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Clint Adams
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 10 September 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 507
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| Posted: 20 June 2009 at 2:14pm | IP Logged | 1
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2 things for me: The avg. reading time of a $4 comic book today hovers somewhere around 3 min for me. The avg reading time of a pre 90s comic was near 15 min. Somewhere along the way we lost a bit of storytelling. (and I am not suggesting the overly wordy comics, but some exposition would be good.)
And, has the comic book industry thought about going the Shonin Jump route and have older runs of comics printed cheaply, in black and white, on newsprint for stores? Seems to work for manga which is still going strong in this part of TX.
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Simon Bowland
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 16 April 2004
Location: England
Posts: 385
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| Posted: 20 June 2009 at 2:17pm | IP Logged | 2
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Three minutes to properly read and take in the artwork of a standard comic book? Sorry Clint, I find that incredibly difficult to believe.
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Clint Adams
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 10 September 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 507
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| Posted: 20 June 2009 at 2:18pm | IP Logged | 3
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Tis true, tis true.
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Wallace Sellars
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 01 May 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 17751
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| Posted: 20 June 2009 at 2:30pm | IP Logged | 4
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And, has the comic book industry thought about going the Shonin Jump
route and have older runs of comics printed cheaply, in black and white, on
newsprint for stores? Seems to work for manga which is still going strong in
this part of TX.
---
I bought a few of these for a student this past year. She loves them.
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Joe Smith
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 29 August 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 6709
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| Posted: 20 June 2009 at 2:39pm | IP Logged | 5
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I read my comics as fast as Clint. And then I reread
them....and reread them....and reread them.
Unless they suck, then I chuck 'em.
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Jeff Fettes
Byrne Robotics R&D
Joined: 01 October 2003
Posts: 30
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| Posted: 20 June 2009 at 5:12pm | IP Logged | 6
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Where can the industry start for improving distribution? How can the publishers encourage more comic book retailers to appear? One word: returnability. Currently comics are carried mostly through comic stores where the store owners carry ALL the risk. If a title doesn't sell, they are stuck with it. So what do they do? They under order on almost everything.
Bigger companies like Marvel, DC and Image should take some responsibility for their material and offer up SOME kind of distribution system where they share the risk on EVERY issue. When comics stores are forced to only order for subscribers, that means there are zero copies sitting on the shelves for a new reader to discover so comics have no opportunity to build new readership even within the DSM.
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Chris Geary
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 19 January 2009
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 1158
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| Posted: 20 June 2009 at 5:22pm | IP Logged | 7
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My kids are 12 and 14 (he'll be 15 in August). I think it's pretty safe to say
that they will not become comic book readers. They just didn't catch the
bug. I tried to get them interested. I really did--but it didn't take.
--
Eric, just out of curiosity, do either of them show any interest, or ability, in writing/drawing?
Thanks.
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Luca Tavan
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 14 March 2009
Location: Australia
Posts: 50
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| Posted: 20 June 2009 at 5:31pm | IP Logged | 8
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Not meaning to speak for Larsen, but this exact question just was asked over at his message board to which he answered:
"
My
eldest son, Christopher (14)--draws reasonably well but is much more
into drawing old cars and building than he is into drawing people. My
youngest, Joseph, doesn't draw a whole lot. He's about average for a
kid his age (12)."
Edited by Luca Tavan on 20 June 2009 at 5:34pm
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Arc Carlton
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 13 April 2009
Location: Peru
Posts: 3493
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| Posted: 20 June 2009 at 5:37pm | IP Logged | 9
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My kids are 12 and 14 (he'll be 15 in August). I think it's pretty safe to say
that they will not become comic book readers. They just didn't catch the
bug. I tried to get them interested. I really did--but it didn't take.
________________________
That reminds me of a friend of mine that lives in Spain. He has a collection of over 4000 Superman issues (I think he has every related title and every variant edition possible). And yet his kids have absolutely no interest in the character whatsover.
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Erik Larsen
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Joined: 19 February 2008
Location: United States
Posts: 344
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| Posted: 20 June 2009 at 6:41pm | IP Logged | 10
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Vinny Valenti wrote:
I'm curious....did you ever try handing them an
Essential? I wonder if even the more "classical" comic book style would have
any interest in kids these days. |
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I read them much of these classic comics in full color in their original
format. My youngest likes the Essentials format but he's simply not
interested in reading comics. He's read Scott Pilgrim and Zot on his own--
and that's it. My oldest son, Chris, has moved on to girls and other things. I
don't see him taking a sudden interest in comics.
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Robert Walsh
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 24 July 2008
Posts: 456
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| Posted: 20 June 2009 at 7:40pm | IP Logged | 11
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I love the way some people's experience becomes the unassailable truth
with which to argue a point. "I hated doing this, so therefore I cannot
understand how anyone could like doing that."
* * * * * *
And I love the way some people take a silly comment made by a person so seriously that they spend several posts analyzing something that was fired off in the ten minutes before I had to be out the door to work.
That's all it was meant to be: a joke. Force kids to do something and they will often end up hating it. Sometimes that hatred lasts a lifetime. Therefore, forcing kids to read comics will result in kids hating comics. Drum roll please. That I had to explain it to the point of nausea probably means it wasn't a finely crafted joke that will last the ages.
Plus, I do find it really funny that parents are concerned that their kids don't read comics, which is a complete turnaround from when I was a kid and they were thought to rot your brain.
But if I must put forth a serious commentary on this whole thing, I would say that when I was a kid, I probably didn't read nearly as much as my father did when he was a kid, because he didn't have television and video games to distract him. I also didn't spend nearly as much time in the great outdoors roaming the countryside with my friends. Even today I find it's hard to find the time to read as much as I want to. I've got dozens of unread books all around the apartment, along with dozens of unwatched DVDs, and I've all but given up watching television because by the time I get around to watching a show, it's already out on DVD and I just pick that up. I haven't bought a CD in years because I can't find the time to find new stuff to listen to and most of my favorite acts are gone or pale shadows of their past glory.
And there's still four or five new fangled things like texting and Facebook that I can't even dream about having time to seriously play with. Kids have got a lot more entertainment choices than I could have dreamed of as a kid. It's not much of a surprise that they don't read comics much anymore. When would they ever have the time?
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Robert Walsh
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 24 July 2008
Posts: 456
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| Posted: 20 June 2009 at 7:43pm | IP Logged | 12
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Or what about this. When I was a kid, if someone was starring in a television show, I knew who they were. No ifs, ands, or buts. No one got on that screen without my knowing their name, even if I hated the show they were on. People who were on failed shows became celebrities.
These days, there's more scripted programs on television than ever before, plus five billion reality shows that spawn numerous pseudo-celebrities.
When I was a kid, I could dedicate three hours of my life every night and keep my finger on the pulse of the nation. Today, I could spend 24 hours a day in front of the set and not know half of what's out there.
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