We need more comics that inspire us, fewer comics about people wallowing in their own failures and shortcomings, and fewer comics in which how heroic a person is has been predetermined by which boxes they check
I actually don't need inspiring comics. I need well written ones (with cool art). I am a pig in muck reading older 2000 AD. Next to no heroes and hardly a happy ending.
@laverdadescatolica5 Where did I even start reading comics over two years ago? The most reconizable big brand comic book characters in pop culture. Batman, Superman, Spiderman and down the list. With finally settling on 2000 AD stuff as my main comic read. The Pareto distribution factor maybe? A small fraction hold the eyes on for the larger proportion. Popular big brands attract droves of mindless normies like myself. Side note I am literally viewing and reading Invincible for the first time Vol 1. The view is not that great. The art work is very simple and basic. The art has to be as good as the story for a comic to wow me. Comics are 50% a visual medium imo.
This is why I say, if you have never experienced or explored the comics from the 60’s through the mid 90’s , do yourself a favor and experience comics when the companies cared about the comics, art, stories, character development, prices, specials and the collectors themselves. Read back issues stop supporting the junk they are putting out now, and embrace that which paved the road for everything.
@@earlsmith7428 I’m not sure if you are being sarcastic or serious, I don’t pay for it every month but for 10$ plus’s tax in Canada to be able to go bank and read stuff that would be impossible to get physical copies of ( not that I could afford them anyway haha) a resin can read stuff from 90 years ago, it’s pretty neat to see
@@muscleray934 Thank you muscle ray. I was being serious with "my bless you sir." You tried to help me and I appreciate it. I've had some trouble with downloading comics every now and then. I didn't know the DC app is still available, but I did hear (and perhaps it was an erroneous rumor) that something was being discontinued. Did order an issue of Secret Six from the sixties today. Really, wish there were trade paperbacks of material from the sixties.
I own a shop of three decades with dwindling attendance. This Summer has been painful. Customers lowering pull lists or cutting out single issues all together. Long term customers suddenly not answering calls or texts. I would have made almost nothing today had I not had someone come in from out of town and buy several statues that I deeply discounted. I get the sense that books are bought, but not read. The excuse I hear the most is...I don't have time anymore. That just means they've lost interest. Even the speculators are getting jaded cause it's harder to 'flip' their finds. Now, more people come to comic shops for the chat and nerd community of it, not to keep the shop afloat. They'd rather spend their money on Manga or the hot exclusive artist boob books on Whatnot. It's sad times. The big two have always and still think short term gains over future sustainability. They don't care about the direct market anyway. If they sold their books through online subscriptions entirely, they would be just as content.
The comics aren't selling because DC and Marvel's ideas and writing have never been worse. The October 2023 Marvel solicits are out, so just check those if you want to see what I mean. One of the "surprises" includes putting Black Widow in a Spider-Man outfit. Aren't they also doing this with Nightcrawler? And why is this awful Spider-Boy character getting his own comic? Who asked for it? Part of Marvel's problem is they can't do anything these days beyond putting every character on Earth in a Spider-Man outfit. The characterizations these days are poor (The Punisher is a ninja, Hulk is a spaceship, Beast is a villain, Colossus is a traitor), the numerous "multiverse" ideas where they take one character and write 500 variants of the same character (Spider-Verse; whatever was going on with The Avengers) are confusing to most people. Iconic characters are being phased out for sidekicks (Captain America, Spider-Boy, Miles Morales), their villains (Superior Spider-Man), or they're forced to team up with people that have repeatedly tried to kill them (Norman Osborn and Peter Parker; Superman and Lex Luthor). Classic villains are constantly being turned into anti-heroes (Sabretooth, Carnage), and you will rarely see new, original villains created to replace them. There is very little quality storytelling these days, with a few exceptions. Everything is a gimmick or just pure shock value rather than writing what the fans actually want.
They would probably sell more if we went back to having retail stores carry newsstands. A lot of people can’t get to a LCS but can find their favorite comic at their local grocery store spin-a-rack.
Pushung Avengers is a perfect example of why you dont push something past it's shelf life. Its definitely like rebuilding the Bulls after Jordan retired
I can only tell you that the last straw for me with Marvel was Secret Empire. If I get DC &/or Marvel stuff at all, it's always older bookshelf format titles. I'm mainly a manga & indie guy these days. I'm diggin' Kamen America & Isom. On the manga side I'm liking Reincarnated as a Sword & Skeleton Knight in another World.
I can’t agree more. The American comic book industry has been in decline for decades. Although there were blips over the years, indicating life, the overall trend has not changed. It’s death by a thousand paper cuts. I know. Ive worked in the magazine publishing industry for over twenty-five years and I worked at Marvel for a number of those years. I saw the writing on the wall back in the ‘90’s. I knew back then, that the best days have passed. The only resurgence I’ve seen is in the speculative market, but I suspect that it’s more of an incestuous feedback loop than any real growth.
I miss when comics were a dollar. I wasn't around when they were 50 cents, but, I wish I was. Single issues nowadays are way too much. I'd rather buy older back issues, reprints and manga. Heck, I'd prefer the Spider-Man Clone Saga and I'm pretty sure comics were maybe $1.75 back in the mid to late 90s at least
I, too, wonder what the current sales numbers are. A particularly low point in the past was late 2010 and early 2011, with several months of the top seller under 100,000 units. The worst was February 2011, with Green Lantern #62 on top with only 71,XXX units according to Comichron.
The sad reality is that manga have eaten comics lunch. Younger people consume it because it is cheap and easy to get into. The stories are varied and even the worst manga is better than a majority of modern comics. It's such a shame because there are some good indie comics out there but they aren't noticed because the big two is such crap right now. All in all, this is years and years of bad decisions. Constant reboots/ events, polarizing political messaging, subpar talent, and fanbaiting/ demonizing us fans. It all adds up and those that supported it and are feeling the pain, they have only themselves to blame. Harsh words, but we tired to warn these individuals years ago but nobody listened.
The worst part is if you look at the young boys manga like dragonball or my hero academia they’re honoring Superman. Goku is Superman, and the rest of the world loves him. America we get how he was a shit father. Welcome to america everybody.
I don't remember the last time I read a new comic book. I'm sure there are some good ones out there but with the lack of quality from the big guys I don't really care to look. It's damn near impossible to get excited about anything these days.
I work at a library with an arrangement with a local comic store to purchase on a quarterly basis. I expect they're sending everything that doesn't sell because they don't get borrowed much either. Archie's still popular though...
Same here. I hate to be so negative, but I hardly get excited for new comic book day. Caught up with 2 of my old good friends and we had a blast talking comics and visiting LCSs so I’m still hanging in there. Thankfully mark miller and Kirkman are giving me hope.
I couldn’t tell if Ireland had the same feeling about their comic sales going on at the moment before Grant McLellan so rudely tweeted about this video. One more to go.
Yeah I really don't like him hurting dok anymore like this. I mean seriously he could make doc read gargoyles, power rangers, bad star trek comics anything but bad dc and marvel. I'd watch doc read the phone book for 3 hours over making him read hawkgirl. Side note when superman red and blue looks good to me over current comics we have problems
I assumed they were sick of being owned on twitter. everytime they said "comics are doing great" people had the real figures from comichron to call them liars.
Being an ex-pat Brit, my first introduction to "American" comics was issue #96 of X-Men (I missed the giant-size and 94-95), and reading the Claremont, Cockrum/Byrne had me hooked. Maybe I was spoilt, because what I see out now from both the "Major" publishers DC and Marvel is unmitigated uninteresting garbage.
I'm in SWFL. Not that they're were particularly close, the 2 nearest Comic Shops in my area closed. The small one in the strip mall by a movie theater and mall about 4 years ago, and the fancy one in the rich part of town last year
Thinking critical. You don't understand, man. James Gunn got A plan, man. You got to open your eyes, man. I was like y'all before James Gunn opened my eyes, man. He did guardians of the Galaxy, man.(This is A joke comment.)
How is any one customer, with the exception of Henry Cavil, is supposed to read any of those series? There's 22 Knight Terrors, multiply that by the average DC Comics price, then factor in there will be like ten of each, who is going to buy that?
Do retailers not make money of manga sales? Is it an import situation? I only ask because i heared that when nerdzoic tried ordering action figures from Japan he couldn't make a profit of the sales
Gotta admit…I buy less from my LCS now. I still buy comics regularly, but I made to switch to pre-ordering them on-line at a bigger discount than the LCS can offer.
Gave up on marvel years ago. Dc has basically ceased to exist now all they are creating is thinly veiled homosexual fan fiction. At first I was sad, but now all I feel is disgust. I just wish they would go out òf business.
I recommend talking more about manga and manga related news. You could talk about how Shueisha is struggling to find a new long-term anchor title for Weekly Shonen Jump, or how some genres of manga are becoming the most popular. You could even review and recommend new or lesser known manga titles! There's all kinds of news about manga and anime out there. Read more manga!!
I just came from my LCB shop and all I bought was a reprint of Perez’s war of the gods and Red Sonja 1 Nothing else was worth my time except maybe Warlock
Great, if depressing, summary of where we are. Most of what I buy, I buy to try to throw some support to my local shop. The only exciting superhero comics I've read in years are MY HERO ACADEMIA and ONE PUNCH MAN.
Wes, i hear you mention eating in comics pretty often. It is definitely a thing now. It used to be kind of a one off thing, say, seeing Wolverine at a bar eating and drinking. You knew some fight with bikers was about to break out. Now, you're right, it's filler. A waste of pages used by untalented writers to try and make characters relatable. "Oh look! Cyclops likes to eat scrambled eggs, just like you! Please love my writing!" Just terrible
And I wonder how much the crappy new comics are causing comic shops to inflate back issue prices to make some extra cheddar. I see Copper Age back issues all the time that should be 2 or 3 dollar books going for like 6 bucks. Not keys, just generic issues. I love Quasar, but don't tell me that issue is really worth 20 bucks because Venom is on the cover...
This tracks with my personal experience. I went into my lcs after a month long absence and had a grand total of three books waiting for me. One was DC, zero Marvel. I bet there are more than a few interesting indie titles out there, but they don’t get ordered, and there’s no opportunity to browse through that kind of material to discover something good.
I used to buy a wide variety of comics from different publishers. Now it’s very little comics I do buy from new releases. Incredible Hulk, Shazam, and Robert E Howard’s Hyborean age comics ( Red Sonja, The Mighty Barbarians, and the upcoming Conan.) couldn’t believe my eyes today that Red Sonja , Knight Terrors Shazam, two versions of Knight Terrors Black Adam, and a back issue of Black Adam #1 Lucio Perillo cover was near $30.
While I do not buy comics (due to not having a comic shop in my area and spending my money in manga instead), I was always interested in them so I watched this video. When I heard that the prices of comics reaching 8.99 and how that was very expensive, I was surprised. Especially at the comparison to how you can buy a volume of a manga for that money. I always thought that manga were more expensive than comics, but now they are presented as more value. So that must mean that the average comic book has less content than a manga volume, but how much exactly? I know how much content a manga volume has, I have bought quite a few, but I do not know about comic books. The video mentions 22 pages at the end, so does that mean that a comic book is 22 pages ?
You know it doesn’t take a rocket science degree to figure out you need to establish the dawn of DC books before you start a company wide crossover. I would have waited till next summer. Right now we need to add a few more titles. DC was on the right track with Green Arrow, Shazam, Teen Titans and Green Lantern. There’s a Aquaman movie sometime in the future, but no Aquaman title? Where’s the lighter side of the DC universe? Plastic Man ? Gnort? Booster Gold? Right now comic are like watching summer tv. Reruns, nothing exciting, the hodgepodge of the same oh same oh. I don’t have a LCS in my town, but right now there’s nothing enticing that would bring me into the store. Comics used to be the Age of Enlightenment. Now it’s the age of Darkness.
I picked up Volumes 1 and 2 of Batman Road to No Man's land at Ollie's yesterday for a total of $15. Why would I pay $5-9 for 1 issue of current crap when I can get 30 to 40 classic issues collected for the price of 2 modern books? Comic companies shot themselves in the foot. I remember the old DC motto "holding the line at $2.99" Boy that seems like 30 years ago.
Wes, it’s been tough with all of comics lately. I will stick with some of the Dawn of DCU titles, the Millarverse, and I guess ASM. Tec, Batman, and ASM are a total slog tho. Ram V is very dry and boring. Most of the other stuff I’m just letting run out. The 616 is all but dead for me. Frank Miller Presents has been so slow to put out its titles that I’m over being excited about it. I’ll keep up with Ronin II and Sin City: Blood and Dust if it ever comes out. Ancient Enemies is basically a tame version of The Boys. I understand why people are quitting comics.
Don't let modern comics get you down. Just go read some old classic comics / runs you love instread. To hell with modern comics rubbish.. I'm currently binging on Spectacular Spider-Man.
i like dawn of the DC. i thought knight terrors was going to be another horrible event but ive liked the few ive read. also im looking forward to JMS 's cap book thats coming out. what about omnibus and epic collections sales?
I went today Wednesday to pick up some comics and got some. In the past I would have spend many more of what I did today. And so would have the people around me. And none of the comic buyers at store are the people that DC or Marvel are doing the comic for
Yeah I’d say older bronze and bronze earlier comics are better for holding value Golden seems to hold long term value like blue chips. Vintage is where it’s at.
I think we need to bring light to the indies....so many good titles coming from BOOM!, Dynamite and Image....and some from some crowd funding....i barely get excited from anything from the big 2.
Justice League vs Suicide Squad was the only good event that Joshua Williamson wrote.Shadow War,Dark Crisis and now Knights Terror were very weak and boring overall.
@@EvandroACruz yeah i gotta agree with you on that one, even though technically speaking Justice league vs the Suicide Squad wasn't a event comic because that storyline didn't effect the main justice league book or the Suicide Squad book when it was all set and done.
Considering that they haven’t released any sale numbers for over a year or two (don’t remember when they stopped revealing sale numbers). It’s bad as you say about comic store going out of business and won’t be surprise if either or both marvel and dc go out of business of their stupid decisions they made that pretty much beyond repair. They could’ve fix it by making the simple fix and restructuring, but noooouuuu. They chose the dumb and cultist route instead. Now only indie comics are doing well now.
I jumped off western back around the time of the first or second xmen live action cuz all of it was becoming live action and 'edgy' and it made the costumes and characters dull. and i'm glad i did cuz at least back then it still had action. now though? now we have peole who don't want to write action and want to write drama and slice of life... and um... they're in action comics. like manga has these same type of comics but they're focused on that. they're not superhero comics. you won't see whole issues of saitama or deku just eating food and doing nothing in their comics. and if there is a food scene it's like a food competition to make a joke of how even food eating is competitive! this was even done early on in a street fighter comic where ryu ate 20 bowls of ramen and made a joke of taking eating as seriously as fighting. but it wasn't hte main thing of either comic. it was a short gag to add levity to the story. and the characters were still likeable and good looking. hell, the last western comics i read were street fighter from udon and mortal kombat from warner. not even hero comics. and i really haven't read any more western since that. i've been reading call of the night, chainsaw man, and killing bites and have had no interest in western at all. cuz... why should i? all they do is talk lgbt and don't want to have action scenes. and for a regular consumer like me... that just isn't going to keep me around. sure, i like romance, but i like hetero romance. so there's call of the night for me with the vampire and her boyfrined. and it still has plenty of action! so no, western comics as far as i'm conccerned are dead. and i have no remorse for it.
DC is trying to dig themselves out of the gutter with Dawn of DC but crapping Knight Terrors out which is not an October event just to boost sales before the end of the fiscal year was just poor management commercially. I could go into other factors but product and profit are the most important ones
Only books I'm picking up are worlds finest, green lantern and titans. Will probably drop titans since taylor is a hack and nothing is happening in the book.
I feel u bro ultimate invasion and some other marvel titles I've gotten like hulk are just too bland to me dc looking better at the moment in my eyes but I agree 100%
I do find some things I enjoy, I just try and stay away from marvel. The stuff Scott Snyder is doing for black jacket press I’m really enjoying, but that’s just me, and I’m new to comics, I spent years away from comics due to other reasons.
I just came from the montreal comicon(yes we have them,tom welling was there and christina ricci were there) No video game section Lots of cosplayers as usual Lots of junk for sale Toys,swords,plushies,books, clothes, 20 comic book stand 5 of them were out of town All of them make their money with comicons more than their stores Couldn't any recent books like wonder woman historia or yhe ambassadors. Honestly? I worry when they day comes when i have no back issues to buy.
I have Death of Venomverse and Misery: Cult of Carnage as the only two ordered coming up. After that I may need to drop comics again, mostly due to price of $4 or $5 per book. But it was thrill to get comics once more after 20 years. Games, collectibles and toys keep the stores open.
@fishin4bass2002 100%. Its why I had hard time getting back into comics cause I didn't know where to start or anything. I just grabbed Venom Lethal Protector 1,2, 3 and Misery #1 one day. After Death of Venomverse and Misery, I'm stopping. I enjoyed it but cost. I wanted to read X-Men but that is even worst to try and figure out where to start. I was I could just pick up big ol collected volume 1 and just read. I did just pick up new #1 X-Men Doomsday . . something. It looked good. I do recall hearing once that it started with Stan Lee wanting to do multiple comics and that is why Chris Claremont took off. But it would be so much easier if it was only five comics. Maybe it might get the comic industry back on track if focused more on story of those five.
I almost hate how bad these comics get, i like new & exciting things. I go in my comic shop and never buy anything off of the new wall, and walk away upset i only look and don't support the cool dudes there. Well, i guess i do, i buy all there used stuff!
The decay of US comic book writing of the super-hero genre, particularly DC, started with Brad Meltzer's run on Justice League. After the fourth issue, Superman. Wonder Woman & Batman were still sitting around the table having a conversation. Hey, where's the action? Not to be outdone, Frank Miller's All-Star Batman had two issues of Batman & Robin driving in the Batmobile! But the worst thing to happen to the super-hero genre is Brian Michael Bendis. Each panel is a talking head and a story that could easily be written in one issue was stretched to 8 issues. Make mine Mark Millar!
I collect my Spawn titles, and then I'll grab ghost rider and venom.. if I have enough cash ill grab asm..but we are talking $50ish... I drop $200 on back issues on titles I like, volume 1 X-Men, Hulk, Detective Comics, batman etc.. my interest are back issues as for most part they are cheaper and BETTER!!
I have not been excited for a comic as much as I am for BIG GAME in probably more than a decade. Excitement still exists, just much less lf it, and it is outside of the Big Two. That said, I do attend my LCS weekly and pick up 20 - 40 floppies a week, so may be a bit of an anomaly.
Before watching the video, gotta say the thumbnail just screams “Tom King.”
It definitely screams tom king. I thought it was a new comic relating to him
I think what the industry needs is pretty basic: They need books that people like to read and spend money on.
We need more comics that inspire us, fewer comics about people wallowing in their own failures and shortcomings, and fewer comics in which how heroic a person is has been predetermined by which boxes they check
That's why i wrote my own story, got tired to wait for souless corporations!
I actually don't need inspiring comics. I need well written ones (with cool art). I am a pig in muck reading older 2000 AD. Next to no heroes and hardly a happy ending.
Boom!!
NOTHING INSPIRES PEOPLE THESE DAYS.
THEY'LL JUST CRITIQUE IT.
@laverdadescatolica5 Where did I even start reading comics over two years ago? The most reconizable big brand comic book characters in pop culture. Batman, Superman, Spiderman and down the list. With finally settling on 2000 AD stuff as my main comic read. The Pareto distribution factor maybe? A small fraction hold the eyes on for the larger proportion. Popular big brands attract droves of mindless normies like myself.
Side note I am literally viewing and reading Invincible for the first time Vol 1. The view is not that great. The art work is very simple and basic. The art has to be as good as the story for a comic to wow me. Comics are 50% a visual medium imo.
This is why I say, if you have never experienced or explored the comics from the 60’s through the mid 90’s , do yourself a favor and experience comics when the companies cared about the comics, art, stories, character development, prices, specials and the collectors themselves. Read back issues stop supporting the junk they are putting out now, and embrace that which paved the road for everything.
James, any particular run and series you'd recommend? I'm going to try DC's original Secret Six when I have the money.
That’s where the DC app comes in handy, read all the stuff from the past when it was good
@@muscleray934 Bless your sir.
@@earlsmith7428 I’m not sure if you are being sarcastic or serious, I don’t pay for it every month but for 10$ plus’s tax in Canada to be able to go bank and read stuff that would be impossible to get physical copies of ( not that I could afford them anyway haha) a resin can read stuff from 90 years ago, it’s pretty neat to see
@@muscleray934 Thank you muscle ray. I was being serious with "my bless you sir." You tried to help me and I appreciate it. I've had some trouble with downloading comics every now and then. I didn't know the DC app is still available, but I did hear (and perhaps it was an erroneous rumor) that something was being discontinued. Did order an issue of Secret Six from the sixties today. Really, wish there were trade paperbacks of material from the sixties.
Most comic shops I go to are empty. The few times customers are there no one talks - it's like a funeral home
I own a shop of three decades with dwindling attendance. This Summer has been painful. Customers lowering pull lists or cutting out single issues all together. Long term customers suddenly not answering calls or texts. I would have made almost nothing today had I not had someone come in from out of town and buy several statues that I deeply discounted. I get the sense that books are bought, but not read. The excuse I hear the most is...I don't have time anymore. That just means they've lost interest. Even the speculators are getting jaded cause it's harder to 'flip' their finds. Now, more people come to comic shops for the chat and nerd community of it, not to keep the shop afloat. They'd rather spend their money on Manga or the hot exclusive artist boob books on Whatnot. It's sad times. The big two have always and still think short term gains over future sustainability. They don't care about the direct market anyway. If they sold their books through online subscriptions entirely, they would be just as content.
Start selling manga. NA comics will end your store.
You honestly get more bang for your buck with manga!!!
The comics aren't selling because DC and Marvel's ideas and writing have never been worse. The October 2023 Marvel solicits are out, so just check those if you want to see what I mean. One of the "surprises" includes putting Black Widow in a Spider-Man outfit. Aren't they also doing this with Nightcrawler? And why is this awful Spider-Boy character getting his own comic? Who asked for it? Part of Marvel's problem is they can't do anything these days beyond putting every character on Earth in a Spider-Man outfit.
The characterizations these days are poor (The Punisher is a ninja, Hulk is a spaceship, Beast is a villain, Colossus is a traitor), the numerous "multiverse" ideas where they take one character and write 500 variants of the same character (Spider-Verse; whatever was going on with The Avengers) are confusing to most people. Iconic characters are being phased out for sidekicks (Captain America, Spider-Boy, Miles Morales), their villains (Superior Spider-Man), or they're forced to team up with people that have repeatedly tried to kill them (Norman Osborn and Peter Parker; Superman and Lex Luthor). Classic villains are constantly being turned into anti-heroes (Sabretooth, Carnage), and you will rarely see new, original villains created to replace them.
There is very little quality storytelling these days, with a few exceptions. Everything is a gimmick or just pure shock value rather than writing what the fans actually want.
I think I’m almost better off launching my superhero story as a manga or webtoon.
They would probably sell more if we went back to having retail stores carry newsstands. A lot of people can’t get to a LCS but can find their favorite comic at their local grocery store spin-a-rack.
RIP Hawkgirl.
Frederick Wertham’s ghost sweating nervously
I was just at a comic book shop today. They have so much product. I don't know how they employ anyone. Maybe people work for free or min wage
just start looking through the 5million different genres of manga, Wes.
you might be pleasantly surprised.
it hurts me top see the pain in Wes' eyes.
Nobody wants woke content. And nobody thinks the people who provide it anyway are virtuous.
Pushung Avengers is a perfect example of why you dont push something past it's shelf life. Its definitely like rebuilding the Bulls after Jordan retired
I can only tell you that the last straw for me with Marvel was Secret Empire. If I get DC &/or Marvel stuff at all, it's always older bookshelf format titles. I'm mainly a manga & indie guy these days. I'm diggin' Kamen America & Isom. On the manga side I'm liking Reincarnated as a Sword & Skeleton Knight in another World.
But did you know that isom cost 35 dollars? What a rip off!
@@maxmazzotti6651 $35 for good content vs the crap that Marvel & DC shell out these days.
Exactly!! For the first time i started picking up Superman and actually liked it(it wasn't terrible anyway) and now this Knight Terror BS. Like wtf
Can't agreed more. It's depressing to watch it happen. They, the industry, seem happy It's happening.
I can’t agree more.
The American comic book industry has been in decline for decades. Although there were blips over the years, indicating life, the overall trend has not changed. It’s death by a thousand paper cuts. I know. Ive worked in the magazine publishing industry for over twenty-five years and I worked at Marvel for a number of those years. I saw the writing on the wall back in the ‘90’s. I knew back then, that the best days have passed. The only resurgence I’ve seen is in the speculative market, but I suspect that it’s more of an incestuous feedback loop than any real growth.
People spending $4-5 on a SINGLE floppy is a ripoff! I might at as well wait for the tpb.
I miss when comics were a dollar. I wasn't around when they were 50 cents, but, I wish I was. Single issues nowadays are way too much. I'd rather buy older back issues, reprints and manga. Heck, I'd prefer the Spider-Man Clone Saga and I'm pretty sure comics were maybe $1.75 back in the mid to late 90s at least
Last great books I read were irredeemable, a few mark Millar books , and the immortal hulk
I, too, wonder what the current sales numbers are. A particularly low point in the past was late 2010 and early 2011, with several months of the top seller under 100,000 units. The worst was February 2011, with Green Lantern #62 on top with only 71,XXX units according to Comichron.
The sad reality is that manga have eaten comics lunch. Younger people consume it because it is cheap and easy to get into. The stories are varied and even the worst manga is better than a majority of modern comics. It's such a shame because there are some good indie comics out there but they aren't noticed because the big two is such crap right now. All in all, this is years and years of bad decisions. Constant reboots/ events, polarizing political messaging, subpar talent, and fanbaiting/ demonizing us fans. It all adds up and those that supported it and are feeling the pain, they have only themselves to blame. Harsh words, but we tired to warn these individuals years ago but nobody listened.
The worst part is if you look at the young boys manga like dragonball or my hero academia they’re honoring Superman. Goku is Superman, and the rest of the world loves him. America we get how he was a shit father. Welcome to america everybody.
Thankful I grew up in an era where 1) stories were great, and 2) prices were 75 cents (or maybe a buck, for something special!)
Ah... the 80s 😄
I don't remember the last time I read a new comic book. I'm sure there are some good ones out there but with the lack of quality from the big guys I don't really care to look. It's damn near impossible to get excited about anything these days.
I work at a library with an arrangement with a local comic store to purchase on a quarterly basis. I expect they're sending everything that doesn't sell because they don't get borrowed much either. Archie's still popular though...
Same here. I hate to be so negative, but I hardly get excited for new comic book day. Caught up with 2 of my old good friends and we had a blast talking comics and visiting LCSs so I’m still hanging in there. Thankfully mark miller and Kirkman are giving me hope.
I couldn’t tell if Ireland had the same feeling about their comic sales going on at the moment before Grant McLellan so rudely tweeted about this video. One more to go.
Poor Dok, I feel for what you are about to put him through. That "Hawkgirl" comic was something else!
Yeah I really don't like him hurting dok anymore like this. I mean seriously he could make doc read gargoyles, power rangers, bad star trek comics anything but bad dc and marvel. I'd watch doc read the phone book for 3 hours over making him read hawkgirl. Side note when superman red and blue looks good to me over current comics we have problems
Everything you said is spot on. The one thing to add is that all issues are self-inflicted.
I assumed they were sick of being owned on twitter. everytime they said "comics are doing great" people had the real figures from comichron to call them liars.
Being an ex-pat Brit, my first introduction to "American" comics was issue #96 of X-Men (I missed the giant-size and 94-95), and reading the Claremont, Cockrum/Byrne had me hooked. Maybe I was spoilt, because what I see out now from both the "Major" publishers DC and Marvel is unmitigated uninteresting garbage.
I'm in SWFL. Not that they're were particularly close, the 2 nearest Comic Shops in my area closed. The small one in the strip mall by a movie theater and mall about 4 years ago, and the fancy one in the rich part of town last year
We're a long way from 'All in Color For A Dime'
But CBR told me manga ARE comics, therefore, comics are selling great, right?
Thinking critical. You don't understand, man. James Gunn got A plan, man. You got to open your eyes, man. I was like y'all before James Gunn opened my eyes, man. He did guardians of the Galaxy, man.(This is A joke comment.)
How is any one customer, with the exception of Henry Cavil, is supposed to read any of those series? There's 22 Knight Terrors, multiply that by the average DC Comics price, then factor in there will be like ten of each, who is going to buy that?
Darkhorse, admitted:, Manga only makes up 1% of it's production and output volume but accounts 66% of it's sales
My Condolences Wes. It aint easy, that's for sure.
Comics nowadays are like Rome in its last years: collapsing, broke, and its people pretends everything is fine.
Wow, it's like you read my mind on comics these days. Spot on 100%
Do retailers not make money of manga sales? Is it an import situation? I only ask because i heared that when nerdzoic tried ordering action figures from Japan he couldn't make a profit of the sales
It's going to be a Very Very VERY Long and Absolutely Miserable Decade before Superman and Batman become Public Domain...
Wes, you are reading my freaking mind right now! 😢
I bought 5 of my normal titles last month after taking a few months off, and 💔. I wanted to visit old friends and I got 💩. 😢
Gotta admit…I buy less from my LCS now. I still buy comics regularly, but I made to switch to pre-ordering them on-line at a bigger discount than the LCS can offer.
Gave up on marvel years ago. Dc has basically ceased to exist now all they are creating is thinly veiled homosexual fan fiction. At first I was sad, but now all I feel is disgust. I just wish they would go out òf business.
I fell off any regular reading and buying in person..when The Walking Dead ended. Nothing has got me excited to go to the shop every week since.
I recommend talking more about manga and manga related news. You could talk about how Shueisha is struggling to find a new long-term anchor title for Weekly Shonen Jump, or how some genres of manga are becoming the most popular. You could even review and recommend new or lesser known manga titles!
There's all kinds of news about manga and anime out there.
Read more manga!!
Mangas are the future.
I just came from my LCB shop and all I bought was a reprint of Perez’s war of the gods and Red Sonja 1
Nothing else was worth my time except maybe Warlock
I haven't been to a comic shop in 3 years and I don't even miss it.
Hello fan congratulations you've been selected
I look forward to listening to you talk about comics then reading the comics from the big two.
You know what they say the definition of insanity is...
Great, if depressing, summary of where we are. Most of what I buy, I buy to try to throw some support to my local shop. The only exciting superhero comics I've read in years are MY HERO ACADEMIA and ONE PUNCH MAN.
I found MHA average in geral but still manages to be more heroic than everything that DC and Marvel does today.
If what we hear about marvel & sales is true, i want to ask: how long will it be until the Grim Squeaker prowl the halls of mighty marvel???
Wes, i hear you mention eating in comics pretty often. It is definitely a thing now. It used to be kind of a one off thing, say, seeing Wolverine at a bar eating and drinking. You knew some fight with bikers was about to break out. Now, you're right, it's filler. A waste of pages used by untalented writers to try and make characters relatable. "Oh look! Cyclops likes to eat scrambled eggs, just like you! Please love my writing!" Just terrible
“We’ll always have World’s Finest…”
And I wonder how much the crappy new comics are causing comic shops to inflate back issue prices to make some extra cheddar. I see Copper Age back issues all the time that should be 2 or 3 dollar books going for like 6 bucks. Not keys, just generic issues. I love Quasar, but don't tell me that issue is really worth 20 bucks because Venom is on the cover...
This tracks with my personal experience. I went into my lcs after a month long absence and had a grand total of three books waiting for me. One was DC, zero Marvel.
I bet there are more than a few interesting indie titles out there, but they don’t get ordered, and there’s no opportunity to browse through that kind of material to discover something good.
I used to buy a wide variety of comics from different publishers. Now it’s very little comics I do buy from new releases. Incredible Hulk, Shazam, and Robert E Howard’s Hyborean age comics ( Red Sonja, The Mighty Barbarians, and the upcoming Conan.) couldn’t believe my eyes today that Red Sonja , Knight Terrors
Shazam, two versions of Knight Terrors Black Adam, and a back issue of Black Adam #1 Lucio Perillo cover was near $30.
While I do not buy comics (due to not having a comic shop in my area and spending my money in manga instead), I was always interested in them so I watched this video. When I heard that the prices of comics reaching 8.99 and how that was very expensive, I was surprised. Especially at the comparison to how you can buy a volume of a manga for that money. I always thought that manga were more expensive than comics, but now they are presented as more value. So that must mean that the average comic book has less content than a manga volume, but how much exactly? I know how much content a manga volume has, I have bought quite a few, but I do not know about comic books. The video mentions 22 pages at the end, so does that mean that a comic book is 22 pages ?
Sad but true
You know it doesn’t take a rocket science degree to figure out you need to establish the dawn of DC books before you start a company wide crossover. I would have waited till next summer. Right now we need to add a few more titles. DC was on the right track with Green Arrow, Shazam, Teen Titans and Green Lantern. There’s a Aquaman movie sometime in the future, but no Aquaman title? Where’s the lighter side of the DC universe? Plastic Man ? Gnort? Booster Gold? Right now comic are like watching summer tv. Reruns, nothing exciting, the hodgepodge of the same oh same oh. I don’t have a LCS in my town, but right now there’s nothing enticing that would bring me into the store. Comics used to be the Age of Enlightenment. Now it’s the age of Darkness.
I've turned to omnibus, 50 issues for a 1/3 of the space and about a 1/5 of the price of new single issues.
Poor Dok. I read Hawkgirl #1 yesterday and it was terrible.
I culled my pull list recently to only 5 ongoing series. I’ve been burned too much by the big 2 recently to justify anything else
i'm sorry, but it's been more than 60yrs for most of dc and marvel characters.
there are no more stories to tell.
I picked up Volumes 1 and 2 of Batman Road to No Man's land at Ollie's yesterday for a total of $15. Why would I pay $5-9 for 1 issue of current crap when I can get 30 to 40 classic issues collected for the price of 2 modern books? Comic companies shot themselves in the foot. I remember the old DC motto "holding the line at $2.99" Boy that seems like 30 years ago.
The best selling comic of several months ago was ISOM #1.
The best selling comic of right now is ISOM #2.
Is this correct?
Wes, it’s been tough with all of comics lately. I will stick with some of the Dawn of DCU titles, the Millarverse, and I guess ASM. Tec, Batman, and ASM are a total slog tho. Ram V is very dry and boring. Most of the other stuff I’m just letting run out. The 616 is all but dead for me. Frank Miller Presents has been so slow to put out its titles that I’m over being excited about it. I’ll keep up with Ronin II and Sin City: Blood and Dust if it ever comes out. Ancient Enemies is basically a tame version of The Boys. I understand why people are quitting comics.
Awesome work mate
Don't let modern comics get you down. Just go read some old classic comics / runs you love instread. To hell with modern comics rubbish.. I'm currently binging on Spectacular Spider-Man.
Hello fan congratulations you've been selected
i like dawn of the DC. i thought knight terrors was going to be another horrible event but ive liked the few ive read. also im looking forward to JMS 's cap book thats coming out. what about omnibus and epic collections sales?
I went today Wednesday to pick up some comics and got some. In the past I would have spend many more of what I did today. And so would have the people around me. And none of the comic buyers at store are the people that DC or Marvel are doing the comic for
@fishin4bass2002 I been buying those facsimiles too. Or when they were doing the True Believers editions
Yeah I’d say older bronze and bronze earlier comics are better for holding value
Golden seems to hold long term value like blue chips.
Vintage is where it’s at.
I think we need to bring light to the indies....so many good titles coming from BOOM!, Dynamite and Image....and some from some crowd funding....i barely get excited from anything from the big 2.
Yeah knight terrors felt like a bad idea from the very beginning and shooting themselves with this event felt rushed from the very beginning.
Justice League vs Suicide Squad was the only good event that Joshua Williamson wrote.Shadow War,Dark Crisis and now Knights Terror were very weak and boring overall.
@@EvandroACruz yeah i gotta agree with you on that one, even though technically speaking Justice league vs the Suicide Squad wasn't a event comic because that storyline didn't effect the main justice league book or the Suicide Squad book when it was all set and done.
If my comic shop ever had a black lives matter poster in their window I'd have just gone completely internet for my comics. Jesus almighty.
Red Sonja #1 from Dynamite today was good. Hats off to Torunn Grønbekk/Walter Geovani.
Dark times are upon us
Considering that they haven’t released any sale numbers for over a year or two (don’t remember when they stopped revealing sale numbers). It’s bad as you say about comic store going out of business and won’t be surprise if either or both marvel and dc go out of business of their stupid decisions they made that pretty much beyond repair. They could’ve fix it by making the simple fix and restructuring, but noooouuuu. They chose the dumb and cultist route instead.
Now only indie comics are doing well now.
I jumped off western back around the time of the first or second xmen live action cuz all of it was becoming live action and 'edgy' and it made the costumes and characters dull. and i'm glad i did cuz at least back then it still had action. now though? now we have peole who don't want to write action and want to write drama and slice of life... and um... they're in action comics.
like manga has these same type of comics but they're focused on that. they're not superhero comics. you won't see whole issues of saitama or deku just eating food and doing nothing in their comics. and if there is a food scene it's like a food competition to make a joke of how even food eating is competitive!
this was even done early on in a street fighter comic where ryu ate 20 bowls of ramen and made a joke of taking eating as seriously as fighting. but it wasn't hte main thing of either comic. it was a short gag to add levity to the story.
and the characters were still likeable and good looking.
hell, the last western comics i read were street fighter from udon and mortal kombat from warner. not even hero comics. and i really haven't read any more western since that.
i've been reading call of the night, chainsaw man, and killing bites and have had no interest in western at all. cuz... why should i? all they do is talk lgbt and don't want to have action scenes. and for a regular consumer like me... that just isn't going to keep me around. sure, i like romance, but i like hetero romance. so there's call of the night for me with the vampire and her boyfrined. and it still has plenty of action! so no, western comics as far as i'm conccerned are dead. and i have no remorse for it.
DC is trying to dig themselves out of the gutter with Dawn of DC but crapping Knight Terrors out which is not an October event just to boost sales before the end of the fiscal year was just poor management commercially. I could go into other factors but product and profit are the most important ones
Only books I'm picking up are worlds finest, green lantern and titans. Will probably drop titans since taylor is a hack and nothing is happening in the book.
Yes bro this is 100% accurate! Modern comics are soapies...its ridiculous.
I feel u bro ultimate invasion and some other marvel titles I've gotten like hulk are just too bland to me dc looking better at the moment in my eyes but I agree 100%
I disowned them sense they turned out Alan Scott am not talking about earth 2 Alan. They have not been good sense rebirth.
I do find some things I enjoy, I just try and stay away from marvel. The stuff Scott Snyder is doing for black jacket press I’m really enjoying, but that’s just me, and I’m new to comics, I spent years away from comics due to other reasons.
People need to let it go. Western comics have been dead since at least 2015. Let it go. Move on and save your money and heart ache.
I just came from the montreal comicon(yes we have them,tom welling was there and christina ricci were there)
No video game section
Lots of cosplayers as usual
Lots of junk for sale
Toys,swords,plushies,books, clothes,
20 comic book stand
5 of them were out of town
All of them make their money with comicons more than their stores
Couldn't any recent books like wonder woman historia or yhe ambassadors.
Honestly?
I worry when they day comes when i have no back issues to buy.
I have Death of Venomverse and Misery: Cult of Carnage as the only two ordered coming up. After that I may need to drop comics again, mostly due to price of $4 or $5 per book. But it was thrill to get comics once more after 20 years. Games, collectibles and toys keep the stores open.
@fishin4bass2002 100%. Its why I had hard time getting back into comics cause I didn't know where to start or anything. I just grabbed Venom Lethal Protector 1,2, 3 and Misery #1 one day. After Death of Venomverse and Misery, I'm stopping. I enjoyed it but cost. I wanted to read X-Men but that is even worst to try and figure out where to start. I was I could just pick up big ol collected volume 1 and just read. I did just pick up new #1 X-Men Doomsday . . something. It looked good.
I do recall hearing once that it started with Stan Lee wanting to do multiple comics and that is why Chris Claremont took off.
But it would be so much easier if it was only five comics. Maybe it might get the comic industry back on track if focused more on story of those five.
ASM is now solicitatied as a 5 dollar title
I almost hate how bad these comics get, i like new & exciting things. I go in my comic shop and never buy anything off of the new wall, and walk away upset i only look and don't support the cool dudes there. Well, i guess i do, i buy all there used stuff!
Let's be honest: Supes is on the therapist because his race won't live on.
His own son will get pregnant.
@@wolfgangkrauser9735
I WAS gonna disagree with you, but--- let's face it, THESE days--- D.C'd find a way to make that happen.
🙄
@laverdadescatolica5 They did this in the 90s and things didnt go well except for Kyle Ranner.
Press S to spit on grave
The decay of US comic book writing of the super-hero genre, particularly DC, started with Brad Meltzer's run on Justice League. After the fourth issue, Superman. Wonder Woman & Batman were still sitting around the table having a conversation. Hey, where's the action? Not to be outdone, Frank Miller's All-Star Batman had two issues of Batman & Robin driving in the Batmobile! But the worst thing to happen to the super-hero genre is Brian Michael Bendis. Each panel is a talking head and a story that could easily be written in one issue was stretched to 8 issues. Make mine Mark Millar!
Bendis was a cancer to industry.After the 2000's everything become devoid of heroism, compelling strorylines and good characterizations.
I gave up on comics 😢
I collect my Spawn titles, and then I'll grab ghost rider and venom.. if I have enough cash ill grab asm..but we are talking $50ish... I drop $200 on back issues on titles I like, volume 1 X-Men, Hulk, Detective Comics, batman etc.. my interest are back issues as for most part they are cheaper and BETTER!!
I have not been excited for a comic as much as I am for BIG GAME in probably more than a decade.
Excitement still exists, just much less lf it, and it is outside of the Big Two.
That said, I do attend my LCS weekly and pick up 20 - 40 floppies a week, so may be a bit of an anomaly.