The Sorry State of the Superhero Comic Book Today

@Jnr6Lil said:

Comics are never going to be as mainstream due to the fact more people focus on comic book MOVIES, and the fact that comics are still seen as something for the nerds in the basement.

Yeah, I think I agree with that. From reading other blogs, forums and articles on the internet, I get the feeling that comic sales are up from where they were this time last year. But movies do mean more to the mainstream than a comic book. What are you more likely to see someone reading on a train or plane, a bestselling paperback or a comic book?

@Orion2012 said:

@Jnr6Lil said:

Comics are never going to be as mainstream due to the fact more people focus on comic book MOVIES, and the fact that comics are still seen as something for the nerds in the basement.

Yeah, I think I agree with that. From reading other blogs, forums and articles on the internet, I get the feeling that comic sales are up from where they were this time last year. But movies do mean more to the mainstream than a comic book. What are you more likely to see someone reading on a train or plane, a bestselling paperback or a comic book?

a best selling paperback

I think that digital will help with this quite a bit. Most people who care for their books aren't going to take them on a plane or train. They will definitely take their Kindle/iPad/Nook/etc.

Wow, did not expect this blog to be brought up after so long.

@Jnr6Lil: As I stated prior, I want to encourage fans to take steps to prove that age-old stereotype wrong.

@Orion2012: I want to try and put comics in the same league with the rest of best-selling entertainment, not have it relegated to being the red-headed step-child of the entertainment industry.

@knightinbatmanarmor: I'm trying to advocate for people voting with BOTH their wallets AND their voices--while also encouraging others to be LESS (as InnerVenom123 describes) nitpicky and conservative. Notice I have a bit about the delicate art of skimming....

@Darkmount1 said:

Wow, did not expect this blog to be brought up after so long.

@Jnr6Lil: As I stated prior, I want to encourage fans to take steps to prove that age-old stereotype wrong.

@Orion2012: I want to try and put comics in the same league with the rest of best-selling entertainment, not have it relegated to being the red-headed step-child of the entertainment industry.

@knightinbatmanarmor: I'm trying to advocate for people voting with BOTH their wallets AND their voices--while also encouraging others to be LESS (as InnerVenom123 describes) nitpicky and conservative. Notice I have a bit about the delicate art of skimming....

The stereotype won't end if sites like ComicVine exist, (where it;s hundreds of posters talking about comics), and we see events like Comic-Con with people dressing up as superheros.

@Jnr6Lil: Read this, my friend. If everyone read this, THEN we'll see the stereotype disintegrate.

http://life.bitchbuzz.com/nerds-vs-jocks-we-have-a-new-winner.html

@Darkmount1: I don't see that helping.

@Jnr6Lil: It's called seeing the commonalities.

@Darkmount1: Still...because most of the "nerds" in this world probably mostly read comics, hard to get the stereotype to end.

@Jnr6Lil: If other people find them fun, then the 'nerds' won't be the only ones readin' 'em.

@Darkmount1: But no one will read it if it's associated with nerds.

@Jnr6Lil: Unless it's something they can find IN COMMON with the 'nerds'.

@Darkmount1: They won't want to read something that's associated with nerds to begin with.

@Jnr6Lil: All it takes for them is to have the nerve to look past those trappings. It's purely psychological.

@Darkmount1: That's hard to do when we kind of live in a society where nerds are outsiders. Not many people are willing to take the step to read something, associated with nerds.

@Jnr6Lil: Then again, it's getting hard to get people to READ, period.

@Darkmount1: Tell me about it. My generation (I'm 14) is already growing up with so much technology, technology that we'll eventually pass on to our kids. Books are going to be extinct soon.

Plus didn't know books are considered media.

@Jnr6Lil: Not if we keep the printed page alive--using recycled paper!

And I'm sort of in 'your generation' too--I'm only six years older.

@Darkmount1: It would still go obselete.

@Jnr6Lil: Sorry, my friend--I don't believe in obsolescence.....

@Darkmount1: New technology is coming out day by day. By the time I have kids, things will change.

@Jnr6Lil: Then it's just a matter of finding the right means of accommodation.

@Darkmount1: What do you mean?

@Jnr6Lil: Instead of advocating a practice where the old things are obsolete and thrown away, why not seek to accommodate those who like the older things? That's what the 'second-hand' market is for, among other things....

@Darkmount1: That'll be hard to do as more technology comes out.

@Jnr6Lil: Then we're going to need more cleverly allegorical films or novels ("Brave New World", anyone?) to inspire people...

@Darkmount1: Again when new technology comes, stuff like that will be retired.

Our rushed society has destroyed the idea of reading, why would someone read a book when they can do so much more with the technology we have. I love comics and I believe they are worth the time, I used to think they were dumb until I randomly bought some for the heck of it. How do we get other people aware and get them to understand the value reading can have?

@azza04 said:

The trouble is, with all the controversy that surrounded those books Catwoman (which I thought was fine) and Red Hood, all that hype and bad talk just makes people curious to see it for themseleves. That happened to me, I wasn't even going to read Red Hood and the Outlaws until I read all crap being said about the book, but then I wanted to see it for myself. And to be honest, yeh the first issue had some unnessesary moments and fan service in it but....so what? It's hardly a new Phenomenon, I remember reading an issue of the Justice League where every other panel was focused directly on Black Canarys ass, and I don't remember everyone being nearly so annoyed at that. Maybe I should feel more pissed off about it but as usual there has been so much talk and bitching about it that people just get sick of hearing about it, so it gets ignored.

Cool blog though BTW :)

That's why for books I know are bad and I don't want to support, I wait for the TPB to come out and pick it up at the library.

@Jnr6Lil: It's simply a matter of convincing people of the novelty of certain things.

@Kingsford: I can't believe I'm saying this, but I think there should be campaigns to get people to 'slow down'.

@Funrush: You might want to read this article, based on the books you know ARE good and want to support--http://robot6.comicbookresources.com/2012/06/quote-of-the-day-i-hereby-absolve-you-of-all-guilt-associated-with-your-purchase/

@Darkmount1: how if it's obsolete?

@Jnr6Lil: Why do you think people do reviews of old toys? Just look at the archives for Online Action Figure Entertainment.

@Darkmount1: But how many people buy them?

@Jnr6Lil: Where's that number for the census bereau....

@Darkmount1: What?

@Jnr6Lil: I was making a joke. Seriously, I mean using numbers to track how many people buy old or used anything either from rummage sales, antique shops, comic shops, flea markets, etc.

I have found someone who has made a TON of sense in this subject my blog covers. THANK YOU, Ed West:

http://www.icv2.com/articles/news/23128.html

And a small snippet just to hook you guys in:

"2) Experiment all you want, but don't do it every issue or every other issue. It creates confusion. Gradually introducing a reader, or potential reader, to a new logo is one thing, but constant change is disorienting. For example, I scan the racks looking for my favorite title, I expect to see the same or similar logo.

4) It hasn't crossed the minds of the top two to go out to selected venues and ask old and young alike about what they like or don't like about current comics, and for non-readers, why they don't read them, or if they had, why they stopped?

6) Has it crossed anybody's mind that people don't like current trends in comics, at all? That some people are sick and tired of art that is so stylized that it hurts the eyes, or stories and art where the heroic is totally lost and all that matters is that the "hero" is a little less brutal than the villain or racked up a lower body count for that issue? Or does the word superhero no longer actually mean someone who is obviously heroic and virtuous, and acts above and beyond the call because he has powers and abilities others don't?

8) You can't convince the average person that you will do it your way and they will like it. That's not going to happen. And due to the long history of the big two, you can't demean your classic hero by using him in dark, brutal and vigilante stories. People always root for the good guy, not some alternative universe where good is relative. Yes, comic book stories are fantasies, but people like uplifting stories. Like football, they want their favorite team to win, and win fair and square."

@Darkmount1: I guess.

@Darkmount1:

The future of...

...entertainment in general...

...doesn't lay in the constant reinvention of fifty-year-old characters...but in the invention of new characters who are born...live their lives...and then die, never to be resuscitated again.

The Critic was right, if something has a "2" at the end of it...give it a pass.

@Roxanne Starr: And if it's a remake of a classic,

Rent the classic!

But, I have to ask--if those same characters are never resuscitated again, then what happens to them in the collective thought?

@Darkmount1 said:

@Roxanne Starr: And if it's a remake of a classic,

Rent the classic!

But, I have to ask--if those same characters are never resuscitated again, then what happens to them in the collective thought?

There was never a Gone With the Wind 2...but how many people never heard of Scarlett O'Hara?

@Roxanne Starr: Tell that to the Millennial Generation (except me, I'm part of it yet I know who Scarlett O'Hara is).

@Roxanne Starr: There have actually been two sequels to Gone With the Wind, one authorized by the Mitchell estate, one not. :P

@capelesscrusader said:

@Roxanne Starr: There have actually been two sequels to Gone With the Wind, one authorized by the Mitchell estate, one not. :P

Usually I would go with a ranting in the "oh my god, they shat on a Picasso again" trend, but the fact is I never really liked this story and all those violins. Somebody should definitely a comedy out of it. There, I said it.

@DocFatalis: "Scarlett" was actually quite good. She gets sick of the US and returns to the original Tara, in Ireland, where she gets caught up in "the troubles".

@capelesscrusader: And did anyone really need or want to read about that? It's boring!

@Darkmount1: Fans of historical fiction, the demographic that both the original and sequels appealed to, would most definitely be interested in the story of an American heiress who flees the Reconstruction South for Ireland, only to find herself caught up in yet another Civil War.

But then, maybe I'm just a history nerd.

@capelesscrusader: I weep for people clamoring for more originality.

@Darkmount1 : I think that you might be falling into the trap of projecting your own perceptions of comicdom onto the fan community as a whole. While the "overly stylized" art might not be to your taste, I, for example, find that I really enjoy a great deal of modern comic art. While you may not enjoy stories that question the nature of what it means to be a hero to the point of questioning whether a character actually is a hero, there are those, myself included, who do.

Consider, if you would, that perhaps it is not that comics themselves are bad, but that you simply don't enjoy the ones you're reading. In that case, you may want to consider looking at a different selection of books.

There is a great deal of originality in comics, you just have to look around. It is more than possible to execute original story ideas with characters who have been around for decades. That is because those characters are archetypal. You could substitute Samson into most any Superman story and have much the same result, outside of the character relationships. There are more examples of this dynamic than I would care to count.

In short, my friend, what you seek is out there. You just have to look until you find it.

@capelesscrusader: I hate it when people try to turn the tables on my own thinking...and how there are times when the 'yin-yang' type of balance applies in places I wish it wasn't.