| Growler's
State Of The Superhero Comic Book Publishing Industry |
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INDEX
<The
Marvel Comics Revolution, Part Two!...|BREAKFAST
IS SERVED?!...>
This
is where I let loose my views on the current direction of the business
of superhero fiction found in comic books and graphic novels.
Taking
you behind the scenes of this exciting industry!
Rawle
Austin presents…
From
Boom to Bust and Back Again! A Growler’s Tale.
Recently,
I helped one of my oldest friends (my good mate Julian) sort out
his comic book collection to sell.
It
brought back quite a few memories as we had started collecting comics
at roughly the same time and with him, had visited many comic marts
and specialist shops around London for the first time over the years.
He stopped collecting a few years back.
Going
through some of these classic titles also took me back to the fantastic
speculator frenzy that occurred in the early nineties, which caused
the infamous boom and bust of the comic book industry.
Following
from the two, now legendary, late eighties comic book stories in
Watchmen by Alan Moore and The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller,
comic books were a hot commodity.
Click
here to check out Watchmen TPB (DC Comics) by Alan Moore and Dave
Gibbons
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Everyone
wanted in on the action and the speculator was born.
Loads
of new publishers arose to capitalise on this.
Every
publisher had to have a superhero universe.
Up
sprung the Valiant universe from Valiant Comics, the Ultraverse
from Malibu Comics, the Milestone Comics and Vertigo imprints from
DC Comics and Comics Greatest World, the offering from Dark Horse
Comics, to name a few.
Artists
became superstars over night. Marvel Comics and the newly formed
Image Comics in particular were enjoying incredible sales.
The high point was Marvel Comics’ The X-Men #1 selling 8 million
copies! A boom in the number of specialist retail shops specialising
in comic books began in earnest.
Long
time fans were ecstatic as books began to rise in value as increased
publicity started to drive demand. Certain
artists could guarantee high sales and their books were hoarded
by the comic buying public.
Click
here to check out Conan: Frost Giant's Daughter and Other Stories
Volume 1 TPB (Dark Horse Comics) by Kurt Busiek and Cary Nord
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Multiple
copies of these ‘hot’ issues were being bought with one to
read and one to put away in the hope of selling it later for a massive
profit.
It
was not unusual to buy a comic for £1 one day and two weeks later
seeing it on sale for £40.
Nick
Barrucci's Dynamic Forces was born in this period to sell signed copies
of hot issues to the masses as well as other comic book merchandise.
First
issues and first appearances of certain characters lead the market.
The
publishers of the time ruthlessly exploited this by producing multiple
covers of popular issues.
Many
people felt the need to buy them all even though they all had exactly
the same interior content.
There
were foil covers, holograms, embossed, and comics that were sealed
with free trading cards.
Production
of second and third printings were a few of the clever marketing
tricks employed but still they sold out in the great gold rush.
Comic books had never sold so well and were touted as having better
returns for your money as stocks and shares.
Click
here to check out Drax The Destroyer: Earth Fall TPB (Marvel Comics)
by Keith Giffen
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People who
had never read a comic book in their lives came in to buy multiple copies.
The exposure
was enormous but as with all things, nothing lasts forever.
In
the quest to make a quick buck, most publishers neglected a key ingredient.
The
story inside the comic book.
Nice
artwork alone is not enough.
Anybody
and their mother were allowed to write books.
Some
of the worst, shallowest stories ever published were produced around
this period and this would have a lasting effect on the industry.
This is only now being corrected through employing professional
writers.
Also,
in an attempt to compete with Image Comics, the larger publishers
frequently employed what was unfairly coined the 'Image art style'.
Big, bold splash pages and confusing layouts that butchered the
art of storytelling were punishingly used.
Click
here to check out Y: The Last Man Vol. 1: Unmanned TPB (DC Comics)
by Brian K Vaughan
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Popular
characters suddenly became franchises and appeared in almost every other
title as a guest star to boost sales in a doomed attempt to cash in.
This,
combined with weak stories lead to the collapse of reader support for
the once industry leaders Spiderman and The Punisher.
The other
factor that came into play was basic supply and demand.
When
supply is low and demand is high, books go up in price.
As
everyone had loads of copies of the so called hot issues, no one
wanted to buy them and their values plummeted.
People
saw the values of their ‘retirement investments’ practically
wiped out.
The
comic book speculator market crashed spectacularly and began the
wilderness years of 1994 to 2000.
A
host of comic book publishers and shops went out of business. It
was also the period that Marvel Comics filed for bankruptcy.
Thousands
of people, burnt by their experiences, left collecting and reading
comic books during those dark days and the industry is still recovering
from that even today.
Combined
with the rising cost of comics and their perceived value - compared
to other mediums - sales have never been the same.
Click
here to check out Global Frequency: Planet Ablaze TPB (DC Comics)
by Warren Ellis
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The
average cost of a comic book today (mid 2004) is £2.00 or US$2.99
(when I started collecting in 1985 the price was 40 pence per issue!).
The number one comic book at this time sells around 150,000 copies, which
compared to 8 million in 1992 is a huge drop in sales and is mainly bought
by the die-hard fans.
The
one lesson I feel the industry has learnt is that story quality and clear
storytelling has to come first and foremost.
Though
some gems (quality stories and artwork) appeared in the mid to late
nineties it was the turn of the century that, to me, started the
road back from inward looking negativity to reaching out to the
world at large.
This
process is currently ongoing with some excellent writers and artists
now producing some of their career best work.
If
this is nurtured, then the next time comic books became popular
in the mainstream it will be sustained and they will become an integral,
permanent part of our cultural landscape.
They
will no longer be looked down on and that is the goal that my peers
and I strive for.
Comic
book publishers have also perfected the art of constant renewal.
Click
here to check out Ex Machina: The First Hundred Days - Vol 01 (Wildstorm
Comics) by Brian K Vaughan
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When
a title or group of titles is flagging and experiencing a drop in sales
they are either cancelled or new creators are brought in to create a buzz
with new storylines and art.
I
sincerely hope that lessons have been learnt and the current signs are
promising.
Anything
less would bring about the demise of an industry that brings joy to many.
All
the images attached show some of the quality that the industry is now
producing.
And
that is the current state of the comic book industry.
Brought
to you by a die-hard fan of the medium.
Now,
for my next trick, I hope everybody's hungry because...
...Breakfast
is Served?!
<The
Marvel Comics Revolution, Part Two!...|BREAKFAST
IS SERVED?!...>
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