Future of Comic Book Collecting

[dam60]

I know that this has been discussed somewhat in the past, but any thoughts/opinions as the future of our hobby? Specifically about the future of new comic books? I remember fondly as a kid riding my bike to the local te-amo and picking up new comics every saturday. They weren't ridiculously expensive and the little money I had went a long way. I can't help but feel that the high cover prices of all these new comics are in the long term bad for the industry as the publishers are making individual comics more and more affordable only for those with "day jobs" that can afford the steep cover prices.

 

When was the last time you were in a comic book store and saw a bunch of kids? Havig been to just about every single comic book store in NYC, I find that the majority of customers are the post college crowd. Wouldn't if logically follow if we can't capture this generation that the industry will have some serious problems in the future?

 

Personally right now I am trying to pick up a few bronze / silver Batman comics and would eventually love a full run. I would go so to say that I think the whole concept of a post modern (what I will call MK Daredevil #1 onwards) back issue is lost on most of the new readers. For the most part, they think, "Why buy the back issue if I can buy the trade?" Which will eventually come to the point where why buy the comic at all if one can buy the trade?

 

Thoughts?

[g-man]

the days of getting 3 books for $1 and having 10 cents for 2 bazooka gums are long since past. Occasionally Iwill pick up a new book to read but almost never buy it. A trade here and there (I recommend the new HULK HC) but I get them on ebay or at 1/2 price. Books like Long Halloween or Dark Victory are great trades or HCs. I could not be bothered reading X-FORCE or the 8 XMEN titles or whatever. I began reading/collecting around 1978 or so and was picking up early 70s/late 60s when I was 12 and up and stopped around 95 (I am 31 now). Too expensive and way too much junk. Sure Bendis/Smith/Jones/Ellis are good writers but to me they don't have the appeal of Denny Oneill or Gerry Conway or Claremont b4 his insanity.

[dam60]

Gman,

I completely agree. I have both those Batman TPBs, they're fantastic, and find that the majority of my back issue buying (and I spend far more on back issues / cgc books than on the new issues) is done on ebay. What do you think regarding future growth with the 12 year olds of today? I rarely ever see them in comic shops around here. It seems logical that they are the future collectors . . .

[g-man]

well i do not visit the shops that often so I really would not know. At shows I see some younger kids but they are not really buying, just looking. And around here in Boston I see the same old people at the local show. Not too many new dealers. Back i nthe day u could not walk through the hallways of the show. Attendance is not all that and very little buying that I can see....not too much new inventory and when there is the books are quickly snatched up by dealers b4 the show even starts.

[comicinvestor-migration]

I firmly believe that everyone in the industry knows that comic books days are numbered and are just trying to go out with as much cash as possible. The consistent price increases, constant revamps, bi-annual new universes, and all the other are a textbook example of how a soon-to-be-obsolete industry tries to bleed their existing (and shrinking/aging) clientele as deeply as possible.

 

It's truly sad, and it all started with Spider-man #1 in 1990. Once the adult bucks started pouring in, no one wanted them to stop. Now it's just a case of Jemas and Co. trying to pull the same smelly rabbit out of their butts to keep the short-term dollars flowing in.

 

Sometimes I feel sorry that kids don't have affordable comics to read, but then I see them trading their Yu-Gi (or whatever) cards, playing Beblades and how their eyes light up at the video game rental shelf, and realize they've happily moved on to industries that embrace their needs.

 

The new comic market consists of a dwindling bunch of old fogies paying insanely high prices for a stack of books that are rarely worth the trees they're printed on. Sounds like a recipe for success to me.

[dam60]

I went to the NYC con this November and it was fun. The last con I went to was in 91 when I was 12 and it was packed with kids like me on up. I guess I just think it's unfortunate that was so much a part of my and my friend's childhood and what is still very much an active hobby today is missing this generation of kids today. Oh well.

[aardvark88]

At the monthly comicon, less than 10% of the ppl are 16 or under. Mostly 22 + yrs old guys boasting about how much they sold their cgc GI Joes & Byrne X-men for on eBay last month.

Kids in comicshops are buying hockey cards, Todd action figures & Yu-gi-oh, not comic bks.

[fantastic_four]

The future of the comic book is tied to the superhero, and superheroes moving out of the printed comic medium is tied more to the maturation of computer graphics than any other factor. We all know superheroes are what sell comics. "Funny" books are mostly gone or barely read now, and the primary reason why is because comedy is cheap and easy to do on television. You can find dozens of options at any given time for live-action or animated humor on TV 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. I watch Comedy Central more than probably any other network; why would I need funnybooks when I can tune in to that anytime I want? How often do we get to see live-action superheroes where their powers are compellingly rendered? Once a year or so, if we're lucky. The CGI is just too expensive, for now. Jurassic Park's 1993 breakthrough in CGI was the aestheto-technical breakthrough that revolutionized Hollywood and that will eventually kill comic books.

 

I highly doubt that static, on-line comics like Marvel publishes on their web site will ever replace printed comics. What will replace printed comics is live-action or animated superhero characters, but that won't happen until computer graphics get significantly better, and more importantly, cheaper and easier to create. Once that happens, we just might see "The Marvel Channel" on our cable television, or perhaps much more frequent superhero films.

 

Once you can do superpowers justice on weekly television shows for low amounts of money, the end of printed comic books will be visible, not just out on the horizon like we currently see. The back issues of live-action or animated superheroes will continue to sell, but I don't know whether you'll see characters making their first appearances on the printed page once CGI is cheap.

 

My own prediction is that CGI won't be where it needs to be to kill printed comics for another 30+ years. That's why I'm not afraid to sink reasonable amoutns of money into comics now; we've still got a while before new comics stop coming out and the market totally changes. And I'm not sure that comics won't be successfully marketed as a supplementary item to go with the animated shows, somewhat like action figures and trading cards currently are for films. The big question there is--are production costs for comics significantly higher than for other character-related products like action figures? I don't really know. The good artists, writers, and editors make quite a bit these days...I'm not sure comics will be economically viable once print is no longer the primary medium for superheroes.

[MonumentalCo]

We all know that anyone under the age of 20 has a lot competing for their interest. Video Games, Computers, Cars, etc. How many collectors in there 20's, 30's, or older never not side tracked onto other things? I knew a lot of friends who for a time gave up comics for cars.

 

I can say that at the Baltimore Comic Con there were tons of kids. The show was promoted so that kids in costume got in free with a parent. This was a great idea as I saw tons of kids in costumes ranging from Spider-Man to the little mermaid. Sales of cheaper comics in the $1.00 range were very good as I had a ton of kids buying issues that they wanted to read. I had one kid who was seriously looking for several spider-man storylines. He and I must have talked for 5 minutes about the story and the comics. (I really enjoyed seeing his interest in the stories.) How many young kids can afford a $50 comic? Not too many unless they are given the money. Back in the mid to late 80's and early 90's I would always see kids being handed money by their parents in sent into the local comic shop. These kids would spend all the money on anything they wanted. There are a lot of kids out there that are interested in comics, but sometimes they get caught up in other things.

[fantastic_four]

We all know that anyone under the age of 20 has a lot competing for their interest. Video Games, Computers, Cars, etc. How many collectors in there 20's, 30's, or older never not side tracked onto other things? I knew a lot of friends who for a time gave up comics for cars.

Interactive media (video games) alone will never replace narrative media (comics, films, television). Interactive media require active participation, which requires a certain type of ego-structure; narrative fiction is passive. Put more simply, it's easier to watch somebody else do something than to do it yourself. When you're physically or mentally fatigued, you'd rather watch TV than play a video game.

 

I play video games for about 10 hours a week (90% of which is multiplayer Internet games like Quake, Diablo, or Ultima Online), but when I'm done with a session, I'm usually ready for something more passive to chill out for a while. Narrative fiction will always be an option to fill that mood. This behavioral pattern will likely never go away.

[comicinvestor-migration]

play video games for about 10 hours a week (90% of which is multiplayer Internet games like Quake, Diablo, or Ultima Online), but when I'm done with a session, I'm usually ready for something more passive to chill out for a while. Narrative fiction will always be an option to fill that mood. This behavioral pattern will likely never go away.

 

I totally agree with this, but I feel that comics are continuing to be priced out of the market, and have turned into niche goods with a limited appeal and future. Comics have inflated far past the common kid's (or many adult's) ability to keep up with multiple issues per week and parents literally have a fit when they see the prices these days.

 

I find it highly amusing that I can pick up a novel for $8.99 (which has supposedly been vastly inflated due to author royalties, bonuses, etc.), which is still less than the cost of two new Marvels. Naturally, I haven't bought a new comic in a long while, but I still read books.

[Bonds25]

It looks bleak. I rarely see any kids in the comic store when I go (which is infrequently), and I haven't bought a new comic myself in years. I usually buy a bunch off of Ebay for 20-30% of their original cover price.

[Bonds25]

Same exact thing here. I'm 31, don't like the stories near as much as I did when I collected, and either buy TPBs on Ebay or re-read my older comics.

[Rickdogg]

I make my comic run weekly and usually end up going to atleast 2 or 3 shops to find the prefect copy of each book I want I rarely see kids in the local store, but I do see a lot of them when I go to Mile High or this other store called Amazing Comics. Nice to see that there are still kids who read comics

[fantastic_four]

It seems they're too pricy to me also, but I don't know anything about the production costs. How much do artists and writers make? What is the production cost per copy to print and distribute them? What are the other overhead costs (rent, marketing, etc)? I dunno. I'm interested, but I've never seen any compact financial analysis of what it costs to make a comic book.

[fantastic_four]

. I'm 31, don't like the stories near as much as I did when I collected

Since you've got Avengers 57 as your avatar, you're telling me that you like the original Avengers better than the Ultimates?!?! Why?

[Guest]

How much do artists and writers make?

 

I'm not sure what sort of deals lettering/ coloring houses have with companies, but on average writers/ pencilers/ inkers are making between $50 and $150 bucks a page. Bigger names make more obviously. Cover artists/ painters can get $500 and up.

[dam60]

I started buying new comics this year for the first time since '94? I stopped pretty much when the cheapest was $1.50. Now that the cheapest is $2.25 I can definitely see where some of the extra money went in far imporved page quality and a generally "prettier" comic that is much more built to last, but my own hypothesis is that because the print runs are so small, Marvel has to charge a bit more than when they produce 7.5mm copies of X-Men #1. There the fixed costs of art, writing, editing, etc are spread over a lot of customers while now a days with such low print runs the same costs get spread over more readers. My hypothesis for part of the increase in prices . . .

[Bonds25]

Actually, I haven't read any of the Ultimate books, but want to. I have about 2 boxes of comics I haven't read yet, including The Preacher, Marvels, Daredevil, etc.

[fantastic_four]

Let's complete that math...when I ask for an order of fries from Wendy's they don't tell me "3 cents per fry, not including the box."

 

How many drawn pages does the average standard-sized comic have these days? I haven't noticed--around 20 I guess?