What do you think is the current state of the Comic Industry?

What do you think is the current state of the Graphic Novel industry, and how do you think it could be improved?

Currently I am writing a paper of the state of the Graphic Novel industry in America, and I wanted to get other peoples opinions on the topic. I also wanted to know how others thought it could be improved.

Thank you.

Why are you calling it the Graphic Novel industry?

Anyway the comics industry is all right, the big two have some crap, but there's still some solid books they're makin'. The third party guys(especially Valiant) seem to be doing pretty great so that's always nice.

@Decoy Elite: Its a habit I've developed from talking with people outside the united states. The english word "comic" doesn't usually translate well into other languages and so others get confused. xD

@Rinjy: Ah, that makes sense.

Not gonna lie I was worried you were one of those hipster types that refuses to say they read comics. XP

@Decoy Elite: Not to worry, I read an unhealthy amount of Comics from the united States, japan, france, korea, and italy. it distracts me alot haha.

I can't say for the other companies, but Marvel is definitely motivated more by money than telling a good story these days.

Marvel - It has not been this bad since the 90's

DC - New 52 is hit and miss, still not a fan of the reboot

Independent - The quality continues to slowly climb overall since the original Image implosion

Overall - As a long time primarily Marvel reader I am really dissatisfied overall, but there still a handful of good reads out there, they are just no longer among the major franchises for the most part.

@Xwraith said:

I can't say for the other companies, but Marvel is definitely motivated more by money than telling a good story these days.

It's a corporation one way or another, it's always about money.

Same thing with DC.

It's only the writers they employ that should care about making good stories, it's just sadly not always the case.

Originality is at an all time low while cheap gimmicks are at an all time high. At least from the big two publishers, that is.

Though some of the old-timers will complain about continuity and such, I truly think that we're entering a golden age for comics. The actual quality will always vary, but more importantly I think much of it comes down to accessibility...

1. DC and Marvel comics are much more approachable than they've been in a long time. For the most part, the storytelling has been simplified. Stuff is generally easier to follow, without needing to buy 20+ books a month to understand the context. Marvel still has more work to do in this area, but the 'Now' initiative was a step in the right direction.
2. Image has undergone a remarkable transformation and has become a hub for many quality non-traditional titles.
3. The rebirth of Valiant comics has been nothing short of amazing.
4. Self-published titles are much more prevalent than ever before.
5. Digital comics. People without access to brick-and-mortar comic stores can now buy their comics along with their games and iTunes music. This is actually a huge victory for lesser-known titles.
6. While I haven't seen the actual monetary numbers, I'm pretty sure Hollywood's successes has made a positive impact on the comic industry as a whole. We are witnessing a renaissance of comic book movies right now that shows no sign of slowing down.

Taking these things under consideration, there's no better time to be a comics fan. From my perspective, the industry is hopping.

@Reignmaker: When you talk about the accessibility of comics, I definitely agree. But what do you think of the physical accessibility of comics? The digital market is making it easier to allow people to gain access to comics even if they might not have a comic store in their city or town. But I still feel its highly lacking compared to when it was in the past. But I believe this is more contributed to the lack of people who read for pleasure in the United States then anything else.

@The_Tree: Why do you think the originality is lacking? Personally I believe its because of a more media wise problem then just comics. I used to attend the Savannah College of Art and Design for 3 years, after attending several seminars with editors and speaking one on one with some of them, the attitude I gathered was that they were steadily trying to hold onto concepts from the golden and silver ages, instead of moving on to something new. The only new concept that they had been concentrating was the idea of Comics breaking into the Digital spectrum for Tablets and Smart Phones.

Originality seems to show more face in smaller indie publishers then in Marvel or DC, but they have a huge problem with making their comics more accessible to the masses. It confuses me because I have visited publishers in France, of the Franco-Belgian Comic industry and they do not seem to have the same problem. I'm just trying to piece together some sort of correlation.

Theres some good dc and marvel and valaint books out . The movie/videogame/ tv industry is rasing comic book popluarity! really recoverd from the 90@s

@Rinjy said:

@Reignmaker: When you talk about the accessibility of comics, I definitely agree. But what do you think of the physical accessibility of comics? The digital market is making it easier to allow people to gain access to comics even if they might not have a comic store in their city or town. But I still feel its highly lacking compared to when it was in the past. But I believe this is more contributed to the lack of people who read for pleasure in the United States then anything else.

Yeah, it could boil down to a lack of interest. God knows most kids would rather play Deadpool: The Video Game than read his comic book.

The decline of physical comic books doesn't bother me as long as they live on through some other medium - like digital. Obviously there's still the collectable aspect of it to consider. That's undoubtedly going to take a hit. Who knows though, that might actually increase the value if the physical copies become more rare.

However to me, digital is the slow, unstoppable transition which will eventually happen. I'm not saying physical copies will go away completely but it will likely follow the same path as today's bookstores. Not completely irrelevant like CD & DVD stores - but not far behind.

i think if they lowered digtoal prices lcs would die out but that wont happen

@Cavemold: I think so too sometimes... but then I also wonder if movies and tv could be taking away from the comic industry as well? It makes the characters more popular and accessible but what about the actual comics. Growing up in the 90s, watching Batman the Animated Series and Batman Beyond didn't really make me want to go and buy some comics. Even though I did Love Batman.

@Rinjy said:

@Cavemold: I think so too sometimes... but then I also wonder if movies and tv could be taking away from the comic industry as well? It makes the characters more popular and accessible but what about the actual comics. Growing up in the 90s, watching Batman the Animated Series and Batman Beyond didn't really make me want to go and buy some comics. Even though I did Love Batman.

ah true but aslong if they movies do well . the books will be around. once you lose a core fan base ie comic fans you lose at alot money.. WB and diseny are wise to know thats terrible idea

I think the industry is struggling a lot less than it leads us to think...

@Manbehindthewires: But why do you think that? :)

Marvel - Good as far as sales go, but in a severe rut when it comes to quality. As someone above me mentioned, profit is definitely valued over story these days. They have a few good titles coming out, but I'd be willing to say that the majority of it is crap.

DC - Honestly, I think they're doing pretty well right now. There are a lot of quality books coming from the relaunch (and a few bad ones, and some REALLY bad ones, but no one was expecting it to be perfect).

Independent - Better than it has ever been. Especially Image and Valiant, both are producing a lot of spectacular work lately. The Independent Comics scene is the place to be right now.

The current state is "booming".

I can't say for independent comics, but most will say they're doing fantastically; personally, I've never bought one. I never felt motivated to, I've always been a big DC fan.

Marvel - not very good. Avengers vs. X-men was a flop, and heralded a new age of awful from Marvel, that we are not seeing an immediate end to yet.

DC - Pretty good. There are many awful things about the reboot, in concept, but there are tons of great stories. While it is Bat-centric for the most part, the DCnU is doing quite well, with lots of new characters introduced and many titles and stories to choose from.

With the movies being made in the last 8 years or so, comics and comic book films and paraphernalia have become very popular, and are booming as a result of these movies. Iron Man and Batman Begins were just the beginning; The Dark Knight, Iron Man 2 and Captain America, showed that comic book movies were here to stay, at least for a while, and with The Avengers and The Dark Knight Rises, and the upcoming Man of Steel, things have never looked better.

Excellent every where except the U.S.

I do think that the comic book industry is starting to get more popular than it ever was before since now there are digital comics out right now. But the qualities of the stories over at Marvel and DC are suggestive at best since the changes to the stories are constant and some comic fans (like myself) are a bit angry at the lack of development to these stories. Independent comics however are having much better luck at providing more quality stories since the stories are self contained, which allows more room for the writers to write whatever they see fit.

USA's comic industry has been crap for a long time. Anyone thinking otherwise is deluded.

BB

@Rinjy: sorry, was shattered yesterday and lacked the energy for a proper answer :p You frequently hear complaints from publishers and shop owners about costing and printing driving up costs etc and I just can't see it how that's justified. Take The Amazing Spider-Man #700, which I bought...twice...IIRC it was a $7.99 book...implying that they'd be at a loss selling this as a $2.99-$3.99 a copy. They already had a good idea of the figures that it'd sell (last I saw it, before reprints, it was sailing past the $2million mark), and also knew it'd mean reprinting back issues for the entire Dying Wish arc, each at $3.99 a pop on a book that has already, for the most part, been paid for.

I think the industry has a good hold on the reigns with regards to how a book will sell, how much they can make off it, how much they can get back in the first week etc, and has nothing to fear...but when a book becomes a $4 or $5 book they'll try to justify it by saying such a book needs extra financial backing, when in fact, it's often one of the more popular books. I find it more acceptable for indie and short-press comics however. I just picked up Dia de los Muertos and it's one of the most beautifully printed comics I've seen since Supermarket, and well worth the extra couple of dollars.

I do, however, still fear for the future of my local comic store (even though in Glasgow, there's at least 5 to choose from, which suggests the contrary). I'm amazed to see how many people on here are digital readers and it does have loads of benefits (AR, portability, vibrant and truer colours to name a few). A big part of the experience for me is seeing the rest of "The Wednesday Crowd" and although digital is the future, I hate to think of that element of comics disappearing altogether. I can only hope that riding on the coat tails of the toy collectors, Dr Who fans and other pop culturists that venture through the comic stores can keep them afloat.

I prefer the term "sequential art" as it encompass the entire medium, not just the most commercially visible aspects of it.

The most important development going on currently is the expansion of the digital marketplace and the continued evolution of digital comics as a unique medium (for example, Marvel's Infinite Comics).

@minigunman123 said:

The current state is "booming".

I can't say for independent comics, but most will say they're doing fantastically; personally, I've never bought one. I never felt motivated to, I've always been a big DC fan.

Marvel - not very good. Avengers vs. X-men was a flop, and heralded a new age of awful from Marvel, that we are not seeing an immediate end to yet.

DC - Pretty good. There are many awful things about the reboot, in concept, but there are tons of great stories. While it is Bat-centric for the most part, the DCnU is doing quite well, with lots of new characters introduced and many titles and stories to choose from.

With the movies being made in the last 8 years or so, comics and comic book films and paraphernalia have become very popular, and are booming as a result of these movies. Iron Man and Batman Begins were just the beginning; The Dark Knight, Iron Man 2 and Captain America, showed that comic book movies were here to stay, at least for a while, and with The Avengers and The Dark Knight Rises, and the upcoming Man of Steel, things have never looked better.

Amen, and I'm not a fan of said word

Phew. Got carried away with my response. It's now a blog. Hope it helps ^_^

@Rinjy: Well, you're asking everyone, so hopefully you get some good answers; for myself, as I mentioned, I'm pretty new to comics (just got back into it around New Years'), and my focus has been exclusively on American comics and, quite frankly, just on Big Two (I've read some free issues from indie publishers but don't actually think I've bought any indie stuff yet). The only foreign comics knowledge I have is just what you didn't want: manga. Haha. As one who has taken six years of French and is slowly trying to get back what he knew and surpass it, I know at the very least that I want to read Persepolis, and along the same line my grade school French teacher talked quite favorably about Asterix.

And then there's Kick-Ass, which I don't read but with which I am familiar. I know Millar is Scottish; I don't know if his work is therefore considered "international;" I believe he still publishes under Marvel but I may be wrong. EDIT: And come to think of it, I believe at least Kick-Ass 2, and maybe the first book, were originally published at least in part in CLiNT, which is not an American publication, so maybe that does count...but it's still in English, so maybe it counts less.

@Rinjy said:

@Crom-Cruach: I agree in certain aspects. But why? Why is the US market so different. Each market was born in a different way and yet ours seems to be falling behind in comparison. Their are social factors, like the decline in the average american reading and the misconception of Comics in the term of "newspaper funnies" but it can't be only that. I've been trying to delve deeper to really figure out the fundamental problems of the industry. Regardless of whether it appears to be "booming" or not is irrelavent. On a global stage and even in the US (Literature Sales) we are really lacking.

I'm likely not going to be able to give you the answer you're looking for because, this is my personal experience shaping my opinion, and there might be some bias in there. But to give you an example of what is going on in Europe with comics, you have series that are officially endorsed by renowned university professors for the content they have. The historical fiction series "The shields of Mars" published by Glenat is endorsed and reviewed by the Historia magazine, a monthly publishing of various works of mostly belgian and french professors who show their current studies and keep up with the current state of various topics.

Glenat publishes a wide variety of comic styles including New Manga (manga style comics but written by Europeans), sci-fi, fantasy etc. The thing that amazes me in the European market is the variety. You find so many different genres of literature companies will publish series running from pure romance to humor to adventure and fantasy. And all of these are equally accessible to the new reader.

However and this might by my own skewed perception. You don't get the depth and variety in american comics. It's super-heroes and humor mostly (weekly strips like garfield). Everything else is either underground and indie or not easily accessible. Not saying you can't find or they don't exist in sufficient numbers to keep an avid fan reading. But the American comic medium is exceptionally focused on these two styles and the rest takes a far back seat, especially in terms of publicity.

Personally, I think the reason the U.S comic medium is suffering is that it's not as easily accessible to someone who doesn't like super-heroes or doesn't want a four panel humor strip. The two biggest comic companies, publish almost nothing but Super-Hero comics. Finding something outside the super-hero is a lot more difficult. Add in the very American perception that it's "kid's stuff" and "for nerds" along with no publicity or widespread information distribution of what else is out there and you have a recipe for entropy.

@Crom-Cruach said:

However and this might by my own skewed perception. You don't get the depth and variety in american comics. It's super-heroes and humor mostly (weekly strips like garfield). Everything else is either underground and indie or not easily accessible. Not saying you can't find or they don't exist in sufficient numbers to keep an avid fan reading. But the American comic medium is exceptionally focused on these two styles and the rest takes a far back seat, especially in terms of publicity.

Personally, I think the reason the U.S comic medium is suffering is that it's not as easily accessible to someone who doesn't like super-heroes or doesn't want a four panel humor strip. The two biggest comic companies, publish almost nothing but Super-Hero comics. Finding something outside the super-hero is a lot more difficult. Add in the very American perception that it's "kid's stuff" and "for nerds" along with no publicity or widespread information distribution of what else is out there and you have a recipe for entropy.

If your perception is skewed, then so is mine. These two paragraphs strike me as exceptionally true.

I think it's hurting.

1. Sales are down. The early 90s was the boom and the market was flooded which ultimately led to its collapse.
2. Youth don't read.
3. Paper has continued to improve which has jacked prices way up.
4. As the medium moves digital the costs (mostly justified by raw materials) will have to decrease leaving LCS in the cold.
5. Piracy has the industry on life support.
6. There has been little effort in finding a pulp hero for the next generation. The major players continue to force the same heroes they've used for decades. Teens don't really want to like the same things their parents do. If you looked back at the last decade who would you consider to be a pulp hero that's a major house hold name? Harry Potter. Maybe something like Pikachu? Not much done by comics.

I was also curious if anyone knows of monthly subscriptions or magazines that have anything to do with the Comic Industry? Like Game Informer is to Video Games.