A Comic Book Discussion

[kybearfuzz]

After publishing the comic last week, I've been in a bit of a malaise. prisoncitybear coined the term "post-artum depression," the little bit of sadness after finishing an art project and the excitement dies down. That and some work stresses have left me feeling a bit out of sorts.

Today, I went out for a coffee and planned to do a bit of drawing. On the way, I stopped off at a local comic book shop and picked up a few titles. The shop guy and I started having a discussion after he asked me if I had seen this book or that book.

I told him that a lot of the current titles out didn't appeal to me anymore. The characters were the same in name, but, thanks to all the rebooting (which seems to happen twice a year or so), that's all that was familiar to me. For example, I told him that I wasn't an overall fan of the New 52 when it started. I told him that I lamented the loss of continuity and comic book history. Wonder Woman was particularly rough. She had gone from the "fight the war with love" character to being a vicious, almost callous, warrior. And she wasn't the only one. The clerk told me that the most recent "reboot" has Black Canary as the singer in a band with a mysterious history. No longer the wig-wearing wonder in fishnets, I was saddened by this desperate attempt to appeal to a new audience. Why can't DC just create new characters with new names and history? I'm sure the familiar name sells, but it seems to be a temporary boost in sales.

(I could make the same argument for the new "Jem and the Holograms" movie, but that's a separate post in itself.)

The clerk said something that made perfect sense in a way. He says that each title that comes out has a shelf-life of its own. He told me that most titles are lucky to make it to two years before the comic book company revamps or restarts it. It seems that the younger, modern-day reader has a short attention span when it comes to comics and maintaining their interest is nearly impossible. Per the clerk, a lot of new comics are automatically limited series.

I had recognized this phenomenon myself actually, but didn't realize it was so wide-spread. Most comic books are on-going stories, almost like serials, where the tales are continuous. Missing an issue means missing out on the continuity and getting lost. I told him that most of the comics I had bought were one-shot comics, or comics with short tales in them. When I started reading comics, stories were distinct from issue to issue (except for two or three-parters). If you missed an issue, the next issue was a separate story or adventure. My web-comic is like that too for the most part. Interest didn't seem like it waned so easily.

Where will comic books go from here? Who knows. I just wonder if this new business model has made me outgrow comic books for the most part.

After purchasing my comics, I made it to the bookstore for coffee and did some drawing of my own. With Halloween approaching, a lot of my drawings have been horror/sci-fi related. This one came to mind today and I put a bit of humor in it. I called it "Probe."


"Probe"

Comments

[mikiedoggie.livejournal.com]

I'm still here too!


Kinda.