Comic Books Should Call It Quits

[stevekenson]

I was thinking this morning: comic book publishers make the vast majority of their money off licensing (particularly to other media like films) and sales to the book trade of collections (trade paperbacks and things like the Essentials or Showcase reprints), plus now the release of back-issue collections on CDs (much like TV on DVD).

They should just stop publishing monthly books altogether: they're a dying market, rarely on-time anyway, and create a needless treadmill that demands X pages of story and art every month. Instead, when creators have a story to tell, have them tell it, either as a complete graphic novel (or series thereof) or a "short story" that can appear in a collection (or as a downloadable webcomic, or both). It was one thing when comics were printed on pulp paper "all in color for a dime!" but now that individual comics are going for around three bucks, it's time to pack it in, if you ask me (and anyone who knows me knows what a comic book-loving geek I am). Times are changing, time to change with them.

Comments

[patricks.livejournal.com]

Hm - sounds like a good way to go. I only buy tpb's now anyway.

[stiobhanrune.livejournal.com]

yeah, I agree. Graphic novels are the wave of the future. That's pretty much the only way I read comics these days anyway.

Although I do know a number of hard-core traditional comic geeks who would be gnashing their cavity-riddled teeth if they ever heard me say that.

Yeah, we probably wouldn't be friends anymore... and they'd probably declare war against my whole family unto the seventh generation.

Yeah... and that would be bad. Although funny.

*chuckles*

[graveyardgreg.livejournal.com]

That's what I'm going to do, with the rare exception of one or two books.

Trade paperbacks are better for bookstores anyway. Individual comics aren't, especially since comics are rising to ridiculous prices. The comic book geek in me would miss those monthly issues, though.

I don't see Marvel or DC changing anytime soon, however.

[adamjury.livejournal.com]

The only major problem I see with this: it will be harder to introduce people to comics [both in general, and to specific titles] if there isn't a cheap way into them. Three bucks to sample something to see if you like it? That's not so bad. 15 bucks for a trade paperback that you may not like? That's a little dicier.

[anaka.livejournal.com]

Depends on the person. Me, I can't see spending $3.00 for something that'll be incomplete AND will take me less than 10 minutes total to read. In depth. I'll pick one up for my kids on occasion because it's actually a challenge for them to read, but for me? No. The only thing I buy is trade paperbacks, because it isn't until that point that the cost/time/enjoyment ratio is worthwhile.

[doccross.livejournal.com]

Altho I haven't bought comics regularly in over 24 years, I think that you have the right idea. Many of the comic readers I know have switched from buying them monthly, going for the other formats you mentioned.

Now that so many early comics are being collected into larger books and so much good stuff is out there in graphic novel form (and now that my Adventure In Poverty is coming to an end)I might just start reading (and re-reading) comics again.

[mforbeck.livejournal.com]

The market's certainly moving that way, but the Big Two publishers have no incentive to change. With the comics, they get a certain amount of income, and then they get the gravy of the TPB. Without the monthlies, they wouldn't get the original shot of income, and the TPB prices would likely have to be much higher, costing them even more sales.

With the current model, they get to have their cake and eat it too. They get the hardcore junkies in every week, and they get the rest of us grabbing the TPBs when the collect the series that sell well. Initial monthlies numbers can also tell them whether or not it's worthwhile to collect any particular book or series.

Here's a thought: Asking comics publishers to quit doing monthlies is like asking RPG companies to quit printing supplements. To get off the treadmill and just produce great products. It sounds great in practice, but getting them (and their customers) to switch tracks can be difficult.

[princeofcairo.livejournal.com]

Here's a thought: Asking comics publishers to quit doing monthlies is like asking RPG companies to quit printing supplements.

Or at least, to quit printing "lines," and shifting to something like the Orpheus or Blue Rose model of "three books and out." (Although ironically, a company like Hero or SJG would have to shift models least under this new regime -- most of their books are effectively stand-alone anyhow.)

It sounds great in practice, but getting them (and their customers) to switch tracks can be difficult.

The difference being that periodical distribution systems work for periodical comic books, and demonstrably don't work for RPG lines. In an era when comic book sales are actually increasing, and RPG sales are falling through the floor, making the shift to the "TPB" model is actually far more urgent for RPGs than it is for comics.

And there are comic companies already that pretty much only produce TPBs, AIT/Planet Lar being the one that pops instantly to mind.

[freeport-pirate.livejournal.com]

I don't think it's in the economic interest of the comic companies to do so. Though comic sales now aren't great compared to yesteryear, sales of those $3 books does pay for all the art, writing, editing, inking, etc. So when the trade paperback does inevitably appear, the only costs they have to recoup at that point are the new print job and whatever marketing they decide to do. The rest is all gravy.

[gamescribe.livejournal.com]

I kind of sit the fence on the whole isse. On the one hand, there are some books that are just meant for monthly format (Exiles, for example) while others are decidedly self-contained. I'll admit, I pretty much only reas mainstream comics, but one of the things I do like (most of the time) is to see how different writers and artists portray the same characters, which I think is easier in monthly format.