Who is Marvel going to replace next? 0

[Junkdrawer]

]Tom Brady[/s] Cam to play Spiderman and Stan Lee plays uncle Ben in the Re-Re-Boot.

 

Fixed

Tom Brady just has more "ring" to it

[Comicopolis]

I'd replace old male readers stuck in the past with a new contemporary readership.

 

Ah, nothing like loyalty to customers that helped make you what you are.

 

Ah, nothing like capitalism trying to reach new markets.

[SuperiorSpiderMan]

Eventually everyone, and then back again, and then as a minority figure, and then a woman, and then both....

 

And then as an alien and then as an amphibian, and then as an alternate reality transgender clone with club feet and astigmatism.

 

 

Astigmatism? Now that's pushing things a little too far!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Meeklo]

I'm going with Daredevil. Or D-Man.

 

 

I thought about this one. Elektra or Foggy or Karen Paige

 

They already replaced DD with Black Panther once didn't they?

 

Danny Rand was Daredevil during Civil War

[Jeffro.]

I'd replace old male readers stuck in the past with a new contemporary readership.

 

I'd replace endless reboots and deaths/rebirths with history and continuity.

[Jeffro.]

Eventually everyone, and then back again, and then as a minority figure, and then a woman, and then both....

 

And then as an alien and then as an amphibian, and then as an alternate reality transgender clone with club feet and astigmatism.

 

 

Astigmatism? Now that's pushing things a little too far!

 

Marvel's always been about flawed characters

[Jeffro.]

I'd replace old male readers stuck in the past with a new contemporary readership.

 

Ah, nothing like loyalty to customers that helped make you what you are.

 

Ah, nothing like capitalism trying to reach new markets.

 

Nothing like catering to a shrinking readership with smoke and mirror gimmicks.

[ygogolak]

Shrinking readership?

[Jeffro.]

Shrinking readership?

 

Has there been a turn around? Last I knew print runs were miniscule compared to high points. Is electronic readership making up the difference?

 

[TheLiamSturgess]

I'm going with Daredevil. Or D-Man.

 

 

I thought about this one. Elektra or Foggy or Karen Paige

 

They already replaced DD with Black Panther once didn't they?

 

And Daniel Rand (Iron Fist) very briefly took on the mantle.

[FineCollector]

So here is my theory on these changes:

 

In the 40s, 50s, 60s, and into the 70s, the average comic book reader only collected/bought comics for a few years. Sure, there were always those who were bigger fans (we were the exceptions, not the rule), but for the most part, you started with Superman at 9, went to Spider-Man at 11, and were out of comics by 14.

 

So change wasn't necessary because you constantly had new people coming and going into the hobby. Peter Parker being Spider-Man for 25 years with no real changes wasn't that big of a deal.

 

Now, however, the guy who starts reading comics at 16 (because they sure as hell aren't starting at 9) may read for 10 years or more. So they need new, new, new. New series. New replacement characters. New everything. It's how Marvel and DC think they can retain readers through the rest of their lives.

 

Since Ultimate Spider-Man, Marvel has been flushing its fans on a 5-year cycle.

[Prince Namor]

They sell less Spider-man comics now than they did in 1991. So the 'readership', or at least, the 'buyers' have shrunk since then.

 

To see who actually READS these comics, it helps to analyze the GN/TPB sales, as it tends to gear more towards actual readers, as opposed to those with sequential number collection syndrome.

 

And those numbers show us that readership for superheroes, especially mainstream ones, is slowing down substantially.

 

Top GN/TPB sales of 2015 showed

Saga 4, 1, and 5 taking the top 3 spots, with Vol. 2 at #7,and Vol. 3 at #9

Marvel's Civil War (Original Series) at #4 was the only Marvel title to crack the Top Ten, though Star Wars Vol. 1 was AT #10.

Walking Dead had Vol. 23 at #5, and Vol. 1 at #8

Batman the Killing Joke (Special Ed HC) was at #6

 

No CURRENT Superhero story arcs in the Top 10.

 

In fact, the only CURRENT DC Character Superhero story arc to crack the Top 20, was

New 52 Batman Vol. 1 Court of Owls at #12, Vol.2 not showing up until #22

 

The only current MARVEL Character Superhero story arc to crack the Top 20 was Ms Marvel (!!!!) Vol. 1 at #13. Next up for Marvel would be Ms. Marvel Vol. 2 at #31.

 

Dead Pool Vol. 1 doesn't show up until #40.

Amazing Spider-man Edge of the Spider-Verse doesn't show up until #110. That is the FIRST Spider-man book on the yearly list.

Sex Criminals Vol. 1 sold almost 3 TIMES as many copies as that Spider-man collection.

 

[ygogolak]

Shrinking readership?

 

Has there been a turn around? Last I knew print runs were miniscule compared to high points. Is electronic readership making up the difference?

 

What "high points" are you speaking of, early 90's? Because it dipped drastically after that you realize. The movie era has brought it back. Also, print run does not equate to readership.

[Jeffro.]

Shrinking readership?

 

Has there been a turn around? Last I knew print runs were miniscule compared to high points. Is electronic readership making up the difference?

 

What "high points" are you speaking of, early 90's? Because it dipped drastically after that you realize. The movie era has brought it back. Also, print run does not equate to readership.

 

There have been many high points. The early 90s is merely one of them. There have also been periods where maybe print runs were higher than they are today but not at historic highs.

 

That's why I asked if electronic readership is taking some of that away from print? Is that being captured in some way?

Chuck brings up a good point about TPBs.

 

How do we know how many people are reading in whatever form the comic is presented? Obviously, we have print run figures. What else do we have?

[ygogolak]

Shrinking readership?

 

Has there been a turn around? Last I knew print runs were miniscule compared to high points. Is electronic readership making up the difference?

 

What "high points" are you speaking of, early 90's? Because it dipped drastically after that you realize. The movie era has brought it back. Also, print run does not equate to readership.

 

There have been many high points. The early 90s is merely one of them. There have also been periods where maybe print runs were higher than they are today but not at historic highs.

 

That's why I asked if electronic readership is taking some of that away from print? Is that being captured in some way?

Chuck brings up a good point about TPBs.

 

How do we know how many people are reading in whatever form the comic is presented? Obviously, we have print run figures. What else do we have?

 

Electronic readership is tough to track. It is the same with music, TV, movies, etc.. because of illegal downloads. There are a limited number of sites to pay for electronic downloads, so I would think it would feasible to track, but I don't think any one company is tracking it.

There have been some dealers on the boards that have claimed they see more people and different audiences than there has been historically coming into their shops and at shows.

It's really all guesswork, but I would not say that readership is "down" since the new genre of successful movie and TV properties.

[Vikingreed]

I'd replace the X-Men with the Inhumans.

 

[Comicopolis]

I'd replace old male readers stuck in the past with a new contemporary readership.

 

I'd replace endless reboots and deaths/rebirths with history and continuity.

 

50, 60, 70 years of continuity - nobody can remember all of that stuff. Publishers don't care and writers don't want to be hampered by something that happened decades ago.

[Comicopolis]

I'd replace old male readers stuck in the past with a new contemporary readership.

 

Ah, nothing like loyalty to customers that helped make you what you are.

 

Ah, nothing like capitalism trying to reach new markets.

 

Nothing like catering to a shrinking readership with smoke and mirror gimmicks.

 

Smoke and mirror gimmicks were the only way that Dr Strange could continually defeat the Nameless Ones.

[Prince Namor]

Shrinking readership?

 

Has there been a turn around? Last I knew print runs were miniscule compared to high points. Is electronic readership making up the difference?

 

What "high points" are you speaking of, early 90's? Because it dipped drastically after that you realize. The movie era has brought it back. Also, print run does not equate to readership.

 

No. Movies haven't played a significant part in increasing the sales.

 

The Avengers is the highest grossing superhero movie of all time. An average Avengers comic can't break 70,000 copies in a month.

 

In 1990, ASM had a print run of around 450,000 and an average paid circulation of 260,000. That's just an average issue. And that's just before all hell broke loose.

An average issue of Spider-man today sells about 100,000 copies a month.

That's 160,000 LESS, despite the movies.

 

[ygogolak]

 

No. Movies haven't played a significant part in increasing the sales.

 

The Avengers is the highest grossing superhero movie of all time. An average Avengers comic can't break 70,000 copies in a month.

 

In 1990, ASM had a print run of around 450,000 and an average paid circulation of 260,000. That's just an average issue. And that's just before all hell broke loose.

An average issue of Spider-man today sells about 100,000 copies a month.

That's 160,000 LESS, despite the movies.

 

You're not looking at it the same way I was. I'm not talking a direct correlation between Avengers movie and a comic book (which comic btw, there are about 10+ Avengers titles at any given time?). What I saying about movies AND TV, is that it's cool to read comics now / again and that brings more people into stores and shows. Also, cosplay is a big thing now and that brings more people to shows, who may or may not buy some comics.

 

Spider-Man has definitely lost some readership because of how it has been handled over the past 5-10 years, while companies like Image have grown in terms of titles from the way they have done things.