In the past couple of decades, some of the most venerable characters from the world of comic books have leapt from the page and into the popular media, taking readers along for the ride. With the swiftly advancing integration of the internet into our media consumption, comic book readers have also been brought to the computer screen to get their regular fix of paneled story time. Promises of up-to-date content made available on a regular basis are attractive to fans, and understandably so.
In what has been called our information age, an age in which just about anyone can buy a website and fill it with any nonsense of their choosing, self-publishing has become as simple as about five dollars a month. It would seem that the internet is a perfect place for aspiring artists, writers, and the middle ground: comic artists. There are now countless websites devoted to well-established comics with fans by the boatload. One can only wonder: was any of this possible before the internet?
Then and Now
A great many changes have occurred in the print comic book industry. As with most industries, the precarious economic environment has taken its toll on each part of the process. Distribution, one of the most integral components of this process, has been hit hard in the last few years.
Diamond Comic Distribution circulates more than 1.7 million comic books a week. While there are other, smaller distribution companies across the country, Diamond maintains something of a monopoly. Recently the company released a statement redefining their shipping requirements, leaving indie publishers, which may print only a few thousand copies, by the wayside. In 2002, Claypool Comics shut down after Diamond dropped their distribution contract after declaring that Claypool was not selling enough to turn a profit for Diamond.
There is also widespread speculation that once distribution deals with larger publishing companies are up for renewal, they may leave services such as Diamond in favor of the vastness of the internet.
Another distribution issue is the rising prices of the United States Postal Service. In 2005, the bound and printed material rate was made unavailable to comic books being shipped to consumers. Last year, they were disallowed at the media mail rate. These two rates are the cheapest rates available for written material. Now with shipping costs practically doubled, sales of print comics have suffered.
Prices have also seen a steady climb. Where comic book covers used to tout prices in the ten to 30 cent range, big-time publishers such as Marvel and DC have raised the cover prices of their materials to anywhere between three and six dollars an issue. This hike in prices combined with the steep shipping rates account for almost ten to 12 dollars an issue. Such numbers have made print comics less attractive to consumers.
Popularity in recent years has also affected the industry. Emil Novak, owner of Queen City Comics on Main Street in Buffalo, notices the shift in priority from content to sales. “That’s what they’re all about. Sometimes it seems like they keep the comics alive to support the movies and the toys.” Spin-off titles released in concert with movie releases encourage more readership by reviving old stories, however, some see this as limiting. “It’s nice that comics are getting more attention because of the movies. We have this ‘Hollywoodization’ of comics, and that’s good, but it reinforces this idea that comics are all about superheroes, because that’s the only thing that’s going to sell,” says Michael Reiff, a master’s student in the Media Studies department at the University at Buffalo who, alongside colleague Ryan Zlomek, will be offering a summer course in the Media Studies Department entitled Graphic Novels and Film.
Brick and Mortar Stores
In August 1969, Queen City Coin and Book Store opened its doors. Emil Novak was just 11 years old when the original Bailey Avenue location was opened for business, and Novak now carries on the business at his Main Street location with the help of his son. There is a threat that comics on the internet will replace print comics, as MP3s and downloadable movies seem to challenge the sales of CDs and DVDs. “There’s something about building a library and holding something physical,” Novak says. “It’s tough to say really where the answers are…books are always still around, comics will probably always still be around.”
“Sales on comics continue to dwindle while sales of graphic novels and trade paperbacks rise every year by the millions,” claims Don Wynecoop, owner of Don’s Atomic Comics on Transit Road in Depew. Wynecoop opened his shop on March 20, 2000 and seems to have enjoyed every minute of it. “My customers have been so loyal. I’m lucky.”
With Marvel digitizing much of their new comics at a regular subscription fee and other companies beginning to follow suit, the future of independently owned shops such as these is unclear. Novak insists, “If they can at least get interested in comics one way or another, they’ll inevitably come back to the brick and mortar stores. I don’t think it’s the future of comics.”
But Zlomek is not so sure. “One major thing that people are starting to transition from is going to the comic shop every Wednesday to hoping that someone’s going to throw it up on a torrent site and just read it in PDF files.”
There’s More to This Than Superheroes
Hollywood isn’t hesitant to focus on the superhero genre. Movie franchises such as Superman, Batman, and Spiderman have seen faithful flocks accumulating at the box office with every new release, but are caped crusaders the only thing to come off the paneled pages?
“I think as an emerging media, beyond Superman comics, you see a lot of interesting things like journalism comic books, social commentary comic books, real life comic books,” Reiff says.
Comics have come a long way since superheroes. What was once a medium almost purely for the high-flying, action-packed epics has since come to be recognized as a form of literature. “It’s the academic community embracing it as a form that should be analyzed that starts elevating it to a certain level,” Reiff explains. New schools of thought regarding the entry of comics into the academic realm are emerging. Scott McCloud, a well known comic artist and theorist, chronicles this process of evolution in his book, Reinventing Comics. McCloud chronicles the many ideas that have motivated comics since the early 90s: comics as literature, comics as art, creator’s rights, industry innovation, public perception, institutional scrutiny, gender balance, minority representation, and diversity of genres. In regards to comics as literature, McCloud goes on to say, “Comics can yield a body of work worthy of study and meaningfully represent the life, times, and world-view of its author.” Ideas like this would explain why Reiff and Zlomek will be able to offer their class. In addition, UB currently offers students the option of enrolling in a single credit discovery seminar course titled Comic Books in U.S. Culture taught by university librarian, Michael R. Lavin.
“My biggest fear is that people are going to start just constantly reading comics online,” says Zlomek. The two fear that replacing the print medium with the web can damage the experience of comics. “You have a structure of comic that has been a certain size. It’s been that way for about 60 years now,” Reiff explains. “When you start digitizing it, though, you enter into a realm where everybody has a different computer size, and when they’re interacting on a Marvel comic, you’re going to be segmenting the art.” Reiff is referring to Marvel’s method of digital comics where the reader must zoom into each panel and read it separately, making it difficult to examine a whole page. “So the art form itself it no longer becoming this one unified product people can take in, and in some ways that’s good, but in other ways, the artistic integrity suffers. The artwork that the artist is making, the parameters that he needs to work within, change. So I think on an artistic level, that’s going to be changing how comics are put together, especially the old way of making holistic pieces of artwork. Sometimes you see these beautiful images, but they can’t be experienced the way they’re intended to be. That’s going to be changing the intent and the process of the artist.”
This doesn’t seem to be permanent. McCloud believes that artists will be able to adapt their work to these constraints. “Comics will mutate in this new environment, and it will do so in many different ways. But the ultimate goal for comics, as for any art form, will be to find a durable mutation that will continue to survive and thrive well into the new century.”
Artists on The Web
The internet has seen artists rise and fall. But what constitutes staying power in the world of the double-click attention span?
“I would say that the nature of publishing online means that I make an effort that each page can be digested single, which in a long form project is detrimental to an extent in terms of pacing, and, occasionally, general coherency,” says John Allison, creator of Scary Go Round, a daily comic he has maintained for 11 years.
Zlomek believes that this is a fundamental change in the way stories are told graphically. “I know there’s a whole bunch [of artists] who are doing Sunday funnies kinds of things online, and I think part of the reason they’re doing that, rather than putting a comic or a graphic novel out, is because with the medium you’re working with, you want someone who will be able to start the story and get the punch line all in one screenshot.” As this brevity is the style most common to newspaper comics, nothing seems to have changed in that department. As the short strip comics easily make the transition to the web, the transition from web to print may not be as easy.
“It’s almost impossible for new talent to compete with fossils like Blondie or Beetle Bailey,” says Aaron Diaz, creator of Dresden Codak, “because it’s not a question of quality but familiarity.” Diaz claims, “Most people read Garfield because it’s there and they’re used to it, not because it’s of some sort of superior quality. New artists don’t have a chance fighting for that finite space.” Another thing, he suggests, is that “newspapers only allow the tiniest window, but on the internet, there’s no competition. People go to the sites they like because they like them.”
Artists such as Allison and Diaz seem to fully understand the advantages and disadvantages of publishing their work for a web audience. “It’s a great meritocracy these days, and the ease of web distribution has allowed me to cultivate a large enough following that I can make Dresden Codak my full-time job,” Diaz explains.
Web publishing is a two-way street. It can either be a counter-measure to print publishing—a way for the underdogs to have their say on their terms—or it can be a vehicle by which an artist can land themselves directly on paper pages. “If the price is right, I think most of the big web comic names would drop the web. The ease of publishing online, and the vast quantity of amateurish work which comes under the banner of ‘web comics,’ runs somewhat counter to creative vanity,” claims Allison.
An Uncertain Future
It is yet too soon to see which has the staying power necessary to survive. For the time being, the web and print mediums seem to exist hand in hand, with esteemed names of print transitioning to the web, such as Art Spiegelman, former New Yorker cover artist and co-founder of Raw Magazine, a comic and illustration magazine now published online. Raw offers an online presence for famed print illustrators such as Charles Burns and Alan Moore, to name just a couple. Lauded web artists are also taking steps and strides onto print pages. Allison, for example, has already published seven Scary Go Round books, and Diaz has been approached for a book deal and even has an animated show on the way.
It appears that if the web is doing one thing for comics, it is changing the way they are perceived. It is getting the art form to more people in a different way. “The one major stereotypical thing about animation is that we’re used to it being childish and funny and we have the same thing with comics. We’re used to them being childish and geared towards more of the adolescent male,” says Zlomek. With artists such as Diaz, who are using comics as a vehicle for complex philosophical schools of thought, or Moore who has challenged major ideas from superhero culture to politics, this stereotype seems to be well-challenged.
It seems as though a steady balance has been reached, with established print artists marketing themselves on the web, and web artists trying their hand at print. While there may still be some kinks to work out, each certainly offers its own unique experiences.
