Polite Dissent

As a child, comic books held a sense of wonder for me. They were 22 pages of action, art, and escape. As an adult reader, I notice that I haven’t felt that wonder and awe in quite a while. I’ve matured and lost some of my childhood innocence, that’s true. But comic have changed, too. I enjoy the variety of titles available, but I look at today’s video-game playing youth and contemplate how we can get them to experience the wonders that are comics.

When I was younger, comics were easily available. I would run down the block to the corner drugstore once every couple of weeks to buy some comics to read. I would scan the racks, and pick-up the comics with the most exciting and enticing covers first. The stories were easily accessible. I could tell what was going on even if I had never read the title before. The stories also had action; not necessarily fights, but there was a definite sense of story progression from the start to the end of the issue. An occasional cliff-hanger was fine, but most stories were self contained. I would read and re-read them until the books were on the verge of falling apart. The price was right; with a couple of crumpled dollar bills, I could buy at least four comics.

A definite effort needs to be made to attract new readers. Today’s new readers are tomorrow’s collectors that will keep the industry going. With the plethora of comic book movies today, attracting new readers should be easy, but experience has shown otherwise. What is needed is not a complex plan, but simply more attention to the basics so that this sense wonder we felt as children can be passed on to the next generation.

1. Availability: Thanks to large national chains, many small local retailers are gone. Most that remain do not carry comics due to poor profit margins. While there are excellent comic book shops out there, but they tend to cater to those established collectors, not to the new or occasional reader.
   There needs to be a way of getting comics out to the general public. Spinner racks at bookstores are a good start. Trade paperback collections make a nice start to reading comics, but there’s something special about the classic comic style. Publishers are starting to sell their comics at some of the large chain stores. This is a good idea, and should be expanded. The publishers and distributors also need to look at getting comics back to the smaller retailers. Once comics are readily available, then advertising becomes a more tenable concept.
2. Covers: Covers need to return to the eye-catching wonders they once were. They should portray an idea of what’s going on in the story, and in as dramatic a way as possible. Recognizable characters should be on the cover, and the title, issue number, and price should be readily evident. Looking over the past month’s comics, the only cover that really attracted my attention wasFlash #209, with Flash racing Superman.
3. Stories: The story lines need to be tightened. I’m not saying there’s not a place for slower paced or less action filled comics. There are, but these are not the best titles for new readers. There are too many comics today that contain issue after issue of “middle”, with a two- or three-part story stretched out into 5 or 6 parts. Long arcs can still be told with individual stories. Look at the “Dark Phoenix Saga”. There was definitely an overarching theme to those issues, but each story stood on its own (with the occasional cliff-hanger).
   Collecting issues for trades is a fine idea, but who says trades have to consist of just one long storyline? I would be just as happy with a trade of 5 or 6 individual stories.
4. Affordability: Price is a major issue. In the twenty (and more) years I’ve been collecting, comics have gone from 40 cents to $2.99, an increase of over 7 times. However, I doubt that kids’ allowances have increased this same amount. Sure, the paper is better quality today, and the art better reproduced, but that doesn’t matter if you can’t afford the comic. Trades are cheaper, some say, because it brings the individual price-per-issue down. True, but they still cost at least $9, and a kid who can’t afford $2.99 can’t afford $9. Sure, you can try to explain savings to kids, but it won’t work, they want a quicker gratification. Marvel tried some cheaper “unplugged” comics a few years ago, but they didn’t work out. They were perfect for the new reader, yet marketed to the established reader. If these books could be released again, but targeted for a wider audience they would have a better chance of success.

While the collector in me may cringe at the sight of my old comics, dog-eared and torn from repeated readings, this is just what the industry needs. We need comics that grab new readers’ attentions and don’t let go. Comics that turn a new reader into an occasional reader, and an occasional reader into a regular reader. The publishers need to look at it as an investment: an investment in the future of the industry.