Sunday, December 14, 2003
Dirk's latest essay...
Well, as much as there is a lot I agree with in Dirk's latest essay, I think I'm going to have to go with Neil on this one. Sure, just about everyone in the world could stand to be a bit more opeminded and try new things, but it isn't all that realistic to ask a bunch of fans of a particular genre to try other things for the good of the industry. I don't even think it is really all that fair...
The issue for me has never been that superhero comics need to go away, or that people need to stop reading them. I'm not against superheros and I enjoy reading some superhero books. I'm not even against cheesy or low-class comics. One of the manga I'm reading right now is Tuxedo Gin, about a boxer who is temp. re-incarnated into the body of a penguin. Sounds like a silly concept, and it is. It is fun an funny, but I'd never claim it to be high art.. So, then what is my point?
There's always going to be stuff that is popular but not as good as other stuff, or at least very manufactured. That is the way the world works, and despite watching Indy movies, I also like movies where stuff blows up. Trends movie through popular culture and good luck trying to stop hair metal or grunge or rap-metal...
My issue has always been that the "mainstream" of comics isn't so mainstream at all. Superheros are a subsection of comics. They have a good amount of fans and a rich history and mythology. But it is the domination of the industry by this section that seems out of place to me, especially in light of low numbers the industry is having.
If you look at the superhero section itself, you see stuff like the Jim Lee run on Batman doing really well, while other superhero comics that may be better are faltering or getting canceled. That is unfortunate, but is still pretty understandable to me. Big name creators and established characters will do well, just like how a summer blockbuster movie tends to do well while a good Indy will usually not get past the art houses, besides notable exceptions. That kind of thing happens everywhere..
The same thing in manga. A popular creator like CLAMP is likely to sell a lot of copies even if the story isn't as good as it could be, due to the name and following. A story like Love Hina involving a downtrodden male character and a ton of ladies often in towels was one of the best-selling titles in bookstores. A lot of manga fans dislike Love Hina for being deriviative, going to the lowest donominator, etc. The backlash against the popularity of DBZ in the anime community was insane for a while there. Mentioning your were a fan was enough to get you laughed off of a forum...
But in those cases, despite pandering or being overly commercial, they are what a lot of people want and sell well. Usually they are at least competitent at what they are trying to do and have some sort of formula that works. Like a lot of Rumiko Takahashi's work is popular and yet drags on and on, milking the story for all that it is worth (like Ranma 1/2). Some of the romance stories like Peach Girl can get frustrating from being too repetitive and a lead that is too stupid to figure out what is going on.
I wouldn't claim that any of those stories are crap, but there is other stories out there that perhaps should be more popular. But there's only so much you can worry about that, as the public is the public, and a lot of it is still enjoyable for what it is..
The problem I have with the comic industry is the great disconnect that seems to be going on. Superheros are just one section of possible topics and yet it is just about synonymous with the industry. The reason I bring up manga so much is that I feel like it is doing a better job of having its pulse on the rest of the world. Where were comics for girls before manga started to get big? There was a couple of titles like Strangers in Paradise and Love & Rockets (both somewhat for older readers), Akiko and Castle Unbounded (neither selling amazingly well), A Distant Soil and Elfquest (both self-published for a long time), etc. I'm sure there are a couple more, but not that many. That's all the industry can manage after many years with a bazillion titles released every month? For half the population?
Obviously there is untapped potential out there, and that is what frustrates me.. Country music isn't really my thing in general, but there is a lot of fans, a rich history, and may variations to it. I'm sure country fans get mad at people telling them it all sounds the same, when they know it isn't true if you've heard enough of it. I'm sure a lot of country fans hate big-name acts because of how commercial they are. But still, what if 80% or more of all the music availible was country music? What kind of messed up music industry would we have? I can accept Britney Spears and 50-Cent being pop stars. I couldn't accept 9 out of 10 stations on the radio being only country because that is all that the music industry produces, despite the fact that kids (in this altverse) are obsessed with dance music from europe. The music industry tries to incorporate some synth sounds into the country music, but it just doesn't prove popular, especially since kids have pretty much given up on the radio as a place to find music they're interested in...
What is the answer? I don't know exactly.. but it isn't to tell superhero fans to abandon their favorite comics. I think things aren't quite as bad as they could be at this point, and will hopefully improve. I don't think manga will suddenly explode out of existance as it is currently filling a void, and I think bookstores will keep carrying them for now. Superhero stuff may have trouble in bookstores if it can't provide what that audience wants. Hopefully it won't take out too many other american comics in the process. The Oni Press books still seem to be doing well, and Vogelein just got picked up for Waldenbooks. I see this as survival of the fittest (not necessarily the best, but what people are looking for). If the U.S. companies want to compete in that market and remail relevent, they'll have to come up with different stuff.
For the comic shops and direct market in general, if they want to keep going, they'll either have to remain as a superhero-niche retailer and hope that particular section of fans will be enough to keep them going, or transform into a real comic store with a variety of kinds of comics and an atmosphere that doesn't turn off women and families. As a diversity of people come in and buy stuff, the selection can diversify even more, and naturally the dominance of the superhero will lessen, becoming just another category of the comics. This does mean that (due to space constraints), there won't be as big a variety of superhero stuff carried, and a danger of some of the less-selling stuff not being carried, but hopefully some of that will be compensated by some of these being bought more by other areas of the clientell.
So, in summary, I think bookstores should keep doing what they're doing. U.S. companies shouldn't be afraid to try tapping into that market and demographic of readers, and I think more comic shops should try to diversfy and find ways to bring those other readers into their shops. If all that can continue to happen, then I think nature will take its course and the public at large will dictate what they want. Even if all of that happens, we'll all still be complaining about good comics being overlooked for new flashy stuff, but at least the industry as a whole will be more varied and healthy and not a one-hit wonder...
The issue for me has never been that superhero comics need to go away, or that people need to stop reading them. I'm not against superheros and I enjoy reading some superhero books. I'm not even against cheesy or low-class comics. One of the manga I'm reading right now is Tuxedo Gin, about a boxer who is temp. re-incarnated into the body of a penguin. Sounds like a silly concept, and it is. It is fun an funny, but I'd never claim it to be high art.. So, then what is my point?
There's always going to be stuff that is popular but not as good as other stuff, or at least very manufactured. That is the way the world works, and despite watching Indy movies, I also like movies where stuff blows up. Trends movie through popular culture and good luck trying to stop hair metal or grunge or rap-metal...
My issue has always been that the "mainstream" of comics isn't so mainstream at all. Superheros are a subsection of comics. They have a good amount of fans and a rich history and mythology. But it is the domination of the industry by this section that seems out of place to me, especially in light of low numbers the industry is having.
If you look at the superhero section itself, you see stuff like the Jim Lee run on Batman doing really well, while other superhero comics that may be better are faltering or getting canceled. That is unfortunate, but is still pretty understandable to me. Big name creators and established characters will do well, just like how a summer blockbuster movie tends to do well while a good Indy will usually not get past the art houses, besides notable exceptions. That kind of thing happens everywhere..
The same thing in manga. A popular creator like CLAMP is likely to sell a lot of copies even if the story isn't as good as it could be, due to the name and following. A story like Love Hina involving a downtrodden male character and a ton of ladies often in towels was one of the best-selling titles in bookstores. A lot of manga fans dislike Love Hina for being deriviative, going to the lowest donominator, etc. The backlash against the popularity of DBZ in the anime community was insane for a while there. Mentioning your were a fan was enough to get you laughed off of a forum...
But in those cases, despite pandering or being overly commercial, they are what a lot of people want and sell well. Usually they are at least competitent at what they are trying to do and have some sort of formula that works. Like a lot of Rumiko Takahashi's work is popular and yet drags on and on, milking the story for all that it is worth (like Ranma 1/2). Some of the romance stories like Peach Girl can get frustrating from being too repetitive and a lead that is too stupid to figure out what is going on.
I wouldn't claim that any of those stories are crap, but there is other stories out there that perhaps should be more popular. But there's only so much you can worry about that, as the public is the public, and a lot of it is still enjoyable for what it is..
The problem I have with the comic industry is the great disconnect that seems to be going on. Superheros are just one section of possible topics and yet it is just about synonymous with the industry. The reason I bring up manga so much is that I feel like it is doing a better job of having its pulse on the rest of the world. Where were comics for girls before manga started to get big? There was a couple of titles like Strangers in Paradise and Love & Rockets (both somewhat for older readers), Akiko and Castle Unbounded (neither selling amazingly well), A Distant Soil and Elfquest (both self-published for a long time), etc. I'm sure there are a couple more, but not that many. That's all the industry can manage after many years with a bazillion titles released every month? For half the population?
Obviously there is untapped potential out there, and that is what frustrates me.. Country music isn't really my thing in general, but there is a lot of fans, a rich history, and may variations to it. I'm sure country fans get mad at people telling them it all sounds the same, when they know it isn't true if you've heard enough of it. I'm sure a lot of country fans hate big-name acts because of how commercial they are. But still, what if 80% or more of all the music availible was country music? What kind of messed up music industry would we have? I can accept Britney Spears and 50-Cent being pop stars. I couldn't accept 9 out of 10 stations on the radio being only country because that is all that the music industry produces, despite the fact that kids (in this altverse) are obsessed with dance music from europe. The music industry tries to incorporate some synth sounds into the country music, but it just doesn't prove popular, especially since kids have pretty much given up on the radio as a place to find music they're interested in...
What is the answer? I don't know exactly.. but it isn't to tell superhero fans to abandon their favorite comics. I think things aren't quite as bad as they could be at this point, and will hopefully improve. I don't think manga will suddenly explode out of existance as it is currently filling a void, and I think bookstores will keep carrying them for now. Superhero stuff may have trouble in bookstores if it can't provide what that audience wants. Hopefully it won't take out too many other american comics in the process. The Oni Press books still seem to be doing well, and Vogelein just got picked up for Waldenbooks. I see this as survival of the fittest (not necessarily the best, but what people are looking for). If the U.S. companies want to compete in that market and remail relevent, they'll have to come up with different stuff.
For the comic shops and direct market in general, if they want to keep going, they'll either have to remain as a superhero-niche retailer and hope that particular section of fans will be enough to keep them going, or transform into a real comic store with a variety of kinds of comics and an atmosphere that doesn't turn off women and families. As a diversity of people come in and buy stuff, the selection can diversify even more, and naturally the dominance of the superhero will lessen, becoming just another category of the comics. This does mean that (due to space constraints), there won't be as big a variety of superhero stuff carried, and a danger of some of the less-selling stuff not being carried, but hopefully some of that will be compensated by some of these being bought more by other areas of the clientell.
So, in summary, I think bookstores should keep doing what they're doing. U.S. companies shouldn't be afraid to try tapping into that market and demographic of readers, and I think more comic shops should try to diversfy and find ways to bring those other readers into their shops. If all that can continue to happen, then I think nature will take its course and the public at large will dictate what they want. Even if all of that happens, we'll all still be complaining about good comics being overlooked for new flashy stuff, but at least the industry as a whole will be more varied and healthy and not a one-hit wonder...
