Beginning of 2019 State of the Comic Book Industry

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IMJ
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Beginning of 2019 State of the Comic Book Industry

Post by IMJ »

ComicShop Closure

Mile High Closure

Colosseum Comics Business Model Change

About ten years ago when the Axel Alonso and Joe Quesada method of publishing patterns where in full emergence I remember their being two distinct camps. The first camp stated that these publishing models were predatory - that relaunches, sales boosted by variant speculation, and trade waiting were not going to be good. Meanwhile, the other side of observers summarily shut down the first, viewing the criticisms as negativity from naysayers or Luddites. The second camp liberally argued that numbering, continuity, or back issue sales don't matter as long as a good story is published in any format; and this group coined the pejorative "floppies" to enhance the argument that monthly buying was somehow archaic and silly. The first camp rigidly argued that the continuity of publishing creates investment and long-time readership as opposed to scaring readers off; and this group rejected trade-waiting as the new buying-model, although ironically, embraced the variant craze.

In general, the last ten years of my buying habits have gone like this:

-I occasionally still go into an LCS, but only every few months. When I go to the LCS, I occasionally buy supplies & back issues, but I rarely buy new monthlies from my LCS - maybe once every year or two for some reason or another.

-I buy monthlies through DCBS.
-------Pros - I don't have to go anywhere, the books show up b&b'd while the discounts keep monthly buying affordable
-------Cons - I basically don't try out books like I would after being enticed by covers or story-arc sub-titles while browsing the LCS racks. And this lack of jumping-on is compounded by the fact that I don't care to click through a website that may or may not have cover images 3 months in advance of a release. The likelihood of me entering into readership of a title through "cover-curiosity" is next to zero nowadays. This lack of my on-boarding is directly correlated to my absence at the LCS, and that absence for the last ten years is directly correlated to the price of comics. By comparison, when cover price was $1 on the racks of my LCS, I tried new books all the time, and still did so frequently when books were $2.50.

-I like conventions, but I only go to one every few years nowadays

What are your predictions of what the size and business model of the industry will be in another ten years?
Will it be diminished even more than it is now? Will it grow instead?
Will physical comics be abandoned by a new generation?
Will the upcoming buyer be comprised of a smaller readership serviced by a combination of digital and print-on-demand publishing?

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Re: Beginning of 2019 State of the Comic Book Industry

Post by nycjadie »

I’ve been following a few of these stories. For Mile High, I think it’s just that they have become much better at business, and the Denver area rents are ridiculous. It’s always been Fiona ndgo for comic books to be a business in and of itself. It’s remarkable that anyone, publisher or retailer, can make an amazing living based solely on comics. Anyway, the direct market is really hard on retailers, for sure. Geppi has his monopoly. For sure. But, on the other hand, that very market allows for diversity of publishers. I guarantee that Valiant wouldn’t exist if not for direct. Can you imagine selling 4K issues with returnability? Returnabilitt would kill most publishers, and significantly impact the big 2.

I’m not saying making return ability is the end of the comics, but it would be the end of the comics world as we know it. It would look more akin to 1975, but without the benefit of newsstand sales. Probably more like Europe, which if you’ve looked for comics, it is not easy.

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Re: Beginning of 2019 State of the Comic Book Industry

Post by Shadowman99 »

I buy 100% of my regular comics on a monthly basis in floppy format, although as a result of the remote location I live in I mail order them direct from an independent LCS. Anything else that takes my eye is bought in trade/hardback format as an when I stumble across it online or in a book shop.

Not visiting LCS anymore has both a positive and negative for me: The negative is that like IMJ my chances of discovering cool new things to become interested in is near zero, as it's important for me to have my eye caught by a cover/title/interior pages, and without being in an LCS to stumble across this stuff and be able to have a flick through the issue I'm not going to buy it. On the plus side, this limits my spending on comics and increases my monthly disposable income, which is important for me right now as there other 'around the home' things that I'm having to spend money on, so that's not such a struggle for me.

I don't really know about the business side of things, but thought it'd be interesting to note my consumer habits for consideration.
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Re: Beginning of 2019 State of the Comic Book Industry

Post by nonplayer »

I buy all my comics from Local shops. Thease are my fellow folks from my city my contry and I enjoy supporting their buisness because if I buy off line shops will close like they are and they will be gone for ever. So think about that when you buy off line.

Covers in the shop intrigue me but I flip through and the art is not what I want to see so It stays there.
What sells me is news through the grape vine. Or friends. When I hear something is coming that I like, like turok by your favorite company I'm down for it. If I hear something's coming thatbis suposed to be good I get on board. I try for the first arc and if its crap I drop it if its good I keep going. Right now dmg is blowing it.
Does a bad feeling or bad comics make me want to buy more from say dmg. The answer is no. Will I be more willing or less willing to invest in a story if all their stuff has been carp. The answer there is no Im not more willing.
Do I buy other comics just because Im getting less Valiant by dmg. The answer is no.
If dmg's valiant keeps being bad I wont be investion into the comic industry other than the walking dead since that fails to entertain. And Im sure turok will blow too.
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Re: Beginning of 2019 State of the Comic Book Industry

Post by IMJ »

nonplayer wrote:I buy all my comics from Local shops. Thease are my fellow folks from my city my contry and I enjoy supporting their buisness because if I buy off line shops will close like they are and they will be gone for ever. So think about that when you buy off line.
I thought I'd make a small point here for your consideration as well, but before I do I just want to say that I am all for supporting local businesses, and for the general support of brick and mortar businesses as well.

With that in mind, it should be pointed out that when you pre-order online for the discounts, you are actually often supporting brick and mortar stores. For example, I order through DCBS. DCBS is commonly known as an online discounting service, but DCBS is actually also a storefront out of Indiana. As is Mile High who has a pull service, as is Graham Crackers who has a pull service - all local, physical retailers who will do pull services outside of their physical service areas.

It's just that DCBS made aggressive efforts to market themselves as the online go to place (they even bought the old "Mail Order Comics" business) and their discount tend to be the best, whereas Mile High and Graham Crackers are a little more passive in this arena. And so, when you order online from many of these services you are ordering from brick and mortal retailers as opposed to something like "Big Bad Toy Store" who has no physical toy store property (as I understand it...) outside of warehousing. Basically, it's not like you are ordering direct from Diamond and cutting out the store front.

But of course, if what you are saying is that stores with a greater online presence make it harder on smaller, mom and pop comic shops, then yes that's true of course. But that goes back to the nature of this thread - that's the way it's going. It's like a smaller scale version of what happened to retail outlets when big box stores popped up, and then what's happening to those big box stores now. What I see happening is that the smallest LCS's continue to diminish, while larger chains survive with a diminished presence, and eventually seeing a flip in sales to digital and print-on-demand services. Which of course I want nothing to do with as a consumer, but eventually guys like me will be aged out of the buying power group.

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Re: Beginning of 2019 State of the Comic Book Industry

Post by tarheelmarine »

nonplayer wrote:I buy all my comics from Local shops. Thease are my fellow folks from my city my contry and I enjoy supporting their buisness because if I buy off line shops will close like they are and they will be gone for ever. So think about that when you buy off line.
I understand what you are saying, and that is why I also purchase from an LCS in NOLA. Everyone has different price points, so I see where guys that buy a massive amount of books prefer DCBS (but LCS' could provide discounts; when I was a kid the reason I chose my LCS was due to the fact that he did 40% off new issue if you had a pull. Of course my LCS in NOLA doesn't do a discount, but its a not a deal breaker for me as I am only buying a 3-4 issues a month).

LCS sponsored events such as FCBD have led me to try some new series as well. Shadow Roads by Cullen Bunn being one of those series, but I after its initial arc I will be dropping it.

The future of comics? As previously mentioned I don't care for the variants, but then I'm only picking up 3-4 issues and I don't care for the Big 2 anymore (aside from a series like Mister Miracle, Batman White Knight, etc and I never cared for Marvel).

The question I have for everyone involves the age of the comic collector. Will CGC/ high dollar books have anyone wanting to buy them in 30 years? I'm a Valiant nut, but will the demand still be there from other Valiant nuts to buy books in 9.8? I ask the same thing about non-Valiant? Granted that is a much bigger fanbase, but still....

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Re: Beginning of 2019 State of the Comic Book Industry

Post by IMJ »

tarheelmarine wrote:when I was a kid the reason I chose my LCS was due to the fact that he did 40% off new issue if you had a pull. Of course my LCS in NOLA doesn't do a discount, but its a not a deal breaker for me as I am only buying a 3-4 issues a month)
Wow that's a nice discount for a local place, especially when comics were cheaper!
tarheelmarine wrote:The question I have for everyone involves the age of the comic collector. Will CGC/ high dollar books have anyone wanting to buy them in 30 years? I'm a Valiant nut, but will the demand still be there from other Valiant nuts to buy books in 9.8? I ask the same thing about non-Valiant? Granted that is a much bigger fanbase, but still....
This exactly. It boils down to one group. If there isn't a new generation that embraces the hobby in full (e.g. the person that combines the collector and the investor), then there is a sudden cliff to the future market. And that cliff will be even steeper as younger readers embrace primarily the digital and print on demand services.

If younger readers don't care about the physical books, then they won't invest in the physical books. They won't invest either at all or if they do, they won't invest to the threshold of supply.

And so to be clear, my conversations about this stuff are not revolving around the idea that the hobby "is going to be extinct". That's too simplistic a view. Instead it's, new reader-collector-investor's are a small enough group now that eventually the reader-collector-investor market will have little viability and a ton of inventory. That's what I see of millenial buying patterns right now.

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Re: Beginning of 2019 State of the Comic Book Industry

Post by nycjadie »

I'm not sure there will be folks who will pay the big dollars for all but a few key books. That's why I treat my collection as a passion project. So far, it just increases in value, but I don't think it will always be like that. Look at what was collectible from 1880-1960. Few of those are as valuable as they were when those collectors were in their 40s, 50s, and 60s. We are going to get old, and in 30 years, I think much of what we collect will virtually be worthless. I could be wrong, but that's my guess.

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Re: Beginning of 2019 State of the Comic Book Industry

Post by IMJ »

nycjadie wrote:I'm not sure there will be folks who will pay the big dollars for all but a few key books.
Super keys. That's it for the most part. Historical markers and super keys.

nycjadie wrote:We are going to get old, and in 30 years, I think much of what we collect will virtually be worthless. I could be wrong, but that's my guess.
This is my guess as well, to some extent and on a long enough time line, ya.

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Re: Beginning of 2019 State of the Comic Book Industry

Post by grendeljd »

IMJ wrote:
nycjadie wrote:I'm not sure there will be folks who will pay the big dollars for all but a few key books.
Super keys. That's it for the most part. Historical markers and super keys.

nycjadie wrote:We are going to get old, and in 30 years, I think much of what we collect will virtually be worthless. I could be wrong, but that's my guess.
This is my guess as well, to some extent and on a long enough time line, ya.
I don’t know if I’m alone in this or not, but I find that as I’m gettig older I am developing a deeper appreciation for pop culture that was “before my time”. It’s fascinating to me to go into the roots of something I really like, and discover what it was that inspired *that* thing to come into being. And then at least skim the surface of whatever that thing was that pre-dated the thing I liked initially.

Applying that concept to the hobby of comics - when I was a kid I basically only liked whatever was on the rack in corner stores because that was all I had access to initially & I was just a kid with a typically childish narrow view of things. Once I discovered my first comic shop I got hooked on back issues as a compulsive collecting habit. But, while I enjoyed reading older issues somewhat at least once, I recall not really being too interested many of the ones that were too far before “my” time... I just couldn’t relate to the tone of them, the older they were. I certainly pursued getting every issue I could afford of my top favourite titles like Hulk, Iron Man & Conan (and it was a real thrill the first time I was able to buy an Iron Man #1 or a Conan #1), but still - I couldn’t really connect with anything that was from the 60’s-early/mid 70’s.

As I got older and (hopefully) wiser, I’ve dreamed of being a comic artist (I’ve done some indie-level work in comics and some other illustration work outside of that) and learned more about the history of comics. I think my tastes have become broader and at least slightly more sophisticated with age & experience. I know how difficult it truly is to be in the industry, let alone create something that resonates with anyone. For certain, my appreciation for the form, artistry, storytelling, & history of comics has only grown along the way. I’m currently buying & reading Tales Of Suspense comics for the first time this past year, and I love it now! It doesn’t matter to me that this stuff was written in a different era that I wasn’t alive to see, I love seeing a glimpse of what pop culture was infuencing what they were inspired to do in comics in the 60’s. And of course, I have a much greater appreciation for the style of artwork from that time too. Those guys were Master illustrators in general.

Having said all that, I really have absolutely no interest in golden age comics. I am becoming more interested in reading about *all* of Marvel’s history (dating back to Marvel Comics #1 under the Timely banner in 1939), but that as of yet isn’t translating into wanting to own any comics from pre-1961.

Maybe I’m an abnormality though. I’m just trying to think about whether or not there will be enough fans in the future beyond us who pursue the hobby in the same manner. Popularity of anything in pop culture rises & falls, but some things do last... even as a niche.
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Re: Beginning of 2019 State of the Comic Book Industry

Post by IMJ »

grendeljd wrote:I don’t know if I’m alone in this or not, but I find that as I’m gettig older I am developing a deeper appreciation for pop culture that was “before my time”. It’s fascinating to me to go into the roots of something I really like, and discover what it was that inspired *that* thing to come into being. And then at least skim the surface of whatever that thing was that pre-dated the thing I liked initially.

Maybe I’m an abnormality though. I’m just trying to think about whether or not there will be enough fans in the future beyond us who pursue the hobby in the same manner. Popularity of anything in pop culture rises & falls, but some things do last... even as a niche.
From what you've said above, this is what resonated with me the most. I totally agree these elements. I am the same way, except my wanting to investigate "what came before" in the world of comics began soon after I started collecting Iron Man.

But as far as the future is concerned, the patterns I see are:

-Millenials haven't embraced much about the past. Actually, what I've seen of many millenials is a belief that "what's old should be put away, and we are part of what's new. That's it, that's the way it is". I've observed this in millenial behaviors, experienced it directly in words, and this mentality is even permeating pop culture (The Last Jedi, is one example) and is even being used as a manipulation in politics. These concepts are translating into buying patterns, and are going to translate further in the future. I don't see these people as growing older and accepting older stuff - I see millenials growing old and not accepting it at all to be honest. We won't be around to see it, but when these people are aging, I don't know how their psyches are going to handle it.

-There are outliers for everything, and so of course there will be exceptions. There will be millenials who want collections, so on and so forth, but given their culture, I'd still argue that short of the "investor" (which could be a very, very small group, or only the super rich), the neo-reader that is embracing about past comics will probably be satiated on reprints like trades or digital copy.

And so, I really like that you were thinking of the behavioral aspect here. The behavioral aspect is often what's lost when considering these kinds of predictive conversations yet is, ironically, the key to the entire thing. But even if the neo-reader expresses the same patterns as classic readership has (which is unlikely), they will still contend with these choices: to cultivate a database of the history, or to curate a collection of the history.

And right now these people aren't even buying homes. They aren't buying anything that is significant, and we are talking about a generation where the high end is now beginning to crank their 30's.

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Re: Beginning of 2019 State of the Comic Book Industry

Post by tarheelmarine »

IMJ wrote:

And right now these people aren't even buying homes. They aren't buying anything that is significant, and we are talking about a generation where the high end is now beginning to crank their 30's.
Most of that generation is not accumulating wealth so the future looks bleaker for comic collections.

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Re: Beginning of 2019 State of the Comic Book Industry

Post by Shadowman99 »

tarheelmarine wrote:
IMJ wrote:

And right now these people aren't even buying homes. They aren't buying anything that is significant, and we are talking about a generation where the high end is now beginning to crank their 30's.
Most of that generation is not accumulating wealth so the future looks bleaker for comic collections.
Trust me, from the 'early 30's millenial' side of the table, things can feel pretty *SQUEE* bleak at times as far as the future and cash are concerned.
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Re: Beginning of 2019 State of the Comic Book Industry

Post by tarheelmarine »

IMJ wrote:[

What are your predictions of what the size and business model of the industry will be in another ten years?
Will it be diminished even more than it is now? Will it grow instead?
Will physical comics be abandoned by a new generation?
Will the upcoming buyer be comprised of a smaller readership serviced by a combination of digital and print-on-demand publishing?
Have you seen this opinion piece?

https://www.comicsbeat.com/tilting-at-w ... es-crisis/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

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Re: Beginning of 2019 State of the Comic Book Industry

Post by myron »

One item to keep in mind is that the print medium in general is dwindling. Two of my good friends are in publishing...one in newspaper, the other in trade magazines...both are getting out. It is simply too difficult for them to keep afloat due to rising costs and ease of digital.

The print medium is dying and taking comics along with it.
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Re: Beginning of 2019 State of the Comic Book Industry

Post by possumgrease »

That was an interesting read and the comments section as well.

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Re: Beginning of 2019 State of the Comic Book Industry

Post by The Dirt Gang »

tarheelmarine wrote:The question I have for everyone involves the age of the comic collector. Will CGC/ high dollar books have anyone wanting to buy them in 30 years?
Interesting thought. I never thought about this but I'm more of a reader than collector.

I agree with grendeljd about having a deeper appreciation for what came before the older I get.
I have kids and they like comics (one more than the other) but they aren't interested in collecting like I was when I was younger. They see them as more disposable. They also have a lot more interest in video games and also have super hero movies that weren't around in my childhood.

As for me, I have bought less and less comics in large part because of the price point but I also started buying more directly from creators and publishers. Most of whom I learn about through Twitter or other online outlets.

I'm also really curious to see how the TKO comics model does. They published Dysart's last book. Releasing TPB, the whole run of floppies (sorry if this is considered derogatory, I never thought of it that way), and digital at the same time gives the reader more options and seems much more inline with the way we consuming media these days.

I want to support local brick and mortar stores in general. As I'm not buying comics much these days, we often give gift certificates to the local shop as birthday presents. I'm hopefully that might spark some kids interest in going back.
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Re: Beginning of 2019 State of the Comic Book Industry

Post by possumgrease »

I now only buy a handful of new comics each month, but I still order too many collections (absolutes, omniboo, etc.). Two of the comics I buy monthly (Spawn and Walking Dead) are now habitual and I'm determined to see them to their respective bitter ends. I think in 5-10 years the medium switches mostly to digital serialized stories with only collections seeing print.

I keep thinking of whether I should set an age cutoff for myself for a time when I need to start liquidating and stop purchasing comics all together. There are probably several people like me in this age bracket with large collections; hopefully we will have buyers.

For someone with no kids (and as I approach 40 it is unlikely that I will ever have any), I sometimes question what's the point of having a collection if there is no one to share it with? And yet, every year that I resolve to stop buying, it seems I find a new line or product to collect, so I must be buying for personal gratification. (I curse this board for getting me into slabs.) However, there will come a time when the Possum Pile will need to be sold and my internal debate is whether to go ahead and do that now while there are still plenty of active collectors. Have I already rendered all the joy out of possessing the item?

I'm a doom-n-gloomer though, so hopefully the local comic shop will continue in spite of my pessimistic outlook on the industry.

Appreciate the therapy session.

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Re: Beginning of 2019 State of the Comic Book Industry

Post by The Dirt Gang »

possumgrease wrote:For someone with no kids (and as I approach 40 it is unlikely that I will ever have any), I sometimes question what's the point of having a collection if there is no one to share it with?
As someone with kids who is just over 40, my hope is that one day my kids will take an interest in what I've collected but I'm not sure that will really happen. I also hope to read most of what I've kept again some day in the future.
possumgrease wrote:I'm a doom-n-gloomer though, so hopefully the local comic shop will continue in spite of my pessimistic outlook on the industry.
I certainly hope they hang on. It's been sad to see a number of used book stores go out of business in my area. One thing I can't get from online ordering is the smell of comics and books. That smell always takes me back to some really great memories.
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Re: Beginning of 2019 State of the Comic Book Industry

Post by IMJ »

The Dirt Gang wrote:
tarheelmarine wrote:The question I have for everyone involves the age of the comic collector. Will CGC/ high dollar books have anyone wanting to buy them in 30 years?
Interesting thought. I never thought about this but I'm more of a reader than collector.
Every point I've made above and in other threads has revolved around this key thought. And that brings me back to what I've observed and keep saying here - given millenial buying patterns, values and lack of tangible growth over pursuits of social justice, I perceive a dwindling market where supply far outclasses demand.

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Re: Beginning of 2019 State of the Comic Book Industry

Post by Shadowman99 »

tarheelmarine wrote:
IMJ wrote:[

What are your predictions of what the size and business model of the industry will be in another ten years?
Will it be diminished even more than it is now? Will it grow instead?
Will physical comics be abandoned by a new generation?
Will the upcoming buyer be comprised of a smaller readership serviced by a combination of digital and print-on-demand publishing?
Have you seen this opinion piece?

https://www.comicsbeat.com/tilting-at-w ... es-crisis/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Good article. It was interesting to me to see the author liken the state of the comics industry to climate change, because to me it seems to be a remarkably similar scenario: the people on the bottom of the pile recognise the scale of the problem and have gone to lengths to not only educate on the problems but also offer solutions and highlight the need for drastic, field-wide change, and for that change to come now - but the likelihood of those on top of the pile (Disney, Warner Bros., AT&T, DMG etc.) taking the time to listen to the case, never mind understanding it and affecting the necessary changes, is extremely unlikely. Are the business fat cats in their high towers going to take the chance on making the required changes to the publishing strategies in order to sustain the business for future decades when the strategies that are in place now are paying their paychecks here and now? Doubtful.

If I can offer one prediction on the future of the comics industry, it would be something like this: the current marketing model will fail as a result of too many titles, too many variants and too many #1 reboots. The large corporations (previously mentioned) will either drastically scale down the comics publishing aspects of the business to a financially sustainable level, or sell the properties off. After this crash has occurred, publisher's resources will be limited and the market will sustain on a smaller scale, such as by publishing smaller numbers of comics on a monthly basis and without any variant covers, and publishing strategies will simply have to be reconsidered. In addition to this, a significant factor in the survival of comics publishers will be a significantly greater transition from paper to digital, possibly resulting in a pattern something like monthly 'floppies' being published exclusively in digital format, with only collections of various types (TPBs, omnibus etc.) being sold in print. I'd like to note however, that if the print-digital shift is successful enough, maybe even collections will be published purely digitally.

Having said that, despite the likely coming decline in paper-publishing industries I believe there will always be some demand for print and comics will continue to be printed physically, albeit in significantly reduced quantities. It may be the case that as a shift toward digital content occurs and digital becomes the norm, paper-based items will become more valued and precious as items in themselves, creating a new market for die-hard print collectors with disposable income, perhaps with comics being printed in a format similar to the oversized deluxe editions that we see today (I'm thinking the foot and a half tall Sandman ones as an example), or even Folio Society books.
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Re: Beginning of 2019 State of the Comic Book Industry

Post by The Dirt Gang »

What are peoples thoughts on the TKO model - releasing every thing at the same time - full run of 'floppies', TPB and digitally? I wonder if comic shops could continue to survive under this model?

I also thought that while the demand for comics as dropped the demand for original art particularly of older original art has I think increased. Original art will always find a place with art collectors as many of them these days seem to buy them like stocks looking for a return on the investment down the road.
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Re: Beginning of 2019 State of the Comic Book Industry

Post by Chiclo »

The Dirt Gang wrote:What are peoples thoughts on the TKO model - releasing every thing at the same time - full run of 'floppies', TPB and digitally? I wonder if comic shops could continue to survive under this model?
It makes the comics feel more like literature, not some kit that one has to assemble in pieces whether at the time of publication or at a later date. It approaches complete stories as complete.

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Re: Beginning of 2019 State of the Comic Book Industry

Post by Shadowman99 »

Chiclo wrote:
The Dirt Gang wrote:What are peoples thoughts on the TKO model - releasing every thing at the same time - full run of 'floppies', TPB and digitally? I wonder if comic shops could continue to survive under this model?
It makes the comics feel more like literature, not some kit that one has to assemble in pieces whether at the time of publication or at a later date. It approaches complete stories as complete.
I think this is a great approach to stories/story arcs.

I don't see why it makes sense to release a full line of floppies on the same day as a TPB, other than to specifically cater to floppy collectors who're trying to make a return investment on the things down the line. I'm sure most folks would just splash for the TPB, for a number of reasons. I guess the base reason would be 'why sell one product when you can double profit and sell two?' of course, but how many people are going to buy both? I just can't see it happening in the majority of cases so I'm not sure what the real payoff here is.

TPB to read at home and digital for the train ride to work, sure.
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Re: Beginning of 2019 State of the Comic Book Industry

Post by grendeljd »

Shadowman99 wrote:
Chiclo wrote:
The Dirt Gang wrote:What are peoples thoughts on the TKO model - releasing every thing at the same time - full run of 'floppies', TPB and digitally? I wonder if comic shops could continue to survive under this model?
It makes the comics feel more like literature, not some kit that one has to assemble in pieces whether at the time of publication or at a later date. It approaches complete stories as complete.
I think this is a great approach to stories/story arcs.

I don't see why it makes sense to release a full line of floppies on the same day as a TPB, other than to specifically cater to floppy collectors who're trying to make a return investment on the things down the line. I'm sure most folks would just splash for the TPB, for a number of reasons. I guess the base reason would be 'why sell one product when you can double profit and sell two?' of course, but how many people are going to buy both? I just can't see it happening in the majority of cases so I'm not sure what the real payoff here is.

TPB to read at home and digital for the train ride to work, sure.
I like what TKO is doing - I bought a set of the 6 individual issues of Dysarts Goodnight Paradise comic. It comes in a small box that has printed design like a slip-case on it, so you can actually place the thin box on your bookshelf if you prefer, it’s very presentable that way (and you kind of have to do that - the actual physical dimensions of the comic are slightly non-standard, and they won’t fit into a comic long/short box).

I’m glad of the option to buy individual issues. I don’t care for buying trades very often. The option is there for any buying preference on day of release.
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