers are worried about a downward trend? My guess is it's inevitable because of recycling stories or characters ,which loses the novelty factor and with each generation there seems to be a craving for something new, unique to a degree that is detrimental to an industry that is inherently typical. Though maybe there could be sounder, more 'empirical' reasons.

[Habis]

I'm honestly seeing less and less teenagers reading X-Men nowadays. I know they exist, but among teen Marvel comic readers even the Champions resonates more with them.

Is it just me?

I don't think teens read comics at all...

[Kingdom X]

Another barrier (to new readers in general but especially teen readers) is gatekeeping. Comics are full of jumping on points but if you don’t have in-depth knowledge of every X-book that’s come out since ANAD you’re not a “real fan”. There aren’t many people who want to join a community where they’ll be constantly lectured on comics that came out decades before they were born all while trying to keep up with the dozen books coming out now.

[Wiccan]

I think there's a lot of teenage readers on twitter.

Thing is, they pirate it. Especially if they're not from the US.