Slog
News & ArtsMonday, December 28, 2009
Books / Retail / Nerd This Week in Comic Book Stores
Posted by Paul Constant on Mon, Dec 28, 2009 at 4:26 PM
Reading comics for me can range from incredibly transcendent to horribly enraging. I was taught how to read with comics and fortunately (or unfortunately) they’ve stuck with me for the long run, so visual narratives have been engrained into me and I often can get a little too engrossed in what I’m reading.
He also discusses how comics had better find ways to bring in female readers, because women are unabashedly embracing genre:
I was talking with a customer not to long ago, and we were asking the same question about Hollywood and other mainstream outlets and what trends might pop up over the next year. We decided that unless the powers-that-be were complete idiots, they would realize the potential with the increasing amounts of female genre fans with the popularity of Twilight and Firefly. Comics saw substantial new interest from female fans when Buffy Season 8 came out, and there were so many great books coming out at the time to cross-sell such as Runaways, Fables, and Y The Last Man.
Hooray for local comics stores! Incidentally, this week is officially Indy Comic Book Week, which means you should investigate your local comic shop to see what kinds of nifty non-mainstream material is available. I really enjoyed Chimichanga, an all-ages comic about a bearded girl and her pet monster from The Goon's Eric Powell.
1
Enter any comic book shop and you will see:
All female characters, every single one, share a certain superpower: massive, juicy, gigantic tits.
All female characters, every single one, share a certain superpower: massive, juicy, gigantic tits.
2
Rubus, you mean like the girl on the cover of "Chimichanga" that Paul has in his post? Lookit the jugs on that chick.
The problem in Chris Casos' statement, "We decided that unless the powers-that-be were complete idiots..." is that it's been known for many years that the traditional comic book customer base , a male who started reading in childhood and is now around 30, is shrinking, and new demographics need to be attracted to comics somehow. There have been continuous bad or gimmicky attempts to do this for years, like "Spider Man Loves Mary Jane" or Marvel and DC manga versions of their super heroes. Heck "Power Pack" and Marvel's "Star" line were efforts to attract new young readers who'd grow up into 30 year-old readers. Marvel and DC have tried belatedly and lamely to jump on the manga bandwagon, which has attracted a much larger female readership than super hero comics, but Viz sewed that up pretty well in the 80s and still dominates the imported and translated comics market.
Much like they won't let Spider Man actually stay married or Hal Jordan actually dead, Marvel and DC--and, to an extent, many smaller competitors--won't experiment with comics in different enough ways to attract a new crowd.
The problem in Chris Casos' statement, "We decided that unless the powers-that-be were complete idiots..." is that it's been known for many years that the traditional comic book customer base , a male who started reading in childhood and is now around 30, is shrinking, and new demographics need to be attracted to comics somehow. There have been continuous bad or gimmicky attempts to do this for years, like "Spider Man Loves Mary Jane" or Marvel and DC manga versions of their super heroes. Heck "Power Pack" and Marvel's "Star" line were efforts to attract new young readers who'd grow up into 30 year-old readers. Marvel and DC have tried belatedly and lamely to jump on the manga bandwagon, which has attracted a much larger female readership than super hero comics, but Viz sewed that up pretty well in the 80s and still dominates the imported and translated comics market.
Much like they won't let Spider Man actually stay married or Hal Jordan actually dead, Marvel and DC--and, to an extent, many smaller competitors--won't experiment with comics in different enough ways to attract a new crowd.
4
@#3 My thoughts exactly.
As a female reader, I object to the Chasing Amy notion that women readers are only interested in romance comics--more women would read mainstream cape books if there were more comics written and drawn by women, not to mention more A-list heroines.
As a female reader, I object to the Chasing Amy notion that women readers are only interested in romance comics--more women would read mainstream cape books if there were more comics written and drawn by women, not to mention more A-list heroines.
6
My favorite comic book (as a lady) has always been Johnny the Homicidal Maniac. Give me more stuff like that please.
Advertisement
Most Commented on Slog
-
Hating People Doesn't Make Them Thinner by Jen Graves
-
Los Angeles Gay Bar Bans Bachelorette Parties Until Marriage Equality Is Attained by David Schmader
-
Fill in the Blank by Grant Brissey
-
This Reminds Me of the Great Calculator Scare of the Late '70s/Early '80s by David Schmader
-
Idiot Tries to Defend Bigoted Anti-Gay-Marriage Preacher on Anderson Cooper by Paul Constant
-
Six Moms with Too Much Time on Their Hands and a Shitty Website Decide to Fight Gay Superheroes by Paul Constant
-
Why Mayor McGinn's Wife Canceled Her Family's Seattle Times Subscription by Eli Sanders
-
What the Hell Is Wrong With Seattle's Pride Parade? by Dominic Holden
-
The Saturday Morning News by Unpaid Intern
-
NYC Man Ticketed for Not Riding in the Bike Lane by Jonathan Golob
RSS
Facebook
Twitter
Comments (6) RSS