I had a slightly heated discussion with my boyfriend last night about the comic book business model, which IMHO is seriously all messed up - their theoretical core business model is the single issue comic book, which these days is IMHO only seen by a very small percentage of their overall audience. He maintains that a lot more people read comic book issues than I think, despite the vanishingly few outlets they’re available in. I say most people who would say they “read comic books”, including very casual fans like me who’ve read, you know, Watchmen and Sandman and Preacher and the like, have never ever read a single issue. I maintain that the VAST majority of readers only read trades.
He brings up the numbers DC is selling of their reboot titles, and the fact (true, of course) that most books aren’t collected at all in trades or don’t stay in print, and that the majority of people reading trades are reading a minority of titles. True. But I still assert that there’s a really big circle of people who read for pleasure, and within that big circle there’s a very small circle of people who read comics in any format. And within that circle is a tiny little pinpoint of people who read single issue comics, and it’s probably getting smaller rather than larger and does not include many children. (Children, mind you, read trades - they come and ask me for “Batman books” here at the library and I take them down to the graphic novel section where they pick up, you know, trades.)
Thing is, I can’t find a citation either way. Of course there are sales numbers for individual books (and do comic book guys still buy several issues to collect?) but I haven’t seen a figure suggesting actual reader behavior. Is there one out there?
I don’t have industry-wide statistics for you, but I can tell you that I used to carry comic books in the magazine section of my bookstore, and finally got rid of them because most months we didn’t sell a single issue. Graphic novels (which I assume is what you’re calling “trades”), on the other hand, sell just fine. So for a single data point, not too terribly many people are reading comic books in this area (unless they’ve subscribed, in which case I wouldn’t know about it).
Graphic Novels = single volume written and released as a single volume.
Trade Paperback ( “trades” ) = multiple individual issues of a particular short-form comic book collected into one or more volumes. In this case Zsofia is asking whether these collected volumes generate more sales ( or eyeballs ) than the original single-issue releases in toto.
He did point out, which is true in my experience, that single issue readers will ALSO buy the trade when it comes out.
I know “graphic novel” is SUPPOSED to be something like Maus or Persepolis that’s a whole story in a book, but usage is tending towards “comic books in trade paperback format”. I used the term “trades”, which is what the comic book nerds use, to avoid confusion.
I also think that for the purposes of this discussion we’re talking solely about American comic books, not manga.
I recall reading something that discussed the aveerage age of comic readers - which it said was cimbing dramatically.
Back in the 60’s, I know I and many others read stuff like Superman or Batman for something called “entertainment”. It was something you did until you were old enough to read real literature, like Heinlein or Asimov.
In my recent visits to comic book shops, or interaction with younger people, I am not aware of a large readership among children. Comics more seem to be read by and marketed to the Wayne’s world sort of post-teenager type. Some of these are sufficiently well off that excessive “special edition” marketing tricks seems to be common to separate them from their money. (Why does “Big Bang Theory” come to mind in these discussions?) Part of this may be the far wider range of entertainment options for young children…
So yeah, do kids read comics any more? Except girls, who seem to still devour Archie comics, mainly in digest format. Apparently the girls fighting over a guy, guys fighting over a girl never goes stale for them.
I have no numbers of course but my guess would be that the bulk of readers are adults. Marvel has tried multiple times to launch series aimed directly at kids and most have failed rather quickly due to low readership.
There are really three things that are probably keeping the kids from reading. One is that most comics have become very continuity heavy. The big thing now is massive company wide crossovers, but those usually require the reader to have been reading a number of titles for the past year or two to really understand. The second is the mature tone that so many comics have taken. The writers are writing specifically for the adults who have been reading all their lives, and as such the comics have become more and more mature and violent since the 80’s or so. The third is cost, most singles run $3 or $4 now. Most kids allowances (if they even get one) would only let them get a couple of comics a week. This also ties in with number one, it’s become much more difficult to follow only one or two series at a time.
Not to mention that to read comic book issues kids would have to get to a comic book store - you can’t buy them at the grocery store anymore. Which is why I stand behind my assertion that more people read the trades, because how many people go into comic book stores? Before I met this guy I just went in because they also have a nice board game selection. I’d never ever gone down the comic book aisles.
I don’t think it’s a problem of getting kids to go into the stores. After all if a kid liked a bunch of comic characters it would probably be interested in the comics themselves. The problem is that comic stores are very specialized and as such can be difficult to find outside of major population areas. The stores themselves also tend to cater to the adult audience. And of course the aforementioned restrictive prices.
It’s becoming hard for even a fan to buy comics. The local shop closed and my local Books a Million only stocks the major Marvel heroes and the Batman stuff. I had planned on getting in DC by reading the new 52, but discovered that in addition to having to drop $3 a pop I would also have to drive a half hour to buy it.
Not getting kids to want to go into the stores, getting kids to the stores. They don’t drive, you know. Mom has to take you. Mom is a lot more likely to take you to the grocery store, where you used to could buy comics, than Heroes & Dragons, where they don’t sell bread and milk. Most kids would probably get a trip to the comic store as a special occasion treat, not a weekly stop.
I agree that all of these are big hurdles for kids to get into the genre (as is the lack of availability at the corner store, which Zsofia notes).
On the cost issue: I started reading comics in 1985, when I was in college. At that time, a standard issue of a Marvel comic cost 65c (double issues and annuals ran more, but rarely, if ever, above $2). Even adjusted for inflation, that 65c is only around $1.30 in today’s dollars. Now, granted, comics are physically of higher quality now than they were then (no more printing on Z-grade pulp newsprint), but that high price point has to be a barrier for the casual buyer.
I rarely read comics today. I will, on occasion, stop into a comic store, and might pick up an issue of one of my old favorites. But, given the huge amount of story continuity and cross-overs, it’s very hard to pick up a random issue and be able to have any clue as to what’s going on.
My opinion, backed up with personal observation but no statistics, is that there are two areas were single issues are still solid. One is the established titles like Batman or X-Men - these have a solid fanbase and can keep selling issue after issue. At the other end of the genre you’ve got the least established titles - stuff people are unfamiliar with. In cases like that, I think people will want to try a single issue to see if they like the writer and artists before buying an entire collection.
As an anecdotal data point, I saw that one of the local Barnes and Nobles just expanded its comic book section in the magazine area. Of course that might mean that magazine sales are declining rather than comic book sales are increasing.
I’ll also note that I live near Rochester, NY which is apparently a big comic book town. There are eight comic book stores in the city with four more out in the suburbs. And that’s not counting several places like the above mentioned Barnes and Noble that sell comic books as a sideline.
I noticed this when I was in Houston a few weeks back and I realized that with the closing of Midnight Comics there are only three comic book stores in the city (plus one more that may still be open on the east side).
Mmm didn’t even think of that. I agree of course that getting say Walmart to stock comics would probably make them more accessible to kids, but there’s also the problem of what to stock. Walmart’s unlikely to stock a large variety. As I said I think that most of the readers are adults, and most of the adult readers would rather visit a comic shop with everything than a grocery store with only a dozen or so series.
Even if they managed to launch a kid friendly series, and even if they managed to get grocery stores to stock them and priced them for kids, there would still be a long period of low sales while the books got exposed to kids. I doubt Marvel or DC would be willing to continue selling a poorly selling series, especially considering their recent history of cancelling anything that doesn’t get enough pre-orders. It would be a huge gamble, one they would most likely be unwilling to take.
Kids don’t buy comics like they used to (same way they don’t buy toys like they used to) but kids aren’t the only ones buying comics. Adults drive the industry so why use kids as an argument at all?
Adults buy monthly comics… they also buy trades and GNs.
If you are looking for hard figures… look at the monthly comic sales figures and try to find trade sales figures. If they really were selling more trades than floppies I’m sure the figures would be easy to find.
Kids isn’t really my argument, it’s just that comic books aren’t getting as many new readers as they used to because few people start reading them as children.
Maybe it’s just here but none of the Walmarts/Targets around here stock comics (aside from Shonen Jump and that Marvel magazine) and the Toys R Us’ around here haven’t stocked comics in over five years (South Florida for those wondering)
I was kinda under the impression the comic-book business model was to keep publishing just to maintain the various character trademarks and whatnot, so the parent company could license these out to movie producers, TV producers, toy companies, poster printers and video-game writers.