Quickly, name the one thing that the comics industry needs most right now. Writers? Every company can say it's got some of the best writers in the industry handling its biggest characters right now. Artists? More of the same. So what is it that the industry needs most right now? New readers. What's the best way to get those readers? Now, there are two kinds of "new readers." Young people who are somehow introduced to comics, be it through movies, television shows, or somebody just shoving a comic in their face and saying, "Read!" The other type is people that are brought into comics through another medium, be it through movies, television shows or novels. These two types sound pretty close, right? They are distinct, however, as the young'uns curiosity usually has to be stimulated by an outside force, while an adults curiosity is stimulated by, well his own curiosity.
It seems to me that Marvel Comics is actually doing more than any other publisher in getting new readers. This is how Marvel is getting both types of new readers into the comics industry.
Point 1- How you introduce a young person to any certain character. What are the two most influential mediums in a child's life today? Television and the internet. Marvel's conquered both. Marvel offers somewhat simplified versions of their characters in cartoons airing on Saturday morning, not only of already recognizable characters such as Spider-Man and the X-Men, but lesser known characters such as the Silver Surfer.Marvel has its own internet site complete with downloadable cybercomics, trivia games, and other goodies, most notably a lot of stuff that moves, which tends to hold kids attention longer.
Point 2- Once you grab a young person's attention on the screen, how does it carry over to the comics? Marvel has come under scrutiny recently for "dumbing down" its characters and going to a "back to basics" approach. A kid's not going to read a "Spidey goes crazy because he's really a clone and he's having a nervous breakdown" story. A child would drop a comic just as soon as you could say "Snoochie Bootchies" if you told him the reason Magneto was not Joseph. This means that these "back to basics" approaches are necessary. But not every 'mainstream' comic should be aimed for kids, which brings us to.....Point 3- Daredevil is the best book Marvel's publishing right now. That's right, better than Thunderbolts, or even Avengers. Not only does Daredevil have a kick-ass story right now (which the adults can dig), it's written by Kevin Smith, writer of Clerks, Mallrats, and Chasing Amy, the latter of which was a certifiable hit movie. Each flick had a cult following of its own, and sales on Daredevil shows that that cult followed to the book.
Kudos go to Oni Press in this category for not only having Smith's CLERKS adapted, along with his Jay and Silent Bob mini-series, but for publishing crimenovelist Greg Rucka's Whiteout.Other publishers like DC, who've got their Batman/Superman Hour on the WB and have Greg Rucka writing a part of the No Man's Land even in the Batman titles this year, deserve credit. Without a doubt though, Marvel is doing the most of any publisher across the board to bring in new readers, which the comics industry desperately needs right now. After all, it is the only way we'll survive.
E-mail the writerRead the rebuttal, "Why What Marvel Is Doing Sucks For The Industry", by Chris Conroy
Back To Columns/Essays
