CHRISTIAN COMIC ARTS SOCIETY :: A NETWORK OF CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP FOR COMICS FANS, PROS, AND AMATEURS

economy and comics.

aloha everyone! leo from hawaii here, just wondering how is this terrible economy affecting comics in general? how about web comics? do you think people will spend 3-10 bucks on a comic or graphic novel?
i know the boreders book store on the big island is sinking because people are not buying books. howzit going where you live?
aloha. 
le0

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  • Come on guys, am I the only tree hugger out there? :-P Embrace web comics not only because it's the future but also because it does not require cutting trees. Earth ministry and environmental stewardship are very important but often neglected: God placed us in charge of this planet so we must do what we can to conserve its resources.
  • hey man! thats encouraging. thanks

    Bob Luedke said:
    Leo, don't let all the negative opinions you're hearing steer you away from anything you fell compelled to create.

    Understand, I heard the same kind of things 8 years ago, when I set out to create the first Eye Witness book. I also heard the same thing about the comic industry in the late 80's when I pondered opening a store. People with stories to tell or art to create, don't stop to guage the business marketplace, they just do it!

    It's quite easy to see the worst in almost any situation, but hold on to your dreams but make sure to do your homework (from a business side). If it's story worth telling, God will open the doors to make it happen.

    "Sunshine" Bob-

    leo said:
    whoa! wow. i had no idea things were that bad for comics in general. thanks everyone for the info
    leo
    www.aydellon.com
  • Agreed!

    Hey Alec - you got a link to that Jamaica thing?
  • Leo, don't let all the negative opinions you're hearing steer you away from anything you fell compelled to create.

    Understand, I heard the same kind of things 8 years ago, when I set out to create the first Eye Witness book. I also heard the same thing about the comic industry in the late 80's when I pondered opening a store. People with stories to tell or art to create, don't stop to guage the business marketplace, they just do it!

    It's quite easy to see the worst in almost any situation, but hold on to your dreams but make sure to do your homework (from a business side). If it's story worth telling, God will open the doors to make it happen.

    "Sunshine" Bob-

    leo said:
    whoa! wow. i had no idea things were that bad for comics in general. thanks everyone for the info
    leo
    www.aydellon.com
  • And that is unfortunately the problem in this day and age.

    Production cost : output ratio : audience willing to buy to cover said cost. (If you have an audience to begin with).

    You have any pointers on production vs. return?
  • Buzz, I will have to agree with you on your statement - BUT the flipside is IF you find an audience that WANTS THAT, and you can provide that then do it. Part of it is building the audience itself. (Of course use prudence and wisdom in the endeavor.)

    In this day and age, there seems to be an expectation that everything is supposed to be an immediate smash hit and make lots of money - when most people don't realize it takes years to build an audience. And then once the audience is built - you have to do the hard work of maintaining it.

    IF the product that you (universal you) love so much that you created for yourself DOESN'T SELL, then the world at large obviously didn't care for it too much - re-adjust and try again. (This leads in to the David Mazzucchelli thing).

    READ ONLY IF INTERESTED:

    Re: D. Mazz and ASTERIOS POLYP

    I can tell immediately why it will never sell to a mass audience: It's too smart for itself. It may be brilliant, it may be clever, it may be absolutely fantastic - but it's trying too hard.

    (This is also the same issue with the brilliant Ulysses by James Joyce. It's too smart for itself. After reading half a chapter you want to rip your eyes out with a fork - though those who are willing to wade through it will be highly rewarded with smart word play, clever thoughts, insights on multiple levels, and possibly even a new language. But who's got time for that? Again limited audience.)

    Outside of the traditional comics readers who happen to know who D.M. even is, and the "intellectuals" he seems to be reaching out to, no one knows his stuff - and no one cares. It's a niche book for a very select audience and needs to be treated as such. Again, an audience has to be built - and Rome wasn't built in a day. Did he or his publisher build a large audience outside of his traditional comics work? Maybe - but I've never seen it.

    A point I was attempting to make in another thread - but may never have clarified, is (and this is particularly important for the Christian producers): Don't rely on one market, don't rely on one product, don't rely on one mechanism to sell/push your stuff. If something of yours gains traction RUN WITH IT and support it with all your might. If something of yours is constantly failing or seems like it's running into brick walls, re-think, re-adjust, and try again.

    I think Buzz (with Snokie), Alec (Calvary Comics) and Bob L. (Head Press Publshing) are doing things the right way and there is much to be learned from reasons why they produce their stuff, to how they get it out there.

    Build over time - and improve always from your previous effort.


    Buzz Dixon said:
    Absolutely! And if you (rhetorical) are willing to operate at a perpetual deficit to provide such media, you certainly can keep doing 'em!
    Martin Murtonen said:
    ...and Buzz, there is nothing stopping anyone from producing that type of product today. Nothing but will.
  • No, they don't sell well. Take ASTERIOS POLYP by David Mazzucchelli, for example. Mazzucchelli made his mark in secular comics with his run on DAREDEVIL in the early '80s with Frank Miller scripting, then he and Miller worked on the BATMAN: YEAR ONE mini-series. Mazzucchelli left the comics mainstream shortly after that, claiming that, after watching the Oliver North trial, he "realized" that super-heroes were all about what North represented, and he didn't want to support that. So Mazzucchelli went the alternative route with his self-published RUBBER BLANKET magazines, then drew Paul Aster's CITY OF GLASS as a graphic novel, and, most recently wrote and drew ASTERIOS POLYP as a mammoth 300 page graphic novel. This $30 hardcover, despite incredible accolades from mainstream book critics and comics critics alike, is not generating the kind of sales its publisher wanted, despite all the hoopla. I like Mazzucchelli's work, but as a Christian I can say that this contains much that glorifies flesh and is quite decadent in thought. That's not the issue here, but rather the book is a case-in-point for the present failure of graphic novels, regardless of quality. The price point, in this case, is simply too high, and with global economic troubles, everyone is feeling the pinch. That, coupled with the fact that the print media is dying a rapid death and that digital is becoming the new mode, doesn't help.

    In the U.S., one out of ten people's homes are being foreclosed upon. The jobless rate is still at 10%, if not higher, and things are not looking any better. College tuitions are so high that within ten years only the very rich will be able to afford to send their children. Comics fans like to cite the Great Depression as a boom time for comics---but comic books were 64 pages in color for only ten cents, and cheap entertainment like that is long over. What can you get for ten cents now? It's a new scenario with new dynamics.

    Personally, I believe we're on the brink of the Rapture (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18), and then there will be a total economic fallout that only the Antichrist can "solve." We need to keep our eyes on Christ and our hearts filled with the Holy Ghost as we prayerfully meditate upon and act upon His Word. Soul-winning is what it's all about, anyway, not entertaining lost humanity as they plummet down a greased slide into a lost eternity.

    Our lives must be a transparent, compelling testimony for Christ to the masses, and the work of our hands should refect as much, too.

    Brazil, Turkey, and one other nation have entered an agreement to provide uranium to Iran for its nuclear program. Jamaica's prime minister has just ordered all Americans out its country within five days. We've just come through all sorts of tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, and Iceland's volcano paralyzing Europe's airlines for a time. We're on the brink of incredible change in so many ways, and we should not be caught unawares.
    help.in
    This domain may be for sale!
  • Of course no one is stopping anyone from printing comics on paper: but whether it's financially sensible to continue to do so is the real question. Also aside from cost and people's love for the latest technology, one has to take into account environmentalism: if trees can be spared via the dominance of web comics, then why not abandon the paper format and embrace the digital possibilities?



    Martin Murtonen said:
    ...and Buzz, there is nothing stopping anyone from producing that type of product today. Nothing but will.
  • Isn't the graphic novel market doing a better job now than say maybe 20 years ago? I've noticed in the past decade there have been more "stand out, must have" graphic novels than during the 80s and 90s. These newer graphic novels have many great reviews and have been praised by critics. They have gotten enough praise that they are considered literature. They have respect. Even a few graphic novels had movies made from them.

    But, they don't sell that well anyways do they?
  • Yes, nothing is stopping us. I made just such a product in my Star Chosen sci-fi novel, and (gasp) it's a printed book!

    Martin Murtonen said:
    ...there is nothing stopping anyone from producing that type of product today...
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