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Coppers to buy before they explode

Started by oceanavekid,

455 posts in this topic

joe_collector

joe_collector

Posted
Posted
And do you think there wasn't a shift in average readership age?

 

I think there are people out there who do not want this information disseminated, and do not want to hear about direct evidence that there are virtually no comic readers (less than 1%) under the age of 19-20. And very few under the age of 35.

 

I'm not sure why, as it's self-evident that the average age of the comics reader is steadily increasing (along with cover prices), but it's probably willful ignorance - this news bothers them at a deep level and they would rather it "just go away".

 

three-wise-monkeys-300x193.jpg

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whetteon

whetteon

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Hate to tell you - in the 90's, Image was an indie. VALIANT was an Indie. They weren't small potatoes, either.

 

lol, I guess by that bizarre connotation, any company can be an Indie, right?

 

Valiant was heavily founded by venture capital and was certainly not a traditional "Indie" any more than Marvel or DC are Indies. And while the individual creator-owned Image studios might qualify, they did not publish the books, Malibu did, just as these *same* studios supplied product for Marvel later on.

 

The most important distinction to American Indie comics is that they provide an alternative to the standard superhero action comics of the major publishers. If you make superhero books and sell in huge numbers, even if you do publish some alternative/indie titles, you are NOT by definition an independent comic book publisher.

 

^^

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500Club

500Club

Posted
Posted
And do you think there wasn't a shift in average readership age?

 

I think there are people out there who do not want this information disseminated, and do not want to hear about direct evidence that there are virtually no comic readers (less than 1%) under the age of 19-20. And very few under the age of 35.

I'd thought it was almost universally understood that the average age of the comic readership had increased. Loss of newsstand exposure and rising cover prices took their toll on young collectors in the hobby. I suspect most of us on this board started as newsstand collectors, between the ages of 8-12. Now, it's movies and other media that are serving as introduction points.

 

As kimik mentioned above, we've started to see some younger collectors at the shows we set up at, but they are few and far between. An interesting change in demographics has been the rise of the 20-something female collector.

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awakeintheashes

awakeintheashes

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You think the rise in the female collectors has something to do with women being more active in cosplay? wonder if their is a correlation? I dunno. boobs.

Maybe. Books like Saga, Rat Queens and Sex Criminals with strong Female protagonists that are not all sexified like the 90's doesn't hurt either.

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PeterPark

PeterPark

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When Image started, it was not DC or Marvel, yeah, but it really wasn't an indie either. It took the top talent Marvel had at their peak and immediately began spewing huge amounts of books to the market that were as popular as anything Marvel or DC had. I'll allow pre-Unity Valiant as an indie...that didn't last long.

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Bosco685

Bosco685

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I'd thought it was almost universally understood that the average age of the comic readership had increased. Loss of newsstand exposure and rising cover prices took their toll on young collectors in the hobby. I suspect most of us on this board started as newsstand collectors, between the ages of 8-12. Now, it's movies and other media that are serving as introduction points.

 

Jim Shooter, in a 2012 or early 2013 interview, pointed out what a mistake it was for Marvel to turn its back on the newsstand market because of the readership progression relationship from the newsstand to the direct market. It was an interesting interview, because then he stated it wasn't his sole decision that led to Marvel's direct market focus.

 

He must have finally reflected back on the fact many of those long-time readers started out at the pharmacy and book store magazine stands.

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kimik

kimik

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You think the rise in the female collectors has something to do with women being more active in cosplay? wonder if their is a correlation? I dunno. boobs.

Maybe. Books like Saga, Rat Queens and Sex Criminals with strong Female protagonists that are not all sexified like the 90's doesn't hurt either.

 

We had discussions in another thread a couple of years back and boardie store owners reported that the New 52 brought in a bunch of female readers. I saw a corresponding increase in New 52 and earlier DC back issue sales to female collectors throughout 2012 as well, and the LCSs I talked to said the same thing. Following on the heels of that was the take off in popularity of the mid to late 2011 Image launches that have continued to increase the female collector/reader numbers.

 

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divad

divad

Posted
Posted
You think the rise in the female collectors has something to do with women being more active in cosplay? wonder if their is a correlation? I dunno. boobs.

Maybe. Books like Saga, Rat Queens and Sex Criminals with strong Female protagonists that are not all sexified like the 90's doesn't hurt either.

 

We had discussions in another thread a couple of years back and boardie store owners reported that the New 52 brought in a bunch of female readers. I saw a corresponding increase in New 52 and earlier DC back issue sales to female collectors throughout 2012 as well, and the LCSs I talked to said the same thing. Following on the heels of that was the take off in popularity of the mid to late 2011 Image launches that have continued to increase the female collector/reader numbers.

 

Almost all of my Harley eBay sales have been to women. :)

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revat

revat

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Posted
You think the rise in the female collectors has something to do with women being more active in cosplay? wonder if their is a correlation? I dunno. boobs.

Maybe. Books like Saga, Rat Queens and Sex Criminals with strong Female protagonists that are not all sexified like the 90's doesn't hurt either.

 

We had discussions in another thread a couple of years back and boardie store owners reported that the New 52 brought in a bunch of female readers. I saw a corresponding increase in New 52 and earlier DC back issue sales to female collectors throughout 2012 as well, and the LCSs I talked to said the same thing. Following on the heels of that was the take off in popularity of the mid to late 2011 Image launches that have continued to increase the female collector/reader numbers.

 

Almost all of my Harley eBay sales have been to women. :)

 

in some cases at least, the mother's of your purchasers, anyways.

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whetteon

whetteon

Posted
Posted
You think the rise in the female collectors has something to do with women being more active in cosplay? wonder if their is a correlation? I dunno. boobs.

Maybe. Books like Saga, Rat Queens and Sex Criminals with strong Female protagonists that are not all sexified like the 90's doesn't hurt either.

 

We had discussions in another thread a couple of years back and boardie store owners reported that the New 52 brought in a bunch of female readers. I saw a corresponding increase in New 52 and earlier DC back issue sales to female collectors throughout 2012 as well, and the LCSs I talked to said the same thing. Following on the heels of that was the take off in popularity of the mid to late 2011 Image launches that have continued to increase the female collector/reader numbers.

 

giphy.gif

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stanley1883

stanley1883

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They survey whoever walks into the LCS door, and trust me, not many kids can afford today's insane cover prices, so I don't see how the numbers can be wrong.

 

LCS door? Ha, it's cute that you think kids go to their local store to buy comics.

Let me guess, it's right next to the record store?

 

If it's next to an Antique store that has records does that count?

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stanley1883

stanley1883

Posted
Posted
You think the rise in the female collectors has something to do with women being more active in cosplay? wonder if their is a correlation? I dunno. boobs.

Maybe. Books like Saga, Rat Queens and Sex Criminals with strong Female protagonists that are not all sexified like the 90's doesn't hurt either.

 

We had discussions in another thread a couple of years back and boardie store owners reported that the New 52 brought in a bunch of female readers. I saw a corresponding increase in New 52 and earlier DC back issue sales to female collectors throughout 2012 as well, and the LCSs I talked to said the same thing. Following on the heels of that was the take off in popularity of the mid to late 2011 Image launches that have continued to increase the female collector/reader numbers.

 

I think its a combination of things. I see a lot of women who got into, or back into comics because of their significant others. My wife has slowly started amassing titles and they are completely independent of my tastes. Then there is also the "regular" female collectors. I think characters definitely contributed to this, especially Harley Quinn,s insane popularity. Then there are still women who like the male characters for similar reasons that men like female characters. My aforementioned wife is a big fan of Cable. I don't think there is one specific thing we can point to and say "that's why women collect." I think it's progress, and it's great for the hobby.

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ygogolak

ygogolak

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Posted
They survey whoever walks into the LCS door, and trust me, not many kids can afford today's insane cover prices, so I don't see how the numbers can be wrong.

 

LCS door? Ha, it's cute that you think kids go to their local store to buy comics.

Let me guess, it's right next to the record store?

 

If it's next to an Antique store that has records does that count?

 

It counts if they have 8-tracks as well.

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