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Matt Linton
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Joined: 13 December 2005
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| Posted: 18 June 2006 at 12:51pm | IP Logged | 1
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Self-fulfilling Prophecy: "Kids don't buy comics, so lets write them for adults, so that kids won't buy comics." So, what happens when those adults don't buy comics anymore?
If you replace the word "comics" with "Spider-Man" you get an idea of the problem.
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Dennis Calero
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| Posted: 18 June 2006 at 12:53pm | IP Logged | 2
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Matt, if I was a proponent of that type of thinking, I'd be contridicting my point: there is no formula that always works at all times. If you point as sales, there are forces at work MUCH more important than editorial direction or even, dare I say it, the quality of the books.
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John Mietus
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| Posted: 18 June 2006 at 12:54pm | IP Logged | 3
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Because to age the character to where he's no longer recognizable as
Spider-Man is both an artistic and commercial disservice to the character
and his (originally) intended audience.
As JB has noted a gazillion times on this forum, sixteen is the perfect age
for the character. He can screw up without adult consequences. His life
can be horrible and he can fail miserably as Peter Parker and not be a
pathetic loser, a student trying to hold down a job to help his aunt make
ends meet while dealing with the horrors of a student's social life, and
can use the Spider-Man identity as the adolescent escape it should be --
while adhering to the "with great power comes great responsibility" credo.
This is the essence of the character.
As a twenty-something adult teacher with a super-model wife and an
aunt who is not in failing health and knows his identity, where the hell is
the motivation or the needed escape into the Spider-Man identity? This
isn't the same character. So create a new one that fits these criteria and
let Spider-Man be Spider-Man.
That's why I don't see the need for different versions of the character --
because a different "version" isn't even the same character.
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Matt Linton
Byrne Robotics Member
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| Posted: 18 June 2006 at 12:55pm | IP Logged | 4
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I'm the last person to argue that content is the main reason for declining sales. I'd put it far behind distribution, pricing/format, and marketing, for example. I was just speaking to the specific topic; whether or not books like Spider-Man should be aimed at a younger audience.
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Mig Da Silva
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 16 April 2004
Location: Portugal
Posts: 900
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| Posted: 18 June 2006 at 12:56pm | IP Logged | 5
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QUOTE:
| What theoretically is the need for any Spidey book, or any product that doesn't directly support life, outside of the fact that people want to buy them? |
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The fact that it doesn't offer life is your own opinion and your own opinion alone. Not mine. I wonder of how many more.
And i can guarantee you that i find absolutely no life in the current incarnation in Amazing Spider-Man, beyond the fact the very few niche Direct-Market costumers want to buy it.
Some completists, big event folowers, and speculators, not even that.
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John Mietus
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| Posted: 18 June 2006 at 12:58pm | IP Logged | 6
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I don't think "aimed" at a younger audience so much as written for a
general audience is the key. Make it accessible to as many people as you
can -- like they did when they created the character in the first place --
rather than pander to a dwindling base readership of aging fans. And since
this is a juvenile fiction genre at its core, that does mean writing for younger
as well as older audience members.
Edited by John Mietus on 18 June 2006 at 12:59pm
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Matt Reed
Byrne Robotics Security
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| Posted: 18 June 2006 at 12:59pm | IP Logged | 7
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I'd say not even aimed at a younger audience, Matt, but an all-ages one. You give the supporters of "age" and "growth" in characters too much fodder when you say "aimed at a younger audience" because they automatically fire back with "but I don't want to read a kiddie book!" Why not go back to what made these characters bestsellers in the first place? Much like the WB and it's characters, they appealed to readers of all-ages and not just kids or just adults.
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John Mietus
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| Posted: 18 June 2006 at 12:59pm | IP Logged | 8
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Once again, on this topic, Matt Reed and I are totally on the same page.
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Matt Reed
Byrne Robotics Security
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| Posted: 18 June 2006 at 1:00pm | IP Logged | 9
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Great minds and all that stuff!
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Matt Linton
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| Posted: 18 June 2006 at 1:03pm | IP Logged | 10
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I even changed "written for" to "aimed at" to avoid that. I agree that it's entirely possible to write all ages comics that do just that. I don't even think Spider-Man HAS to be a kid to appeal to all ages. He does have to be one for the reason you pointed out above, though. And you're right about the books doing that during the Silver Age. I love the Spider-Man Essentials and so do most kids who read them. I don't think they're "juvenile" (in the pejorative sense) just well-balanced.
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Mig Da Silva
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Posts: 900
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| Posted: 18 June 2006 at 1:05pm | IP Logged | 11
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QUOTE:
| Mig, you're being disengenuous (spelling). CrossGen's failure can be attributed to many many things, but there's nothing to indicate they went out to have a series of books that would end at some finite point, so respectfully, you're not making any sense with that point. |
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If i were being disengenius i wouldn't have mentioned "as far as i can recall". And, as far as i can recall the pitch of CrossGen was the high concept, characterization driven, stories that had a begining, middle, and planned end.
If i'm recalling wrongly, then i'm just plain wrong.
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Matt Reed
Byrne Robotics Security
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| Posted: 18 June 2006 at 1:06pm | IP Logged | 12
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Exactly, Matt. I bought the first two volumes of the LOONEY TUNES GOLDEN COLLECTION on DVD not out of some sense of nostalgia, but because they crack me up as an adult on a whole different level than they did when I was a kid. I see no reason why mainstream superhero comics from DC and Marvel can't do the same thing today, as they did during the Silver Age.
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Topic Closed)
