Tuesday, June 16, 2009

How To Save the Comic Book Industry

Hello friends.

It’s not new news that print media is suffering. Daily newspapers and weekly/monthly magazines are hurting. Comic books are no exception. It doesn’t take Albert Einstein to figure out why: why would most consumers pay three dollars for something which takes five minutes to read and usually doesn’t merit a re-read? Hardly anyone buys comic books casually, for many are rightly confused by the character’s long and confusing history.

Keeping that in mind, here’s some things I would do if I were suddenly named the next Editor-in-Chief of either of the two major publishing houses, Marvel or DC.

1) Both Marvel and DC have a number of television shows either currently airing or in the works. Commercials for actual comic books should appear during this time. The same goes for comic book movies. I would also convert more comics into a stop-motion format, which allows people to view comics on their television sets. If someone were to buy the Hulk movie on DVD, disc one could contain the movie while disc two could have some issues in this format, where the audience gets shifted from panel to panel and speech balloons pop up.

2) Increase the quality of kid-friendly titles. I flipped through an issue of a kid-friendly title published by DC the last time I was at my local comic book store. (The Bearded Dragon, in the Dietz Street Plaza.) The art and writing were horrid. The gags were obvious. I wouldn’t give it to my kid to read, although I might give it to my pet for when she can’t reach the outdoors in time.

3) I’d reduce the number of ongoing titles. An ongoing title is one that has no endpoint in mind. Too often, ongoing titles outlive their glory days. This is what happened with “Animal Man” in the 1990’s. For popular heroes like Spider-Man, Batman, and the like, I’d give them a long limited series. Lesser known characters would be given shorter limited series, but these would be published more frequently. Just because some characters aren’t as well-known as others doesn’t mean they’re any less fun to read or work on. A limited series, where the number of issues is predetermined, allows writers to plan a good story without eventually losing money due to lower quality. Limited series would also give casual readers clear jumping-on points. If I had to be specific, I’d say that popular characters would get maxi-series, which run for ten or so issues, and lesser-known characters would get six-issue miniseries.

4) Readers don’t care about the quality of paper used. I’d reduce costs by using a cheaper form of paper. As archives have shown, lower-quality paper can still be preserved. I would try to make more money off of licensing and TV series/movies. Reducing print runs can also help lower the price of comic books. This would help even more comic books sell out, and second printings could take place at a later date, so retailers aren’t stuck with once-valuable second printings which they can’t sell.

5) I would increase production of collected issues and bulk archival editions. Marvel and DC both do this, and the resulting products are often priced at a manageable twenty dollars. This would allow readers to quickly catch up on stories. I would even be open to seeing Marvel and DC, or even Diamond Comcs, the largest comic book distributor, open actual stores to market their products. These would be similar to fast-food chains. Comic book stores, although I love them, could often do with a cosmetic lift, better lighting, more complete collections, and friendly, clearly denoted employees. 

These are just a few thoughts, and they’ve occurred to other folks as well. I’ll stop here before I bore everyone to tears.

Later days,
Nico