Thoughts about the impact of the Direct Market upon Comics, for me

I remember buying my first comic; well, no, I don’t really. I remember remembering it. But it was a rather horrible Superman comic. Later purchases include the ever-awesome Turok Son of Stone, Underdog, and more. I was 7 years old, or so, my brother was older, had been buying Batman comics (He had been a Batman the television series with Adam West fan, and was always to this day a fan)... so I had a mentor who encouraged my habit. Although we never really shared the same taste, it was fun on a hot summer afternoon to sit in our bedroom, have the fan going, and read comics. I remember buying my first comic from a comic store, I remember buying my first trade paperback, and I remember thinking, comics deserve such a store. But, however awesome that was, with every step forward comic books make, there is always a step or two back it seems.

For three decades or so Direct Market distribution meant that customers were going to no longer go to the grocery store, drug store or newsstand, necessarily for their comics, but often, a store with a purpose and aim to sell comics. The comic store existed prior to the direct market, but in far, far fewer numbers. With the Direct Market comics were not nearly as returnable, as the newsstand, but the numbers ordered could reflect a far more accurate measure of sales, and far more immediate return for the publisher. And for retailers, the burden had shifted in ordering, from the publisher sharing the risk, to the risk of loss being nearly solely by the retailer. In the era of Direct Market, publishers were forced by top name talents and the threat of organizing of labor, to give royalties, to pay health benefits, and such, to the highest creatives upon the their corporate ladder.

And comic fans watched as the Direct Market meant new formats of comics, more publishers, and more of what they apparently wanted. Mini-series, prestige formats, trade paperback collections, and more, poured out of the publishers realizing the new system allowed them to create systems of further profits by reprints. In the past a reprint usually meant a comic wouldn’t sell, now they were gathering runs, and calling it a book. Graphic novels came out at the very beginning of the system, where original works often painted or made with higher quality paper, and fans followed them even with higher costs. Various aspects of the market changed in other ways, better printing methods, better paper, better visibility in popular mediums, all served the comic publishers well. But the system was forced to change, and didn’t. Readerships shrunk in time, the higher cost of production and better production methods limited the number of children readers and focused the bigger sales upon people who had not traditionally been accounted for, the young adult male with money.

Collectiblity had never been as much a part of the market as with the coming of the Direct market. Due to retailers now having to foot so much of the burden, there was an incentive to buy and price comics so that extras, formerly sent back to the publishers for credit, now, were bagged and boarded for possible future sale. Which is all fine. But it far more encouraged a collector mentality towards comics than a reader mentality. A comic shared allows the world to have fun, a comic bought, never read and bagged and boarded does nothing but possibly become an eBay sale item, or a forgotten relic of a forgotten age of comics. A number of speculator bumps changed and crashed the market, but in a number of respects, those were blips on the radar screen rather than the reality. For the most part, rather than due to speculator rush, or the move to comic stores, the prices and change in corporate vision, readers left the market in droves, children were priced out of the markets. There were still dedicated and smaller numbers of readers, and two other groups were left, much larger groups, investors who read what they bought, and investors who did not read what they bought.

Those who invest and collect do not, and did not, hurt the market. But, publishers following the revenue streams, realized what they had, and catered to them. This is the issue, publishers following the profit, as businesses do, rather than cater to the arts or literature communities, meant that the highest quality of work, making no money would be seen as a negative thing, rather than an artistic success.

The changing audience meant something beyond the money adults have versus those children rarely do have, it meant a maturation of story content, and eventually a form of ratings that are akin to the film industry’s. The comic books became increasingly more violent, and increasingly more adult in other ways. This isn’t saying bad ways, simply, that a medium once dismissed as being for children, had, by the demographics of who had money, and what that group would buy, became a place where adult male fantasies of power, and sexual prowess were featured, if not prominently, very much so active and beneath the surface.

Altogether, the changes weren’t a bad thing, for the influx of new opportunities led to greater product, wonderful stories, creative talents having more freedom to create, and more. But, the change from a reader world to a collector world meant something that is bad. The more a comic is read, the better comics become. The reason being is, it grows new, young readers. Comics that are meant to be cash cows for the publisher, and perhaps creatives, are not necessarily poor in quality, but the impact it has upon the market is to encourage poor product in exchange for greater profits. I wish every publisher could make a great profit, I mean, why not, it isn’t a bad thing, I wish others well. But I believe that the market we have in current is directly leading to the demise of the comic book medium. The market is now fueled by events, rather than quality of story, the stories are directly managed by editorial staffs at the major publishers, and they release product of questionable value and worth, time and time again in order to harvest profit. Readers no longer demand products to have quality, because most of the people who simply read comics, either specialize and read only what they know is good, or, have left for books, or movies, or video games, or television. The high cost of comics, combined with the newly questionable merit of the works, plus the option for entertainment elsewhere is going to cause a massive change in comics, for the reader, retailer, and of course, the publishers.

Money is a fine thing. I hope everyone makes it, and makes enough of it to make good comics. The artist and creative community are justified in their work by the buyer, making their work, something the buyer now owns. But the pursuit of that interest, of profit, meant that every new project would be based upon likely returns, rather than artistic merit. The collectors would have their books, the publishers their profits, but the point of a medium is to create memorable works. I remember a lot of what I read in the 1980s, more so than anything since. I am not a stodgy old fart saying I must have my old comics back, I have them, they still sit in my shelves and boxes. I am saying that comics are no longer about the art, or quality, however much they might possess that. Comics are about making money, and the Direct Market will die, because readers buy far more comics, in far greater numbers, than 28 year old males buying super heroes and villains, and never caring beyond that fantasy.

I have worked at five comic book shops in my life, I love comics, I even like the shops, and frankly, if the world of comics goes solely to TPBs and iPhone applications, it is a sad thing. But if that is where the money takes the industry, that is where it will go.

Alex Ness is a writer, a poet, and reader. You can find links to all his work: here