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[–]Trajan 4 insightful - 2 fun4 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 2 fun -  (2 children)

Yeah, cost is a big one. The price of comics rose far above inflation. In the 80s it was realistic for the average kid to have a few comics each week. That'd now be more than $40 per month for perhaps 4 hours of entertainment. They got away with this for some time due to their historic customer base.

The comics industry essentially gave up on new customers when they ditched general retail. Parents buying comics at the newsstand or supermarket to silence their kids was a good way of hooking new customers. When they ditched this they largely relied on their existing customer base which, to the disgust of Marvel and DC, would be middle aged white guys. Fortunately, also customers more likely to have the money to buy the more expensive and glossy comics.

They then began attacking these customers and filling comics with identity politics, around 2015, imagining they would ditch these crackers for new and 'diverse' customers. It'd be like McDonalds going full vegan, announcing this with the advertising slogan 'fuck off, land whales'.

This imagined audience never materialised, at least not in numbers needed to sustain the industry. For example, there aren't anywhere near as many gays as the media suggests there are, and only a minority of this tiny minority has any interest in comics. Similar deal for women and non-whites.

So here we are. An entire industry outsold by a single manga title. In obvious decline, incapable of course correcting. The big two are background noise to their corporate owners, providing little reason to keep them operating as publishers.

The good news is that comics may shift to bring a cottage industry. Crowdfunding is going well, and comics are perfect for small operations. Printing and online distribution are widely accessible, materials are relatively cheap, and you don't need much more than an artist, a writer, and time. No need to work for a publisher who'll pay pennies on the dollar. I'm optimistic that comics will continue absent these publishers.

[–][deleted] 3 insightful - 2 fun3 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 2 fun -  (1 child)

They already started a decline in writing (and honestly even artistic) quality previous to new ownership too. Disney capitalized quite a bit with Marvel, I'm sure. DC/WB being picked up by AT&T was a signal to their imminent death/further failure. I don't think digital availability will help with collectors, however a big thing has been going on again for a few years now where variants are released for all sorts of minor events-- and it's drawing in a lot of people that are snatching them up to sell on ebay and unnaturally drive up values.

Honestly, a lot of publishers are seeing media options that work in tandem with the books now too. There's been decent quality shows that have come out of it all (excluding the basic capeshittery from Marvel and DC-- which still end up with quality good enough to be watchable for the masses).

I do hope you're right about these smaller publishers coming through though. It relies a lot on everyone getting their shit together on time, but dedicated fans will be patient once they latch onto material. You've got artists like.. I think it was Ben Templesmith that went on hiatus a few times when projects were due-- but I might be remembering wrong (also check him out if you haven't), and that can screw up things even worse for the smaller ops. I guess we'll just have to see where everything goes.

[–]Trajan 2 insightful - 2 fun2 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

Agreed. The rot has been there for a long time. I think it was Axel Alonso who jammed his foot on the crazy pedal, accelerating the decline. I believe, and I could be wrong here, is that Alonso was fired for going too balls-deep with identity politics, wrecking the brand in the process. It's not that Disney didn't want identity politics - they want it along with profitability. Good luck with that!

I'm confident enough in this surviving through smaller operations. While the shipping costs and lead-times for crowdfunding are a problem, I can't argue with the quality of the books I'm receiving. I just yesterday received Impossible Stars from ya boi Zack - exactly the kind of book I wish I would be finding on the shelves. Zack actually made a good point in this. While it'll probably never be enough to support a network of comic shops, you don't need that many customers to make a good living. If you can turn out 2 or 3 projects a year, getting a thousand or so regular customers, then you have at minimum a promising side-gig. Pull in 2-3 thousand customers for campaigns and you have a well paid job - even more so if you don't live in a stupidly expensive city.