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Richard Callaghan
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 09 July 2005
Posts: 343
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| Posted: 12 September 2008 at 7:18pm | IP Logged | 1
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QUOTE:
| My impression of comic fandom today is that Marvel
and DC have spent the last quarter century relentlessly driving away
the Readers, making it as difficult as possible for the few who
remained to actually find the product, and increasingly gearing that
product toward the over-age, whining fanboys so perfectly caricatured
on THE SIMPSONS. That stereotype used to be the majority. When I see
what sells these days, I fear the balance has long ago tipped. |
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"Over age"? Do you regard there as being a cutting off point for comic reading then, JB? Only I'm in my late 30s here and thinking maybe it's time for me to stop getting them as it is...
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Keith Elder
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 16 April 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 1974
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| Posted: 12 September 2008 at 7:27pm | IP Logged | 2
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When I was younger, my group of friends divided up comic book purchases. I bought Fantastic Four, for instance, and my buddy volunteered to take Alpha Flight when it started. After a trip to the store, we'd spend a few hours shuffling comics between each other's piles.
My point is that even though sales are dramatically down from twenty years ago, readership is probably down EVEN MORE. I bet a lot fewer people read any given copy of a comic...
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Andrew W. Farago
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 19 July 2005
Location: United States
Posts: 4071
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| Posted: 12 September 2008 at 8:09pm | IP Logged | 3
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There might be less pass-around of individual copies, but trade paperbacks
are getting pretty good circulation at libraries around the country, and a
quick trip to Borders will show you that there's at least a sizable amount of
kids willing to *read* comics that are just sitting around someplace.
I'd bet that part of the massive drop in sales figures from the early 1990s to
today is that fewer people are buying five copies of every issue of X-Men in
the hopes that it will become an instant collectible. Sure, those guys will
never completely go away, but I think there's been a huge decline in their
population since the X-Force/X-Men/Youngblood #1 days.
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Robert Bradley
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 20 September 2006
Location: United States
Posts: 4930
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| Posted: 12 September 2008 at 8:34pm | IP Logged | 4
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I work in a public library and the graphic novels get a lot of circulation and in-library use.
However, I doubt the average comic gets as many readings as they would have back in the 40's when they were passed from friend to friend. And the comics sent overseas to the military probably more so.
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Lars Sandmark
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 05 October 2007
Location: Canada
Posts: 3138
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| Posted: 12 September 2008 at 9:07pm | IP Logged | 5
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-Looking for some naughty copies of ASBAR-
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Lars Sandmark
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 05 October 2007
Location: Canada
Posts: 3138
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| Posted: 12 September 2008 at 9:09pm | IP Logged | 6
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Oh, What's the big deal? DC has been doing this for decades!
Haven't they?
All kidding aside, I'm personally very disappointed with DC Comics.
Edited by Lars Sandmark on 12 September 2008 at 9:12pm
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Robert Bradley
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 20 September 2006
Location: United States
Posts: 4930
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| Posted: 12 September 2008 at 9:10pm | IP Logged | 7
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Lars - those are priceless.
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Thomas Moudry
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 16 April 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 5060
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| Posted: 12 September 2008 at 11:00pm | IP Logged | 8
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I've finally given up on All-Star Batman & Robin the Boy Wonder. Pretty
pictures are not going to be enough to keep me buying drivel.
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Darren De Vouge
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 04 December 2004
Location: Canada
Posts: 3586
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| Posted: 13 September 2008 at 12:02am | IP Logged | 9
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Gave up on this title months ago. Whoever the "God-Damned Batman" is, he ain't no hero, that's for sure.
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Al Cook
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 21 December 2004
Posts: 12735
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| Posted: 13 September 2008 at 7:21am | IP Logged | 10
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UN or LI?
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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 134687
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| Posted: 13 September 2008 at 7:56am | IP Logged | 11
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"Over age"? Do you regard there as being a cutting off point for comic
reading then, JB? Only I'm in my late 30s here and thinking maybe it's time
for me to stop getting them as it is...
••
If all you buy is Marvel and DC superhero books, it was probably time for
you to stop more than a decade ago.
Of course, if you want to expand this beyond our present area of discussion,
there are plenty of other-genre comics being produced, for a wide range of
ages. So if you want to read comics until you are 106, by all means do so.
Just don't complain that Spider-Man or Batman don't reflect your 106 year
old lifestyle.
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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 134687
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| Posted: 13 September 2008 at 8:04am | IP Logged | 12
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There might be less pass-around of individual copies, but trade paperbacks
are getting pretty good circulation at libraries around the country, and a
quick trip to Borders will show you that there's at least a sizable amount of
kids willing to *read* comics that are just sitting around someplace.
••
Ever since I started writing for a living, I have found myself viewing libraries
somewhat differently than once I did. I think we are all in agreement that
libraries are A Good Thing -- but are they A Good Thing right across the
board? When we have niche products like comics, is it really a good idea for
them to be available in libraries? Some might argue that reading a trade
paperback could encourage a reader to seek out the comics themselves, but
I wonder if that really happens as much as we might like to think it does?
After all, as I have complained so many times, the comicbook industry has
done just about everything it can to make it as difficult as possible for
someone to start reading comics. The product is sold almost exclusively
thru out-of-the-way venues. It is "expensive". Shipping schedules are
erratic. Increasingly, once juvenile (in a good way) fare has become "adult".
The notion of "waiting for the trade" has, I am sure, had a negative impact
on the sales of the monthly books. How much more negative impact comes
from those trades being available in libraries? Not only are they reliably on
the shelf from month to month in a library, they are free! Taken from the
most cold hearted and mercenary stance (which is where I think we really
have to be in this crumbling business!) are libraries a Good Thing for
comics?
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Topic Closed)
