I wrote this back in 2004 when I did not like the way the comic book industry was going and what I thought was going to happen.
Somethings I mentioned have changed, some not.. but I am glad that comics are still here.
Tell me what you think...and remember, written back in 2004.
State of the Comic Book Industry (2004)
The comic book industry has greatly evolved from its humble beginnings as two-cent throwaway pamphlets to multi-million dollar multi-media conglomerates. The books that began as black and white morality plays have evolved into complex examinations of the world around us, giving us heroes with failings and foibles which accent their heroism. While these changes in characters and stories have generally been a good thing, there has been a tendency to take the realism to an extreme. By making these books and characters so dark and morally ambivalent, the books that began as juvenile escapism are too mature for the younger readers to which the companies are appealing.
That is not the only trend that comics books have adopted in recent years. As the companies have become more and more interested in the financial bottom line, decisions on characters, the types of stories told, and the people hired to create the stories have changed. While these companies have always been interested in making money and increasing the marketing strength of their characters, it seems as if the respect that the companies had for their fans has been replaced by greed.
Companies used to be open to more experimentation in their publishing, giving minor characters a chance at a book, or a story or two. Books such as the Champions, the Atom, and Hellstorm, or alternate lines, such as the New Universe, Epic, Vertigo and Heavy Hitters used to be commonplace. These titles weren’t necessarily very good, but they were willing to experiment with different ideas. With the success that certain characters have been getting in other mediums, the companies seem less willing to take chances on untested characters. They push these crossover characters everywhere, over-exposing them. Spider-Man alone has six separate books devoted just to him. While Wolverine has only one book, he appears in almost every X-Men related book, as well as having guest spots in other books. These two characters are going to be even further overexposed when the new Avengers book is published.
In terms of stories, it used to be that story arcs furthered the plotlines and characters. Because companies seem more interested in collecting the issues into trade paperbacks, a story that would have taken three or four books is now stretched to six issues. This would be a good idea if all the writers were able to write compelling six issue arcs. Unfortunately this is not the case. Issues where nothing happens have become commonplace, just a filler to complete that all-important six issue arc.
Another point to address is the loss of continuity within the books. While continuity can be burdensome and unwieldy, there are creators that have proven quite deft at handling it. Others completely ignore it, with the blessing of the companies. Marvel Comics have characters that appear in multiple books, but act completely different with each appearance. DC Comics has taken characters with strong continuity ties, and completely ignored them. Long time readers generally like continuity as they have a sense of growth with the characters, knowing their history, and the trials characters have gone through. By dismissing continuity arbitrarily, it is as if the companies are saying that these readers have been wasting their time reading and caring about the characters. Not only is continuity being ignored, so are the loyal readers.
As far as creators are concerned, this has changed over the course of the years as well. While comic book writers were primarily focused on writing comic books, the trend now is to use writers who have excelled in other forms of media. The number of screenwriters in the industry has increased as the companies become more interested in having their characters crossover into mainstream media. And while some of these writers do have a good grasp of these characters, a lot of what has come out seems like a Hollywood high concept pitch as opposed to a good comic story. Most of these writers don’t truly understand these characters and force them to act contrary to the way their personalities have been established, ignoring continuity to write a story that may have actually worked with other protagonists.
This is not to say that all that has come before is not without fault. The comic book industry has been making mistakes for years now. During the 1990’s, companies began to cater to a speculator market, using multiple covers and other such gimmicks. They began to over-publish their books for an artificially inflated market, and continued to do so even when the speculators dropped out. Independent comic book companies have continuously made the same mistake. From Malibu Comics to Crossgen, Valliant to Acclaim, each company published more titles than they had a fan base for, ultimately going bankrupt as a result.
The comic book industry is constantly changing, both for better and worse. The stories are no longer simplistic in nature, and often address real issues, giving cause for thought. Unfortunately, this realism also gets taken to the extreme, taking the once heroic characters and miring them in ethical ambiguity, destroying their iconic value. Featuring popular characters in several books, can lead to a profit for the companies, but the over-use of characters threatens to dilute their popularity. Continuity creates a rich history for characters, but can limit the stories that can be told. Completely ignoring it though is degrading to loyal readers. Finally, by making translation into other media a priority over the comic books themselves, the stories are derivative, existing not for their own sake, and come off as hollow.
If these trends continue as they are, longtime readers will leave as the characters they knew no longer resemble themselves, young readers won’t be able to read the books as the material will not be deemed age appropriate. Whatever new readers have been gained will soon be lost, as the constant changing of a character’s personality will not allow them to identify with the characters. Overall, the loss of readers will cause the comic marketplace to shrink even more than the speculator bust of the 90’s did. Thankfully, these trends are not the standard. There are stories, characters, and plotlines that do not follow the examples given above. Hopefully, these will become the norm, and not the exception.
