A Modest Proposal to Rethink Modern Comics 0

[bc]

8 hours ago, shadroch said:

If they are being sold in a grocery store for a dollar, doesn't that pretty much mean they aren't collectible?

 

Bought plenty of comics at grocery stores, convenient stores, gas stations, etc. for much less than a buck that turned into some very collectible books. Granted this was the early Bronze Age times.

Also, if a recent comic has a $4 cover price but gets relegated to the dollar bin, does that negate it as a collectible?

-bc

[ThreeSeas]

Now I'm one of those people who doesn't buy many new comics, so maybe what I am about to mention could already be  happening, but if it isn't: How about an index telling me where I am in the story? It would be nice if maybe the last page, or even the inside front cover, would state "This is Chapter x of a xx chapter story" and maybe list out which issue has the first chapter of the new story, along with which comics continue it. So you would have a list of all of the different comics that make up the story arc, instead of making me dig through online forums and such to find which issues or titles belong with the story. I know, I know, that some stories may say on the last page "continued in issue x of title x", but that's not enough for me. I think it would help to know ahead of time how many and what comics make up the story.

[Lazyboy]

13 hours ago, Schmakt said:

Put them back in grocery stores for $1 - $2

So, am I just missing the incentive for grocery stores and their distributors?

[F For Fake]

Thread title lead me to believe there may be content about eating children, and now I'm disappointed!

[miraclemet]

1 hour ago, F For Fake said:

Thread title lead me to believe there may be content about eating children, and now I'm disappointed!

(side note, I dressed as "A Modest Proposal" for my very nerdy AP English Halloween Party)

[F For Fake]

49 minutes ago, miraclemet said:

(side note, I dressed as "A Modest Proposal" for my very nerdy AP English Halloween Party)

As long as someone got it, it was all worthwhile! Also, any pics of that costume? That is something I need to see!

[miraclemet]

12 minutes ago, F For Fake said:

As long as someone got it, it was all worthwhile! Also, any pics of that costume? That is something I need to see!

early 90s photo scanned in and compressed by facebook, the theme was dead characters from stories we read in AP english

Babydoll body on a table with place setting and my head sticking thru....

[F For Fake]

2 minutes ago, miraclemet said:

early 90s photo scanned in and compressed by facebook, the theme was dead characters from stories we read in AP english

Babydoll body on a table with place setting and my head sticking thru....

HA! Love it!

[fmaz]

3 hours ago, F For Fake said:

Thread title lead me to believe there may be content about eating children, and now I'm disappointed!

Well I thought I might draw some folks in with that... LOL

Speaking of eating and children, though... in all seriousness?  One of the reasons I find it absolutely necessary that the industry has to make a change is that they need to acknowledge the vast difference in the way kids now consume entertainment and what they expect and consider to be worthy of their time.

Look, I know this marks me as old... but how many others here have tried to explain to your children that when you were growing up, when you were eating breakfast you weren’t on your iPhones and iPads reading twitter or texting... but instead we were reading the backs of cereal boxes... and that was just fine with us!  I mean... you know, I don’t think that works any more. Jonathan Swift would agree!

 

[shadroch]

Just don't market to children. Perhaps it is that simple.

[BrooksR]

3 hours ago, shadroch said:

Just don't market to children. Perhaps it is that simple.

I truly believe that if comics were inexpensive and available at all grocery stores kids would buy them. Not all kids but enough. Print on cheaper paper to cut costs. 

As for what I would like: draw, ink, and color by hand on paper. I really can’t stand the garish computer coloring.

 

[Readcomix]

To OP's point, if all new material but top tier titles came out as new TPB's on an alternating basis that flowed regular new content, maybe we could see the most repeatedly successful characters and creators then graduate to an ongoing floppy series, joining the narrow ranks of Spidey, Batman, etc. Out of print TPB's are collectible now, so these could be as well, if kept out of print. Not that it is in publishers' interests, just pointing out that TPB's can find a home as collectibles, so we can tick off that worry. (If not out of print, 1st prints anyway?)

No reason these new-material TPB's couldn't have ad pages. The only hurdle to this idea that someone raised (Miraclemet) that I can't easily see overcome is the larger upfront content creation cost. That's going to take the comic publishing equivalent of Henry Ford to make the leap; someone who realizes the answer is something totally different, not just a better horse-drawn carriage.

Cost-cutting is probably coming in part from reduced sales, which gives us less of the totally by hand (and more expensive) art and coloring that largely seems preferred. So the idea may have merit, but some decision-maker would have to take a leap of faith based on a new vision to try it, because I don't think they can neutralize every business risk up front.