Superhero Media: How much longer?

[GreyLord]

Okay, fine. Try this:

In 2009 Diamond Comics Distributors reports unit sales of all comics to be 73.8 million copies.

In 2016... they report 99 million copies.

So, can we dispense with the "nobody is buying" and "sales are down" myths already? Please?

And if not, tell us what information would have you setting aside the point, because I am not going to be pleased if the goalpost moves around.

I'm not saying nobody is buying comics, I'm saying the comic books sales are far lower now than in their prime.

Of course, that prime was decades and decades ago. However, in my opinions it was the MOVIE industry that actually SAVED comicbooks. Prior to Spiderman, Marvel was in BAD shape.

DC has been limping along with it's comic book properties.

Those two are the big kids on the block. There are tons of other comicbooks out there, but those two define the big kids and most of their lines don't even break 100K these days, whereas they were known for 5-10 times that amount of copies sold in their heyday.

This is NOT unexpected, all print media is down for the most part, especially magazine and news print items.

Digital has made up for some of it, but most younger individuals (whom comics have traditionally been focused on, not meaning to offend the older readers here) are more interested in items they can read for free rather than paying 5 or 6 bucks for 32 pages of illustrated story. This applies to news sites and many other sites, hence why advertising is more of a key to success for many of these traditional venues when being used on the internet via their websites rather than number of issues sold these days.

 

[Umbran]

I'm not saying nobody is buying comics, I'm saying the comic books sales are far lower now than in their prime.

Well, then we are talking past each other. I don't give a rat's patoot about "in their prime".

I am responding to "they are not making stories anyone wants to buy". That is not consistent with both dollar sales and unit sales rising over the past decade.

Yes, the movies are fine marketing. With successful movies, you expect added attention on other similar merchandise. But, outside of Star Wars, the comics are not direct movie tie-ins. The storylines of today's comics are not the MCU and DCU movie plots.

And, by the way, units moved "in their prime" may have little to do with story quality - in their prime, the main comics distributors were having a bit of a war trying to crush small distributor competition. The result was a bubble and then crash in sales, and Diamond coming out with pretty much a monopoly on comics distribution. Go read up on the history of Diamond Comics Distribution, Capital City Distribution, and Heroes World Distribution if you don't believe me.

 

[ccs]

You need to be more specific when you talk about "in their prime". What years are you talking about?

I'm not saying nobody is buying comics, I'm saying the comic books sales are far lower now than in their prime.

Of course, that prime was decades and decades ago. However, in my opinions it was the MOVIE industry that actually SAVED comicbooks. Prior to Spiderman, Marvel was in BAD shape.

DC has been limping along with it's comic book properties.

Those two are the big kids on the block. There are tons of other comicbooks out there, but those two define the big kids and most of their lines don't even break 100K these days, whereas they were known for 5-10 times that amount of copies sold in their heyday.

This is NOT unexpected, all print media is down for the most part, especially magazine and news print items.

Digital has made up for some of it, but most younger individuals (whom comics have traditionally been focused on, not meaning to offend the older readers here) are more interested in items they can read for free rather than paying 5 or 6 bucks for 32 pages of illustrated story. This applies to news sites and many other sites, hence why advertising is more of a key to success for many of these traditional venues when being used on the internet via their websites rather than number of issues sold these days.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

It's hard to say. Marvel's success with the MCU is unprecedented. DCU started out rough, but they seem to have finally gotten their footing (and even though early efforts were still profitable).

While superhero movies could fall out of fashion, it seems unlikely. If you look at a studio like, say, Hammer, they failed in part by putting out weaker, cheaper product. There's a world of difference between Horror of Dracula and The Satanic Rites of Dracula (though I would argue the greatness of both Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter and The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires).

I suppose it could happen, and the public could move on, but it would require multiple points of failure (much like we saw with the Marvel's troubles in the 90s).

 

[Leatherhead]

2048 is when the genre will start slowing down. By then there will be a public backlash as opposed to a critical one (Remember the average person only sees like 5 movies a year in the cinema, movie critics and cinephiles see orders of magnitude more). Then its going to fall into a bit of a ghetto for a decade only to be reinstated as a normal genre 20~ years after that.

Providing, of course, that movies are still a thing by that point.

 

[Legatus Legionis]

.

 

[Istbor]

On other option for the next trend is digitally reimagined actors. The Irishman, writ large. Welcome back old and deceased actors to the screen!

Or, maybe movies will largely die out in favour of long-form high-budget storytelling on streaming services.

No please. Just no. Watching 60+ old men try and pretend to be 20 years younger was not something appealing from the ridiculously long Irishman. Just. Get. Younger. Actors. Deep fake them if you need to I guess, but if you need someone around the 30s or 40s, get someone who is around that, and can actual move rather than hunched shuffle.

As far as Super-hero movies. I also vote in-between. I am not sure this will go on for another decade. Parts of me think some new wave of films will fall on their collective face, and end this sooner than that. Simply due to people's taste changing.

 

[Morrus]

No please. Just no. Watching 60+ old men try and pretend to be 20 years younger was not something appealing from the ridiculously long Irishman.

It won't be them. It will be entirely digital recreations.

 

[lowkey13]

*Deleted by user*

 

[Istbor]

It won't be them. It will be entirely digital recreations.

Ah ok. I can probably deal with that then, I must have misinterpreted what you were getting at when you invoked Irishman. But you mean more of like, Grand Moff Tarkin or young Leia from Rogue One.