From: scs@lokkur.dexter.mi.us (Steve Simmons)
Subject: Re: Popularity in Comics (was Liefield Throws Tantrum)
Organization: Inland Sea
Date: Fri, 21 Aug 92 01:10:06 GMT

wmorgan@stsci.edu (Windsor A. Morgan) writes:

>In article <-y#nc5_@lynx.unm.edu> lazlo@triton.unm.edu (Lazlo Nibble) writes:

>>There are plenty of reasons to be bothered by Image's success.  In case
>>you missed it, Image has pushed Malibu -- a thoroughly undistinguished
>>publisher no matter how you measure it -- up to the #2 slot in the comics
>>industry for this month.

> . . . I think that once these adolescent fanboy/speculators get a bit
>older, they will realize that those comics are crap and turn to other,
>better comics (unless, of course, the Image creators learn how to write
>and draw better).

If this were true, one helluva lot of bad books would have gone into
the dumper long ago.  Someone keeps quoting the line that the general
readership of comics turns over in about three years.  This means there
are always new slavering fanboys.  Let's face it, the comics world has
been that way for the 28 years I've been following it.  It has its ups
and downs as the popularity of the field waxes and wanes, but it's
almost always remained a classic example of Sturgeon's Law.

>Third, I think anything which brings people into
>comics shops or lets them know that comics are still being made is good.
>Once they are in the comics shops, a dealer can steer a novice to
>something she thinks he'll like, like a Watchmen or a Sandman.

There are two problems with this approach.  First, the crap tends to
crowd out the good if there is limited shelf space.  The two shops
I hit are reasonably good-sized, but earlier this year one of them
had to increase the comics display area by 30%.  At first that sounds
good, but *my* buying has not increased.  As far as I can tell, it
means the percentage of crap goes up.

Second, most comic shop owners businessmen rather than art patrons.
On shipment day there are kids out the wazoo with their stacks of
lowest-common-demoninator flashy crap.  The store owner might have 30
seconds to talk to each one before the next one becomes impatient.
Economicly speaking, where should push these guys?  He should point
them at things that are like what they're already buying.  Face it,
somebody who buys McFarlane and Liefeld will probably be unutterably
bored by Gaiman and Sim.

Want proof that most comics shops think that way?  At all the ones
around here, the pre-bagged 4-different-covers stuff sits in the
front row, and the gold-lined collectors editions sit next to the
cash registers.

This is not to say that the folks running the shops don't appreciate
good comics.  Come in when it's not fanboy day, and you can spend
a pleasant half hour (and $20) talking and running thru the low-volume
stuff on the back shelves.  Just don't expect that kind of attention
on the big money days.

> . . . .  I still think
>there is a market out there for what we would call "good writing" and
>"good art", and in the end, we know that the stereotypical material
>published by Image will not prevail.

Right on the first point, wrong on the second.  To be more specific . . .

>In the early 1960s, Marvel pandered to adolescent comics readers, and
>it paid off.  Those of you who grew up with Marvel's books left to go
>to other comics companies when they realized that Marvel wasn't
>offering what you needed/wanted.  Marvel's existence revitalized an
>industry (even more so than did DC's new Silver Age characters).  The
>same thing will happen here.

Using this logic, Marvel would now be a third bannana and all those
folks who were buying FF in the early 60s would now be keeping Dave
Sim and Los Bros. Hernandez fat and happy.  IMHO, 95% of those early
60s readers don't buy comics any more.  And Marvels bigger than ever
by sticking (well, returning) to that strategy with a vengeance.

If one good thing has happened to the comics industry in the last
20 years, it's the slow erosion of the standard price point for the
big two.  If DC can charge 30% more for SANDMAN, suddenly the price
of CEREBUS doesn't look outragous to the fanboy who may be on the
edge of growing up [[tho if I were seducing a fanboy into my eliteist
viewpoints, I'd give him NEXUX.]]  In addition, if you charge more
per copy for a book, you can justify publishing it on a much lower
volume.  Sure, there are abuses where the fanboys get ripped off.
But on the whole, it's been a good thing.

Best,

Steve
-- 
 "Voodoun is a very interesting religion for the whole family, even those
  members of it who are dead."
		-- "Good Omens", by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett