But the business is just a part of the problem, mainstream comics are also suffering on the creative side.
People are still reading Comics in droves, and the super hero genre has held the movie box office as it's plaything for years now, but for some reason mainstream Comics have been on a decline. Both the medium and the genre are currently winners but the comics are floundering, partially this down to the economics mentioned above. But partially it comes down to content, mainstream comics are no longer made for a mainstream audience. And they totally ignore new, especially young readers.
I like most of my comic reading peers began reading comics when I was young. Super hero comics where for kids, though in the early eighties that was changing. As super hero comics move form the newsstand to the comic shop. More and more emphasis was place on making super hero comics more mature. This I believe was a misstep. Now I'm not saying that there should not be super comics for adults or that they should be made exclusively for children. But I have to note that Comic fans when I was growing up had no problem reading and enjoying kids books, in fact I believe that comics being kid's books was a great deal of their appeal. And times have not changed as far as adults enjoying good kid's books, look at the success of Harry Potter. But in the last decade, mainstream comics have gone from being Kids books that adults could enjoy, to books I have to think long and hard over whether I'd let a kid read. And this I think is bad for business. Engaging comic books for adults mainstream and independent, require a knowledge of a sophisticated visual language, a language that used to be learned at younger age by reading mainstream super hero comics. Sadly the primary titles in mainstream comics today all are engaging comic books for adults. With kids series' being the exception not the rule. It's too late to make comics for kids again. This would also be a stupid move as there are so many adult readers. But I think that the main titles of a line should be for as broad an audience as possible, Make the stories for that lost idea of a family audience. Think PG, super heroes have kid appeal, but they can work on an adult level, and best yet there are many adult elements that could be put into the books that would go completely over kids heads. And the thing is both parent companies of the big two already are doing this to great success, with the same characters, in the form of DC and Marvel animated shows, learn from your own people guys. DC is so good at it that the DC Animated Universe is the definitive version of these characters to many people. With this all ages line in place with full advertising force behind it. Adults only and kids only comics can fill in the gaps and every audience can be pleased, which isn't that what mainstream means?
Next week Continuity and fans
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