Who the Comic Industry Should Be Focusing On...
By sithfrog 2 Comments
There has been a lot of buzz lately about why comic sales are down, especially now that Hollywood is doing justice to so many of our favorite characters and with the massive inter-company, multi-title crossover events.
In my honest opinion, comic companies (at least the "Big Two") have lost sight of their most important clientele: existing readers.
It may sound really simple to say, but here's my reasoning. First off, we are already customers. In most businesses you want to retain your current customers and also bring in new ones as well. I think DC and Marvel might be missing out on both because of the word of mouth factor. If they aren't going to push advertising in other media, then aren't current readers the best way to recruit more readers? Word of mouth is free advirtising, but the thing is it often feels that the writers/publishers are more interested in making a book a "perfect jump on point for new readers". What about the current readers? If a jump on point is redundant, dumbed down, or too simplistic in order to attract new customers, you run the risk of losing your current ones.
My second point dovetails onto the first. If the companies want us as current readers to talk up their product, then they need to keep consistant, quality writing and art in their books. There is no way that I would recommend something that just isn't good to my friends or others. If there is a book that I myself as a long haul reader is beginning to have reservations on, then why would I suggest others read it. I think it is fair to say also that just because Wolverine is an easily recognizable character to newbies, we veterans are getting pretty sick of him. We don't need Wolverine, Spidey, or other big names to show up in EVERY book we read. If it legitimately moves along a great story, then I have a feeling we would welcome them with open arms. If we have a tired, dragging storyline than their appearance only drags it down more versus giving it the shot in the arm that it needs. If Marvel can't get a consistant team for a character like Daredevil, for instance, than perhaps what we need is a string of quality minis. This allows quality stories for popular characters that often have trouble maintaining a monthly book, for various reasons. Minis can also create those "perfect jumping on points for new readers".
My final point is that the big events are becoming so common place that there is nothing special left for them, at least many times. Yearly events that have not only their own mini, but countless tie-in minis, as well as tie-ins in almost every title are bogging down the industry. Big changes rarely stick, many readers don't care how the events are affecting characters they aren't invested in or titles that they don't read. I rarely find myself picking up an issue just because of a tie-in. And when I have, that odds of me continuing with it are pretty slim because it isn't a character I care about or the consistancy of the storytelling just isn't there. So current readers dont' want to read and wny would new readers want to invest all the time and money that is needed to jump into the big events. In an area where back issues are a big business, you would think that companies would realize that not only are we compulsed to collect titles, but we also respect the stories of the past. Back when characters didn't do things out of character just to boast sales, story arcs were usually only two or three issues long, and there seemed to be an overall greater respect for readers. There is no reason the industry couldn't or shouldn't look at doing this. If Goldeneye can be reissued for the Wii or Ocarina of Time can be made for the 3-DS, why can't the comic book publishers realize that when you have something that works people will always come back to it.
So, there it is. I may be right, I may be wrong, but I think if at least the "Big Two" would remember the people who made them who they are today and look at what they did to make us want to read their products and like their characters to the level that we do (or maybe used to).