This post is Filed Under:
Home page Highlights,
Interviews and Columns
by beau Smith
The title of this week’s Beauology 101 says it all. The three always “hot” topics in comics that will set a lot of message boards aflame. notice I said message boards and not the world. That’s because the direct market of comics is a very small world and not as massively global as a lot of would like to think. Granted, every now and then there’s a small blip in the bigger world when it’s announced that a mainstream comic book character is gay or announces that this year they’re going to say “Merry Christmas” instead of “Happy Holidays.” depend on me, these spikes in publicity are small on the scale outside the city of new York or possibly Los Angeles. even then, the only reason they’re observed is because the major part of the population still thinks that just kids reads comics and that they’re still twelve cents.
These people get their kids t-shirts with Spider-Man on them because there was a movie, not because they read the monthly comic book. Twenty years ago there would often be “heated” discussions in the pages of The Comics Journal about these topics, but not really anywhere else. ten years ago when the Internet and message boards really hit full throttle, it made the world of comics bigger… or did it? If you read the message boards and surf the Internet for comic book news, it sure seems like there are a lot of people talking about these topics. It flat-out seems like there are a lot of people talking about comics in general.
It seems that way if you’re into comics and its related layers of information. If you look at the message boards and forums and really do some math, you’ll find that there are a handful or two of the same posters just posting over and over. Of course, you’ll get some folks that will say that there’s a huge amount of “lurkers” that read, but just don’t post. I’m sure it’s true that there are a lot more that read than post, but like a print publisher boasting of their circulation numbers, the art of creative math is even a lot more out of control with “hits”, “visits” and so on with websites. If you believe everyone tells you the truth, then you’re just lying to yourself. One side seems to be repulsed that there is overt sex, politics, and religion in some mainstream comics and their characters. The other side is just as outraged that others want to sweep real life sex, politics and religion under a four-color carpet. “Kids don’t need to see this stuff”. “Kids do need to see this stuff, you can’t shelter them from life”. pick a quote. You see them both all the time. The thing that both sides are missing is that young kids ARE NOT THE ENGINE DRIVING THE current car CALLED COMICS. They probably won’t be again unless things are changed and expanded.
Okay, I take that back… there might be a couple, but closer to none than a lot. and by mainstream comics I indicate the superhero ones. here are some points that I’d like to make: (more realistically, my thoughts and opinions pulled from information taken, given and researched by me through this and other columns as well as other sources from my 20 + years in this business.)
Young readers are no longer a major target or part of the superhero consumer base in comics.
** The readers of incredibly hero comics that are left are mostly males ages 17 to 55.
** Publishers and editorial only seem to be interested in writing comics that THEY like. There seems to be a trend for them to want to imitate the films and novels that THEY enjoy. There seems to be little worry for what the readers want and even less in trying to find out who their readers are.
** Yes, big events in mainstream superhero comics have sold well enough. Did these higher sales come from new readers outside the long time direct market reader base? Nope. a lot of of the sales seem to have come from within the consumer base that was already there. My hopes would be that publishers will take advantage of the interest in mid-tier characters from these events and be able to build a broader readership from it. I’d also hope that the time and effort that went into making these events sell would be put into bringing new readers to comics.
** Internet hype and news does not equate into profits for the books, no a lot more than print ads in magazines. The reason being the choir is being sung to over and over with the same songs. There are no new consumers. When there are sales spikes in “hot” issues, it’s generally because the same readers/collectors/retailers get a lot more copies of a book in hopes that it will be worth a lot more money. Some routines of the 90s are hard to shake.
** The sales of comic books in the direct market are not good. When publishers are ecstatic about a small handful of top ten books selling over 100,000 and are delighted with mid-range books that are 35,000, then something is really wrong.BEAUOLOGY 101: SEX, POLITICS, and religion IN COMICS (###) This post is Filed Under:
Home page Highlights,
Interviews and Columns
by beau Smith
The title of this week’s Beauology 101 says it all. The three always “hot” topics in comics that will set a lot of message boards aflame. notice I said message boards and not the world. That’s because the direct market of comics is a very small world and not as massively global as a lot of would like to think. Granted, every now and then there’s a small blip in the bigger world when it’s announced that a mainstream comic book character is gay or announces that this year they’re going to say “Merry Christmas” instead of “Happy Holidays.” depend on me, these spikes in publicity are small on the scale outside the city of new York or possibly Los Angeles. even then, the only reason they’re observed is because the major part of the population still thinks that just kids reads comics and that they’re still twelve cents.
These people get their kids t-shirts with Spider-Man on them because there was a movie, not because they read the monthly comic book. Twenty years ago there would often be “heated” discussions in the pages of The Comics Journal about these topics, but not really anywhere else. ten years ago when the Internet and message boards really hit full throttle, it made the world of comics bigger… or did it? If you read the message boards and surf the Internet for comic book news, it sure seems like there are a lot of people talking about these topics. It flat-out seems like there are a lot of people talking about comics in general.
It seems that way if you’re into comics and its related layers of information. If you look at the message boards and forums and really do some math, you’ll find that there are a handful or two of the same posters just posting over and over. Of course, you’ll get some folks that will say that there’s a huge amount of “lurkers” that read, but just don’t post. I’m sure it’s true that there are a lot more that read than post, but like a print publisher boasting of their circulation numbers, the art of creative math is even a lot more out of control with “hits”, “visits” and so on with websites. If you believe everyone tells you the truth, then you’re just lying to yourself. One side seems to be repulsed that there is overt sex, politics, and religion in some mainstream comics and their characters. The other side is just as outraged that others want to sweep real life sex, politics and religion under a four-color carpet. “Kids don’t need to see this stuff”. “Kids do need to see this stuff, you can’t shelter them from life”. pick a quote. You see them both all the time. The thing that both sides are missing is that young kids ARE NOT THE ENGINE DRIVING THE current car CALLED COMICS. They probably won’t be again unless things are changed and expanded.
Okay, I take that back… there might be a couple, but closer to none than a lot. and by mainstream comics I indicate the superhero ones. here are some points that I’d like to make: (more realistically, my thoughts and opinions pulled from information taken, given and researched by me through this and other columns as well as other sources from my 20 + years in this business.)
Young readers are no longer a major target or part of the superhero consumer base in comics.
** The readers of incredibly hero comics that are left are mostly males ages 17 to 55.
** Publishers and editorial only seem to be interested in writing comics that THEY like. There seems to be a trend for them to want to imitate the films and novels that THEY enjoy. There seems to be little worry for what the readers want and even less in trying to find out who their readers are.
** Yes, big events in mainstream superhero comics have sold well enough. Did these higher sales come from new readers outside the long time direct market reader base? Nope. a lot of of the sales seem to have come from within the consumer base that was already there. My hopes would be that publishers will take advantage of the interest in mid-tier characters from these events and be able to build a broader readership from it. I’d also hope that the time and effort that went into making these events sell would be put into bringing new readers to comics.
** Internet hype and news does not equate into profits for the books, no a lot more than print ads in magazines. The reason being the choir is being sung to over and over with the same songs. There are no new consumers. When there are sales spikes in “hot” issues, it’s generally because the same readers/collectors/retailers get a lot more copies of a book in hopes that it will be worth a lot more money. Some routines of the 90s are hard to shake.
** The sales of comic books in the direct market are not good. When publishers are ecstatic about a small handful of top ten books selling over 100,000 and are delighted with mid-range books that are 35,000, then something is really wrong.