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By John Jackson Miller (reprinted with permission from Comichron) There have been many Black Panther series over the years from Marvel, but the title has never been one to appear near the top of the sales charts. In April, the new series from Ta-Nahisi Coatesand Brian Stelfreeze not only was the comic book most ordered […]
I added to the original story (once I finally located the link) that Boom’s move had been announced last fall: http://icv2.com/articles/news/view/32847/boom-studios-comic-production-cuts
I could not find similar announcements from others, but I would assume they were all responding to similar market information. Rebalancing shifts back and forth like this have been a common practice over the years; it’s common to see years where graphic novel volumes grow and comics don’t, and vice versa.
The problem is with most comics costing around $4 on average, it makes more economic sense to wait for the $9 to $11 TPB which tends to collect, at least, four issues if not more.
Single issues are vital to the health of the industry but the price point is a killer for most customers.
The total number of paying customers for monthly comics has been shrinking for decades. while production costs have been going up as publishers focused on making higher quality products for adult readers with disposable income. These adult readers with disposable income apparently demand high standards. Higher quality is the comic industry’s common explanation for the higher cost of comics.
The most common explanation for why periodicals are more expensive these days is because there are less customers to spread the costs out. In other words, economies of de-scale , the opposite of economies of scale, are the culprit.
Print has been displaced by new media over the last thirty years to some degree but I don’t think a empirical explanation has been put forward.
New media is sexy but it isn’t exactly “cheaper” than a comic.Video games still require upfront cost if the “replay value” is high. The internet and cable TV provide a lot of entertainment options but are more expensive than the things they displaced: newspapers, magazines, local TV stations.
What if there are other factors, besides production quality and economies of scale.
What if the cost of paper is a contributing factor to the decline of print?
What if profit seeking content providers moved over the new media because costs were rising more slowly in new media?
https://books.google.com/books?id=58DqCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA123&lpg=PA123&dq=newspapers+1990s+%22cost+of+paper%22&source=bl&ots=NiCtnd7NnA&sig=KYVoMT87Ooq0-GGkeAZk1kp0d5k&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjJhbDxrt_MAhWJcT4KHUEfCy4Q6AEIHTAA#v=onepage&q=newspapers%201990s%20%22cost%20of%20paper%22&f=false
In addition to this, I think we need more context.
How are other forms of media, media that monthly periodical comics doing in comparison to comics?
Video games, movies, books?
I think it may be safe to say that digital sales are a not insignificant since neither the Outside World publishers, creators, or online comic enthusiasts talk about them regularly.
I read a post, the other day, either this blog or Bleeding Cool, about how motion comics were the future of the comics industry. Creators and publishers who didn’t adapt by digitizing their content would bite the dust. Is there any wide consensus among industry professionals about that? It seem similar to statements that stated that if comics didn’t adapt by being more diversity-orientated, they would bit the dust. There’s no evidence that shows that technology or diversity is reversing the plight of monthly comics.
*”How are other forms of media, media that monthly periodical comics doing in comparison to comics?”
should be
“How are other forms of media, media that monthly periodical comics are in competition with, doing in comparison to comics?”
30 years ago I got hooked on comics.
15 years ago I spent ~$120/month, going into the LCS every Wednesday with delight.
10 years ago I began to budget and be selective due to pricing.
5 years ago I started dabbling in alternate means to reading than buying new/retail: library, digital, flea market-style regional comic “conventions” (talking like 50 comics for $20 type stuff), piracy.
Currently, I don’t buy anything new and have not darkened the doorway of a comic shop in years.
And despite the relative ease and lack of real money spent in order to read comics, there’s very little I even want to read anymore. What happened to comics? Or, what happened to me?
There HAS to be a saturation point. How many publishers can print comics month after month, and rely on pull lists for their survival? I am astonished at how many titles are solicited in PREVIEWS each month. Are there really THAT many comic readers out there, to support all that printing??