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[–][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.