The comics industry needs to...

[Dingo]

Comics, as an industry, needs to foster mainstream markets in genres other than superhero and arthouse.

It seems to me that comics, for the vast majority, come in two or three flavours.
Superhero, arthouse and manga.
I say two or three because to joe public manga is apparently either superheroes or arthouse (or both) anyway.

Sure there are other genres out there, but the markets for them are very small, and I'd like to see them expanded. There are some very good arthouse comics that have made inroads into these genre markets, but those inroads need to be followed up with sturdy, good quality if not artistically breakthrough comics. Just good plain story-telling.

As comics stand now, it would be like cable TV consisting of just a channel for festival movies and a channel for Sci-fi. Where's the variety?


What do you guys think?

[SebastianPiccione]

I think that's as much OUR (the readers) fault as it is the companies.

They can only survuve by producing what sells.

Also, while I'm not the biggest fan of modern manga (I keep it old school), I have to admit that just lumping all MANGA into the MANGA category, is a gross injustice. MANGA has a wide variety of subgenres witihn it. Mech, fantasy, drama, comedy, kids, sci-fi, thriller, etc. MANGA is a format, not a genre.

But, that is neither here nor there. As for your initial point, I think that increasing those genres is a two fold task.
1- Bring in more quality books for those genres.
2- Bring in new Comic Readers, as most of the old ones are fairly set in their ways as well as their chosen genres.

[Dingo]

I think we can start bringing the current readers across with quality and good marketing from existing companies.

Things like The Walking Dead, Criminal, Y the Last Man and Fables sell well, and I don't think they've brought too many people in from outside the superhero ghetto.


And you're right, I am being horribly unfair to manga. I'm more thinking about perception of content rather than content.

[PBrusnahan]

People need to be aware that these genres exist in comics too.

Speak to most people about comics they'll think of superheroes, funny books and the Batman show of the 60s.

[Dingo]

They don't really exist in any respectable quantities though.

[MattGrant]

I do notice that the "extended TV season" books seem to be a hit. Buffy Season 8, Angel After the Fall, Farscape, etc... These books are certainly not IPs shopping for a tv/movie options (quite the opposite), so their existence would state to me that its a viable market.

[Dingo]

I do notice that the "extended TV season" books seem to be a hit. Buffy Season 8, Angel After the Fall, Farscape, etc... These books are certainly not IPs shopping for a tv/movie options (quite the opposite), so their existence would state to me that its a viable market.

Great point. Especially with the very low cost of production of a comic when compared to a TV show.

I can think of a few TV shows over the years that have been canned on cliffhangers that I'd love to see finished off. Carnivale seems to be a prime candidate since it was done by Knauf, who has written comics now anyway.

[JShelton]

Carnivale seems to be a prime candidate since it was done by Knauf, who has written comics now anyway.

Not to steer the thread too far off topic, but didn't he say at one point that he had planned to finish it off in the comic format if they got canceled?

[MattGrant]

You're not going to see a huge expansion of genres until people start buying those genres as much as they do the superhero stuff. The companies are going to cater to what sells, not what they think SHOULD sell. Unfortunately since comics don't really break into the main stream, the vast majority of comics readers want what we've already got (namely superheroes).

I think, in order for new genres to really thrive (which I believe they should) the publishers really need to push into different markets. For instance: Take back the news stands-- once you're there, slowly try one or two new genre books out and see what happens-- go from there. Do that in the book market.

All these movies that are based off of comics, that people don't really realize unless they're already into comics (such as 30 Days of Night), PUT A DANG coupon for the book in the dvd. Get some free comics into the movie theaters..... ANYTHING.

I believe that there are a ton of people out there that just need to have their eyes opened to the fact that comics are a totally approachable medium, but we really need to market to THEM.

Crack that open, and watch the industry shift.

[FutureWarlock]

I pretty much only care about the artwork, but that's just me lol.

[Dungbeetle]

Being from the UK I was brought up on 2000AD rather than superhero comics... wouldn't be surprised if there were a lot of others in my situation.

Hit the nail on the head Matt... same applies for any artistic medium. If you're making music and you're promoting it, but it's not selling, then you're missing the mark. If you study TV, you'll notice that over the decades viewer sensibilities change and become (arguably) more sophisticated. Think about how commercials work and how they change over time. Sometimes there's a lot of parody in our commercials... sometimes there will be a wave of surrealness, sometimes seriousness. Audiences adapt constantly, so the guys who make those ads have to be constantly trying new things (or recycling things that haven't been done in a while). Because the (mainstream) comics industry's main sales are (probably) to A. Nostalgia mongers and B. people who want to see how "cool it would be if X and Y had a fight) this process of advance seems to happen a bit slower. Like you say, the people want what they already have. Think of how sophisticated film is, because it's a generally accepted medium with huge groups of people watching different types of film, so the stranger, more innovative things, indie movies can thrive. Maybe the same can be said of comics to an extent, but look at this way; it wouldn't be weird to ask a stranger what their favourite movie or song was, and to assume they had one. It would, however, be weird to assume a stranger had a favourite comic.

Comics in general suffer from the same stigma as computer games - the perception that they're for kids. So money might get thrown behind the next Grand Theft Auto or gorey, presumably "mature" comic (because the bottom line is, they will still make money out of sales to 12 year olds, just because it's "kewl" {see me age 12 reading Slaine and Judge Dredd]) while something more serious which could help legitimise the genre doesn't get the same backing.

I know nothing about sales figures so I could be talking out of my arse. Book coupon thing make sense, and there's not really any excuse not to seeing as, for example, Warner own all the movies of the DC comics, and the comics, and are in a perfect position to do that. The music industry is doing what it needs to, to stay alive; they've started giving away download keys for mp3s of any songs you buy on vinyl. So everyone's happy, right?