Thoughts On How To Save Comics

[hyped78]

I am surprised to hear that comic books are struggling. I used to read comic books when I was a kid, went on a long hiatus (I don’t really know why but life got in the way) and I started to buy, read and collect again because the MCU movies sparked my interest in it. I imagine it has been the same for many other people - MCU movies creating or “reactivating” new customers - so what has happened in the meantime?

[CaptainEurope]

I just spent a few days in France, and the comic book stores are thriving. Also huge comic book sections in most bookstores.

[hyped78]

I just spent a few days in France, and the comic book stores are thriving. Also huge comic book sections in most bookstores.

Paris? I went last year to an area close to the Quartier Latin that had tons of comic book stores, mixing US comics and European comics, as well as board games stores

[Gaastra]

France didn't have dimwits leaders burning comics and setting up codes to kill comics for adults and start the "comics are for kids" stereotype that america had hurting comics here for generations to come!

Heck in america at one point back than comic outsold books! Japan and europe the comic industry there was allowed to grow and not be just "kids only" stuff teachers yanked from kids at school than telling them to read a book after just telling them not to read a book back than! Today some kids graphic novels are part of school reading lists!

Today comics are getting better with trades and manga in stores and book fairs at least but nowhere near japan or europe. Floppies on the other hand--when is the last time you saw a kid walking around with a floppy in public? I have seen kids with dragonball, demon slayer and big nate trades. Never a floopy.

[ed2962]

I am surprised to hear that comic books are struggling. I used to read comic books when I was a kid, went on a long hiatus (I don’t really know why but life got in the way) and I started to buy, read and collect again because the MCU movies sparked my interest in it. I imagine it has been the same for many other people - MCU movies creating or “reactivating” new customers - so what has happened in the meantime?

In America, comics have been working themselves into a precarious position for years now. I'm old enough to remember a time when it was common to see mainstream comics in drugstores, grocery stores, newsstands...wherever. But then in the mid 80's the switch to the "direct market" specialty shops became the main way to distribute comics. That was fine for a while but we've had a couple of boom/bust cycles and not every area these days has well stocked comic book stores. I'm middle aged man with a job living in a world class city, so I have several options to access comics. But a 14yr old living in the 21st century in a rural area getting money from an allowance or part time job...I'm not sure that person would even know where to start a comic collecting hobby.

Someone I'm friends with on You Tube told a story about how he would give nieces and nephews when they where really young reprints of older comics ( that were more wholesome ) and then when they became teens he gave them new comics ( he felt they could handle the edgier material ) and they were surprised that new stories were still being made with these characters. They thought that comics were this old form of media that Hollywood would occasionally make movies from.

Plus these days the business model is kinda messed up. Marvel/DC aren't selling to the end user, they're selling to the stores.

[Zauriel]

I read a few Japanese comic book anthology magazines that contain an anthology of several manga by various creators. The paper quality was newsprint and the format/size of the anthology magazine was as big as that of a US comic book. I read not only some shounen anthologies such as Weekly Shōnen Jump but also seinen anthologies such as Weekly Young Jump. (seinen is for adult men while shounen is for young boys).

In a seinen manga anthology magazine called Young Champion, I saw not only various manga series but also pinups of pretty attractive women, sometimes scantily clad, occasionally nude). I bought and owned a couple of seinen magazines.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weekly_Young_Jump

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weekly_Shōnen_Jump

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Young_Champion

I was thinking, Maybe the US comic book publishers should try to insert pinups of semi-nude or nude women in their comic books to attract sales. The majority of comic book fanbase are grown-up adult men, so it should be fine, right? They can also slap a rating system on the comic books to prevent minors from buying the comic books.

Playboy magazine, a magazine that prints articles devoted to men's interests, also printed pinups of nude women.

[ed2962]

I read a few Japanese comic book anthology magazines that contain an anthology of several manga by various creators. The paper quality was newsprint and the format/size of the anthology magazine was as big as that of a US comic book. I read not only some shounen anthologies such as Weekly Shōnen Jump but also seinen anthologies such as Weekly Young Jump. (seinen is for adult men while shounen is for young boys).

In a seinen manga anthology magazine called Young Champion, I saw not only various manga series but also pinups of pretty attractive women, sometimes scantily clad, occasionally nude). I bought and owned a couple of seinen magazines.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weekly_Young_Jump

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weekly_Shōnen_Jump

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Young_Champion

I was thinking, Maybe the US comic book publishers should try to insert pinups of semi-nude or nude women in their comic books to attract sales. The majority of comic book fanbase are grown-up adult men, so it should be fine, right? They can also slap a rating system on the comic books to prevent minors from buying the comic books.

Playboy magazine, a magazine that prints articles devoted to men's interests, also printed pinups of nude women.

You're joking right...?

[Mister Mets]

I read a few Japanese comic book anthology magazines that contain an anthology of several manga by various creators. The paper quality was newsprint and the format/size of the anthology magazine was as big as that of a US comic book. I read not only some shounen anthologies such as Weekly Shōnen Jump but also seinen anthologies such as Weekly Young Jump. (seinen is for adult men while shounen is for young boys).

In a seinen manga anthology magazine called Young Champion, I saw not only various manga series but also pinups of pretty attractive women, sometimes scantily clad, occasionally nude). I bought and owned a couple of seinen magazines.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weekly_Young_Jump

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weekly_Shōnen_Jump

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Young_Champion

I was thinking, Maybe the US comic book publishers should try to insert pinups of semi-nude or nude women in their comic books to attract sales. The majority of comic book fanbase are grown-up adult men, so it should be fine, right? They can also slap a rating system on the comic books to prevent minors from buying the comic books.

Playboy magazine, a magazine that prints articles devoted to men's interests, also printed pinups of nude women.

It's not exactly difficult for men to find photos of nude or scantily clad women online.

[Catlady in training]

I was thinking, Maybe the US comic book publishers should try to insert pinups of semi-nude or nude women in their comic books to attract sales. The majority of comic book fanbase are grown-up adult men, so it should be fine, right? They can also slap a rating system on the comic books to prevent minors from buying the comic books.

Playboy magazine, a magazine that prints articles devoted to men's interests, also printed pinups of nude women.

Because the US comics don't have a strong enough history of sexism and haven't tried for years now to encourage more women to read them despite the gatekeeping in fandom. Right?

[mathew101281]

American comics business model is all kinds of messed up.

1. The business is dominated by two mega companies that don’t really care about comics at all.
2. One genre dominates the medium.
3. The major characters in said genre are treated more like corporate IP than interesting characters. So changes are few and far between, and the few that happen are usually undone.

I felt there was a time when the early 2000’s when the current model could have evolved into something more healthy. But the big two pretty much ignored the manga model, and only half heartedly tried the digital model. You just have to look at the manga industry to see what an actual healthy financially viable comic Industry would look like.

[Zauriel]

It's not exactly difficult for men to find photos of nude or scantily clad women online.

That must be why Playboy stopped publication of its magazine and went to digital instead a while ago.

You're joking right...?

Yes, I am joking. 20 pages of comic book art and 10 pages of pin-up photos in one book is a great way to boost sales? Yes, I am joking.

[CaptainEurope]

American comics business model is all kinds of messed up.

1. The business is dominated by two mega companies that don’t really care about comics at all.
2. One genre dominates the medium.
3. The major characters in said genre are treated more like corporate IP than interesting characters. So changes are few and far between, and the few that happen are usually undone.

I felt there was a time when the early 2000’s when the current model could have evolved into something more healthy. But the big two pretty much ignored the manga model, and only half heartedly tried the digital model. You just have to look at the manga industry to see what an actual healthy financially viable comic Industry would look like.

DC has Black Label and Marvel does tons of alternate universe stuff. There are tons of very interesting stories told about those characters. Why does it matter if those are in "official continuity"?

[Mister Mets]

That must be why Playboy stopped publication of its magazine and went to digital instead a while ago.



Yes, I am joking. 20 pages of comic book art and 10 pages of pin-up photos in one book is a great way to boost sales? Yes, I am joking.

From my understanding, Playboy's brand is not exactly at its peak.

There may be some kind of opportunity for an anthology or something geared towards young men.

It would be a somewhat delicate project, since it could very easily attract a fanbase of rabid assholes (assuming it's not a flop given that it's a comic with added costs of paying several models per issue.)

It will turn off quite a few female readers, as well as guys who find this kind of stuff gross, so it's not something that fits most existing brands. But it could work as its own thing.

It is worth remembering that for years Fantagraphics essentially subsidized their arthouse comics with porn from the Eros line. Only when they got the rights to Peanuts were they financially solvent without that.

[Username taken]

It's not exactly difficult for men to find photos of nude or scantily clad women online.

Exactly.

It's stuff men can get for free now.

But the poster was joking, so no issues here.

[Username taken]

American comics business model is all kinds of messed up.

1. The business is dominated by two mega companies that don’t really care about comics at all.
2. One genre dominates the medium.
3. The major characters in said genre are treated more like corporate IP than interesting characters. So changes are few and far between, and the few that happen are usually undone.

I felt there was a time when the early 2000’s when the current model could have evolved into something more healthy. But the big two pretty much ignored the manga model, and only half heartedly tried the digital model. You just have to look at the manga industry to see what an actual healthy financially viable comic Industry would look like.

Exactly this.

I mentioned this in another thread that US publishers should look at what's happened with manga.

Manga did actually experience a sales decline and in response they've embraced digital.

The barrier to entry was somewhat reduced, as it stands today, one can read manga from official sources for 100% free.. American publishers seem to have done the opposite, they embraced digital only briefly and they have constantly increased prices while reducing page counts.

Even on this forum, most of us are long-time comic book fans but even we are struggling to keep up with buying comics. The simple fact is that they are too expensive and are not really value for money, no matter how good a title is. The only logical way to buy superhero comics is in 1. Trades 2. Via subscriptions like Marvel Unlimited, anything outside of that is just too darn expensive.