Comic Book Rant
Some history: I have read comics my entire life. I learned to read because of Casper: The Friendly Ghost and Richie Rich. I graduated to Archie, then Spider-Man, then Sin City, then Sandman & the Ultimate line, with many in between. My dad managed Geppi's Comic World stores, which closed it's last branch last year (this was a chain owned by Steve Geppi, owner of Diamond Comic Distributors).
My opinion? The comic industry is hurting. While they may have gotten some CPR from such titles as Identity Crisis, they still are hooked up to IV fluids and a heart monitor with no signs of discharge from the hospital.
I've left buying individual comics. Which is hard to say and admit because I LOVE COMICS. Now if I've left comics how many more have probably left as well? I can't justify spending $3-5 on a single issue anymore and then be left wondering "when will the next issue come out? - three months from now?" or, even worse "Will this issue be any good?" I was willing to pay comic book prices as long as they deliver to me and unfortunately the writers, artists, and companies have not. The last great story I read was Identity Crisis - written by not a comic book scribe but by a published novelist. This was very successful for DC comics from what I understand and I was on the edge of my seat every issue - I bought every single one when they came out. I even couldn't wait for that last issue to come in the mail (I was doing mail-order) and I braved visiting the sexist, smelly, and rude comic book store to buy the last issue when it came out. That is the excitement that Marvel comics of course wants to duplicate in it's fan base and does so badly. Their Avengers Disassembled story was poor and their new gimmick, to destroy as many mutants as possible, is just plain desperate and boring. Now they have this "Civil War" nonsense that I haven't even bother to pick up. So it may be great but somehow I doubt it.
Another problem is how they spread writers out very thin. I used to love Marvel's Brian Michael Bendis, who wrote Ultimate Spider-Man. Unfortunately, he did so well writing that Marvel decided to let him write as many titles as possible to sell their books. Result? His writing has suffered drastically. Ultimate Spider-Man is a tough read for me. His other titles complete crap. I could dissect them individually but I won't - I just know he is spread too thin. He will never admit it of course, he's making cash and I'm sure he thinks he is capable of much, but he's not. And people have stopped buying comics because of this, and the industry continues it's decline. Marvel knows popular writers sell comics in the short term though and has begun spreading another author quite thin that I used to love - Dan Slott. Robert Kirkman is next I'm sure. Plus, they are so desperate to have a certain artists name on a comic that if that artist doesn't meet deadline they let him get away with it, which I think is just disgusting. If an artist doesn't meet deadline he should be fired because there are plenty of starving artists to give the job to instead (exception: Alex Ross). BUT companies decides that making the book 1-7-12 months late is acceptable. It's not. Example? The Ultimates - continues to ship later and later. I've stopped buying it.
I guess I'm ragging on Marvel a bit but those were the stories I used to love the most. DC has definitely had more depth recently but they have so many titles coinciding together that I cannot buy, read them all and remain sane. Simply, they are better read in trade format.
Anyway, I can't gamble my money away anymore on knowing what issues will be good or bad or on time. And by the time I hear about if something truly is fantastic, it's most likely sold out at my comic book store anyway because distribution is very poor. Example? Marvel Zombies. Can't wait to read it. All the issues are sold out around here (except the latest one). This system is so frustrating that I have said "I surrender!" So I pre-ordered the trade and will patiently wait.
I just want Marvel and DC to just start releasing trade paperbacks and be done with it. Stop triple dipping into fans pockets with a comic, hardback, and paperback release all of the same story. If you can deliver a comic book on time, with decent distribution numbers, than okay, triple dip. If you can't, do us all a favor and just release it in a hardback book (like Neil Gamain's Sandman:Endless Nights), promote it heavily in book stores and make a lot of money. The industry would make so much more money if they did that because they would be marketing to 100 percent of the population, not just 50 percent. In that I mean, they would be appealing to both men and WOMEN. That's right, women. Long ignored and ready to read comics. Go into a book store and you won't see a standee with anything by Marvel or DC. You will see standees for Anime, a lesser and cheaper form of comic that girls eat up. They want pictures and words and depth. You just have to tell them comics have all that.
The industry as a whole sucks and no one is saying that loud enough. Comic book stores are closing, Diamond is hurting, and all because fans are leaving it behind for better writers and artists in other mediums. They need a consultant bad to tell them to fix some things but, unfortunately, it's full of egos that wouldn't be able to take the critisism an outsider could offer. I await the day changes are finally made and perhaps I will then again buy an individual comic again. Until then I protest where it will hurt the industry most: with my wallet.
What prompted this blog: I had ten dollars in my pocket to burn. I went into the comic book store and could find no single issue of anything to pick up.
My opinion? The comic industry is hurting. While they may have gotten some CPR from such titles as Identity Crisis, they still are hooked up to IV fluids and a heart monitor with no signs of discharge from the hospital.
I've left buying individual comics. Which is hard to say and admit because I LOVE COMICS. Now if I've left comics how many more have probably left as well? I can't justify spending $3-5 on a single issue anymore and then be left wondering "when will the next issue come out? - three months from now?" or, even worse "Will this issue be any good?" I was willing to pay comic book prices as long as they deliver to me and unfortunately the writers, artists, and companies have not. The last great story I read was Identity Crisis - written by not a comic book scribe but by a published novelist. This was very successful for DC comics from what I understand and I was on the edge of my seat every issue - I bought every single one when they came out. I even couldn't wait for that last issue to come in the mail (I was doing mail-order) and I braved visiting the sexist, smelly, and rude comic book store to buy the last issue when it came out. That is the excitement that Marvel comics of course wants to duplicate in it's fan base and does so badly. Their Avengers Disassembled story was poor and their new gimmick, to destroy as many mutants as possible, is just plain desperate and boring. Now they have this "Civil War" nonsense that I haven't even bother to pick up. So it may be great but somehow I doubt it.
Another problem is how they spread writers out very thin. I used to love Marvel's Brian Michael Bendis, who wrote Ultimate Spider-Man. Unfortunately, he did so well writing that Marvel decided to let him write as many titles as possible to sell their books. Result? His writing has suffered drastically. Ultimate Spider-Man is a tough read for me. His other titles complete crap. I could dissect them individually but I won't - I just know he is spread too thin. He will never admit it of course, he's making cash and I'm sure he thinks he is capable of much, but he's not. And people have stopped buying comics because of this, and the industry continues it's decline. Marvel knows popular writers sell comics in the short term though and has begun spreading another author quite thin that I used to love - Dan Slott. Robert Kirkman is next I'm sure. Plus, they are so desperate to have a certain artists name on a comic that if that artist doesn't meet deadline they let him get away with it, which I think is just disgusting. If an artist doesn't meet deadline he should be fired because there are plenty of starving artists to give the job to instead (exception: Alex Ross). BUT companies decides that making the book 1-7-12 months late is acceptable. It's not. Example? The Ultimates - continues to ship later and later. I've stopped buying it.
I guess I'm ragging on Marvel a bit but those were the stories I used to love the most. DC has definitely had more depth recently but they have so many titles coinciding together that I cannot buy, read them all and remain sane. Simply, they are better read in trade format.
Anyway, I can't gamble my money away anymore on knowing what issues will be good or bad or on time. And by the time I hear about if something truly is fantastic, it's most likely sold out at my comic book store anyway because distribution is very poor. Example? Marvel Zombies. Can't wait to read it. All the issues are sold out around here (except the latest one). This system is so frustrating that I have said "I surrender!" So I pre-ordered the trade and will patiently wait.
I just want Marvel and DC to just start releasing trade paperbacks and be done with it. Stop triple dipping into fans pockets with a comic, hardback, and paperback release all of the same story. If you can deliver a comic book on time, with decent distribution numbers, than okay, triple dip. If you can't, do us all a favor and just release it in a hardback book (like Neil Gamain's Sandman:Endless Nights), promote it heavily in book stores and make a lot of money. The industry would make so much more money if they did that because they would be marketing to 100 percent of the population, not just 50 percent. In that I mean, they would be appealing to both men and WOMEN. That's right, women. Long ignored and ready to read comics. Go into a book store and you won't see a standee with anything by Marvel or DC. You will see standees for Anime, a lesser and cheaper form of comic that girls eat up. They want pictures and words and depth. You just have to tell them comics have all that.
The industry as a whole sucks and no one is saying that loud enough. Comic book stores are closing, Diamond is hurting, and all because fans are leaving it behind for better writers and artists in other mediums. They need a consultant bad to tell them to fix some things but, unfortunately, it's full of egos that wouldn't be able to take the critisism an outsider could offer. I await the day changes are finally made and perhaps I will then again buy an individual comic again. Until then I protest where it will hurt the industry most: with my wallet.
What prompted this blog: I had ten dollars in my pocket to burn. I went into the comic book store and could find no single issue of anything to pick up.
2 Comments:
Noticed ya on Dan's comments. If you like toys and such check out my site as well :)
Thanks for visiting. I don't get around to reading comics these days, but when I have spare time I do write my own. I have more fun creating my own stuff. Hopefully... Hopefully one day I will get a web page up for them.
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