The comics industry is in a healthier state at the moment than it has been for years.

Discuss.

Ok. Speaking as a long time reader, nothing more nothing less, from Streatham, London, England, UK.

There’s no doubt of the impact of Joe Quesada being appointed Editor in Chief of Marvel Comics in 2000 and an overall increase in the quality of comics from that publisher in general.

Thankfully, the days of writing posts being filled incestuously by friends of friends, spouting off mediocre drivel wrapped in a shiny package are a distant memory.

Thank goodness.

The bigger companies are now hiring quality writers from every popular medium (movies, TV and books) and introducing exclusive contracts to keep the top creators on their books.

Marvel Comics hiring of innovative editors and the establishment of a ratings system were desperately needed to revive the fortunes of the once industry leader.

When the fruits of this labour became apparent, DC Comics followed suit.

Forging exclusive contracts with big name creators and setting them loose on their flagship characters.

These two publishers are known as the big two within the industry.

Having now bounced out of bankruptcy the sky is the limit for Marvel Comics.

This applies to limited series and these should only lead into new ongoing titles by popular demand.

Witness the rise of Crossgen Comics in 2000, their slow but sure approach reaped dividends as more and more people were turned on to their diverse product.

[Please note this article was written before the demise of Crossgen, details to follow in later articles].

They deliberately avoided using traditional superheroes in their comic books instead concentrating on traditional fantasy and science fiction action adventure.

This is a breath of fresh air and I predict in the long term that they will regularly challenge Image Comics for third place of overall market share.

Trade paperbacks would probably be better suited for new readers because you have a complete story with no frustration of waiting for late issues.

Quality product would be easier to market and positive word of mouth would help to drive the sales.

Finding ways to make comic books greater value for money would always help as well.

No stone should be left unturned to make comic books more accessible and no convention should be kept sacred.

Comic books are good again.

The boom and bust of the early to mid nineties (you'll learn about this later) is now the cautionary tale to all in the field and long termism is back.