Something I just thought of about the decline of modern day comic sales..

[Timulty]

Another reason is the writing. This is a literary medium, like it or not. If a story is not well written, the characters dialog is unreadable, the plausibility factor(within the context of the characters continuity!) then it alienates the reader. Now, this is from the perspective of a 34 year man, who still reads comics. I can only imagine what a teenage feels when trying to read some on the tripe on the racks.

 

Here I disagree- I think today's writing is much better than at any other time in the industry. Unfortunately, today's writing is also toally geared to drag out storylines that are easily colected into trades.

 

I don't disagree that it is better than it was, just that it isn't as good as it could be. Also, since the writing is geared as you say, it really hurts the story. I am going to use an example. Planetary. Writing is good, partly because it is simple and somewhat disjointed. The reader has to figure out what is going on but in so doing discovers they are in for a really enjoyable ride. I don't feel that it talks down to an audience as well. Interestingly, the collections go 12 issues as opposed to 4 to 8 for most other trades. Sometimes, I feel like the writing is a supplicant to the artwork ie let the art do the talking. And this works out great, if done right. I can think of Preacher and Hellblazer where Steve Dillon was doing the interior work. The story could be told with little or no dialogue in some instances. Very few comics that I have read do that.

 

There really are very few kid(pre-teen and under) friendly comics, in my opinion so I believe the publishers have really written themselves out of that market.

 

This is a chicken/egg thing. I think the kid market has vastly shrunk due to competing entertainment such as TV and especially video games. I've heard this firsthand from clients in the comic and toy industry.

 

I can understand that take. Kids today have a wide variety of entertainment options. So, in that case it would make sense right. These same kids become teenagers. Yet, teenages are a substantial part of the market. The same things plus girls, cars, drugs(I don't advocate this!) etc. are there for them as well. Why is it that market is still there then?

[SuperBird]

I think today's writing is geared more for the collector market to get the largest possible circulation- adults and young adults- so is more accessible to teenagers than it is to younger kids. The overall % of teenagers reading comics today is a very small % of what it was in the past- this is due to 2 things mainly. The fact that these kids haven't grown up with comics thanks to the switch to the direct market. And competition from video games.

 

Once comics became something that you had to search out for rather than something ever-present on newsstands, the industry dug it's own grave.

[Timulty]

Now that seem to be an entirely plausible explanation. It puts the chicken and egg statement into context for me. So, I have to agree that is part of the reason.

[Norrin_Radd]

I totally agree. To me the biggest problem is access: they should go back to full distribution and allow returns, make comics available everywhere.

 

They should create a line of kid-friendly comics and put them in every Walmart.

[Timulty]

That solves distribution and access handily!!!!

 

Seems like they tried that before, not necessarily with kid friendly comics, and it didn't work out. I bet Wal-Marts take of the profits was of the deal.

[skybolt]

Here's a thread from a while back that discussed why many board members gave up collecting modern comics:

 

http://boards.collectors-society.com/sho...true#Post621759

[SuperBird]

they have been trying for a few years, but today's kids just aren't receptive to comics, sadly. Same as toys. They 'like' them, but don't get drawn in. There's not that immediate rush the same way there is with video games. I think the best chance the industry has is to start selling comics as books, get them into bookstores. Kids will still want to read comics over traditional books, so they win that battle for attention.

[rjpb]

The term "market" is often used to describe the demand for a commodity or service, as opposed to a "potential market" which would include everyone financially and physically capable of availing themselves of said commodity or service.

 

 

I know what you're saying. I'm just blaming the publishers for their poor business decisions which, in my opinion, have shrunk their market substantially. In hindsight, the move to direct market distribution doesn't seem to have been a wise one, what with its inherent limitations and isolation. Moving to more expensive printing processes doesn't seem to have worked as a growth mechanism for the comics market. Continuing to pay rates to writers and artists that were based on substantially higher circulation figures doesn't seem that wise to me either; if they are selling 10% of what they used to sell, shouldn't the talent be getting paid 90% less as a result?

 

Kinda shot themselves in the foot with their 'business model' of the past twenty years.

 

 

Direct distribution was great for small publishers who couldn't afford to take the hit from massive returns, and as result there was definetly a creative explosion in comics starting in the 80s, and I don't know that DC would have taken the risks it has with it's Vertigo titles had there been no

direct market, but I agree that a subsequent result is that comics have become largely a specialty item, for which one has to go to specialty stores (aka comic shops) to buy. While newstands still seem to carry a smattering of comic books - drug stores and convenience stores at most carry a few digest titles. I imagine most of us over the age of 40 were introduced or at least further drawn into the world of comics while perusing spinner racks, or low lying magazine racks while our parents dragged us to such stores.

[the blob]

putting the cocaine in the coke was expensive even back in the 40's