The Ultimate Spider-Man #103, a part of the Clone Saga..where characters don't die.
© Marvel
The Next Big Bust
By: Kurt Amacker, ColumnistDate: Wednesday, January 09, 2008
Greetings, Maniacs, and welcome to another long look into the dark heart of Comicscape! I thought about devoting another week to complaining about that recent Spider-Man catastrophe One More Day, especially given that the first issue of the new post-retcon Brand New Day comes out today. But, I realized that OMD has larger implications for comic books that we should consider. More than anything, it reminds me of one of the great comic book controversies of the 1990s – the dreaded Clone Saga. If you really want a detailed summary, read more at The Clone Saga Timeline, which details the many steps of this massive, three-year storyline. In short, Peter Parker found out that he was really a clone of Ben Reilly. Parker thus retired as Spider-Man, and Reilly took over as the Scarlett Spider for a few issues. May Parker even died in Amazing Spider-Man #400. Ultimately, the story proved so unpopular that Marvel jumped through hoops to correct it, showing that Norman Osborne – the Green Goblin – had never died following the murder of Gwen Stacy, and had orchestrated the entire event, including Aunt May’s fake death. Though initially well received, fans now revile the storyline as one of the worst in the character’s history, and see it as emblematic of the excesses comic publishing in the 1990s – outlandish and convoluted storytelling, manufactured collectibles, and a story spread across too many titles for far too long.
On March 16, 2005, I wrote a column called “On Getting Hosed in the 1990s, and Why It’s Happening Again.” In it, I predicted that the industry would crash again as it did in the ‘90s after the litany of fiascos that ultimately brought it to its knees – the respective death and crippling of Superman and Batman; the abortive Image/Valiant crossover, Deathmate; Marvel’s decision to distribute their own comics to the direct market; and the glut of manufactured collectibles and speculation that fueled sales. Given the steady climb of the industry after the success of so many comics-to-film adaptations, the increased sales of collected editions, and the industry-wide focus on stronger writing, many have predicted the next great comics recession. These sort of dire prophecies have become commonplace, as everyone waits with near-morbid anticipation for the industry to bottom out again. The guys at Ye Olde Comick Booke Blogge posted a point-by-point explanation detailing why the end draws near. You can read it there, but it boils down to some of the same exploitative, short-sighted tactics by Marvel and DC that helped fuel the last crash – multiple titles-per-character, massive crossovers, and variant covers.
Between One More Day, the Countdown to Final Crisis fiasco, and the ironically timed relaunch of Youngblood (available today, written by Joe Casey, and with a variant cover by Rob Leifeld), a few of the symptoms have clearly emerged. Before we dive in, consider sending your thoughts on the possibility of another industry crash to either comicscape@mania.com or kurtamacker@yahoo.com. I’ll run your letters next week with my responses. Now, let’s examine a few of the practices that helped fuel the 1990s boom and its ultimate crash and see if the end is really near.
Multiple Titles Per Character
I have mixed feelings about this practice. If I enjoy reading about a character, I hardly mind reading about him or her twice a month. Ultimately, it depends on the writer. If Wolverine had three titles and, hypothetically, Marvel announced that Alan Moore or Grant Morrison would write a fourth one, I’d certainly buy it. But, we’ve seen that ancillary series will often simply die in favor of the core title or titles. No matter how many Batman spin-offs DC publishes, Batman and Detective Comics will remain in print long after the rest have folded. Amazing Spider-Man outsold all of the spin-off series by a wide margin, thus leading Marvel to consolidate all of them and effectively force readers to buy the other titles. Thus, rather than creating a series with a new – or otherwise unused – character with an eye towards longevity, the publishers bank on a “sure thing” with a spin-off book that readers of the original series will ostensibly buy. And if they don’t, you can always just publisher the core title three times a month to make them. Throw in the glut of extra miniseries and one-shots packing the shelves and I’d say you have a strong return to a 1990s trend.
Massive Crossovers
This one has returned in force. But unlike the 1990s, Marvel and DC often publish not only a core miniseries, but several crossover and tie-in issues in regular titles, along with spin-off miniseries. Sometimes, you even get a parallel title to complement the main miniseries, like Civil War: Frontline. While that particular title succeeded in ways that no one expected, its very premise seems contrived – to show an outsider’s perspective of the event from the point of view of reporters Ben Urich and Sally Floyd. That sounds like a story idea produced under the mandate to cram more Civil War books onto the shelves. Similarly, DC’s Countdown to Final Crisis has spun off into eight separate miniseries, along with a glut of tie-ins within the publisher’s regular titles. As the guys at Ye Olde Comick Booke Blogge point out, Marvel actually has to publish checklists to keep everything straight. I realize that crossovers remain a logical consequence – and a necessary evil – of shared universes, but publishing additional miniseries comes off as a shameless move to milk completists out of more money. This one definitely stinks of the ‘90s excess.
Variant Covers
This one doesn’t come off as badly as it once did, but perhaps I’ve just stopped paying attention. Variant covers remain common enough, but Marvel and DC don’t market their collectibility to the degree that they once did. That lends more credence to their take-it-or-leave-it approach to the practice. Some fans still buy multiple copies of the same copy, but I don’t think anyone in their right mind thinks that they’re purchasing a sure-fire investment by doing so. Collectors, by their very nature, often want both just to have them. Variant covers come off as shameless enough, but with many shipping in equal numbers, the practice isn’t as insidious as it once was. This one looks like the 1990s, but it doesn’t have quite the same connotations that it once did.
Delays
Delays in the middle of mega-events have returned, along with the other problems I’ve highlighted. It seems almost guaranteed that any mega-event – except 52 and Countdown –will experience a delay. It happened with Civil War and One More Day, and a host of other high profile miniseries. In a worst case scenario like Civil War, the delay caused several tie-in issues to ship late, thus throwing off sales for retailers who had to go without the dependable sales of several ongoing series. Delays annoy fans, but they impact retailers financially. The guy at the comic shop has to deal with lost sales, titles dropped from pull lists, and customer complaints. There hasn’t been a high profile delay on par with Deathmate yet, but it could happen. This one is a 1990s nightmare back in full force.
Must-Buy Collectibles
This one ties into the variant covers issue, but it’s really more of a question of how publishers market their comics. Other than in the Certified Guarantee Company’s (CGC) advertisements extolling the value of graded comics on E-Bay, I can’t recall any effort by a major publisher to sell a comic as a potential collectible. Back in the 1990s, this practice applied not only to variant covers, but to first appearances, prestige editions, first issues, and any other reason why a publisher could swear that a comic would accrue value. The driving force behind this mentality lies in the periodical distribution system. Comics are considered magazines. As such, they come out every month and then go out of print. Anything that Diamond distributes comes out based on orders placed three months in advance. That means that the major publishers distribute their comics in customized numbers. DC, Dark Horse, and Image overprint their books in anticipation of reorders, Marvel does not. Overprinted or not, once a print run sells out, the book is gone. In the 1990s, collected editions, reprints, and digital downloads – legal or not – were comparably scarce. A sold-out issue meant that a fan would have to buy one from another collector or a comic shop that held on to a few copies. Now, though the original run may have sold out, the story will become available in other formats very quickly. This has always been the case with book publishing. For fans that prefer trades or don’t really care about buying second printings, the collectibility of a given issue means very little. The major publishers have kindly realized this and don’t market comics as investments. This shift might actually prevent another crash or at least mitigate it. Comics don’t sell as well as they did in the 1990s, because everyone doesn’t buy multiple copies or add every single X-book to their pull list. The higher you fly, the farther you have to fall. The publishers don’t depend on the sales of individual issues the way they once did, because comics simply aren’t as popular as they once were. Thus, they find other sources of revenue in licensed media, collected editions, and other merchandise. There have been comic-based movies, television shows, video games, and toys for a long time. But in the past ten years, those products have created a substantial source of revenue for major publishers and their parent corporations. The industry no longer depends primarily on the sale of magazines that go out of print as soon as they hit the shelf. While Marvel and DC may overpopulate the shelves with spin-offs and other ancillary titles, they don’t try to convince anyone that comics will make them rich. This practice has largely – and thankfully – died.
Outlandish Storytelling
When I think of the 1990s, I can’t help but think of Age of Apocalypse, The Clone Saga, Batman: Knightfall, and The Death of Superman – stories that take their characters in bizarre, often intentionally controversial directions to drum up sales. Some writers can take a series in a radically new direction and change it for the better. Grant Morrison’s run on New X-Men took the series past years of ersatz Chris Claremont stories and into new and interesting territory. Alan Moore revamped Swamp Thing in the 1980s to great acclaim. It can happen. But, more often than not, a publisher takes a series out into left field to generate curiosity that will, hopefully, renew interest. I can’t help but include One More Day, Identity Crisis, Civil War, and so many other event books under this umbrella. If anyone thinks that the major changes that have occurred in Marvel and DC’s output over the last few years will stick, they need to look at the pattern of expansion and contraction that comics have experienced over the years. Invariably, a series will move in new directions until it becomes so far removed from popular conception that it has to come back. Dan Slott did it for Spider-Man in Brand New Day. Ed Brubaker did it for Daredevil recently. Joss Whedon did it in Astonishing X-Men. DC ostensibly did it for all of its titles after Infinite Crisis with One Year Later, but that was part of a larger move to make their universe yet more incomprehensible. It always happens: something weird happens that angers fans and moves the character away from his or her most common conception – those versions written by Claremont, Frank Miller, Stan Lee, Steve Ditko, and the like that are found in so much licensed material. Then, the publisher and the new creative team yell “We’re taking Ass Hat Man back to his roots! It’s old school time! This is the version of Ass Hat Man you grew up with!” I’d say this ‘90s practice is back in full force.
Now, Maniacs, what do you think? Are we headed for another comic book recession? Let me know your thoughts and I’ll run them next week.
The Spinner Rack
By Ben Johnson and Kurt Amacker
DARK HORSE COMICS
BPRD 1946 #1 $2.99
Ben: Stoked on this!
BPRD TP Vol 07 Garden Of Souls $17.95
Buffy The Vampire Slayer Omnibus TP Vol 03 $24.95
Kurt: My wife’s stoked on this.
Conan Blood Stained Crown And Other Stories TP $14.95
Ben: In this issue: SOMEONE DIES!!! (Just doesn’t have the same effect when it’s a Conan book).
Kurt: My hands get wet just holding this book.
Criminal Macabre Complete Cal McDonald Stories TP $12.95
Kurt: This is actually a collection of Steve Niles’s Cal McDonald novels and short stories. Yes, it’s a real book.
Evil Dead #1 (Of 4) $2.99
Ben: OHH! WHA! HMMPF! Excuse me while I go change my pants.
Kurt: Damn it. I don’t buy licensed books. I don’t buy licensed books. I don’t buy licensed books.
Goon #20 $2.99
Ben: I remember when I used to look forward to every new issue. That was a long time ago.
Savage Sword Of Conan Vol 1 TP $17.95
Kurt: Dark Horse reprints 542 pages of the old Marvel black and white magazine. I think I’m going to change MY pants now.
Star Wars Dark Times Vol 1 Path To Nowhere TP $17.95
Star Wars Knights O/T Old Republic Vol 3 TP $18.95
Star Wars Legacy #0 1/2 One Shot $2.99
Ben: #0 ½ One Shot? What in the hell is that? I hope this someone’s idea of a joke, otherwise a puppy will die. No, I like dogs. I’ll kill a kitten!
Kurt: Sorry, but I protect the cats.
DC COMICS
52 Aftermath The Four Horsemen #6 (Of 6) $2.99
Bat Lash #2 (Of 6) $2.99
Batman Strikes #41 $2.25
Ben: For the end of jokes about Batman going on strike.
Canon Vol 04 $9.99
Cartoon Network Action Pack #21 $2.25
Ben: Just once they should do this with Adult Swim characters. It would be Seduction of the Innocent all over again.
Countdown To Final Crisis 16 $2.99
Ben: I can’t wait until Kurt has to read all these for the column. Did anyone else notice how the “halfway through” article just went away? I bet at week 21 New Orleans gets nailed by Hurricane Kurt.
Kurt: Just thinking about a long weekend of 52 issues of Countdown is enough to drive me to alcoholism.
Gen 13 #16 $2.99
Green Arrow Black Canary #4 $2.99
Green Lantern Corps #20 $2.99
Grifter And Midnighter TP $17.99
Ben: Something about having toilet paper with gay Batman on it that close to my penis (resolution check) is unsettling.
Infinity Inc #5 $2.99
JLA Classified #50 $2.99
JSA Presents Tp Vol 02 Stars And Stripes $17.99
Nightwing #140 $2.99
Salvation Run #3 (Of 7) $2.99
Showcase Presents Robin The Boy Wonder Tp Vol 01 $16.99
Simon Dark #4 $2.99
Ben: Freaking cool!!
Spirit #12 $2.99
Suicide Squad Raise The Flag #5 (Of 8) $2.99
Superman #672 $2.99
Ben: I am so confused by all the crap that has been pushed through this and Action that I’m just about to give up on Big Blue.
Kurt: I think they’d have to transform Superman into a 12-year-old girl to get me to actually drop Action and this. It’s just tradition.
Teen Titans The Lost Annual $4.99
Wildstorm Fine Arts Spotlight On Wildcats $3.50
Women Of The DCU Series 2 Wonder Woman Bust $49.99
Wonder Girl #5 (Of 6) $2.99
IMAGE COMICS
Infinite Horizon #2 (Of 6) $2.99
Ben: It’s a near future retelling of the Odyssey and it is F**king Rad!
Walking Dead HC Vol 03 Sgn Ed (Pp #791) $59.99
Youngblood #1 $2.99
Ben: The original retold with new art but not. If that doesn’t scare you off how about this: By Rob Liefeld
Kurt: Actually, this is by Joe Casey working from the original concept by Rob Liefeld, with art by Derec Donovan. The whole Maximum Youngblood remix thing already came out.
MARVEL COMICS
Amazing Spider-Man #546 BND $3.99
Ben: Three issues of Amazing Spider-Man per month starts today. This would be totally awesome if JQ hadn’t pissed off every Spider-Fan last week.
Kurt: Part of me wants to buy this just to check out the book post-Straczynski, but I don’t know if I can bring myself to do it.
Beyond TP $14.99
Ben: When you’re finally ready for a bidet. I have to be honest here. I don’t even want to make TP jokes anymore, but every time I pass up an obvious one Kurt says “Ben, I can’t believe you didn’t make a toilet paper joke.” Thereby making a toilet paper joke himself and passing it off on me. The humanity!
Civil War Chronicles #7 $4.99
Essential Captain America Tp Vol 04 $16.99
Ghost Rider #19 $2.99
Ghost Rider TP Vol 03 Apocalypse Soon $10.99
Hulk #1 $2.99
Ben: Hulk turns red. “Hulk only want what is fair, Comrade!”
Kurt: It seems kind of appropriate, doesn’t it? I mean, people actually turn red when they get angry. Why don’t I write for Marvel.
Hulk #1 McGuiness Retailer Var $2.99
Ben: And for the jackasses.
MTV: “On this episode, Johnny Knoxville and Bam buy a stack of variants and then try to make a tidy profit six months later! Don’t try this at home!”
Marvel Adventures Hulk #7 $2.99
Mighty Avengers #7 SII $2.99
Ben: This makes Countdown look like high art.
New Warriors TP Vol 01 Defiant $14.99
Nextwave Agents Of Hate TP Vol 02 I Kick Your Face $14.99
Ben: This was Marvel’s best book.
Kurt: This was pretty damn awesome. Then again, it’s Warren Ellis. How could it not be?
Nova #10 $2.99
Ben: And now this is.
Onslaught Reborn #5 (Of 5) $2.99
Ben: Finally, Kurt can have his read through!
Kurt: It’ll be more like a marathon wiping session after a long night of beer, pizza, and pork rinds.
Punisher War Journal #15 $2.99
Twelve #1 (Of 12) $2.99
Ben: Oh clever, it’s called twelve and has twelve issues.
Ultimate X-Men TP Vol 17 Sentinels $17.99
Wolverine #61 $2.99
X-Factor #27 MC $2.99
Ben: After some of the message board regulars touted Messiah Complex last week I gave it a read-through. Message board regulars, good call!
Kurt: I’m waiting for the trade. I’m not trying to be an ass, but there are too many issues in this one to try to pick them all up.
Questions? Comments? Let us know what you think at cinescape@mania.com.
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Is their market (at least as regards superhero comics) pretty much boys and young men who will (on average) read for maybe three... five... eight years, and then move on? Or is it the longer term reader who wants continuity, wants the characters to age, marry, divorce, die, have kids, etc?
To me, this question drives a lot - not all, but a lot - of the discussions we keep having re what should happen with the flagship characters.
Take, for example, Spiderman.... on and off, I have been following Spidey for decades now - a scary thought. But even so, for me, the "real" Spiderman is relatively young (somewhere between high school age and 25), single, a bit nerdy, a photographer for the Daily Bugle who has to deal with the anti-Spidey rantings of JJJ, a bit of a wallflower who "comes out of his shell" when wearing his costume, etc, etc, etc. He has an elderly Aunt May, widow of Ben Parker, whose murder provides Spidey with the revelation of what to do with his amazing powers.
In short, to me, the "real" Spidey is the "classic", archetypal Spidey.
And I would argue that in many ways, the core APPEAL of the characters, the things that have hooked generations of readers, are rooted IN those core archetypal characteristics.
SO ... if you believe the vast majority of the market is made up of relative short timers... mainly kids who will read for 3-8 years or so... I can see a reasonable argument for your characters to live in an "Archie Andrews" like, relatively static universe, where relatively little changes.
Of course, that drives most longer term readers crazy. They want continuity, change, they don't want Peter Parker to be in high school or college forever, they want to see characters aging, dying, getting married, divorced, etc, etc. And I can understand that - to a point. I definitely can. But some of the things that this group loves can make a book much less inviting to a new reader, who doesn't want to, or can't really be expected to, try and learn about and untangle decades of "continuity".
I think the "gimmick" issues and storylines are really aimed at the latter group. To keep long term readers around, there is the sense that you have to give them novelty, gimmicks, etc... something they "haven't seen before". And I think there is some truth in this...
I don't have "an answer". Guess I am saying I can see the dilemma. Which group do you target? How do you satisfy both? Maybe you DO need two tiers of books - relatively "static" universes for the short term readers, and some "running continuity" for long term.
Shadow
PS - Speaking from a personal perspective... the proliferation of titles is definitely one reason (among others, granted) that I stop following certain characters. When, for example, there are five or so Spidey titles, it just becomes "too much".
PPS- I don't want to turn this into a "Company vs Creator" debate, but I will say this... back in the old, "bad" days when Artists/Writers were at the mercy of Marvel/DC, the books did, in general, come out on time. And while that may sound trivial, and while it may be just a personal thing with ME, I have to say that the crazy publishing schedules, the constant slippages and project cancellations and delays that are a part of the modern market DO drive me crazy and make me less interested in following titles on a regular basis. In the "old days", the character/title was the product... that is, for ex, it was more "AMAZING SPIDERMAN" or "AVENGERS" than it was "John Doe's SPIDERMAN" or "Joe Smith's AVENGERS". I am not downplaying the importance of artistis and writers (and even in the old days, there were clear favorites, obviously) but it seems to me that one aspect of recognizing or embracing projects assigned to particular artistic teams is that it seems to have lessened pressures to actually put the work out there in a timely fashion. As a result, who KNOWS when you will see the next issue of "hot project" X, Y or Z? Somewhat off point, but as long as we are discussing the state of the industry for good or ill, thought I would throw that in... I find the scattered publication schedule to be a real disincentive to following comic books these days.