The irrepressible Man of the Atom continues his journey through American comic book history. Continuing his deep dive into comic book distribution, he takes a page–or three–from legendary Marvel editor-in-chief Jim Shooter. Which distro method is superior: Newsstands or the direct market?
Shooter’s and Rozanski’s analyses are well worth your consideration. A point that both Shooter and Rozanski make is that both distribution models have their advantages and disadvantages. Shooter points out that the market would probably be stronger if both models survived and were used together, and he attempted to move that direction within the company. He didn’t succeed in that effort. Shooter was fired from Marvel in 1987. The single Direct Market model moved forward at Marvel.
Both men also point out the Newsstand model was where most new readers originated, and that the loss of the Newsstand market made expanding the comics market difficult. Movies, television, and other IP development keeps the name of your product on the public’s lips, but that often doesn’t translate to selling your magazines.
In light of Shooter’s insights, it’s no mystery why comic book sales are plummeting now that the Big Two have been relegated to IP banks for Hollywood nostalgia churn. If you want a picture of cinema’s future, imagine Batman punching the clown … forever.
Which is a state of affairs nobody would have expected back in 1968.
Browsing Chris Tolworthy’s site, and from reading other comic book blogs talking about the late 60s/early 70s era, it was clear that Stan, Jack, and the rest of the Bullpen were convinced that superheroes were a fad that would run its course, as it did in the WWII era. In fact, they were concerned that in 1968 it already HAD run its course.
That superheroes were a fad whose shelf life was unnaturally stretched by the hype machine is a sentiment you find among a lot of industry players. Say what you will about Alan Moore, it wasn’t an accident that he portrayed a “What if Stan and Jack were right?” comics industry twenty years later in Watchmen.
What happened?
Brian and Man of the atom
So has the distribution model in the English speaking world broken down so throughly the only viable model is direct patronage/subscription model? Or do multiple options still exist?
I was unaware the Peter would marry Gwenand not Mary Jane if the trends hadn’t been interfered with. This brings up a trope I’ve loathed due to abuse: the rootles lone ranger.
I’d like to have seen Spidey and Batman mellow out and see how they balance superheroeing with family life. That would be very interesting trope to explore.
xavier
Xavier –
I am speculating relative to Peter and Gwen, but the trend appears there to me. More in Part 4, as I’m working on collecting more evidence for my claim. One of the links I provide notes that Gerry Conway commented about the Gwen Stacey story at one point, saying that the Marvel editorial staff thought she was a bit of a dead-end as a girl friend. That tells me that Marvel thought marriage was the end state as well.
But, your “rootless ranger” trope makes sense if the goal was to keep the character as static as possible, relative to other IP deals that were made or were in the works. Both Marvel and DC “have” explored these avenues of possibilities at times. DC in the 1960s with what they called the “Imaginary Story”.
Marvel is doing exactly the same thing with their “Earth-90210” and similar stories that do not address the main timeline of their characters. The only difference: Marvel doesn’t use the term “imaginary story”, but the result is exactly the same as 1960s DC.
Brian probably is the one to ask about distribution, but I see many options open to creators if they have an audience. Print on Demand, ebook purchase via personal store, and physical subscription are all still on the table. The elephant in the room is getting your work seen by as large an audience as possible. If 500-1000 people are each willing to give you $5/month or $25/year, then you may have the start of a stand-alone business creating your works. But, you may need to be seen by 50k to 1M eyeballs for that to happen.
Amazon and social media platforms still own that space for the average Joe and Jane. Patronage would be a blessing, and I hope that many indie creators find that option open to them in the future.
Man of the atom
I dunno. I found Gwen to be as vivacious and interesting as Mary Jane.
I’ve found this trope of not letting characters grow a real turn off.too bad the suits and artists didn’t let things play out.
I look forward to part 4.
No doubt rethinking and putting into effect new distribution models are the new opportunities for content creators
xavier
I won’t disagree with you about Gwen Stacey, but when Spider-Man’s writer for that arc (Gerry Conway) says that the character is “uninteresting”, one has to wonder in what way. My interpretation is that Peter as family man was to be avoided, as he would no longer be that “rootless ranger” you referred to above. Thus, Gwen needed to be disposed of as the source of this problem, in favor of good-time girl, Mary Jane.
When I grew up, every single kid that ever got into comics first bought them at a place like a convenience store or market. Of course they would–how else would you know these things existed if you didn’t find them in places you normally frequent? No one is going to go out of their way to find things they don’t even know exist.
That no one foresaw this is incredible, but there is a chance places like Diamond knew what this might lead to. But what would they care when they could be king fish in a drying puddle?
As for superheroes, they were artificially extended by the push of the Big Two. Whether it was trying to weaponize them for political causes back in the silver age or turning them into never ending soap operas in the bronze age, they just couldn’t let them end and try new things. This is why just about every other comic market in the world is thriving while the one over here is dead as a doornail.
It’s too late to transcribe bad screenplays into poorly-paced graphic novels to save the industry. Should have thought of that before you let manchildren into positions of power.
JD –
People like Shooter and Rozanski saw exactly that issue: you are cutting off the primary source of new audience members; the audience will not grow effectively to sustain the product as the old audience falls away or dies. Even if you knew where the comic store was, what was the chance mom was going to stop in there with the 6-year olds? Rozanski hit on this in his articles.
The “Me Generation” was wearing suits and ties by this point and pulling heaps of money into piles, so long term thinking was “old thinking”. They’d worry about new audiences later. The audience that was there NOW needed to be milked.
From 1968 to about 1977, both Marvel and DC were working hard to throw as much pasta at the wall to see what stuck. Everything was selling poorly, and deadlines were slipping while titles were failing. The turn-around was Star Wars — up-beat, heroic Pulp Fiction. Shooter was at Marvel at the helm to take advantage of that, and to demand a work ethic from the creatives. Superman the Movie was successful, overshadowing the Spider-Man TV show (a show which the newest Spider-Man movies are apparently cribbing.)
Unfortunately, it appears that the rising tide was interpreted as “superheroes are forever”. Once again, the wrong message was taken.
JD
In my case it was the tabagie, the tobacco store. However, I never liked English language comics and I’m lucky I live in a province where I read the French BDs it’s only been very recently, thanks to Twitter and the crowdfunding ads, that I’ve changed my mind.
xavier
I fondly recall accompanying my dad to the grocery store on Saturdays and hanging out by the magazine racks while he did the shopping. While I’d pick up a cape book or two now and then, that’s where I discovered the reprints of the great old EC horror comics. Not a week went by that I didn’t go home with a copy of Tales from the Crypt, The Vault of Horror, or the Haunt of Fear.
All of that is to reinforce the point that you make new customers by meeting them where they are.
Yes. I would have never known Jeb Stuart and the Haunted Tank, Sgt Rock, Enemy Ace, and many Charlton horror, western, and war comics if not for the little grocery in the nearby town. And my Gold Key fix was satisfied via two used book stores. My brothers and I always browsed a bit too much, but we took home a short stack of comic books almost weekly, so we were forgiven for our loitering.