Getting Small Press (Comics) To The Masses 105
Comicguy456 writes "At the recent Small Press & Alternative Comics Expo, a panel was held to discuss how to get the masses to check out indy comics. In this transcript, experts including Sean McKeever (The Waiting Place) and Max Ink (Amoeba Adventures) talk extensively about creating, selling, and marketing such books, as well as the small press industry in general. Manga is covered as well. " In many ways, the same advice here applies to people trying to get word about out bands/books/games etc etc.
the masses? (Score:0, Interesting)
Independence (Score:2, Interesting)
Also, isn't Free Comic Book Day [freecomicbookday.com] coming up soon? (May 3)
Perhaps a Comics Week should be declared?
Re:the masses? (Score:5, Interesting)
What we saw a few years ago was a massive reduction in popularity because comics started catering more to hardcore collectors than casual fans, with the whole six different covers by the hottest new artist for every issue craze and the focus on flash rather than substance, largely brought about by a wealth of artists but a dry spell for great writers. Now with people like Ellis, Millar, Bendis, etc., comics are starting to get more appeal to the casual fan again.
This is especially true with recent pushes toward trade paperback sales rather than individual issues, and the creation of the more Manga-esque Tsunami line by Marvel, which is an attempt to capture the rather large Manga fan base in the United States right now, including a female demographic that's not as well represented in traditional American comics.
anything but concise (Score:4, Interesting)
Sort of interesting to see a bunch of comments moderated 5 already, just fifteen minutes after the article was posted. I started reading this article, since I had a small press publish my first (nonfiction) book, and I intend to publish my own stuff next year. After getting about halfway through, I decided the material wasn't worth my time. There are no doubt some good points here, but despite the claim from the submitter, this stuff is really mostly applicable to smalltime comicbook authors. And it's an incredibly lengthy piece considering the small amount of advice presented. It clocks in at nearly 10,000 words (for reference, books start at about 50,000 words), and I suspect the main advice in this piece could be extracted to make a new article barely 1000 words long.
Re:Indy comics/comix (Score:5, Interesting)
Not only was there a boatload of crap in the indy scene but even more so in the "mainstream" lines as well.
God, when Image and Valiant were the companies with the "buzz" soooooooooo much crap came out, and it seemed that overnight practicallly everyone started drawing in the "Image" style, you know what I mean...it really was sad at the time, and then since they were all "creator owned" the prices went up and up and up, quality went down and down and down (unless variant foil cover # 8 special edition equals quality to you :p )
TMNT, that used to be a gritty book, I was thrilled when a year or so ago, I think John Woo(?) was looking to do an "original" TMNT movie, haven't heard anything since.....
Theres some great ones out there today, but you need hip-waders to get through all the crap, I'm all for them trying new distribution types, but it may be tough to find the "gems" and as always one mans crap could be anothers gem....
its better to have more selection than none at all I suppose :)
Re:I hate to say it... (Score:2, Interesting)
What about non-serious ad campaigns? Immature ad campaigns, if you will.
So you can't buy TV or radio ads because they're too expensive. When was the last time you saw a TV or radio ad for comics? (Sans X-Men movies, of course - movies != comics anyhow.)
Advertising on the internet is so cheap, it's practically free. Banner ads are about the most expensive thing you're looking at. It costs nothing to convince people to add a blurb in their
Print t-shirts. Hand them out in RL. Stickers. Posters. Et cetera. Free introductory copies. Blah di blah.
But I'd argue that All Your Base got out to the masses pretty quickly. If unconventional advertising can work for CATS, it can work elsewhere.
the superhero ghetto (Score:3, Interesting)
As opposed to the world of mainstream comics, full of pandering fanboys, artists with no understanding of form & anatomy, writers with no interest in human motivation, and publishers who treat their customers with contempt?
Comics in general have quality problems. People who've grown up in the superhero world (i.e. most Slashdotters) don't realize exactly how narrow of a genre superhero comics are, but it's got its own blind spots, just like the indies. It's not the sort of thing that's easy to get started in.
The recent upsurge in superhero movies don't change things very much; if anything, how they change their storylines to suit a mainstream audience should be quite instructive to comics fans. Look at the first X-Men movie and how streamlined the narrative was, compared to the dense soap-operatic narratives of the actual books. If you need to draw charts to explain crossover chronology you're never going to break out of the ghetto.
Quality problems are everywhere. But me, I'll take Acme Novelty Library over the Death of Superman any day.
Comics are putting themselves out of business (Score:4, Interesting)
When you go to the supermarket news stand you're incure a risk. Every issue that doesn't get sold you have to refund back to the retailer. And it's not like you get product back. All you get is the cover back.
"Successful" comics of today sell at rates that would be considered failures 15-20 years ago. Marvel and DC are in the position of being more and more dependant on merchandising monies.
And it's not like the industry doesn't know this. The simple fact is it's too late. Comics are painted into a corner. You need capital to reinvent the distribution chain. And even if you were to get the capital you'd piss off the existing chain (comic book stores). And if you manage to reinvent the chain, it would mean the deal of the comic book store. Blah!
So when you ask about these small indie lables trying to be big, you have to ask yourself "why"?
Being big means being leveraged up the wazoo to investors and banks. Being big means have to suck up to hollywood to get some movie money.
Re:Indy comics/comix (Score:4, Interesting)
Valiant I'm less familar with, but I do have some fond memories of Archer and Armstrong, which really wasn't a flashy title.
I don't think you can paint either company with a uniform brush.
My cousin owns a comic shop, and from time to time he'd drop off a longbox of poor-selling old titles for my brother and me. As a result, I read a lot of different comics growing up, including some things that would never show up on a spin-rack. All in all I can say this: an average comic in the silver age was MANY steps below an average comic from the 80s or 90s. I probably read through thousands of issues of whatever my cousin couldn't sell (Late Silver Age DC apparently didn't move well in the early 80s). Comics in the 80s and 90s might've been pure artist or writer driven garbage, but they also dealt with complex emotional issues, consequences of actions, and in general, even in the really mediocre mainstream titles got a lot better in every way.
If the basis for comparison is "Watchmen" or "MircleMan" or "Astro City", man, nothing else is going to look good. If you're reading circa 1970 "Legion of Super Heroes", there's no place to go but up.
I can't see paying $3 for 32 pages any more, but I do try to keep up with graphic novels. None of the local shops keep a good selection, unfortunately.
Form and presentation matter as much as content (Score:2, Interesting)
- Many adults have better things to do than amass huge boxes of pamphlets in their closets. Trade collections sell better to the general audience.
- Local retailers are often unreliable; few people have easy access to a quality shop (Golden Apple, Comic Relief, et al.). Good luck following an indie series if your supplier can't be bothered to stock it properly.
- Manga are finally a significant force in the US, giving kids a great introduction to the medium. But when they outgrow Shonen Jump (300+ pages, $4.95/month) the average indie title (24-32 pages, $2.95/month) is going to be a really hard sell.
I would love to see indie comics publishers start up monthly "phonebook" anthologies to dump into the mainstream retail distribution network. Unfortunately the costs are likely prohibitive if you don't have eight hours a day of free advertising courtesy of Kid's WB and Cartoon Network. Meanwhile I'll keep going to Comic Relief every now and then and picking up all the trade collections that've been released since my last visit.Re:Comics are putting themselves out of business (Score:3, Interesting)
I think I recall hearing an interview on NPR where one of the muckety-mucks at Marvel said that they actually lose money on the comic books, but they use them to test the market. If a comic sells, they will hustle the merchandise and movie deals that actually make them money.