Modern comics market future

[Morgoth]

What are your honest takes? I personally don't see how they can right this ship at DC, and Marvel just seems to have their head in the sand.

It may take 10 or 20 years but I feel floppies going away for all but maybe 3 to 4 titles and everything else is a TPB.

[blackbears86]

I only collect bronze/silver, but I am interested to see where this conversation goes because, ultimately if the market for modern books crashes/disappears, it affects ALL eras of comics.

[mma138]

I don't think the generations coming up are wanting to pay 600 bucks for a book .they are happy with simply downloading a book.

[bleh]

in the last few years, DC has been focused on story telling and marvel has been focused on variants. lots of them, too!

[bravesballer]

I don't know, if anything this generation is the fomo generation. They will pay big bucks for exclusive items. Shoes, bags, backpacks, etc. If something is hot and in demand hippsters will want it. Look at the resurgence of vinyl. Also as long as the comics keep generating big movies and tv shows it will keep bringing in new people to the genre.

[omega145]

I think the trend towards digital and the rising costs of new comic books will combine to continue to decimate paper comic sales through the coming years. I think it has less to do with modern speculation and more to do with those bigger aspects.

I don't see the comic market slowing down though with the amount of collectors chasing books out there and the popularity in mainstream pop culture of the super hero. Comic collecting will continue to live on regardless of anything.

[Morgoth]

Originally Posted by omega145

I think the trend towards digital and the rising costs of new comic books will combine to continue to decimate paper comic sales through the coming years. I think it has less to do with modern speculation and more to do with those bigger aspects.

I don't see the comic market slowing down though with the amount of collectors chasing books out there and the popularity in mainstream pop culture of the super hero. Comic collecting will continue to live on regardless of anything.

They can't if its not profitable for the company's. Right now its not generating revenue for both Marvel and DC. Movies are different divisions

[visualplane]

Any standout artists since the 90's image era? Haven't really been looking at comic books since then, but I don't recall any wow artist like the early 90's.

[jdandns]

There are a goodly number of acclaimed cover artists from the last 20 years, for sure. I've been picking up covers by Frank Cho, Stanley "Artgerm" Lau, and lately, Jung-Geun Yoon, plus there are lots more fan favorites besides.

[bravesballer]

Yeah if anything this is the era of cover artists which seems like its the only one that matters. No one cares much about the art inside the actual comic anymore its just how cool and limited the cover is.

[bleh]

hence, the variant age!

[jdandns]

I just sent in my monthly order. I'm trying to order more than usual for at least the rest of the year so as to help the industry recover. I ordered at least 10 books for their variant covers alone which has to be a record for me. Generally, I only get variants on titles I already collect.

[visualplane]

I've always wanted to do cover artwork. I took comic book illustration class but the amount of work needed to make a comic book every month seemed too much.

I made this

https://imgur.com/a/YkGzz1b

[jdandns]

Violator (Clown version) from "Spawn"?
Pretty sharp!
How long did that take you?

[WalterAZ31]

are comics like bane breaking batmans back still worthless? seems i was into comics at my age of 14-16 during the overproduction era

[MisterNatural]

Originally Posted by bravesballer

Yeah if anything this is the era of cover artists which seems like its the only one that matters. No one cares much about the art inside the actual comic anymore its just how cool and limited the cover is.

If you're coming over from sports card collecting this makes sense, but if you love reading comics and comics art this is a strange thing to read.

I think the fundamentals for collecting comics are still the same for the most part: 1st appearances of characters(Miles, Hellboy, Spider-Gwen, etc), new series #1's(Walking Dead,Saga, Monstress, etc.), hot creators(D. Cates, Snyder, cover artists, yes), and with TV/Movies adapts coming for the foreseeable future, that's not going to change.

Now, actual readership and buying physical comics to actually read..that's hard to predict, but comics are here to stay in one form or another, I believe, because it's a great storytelling artform.

[MRSPORTSCARD]

Originally Posted by bravesballer

I don't know, if anything this generation is the fomo generation. They will pay big bucks for exclusive items. Shoes, bags, backpacks, etc. If something is hot and in demand hippsters will want it. Look at the resurgence of vinyl. Also as long as the comics keep generating big movies and tv shows it will keep bringing in new people to the genre.

I am concerned about the big movies. This Covid has delayed a lot of the movies. I just hope the interest is still there. The world has changed with not only the Covid but the daily riots. I hope the heroes are still looked upon as cool when they get back. I hope they don't end up with a similar fate like the Universal monsters who ruled Hollywood during the 1930s and early 1940s, but seemed out of place and not scary anymore after WW2.

[MRSPORTSCARD]

What I feared. Let`s hope the comic book industry can rebound. Dark times for Hollywood and comic books.
Disney Postpones Black Widow, Shang-Chi, Eternals and Many More Films
https://www.ign.com/articles/disney-...any-more-films

Disney has pushed nearly all of its 2020 film releases to 2021. The release date changes affect the first wave of openings for films in Phase 4 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, including the expected delay of Black Widow from November to next May.

[bleh]

Originally Posted by MRSPORTSCARD

What I feared. Let`s hope the comic book industry can rebound. Dark times for Hollywood and comic books.
Disney Postpones Black Widow, Shang-Chi, Eternals and Many More Films
https://www.ign.com/articles/disney-...any-more-films

Disney has pushed nearly all of its 2020 film releases to 2021. The release date changes affect the first wave of openings for films in Phase 4 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, including the expected delay of Black Widow from November to next May.

at least the TV shows appear to be pulling through, which would help keep the interest around.

[miscus555]

i don't really care for modern since there are like 20 different multiverses and a new issues #1 each month. The variant covers are nice but 20 for one single title?
if you like reading then the future is best in digital but people love to collect physical things and a nice cover doesn't shine on a computer.

if things went totally digital, i don't think the collector market goes down with it especially with heavy speculation going on and dollar bin back issues becoming gold overnight. It's proven those G/S/Bz issues will continue to go up.

[Morgoth]

I wish comic companies would pay attention to how the Mandalorian is telling its story. Self contained episodes inside a larger story. In comics they would tell one episode in a 6 issues so they could collect it into a trade.

[MRSPORTSCARD]

All modern comics are what if stories since Secret Wars 2 and Crisis. The better bet is modern sports cards. Super heroes are tied to movies coming out a few times a year, while sportscards are go by daily games. Plus Avengers was Captain America, Iron Man and Thor, after Covid the new Avengers seems weak.

[MiamiMarlinsFan]

Originally Posted by MRSPORTSCARD

All modern comics are what if stories since Secret Wars 2 and Crisis. The better bet is modern sports cards. Super heroes are tied to movies coming out a few times a year, while sportscards are go by daily games. Plus Avengers was Captain America, Iron Man and Thor, after Covid the new Avengers seems weak.

If we’re talking about monetary gain, there’s plenty of value to be found in both.

[WalterAZ31]

i always thought be cool if some comic series were sold in plastic bags, and when purchased you have a shot at different cover variants that are numbered, and then maybe an artist signed version would be a 1 of 1 or something like that......or you just keep sealed

[MisterNatural]

Originally Posted by WalterAZ31

i always thought be cool if some comic series were sold in plastic bags, and when purchased you have a shot at different cover variants that are numbered, and then maybe an artist signed version would be a 1 of 1 or something like that......or you just keep sealed

So, basically turning comics into sports cards packs.
It's an interesting idea, but I think it'd be problematic.
Personally, I like that you know what you're getting with comics, plus the fact that you're actually getting something for your money; story, art, etc.
Maybe the closest to that idea is Harley's Little Black Book polybagged comics??