Dave's Fanboy Sermon

It's no big secret that the comic industry hasn't enjoyed the best of health the last few years. Pick up almost any issue of Comic Buyers Guide or other industry magazine and you will find a number of comments on the sad state of comic books today. The boom that the industry experienced a few years ago makes the poor sales and shrinking fan base of today much more noticable. Are we really witnessing the last days of comic books? Is this the end for an art form that we obviously care a great deal about?

As both a long time fan and as someone who makes his living selling comics, I have read the various views on the state of the industry with interest. I have heard the grumbling of fans in my store as well as the horror stories from fellow retailers. I have run my sales numbers and compared them to past years and wondered exactly where the comic industry is going. Quite frankly, sometimes it's not pretty. Despite all of the bad news, I still can't help but be optimistic.

First the bad news. Sales in the comic industry are down. Way down. At the rate things are going, it has been argued that there simply won't be enough business to maintain the structure that currently supports everyones comic habit. As the fan base shrinks, more comic shops close which leads to less outlets to sell comics. Less outlets leads to comic sales that are too poor to support the distibutions system which supplies the comics to the shops that still survive. Unless this vicious circle is halted somewhere, there won't be any system left to bring the comics to the fans that remain.

It could be a moot point if no one cares. Certainly the customer base buying comics now seems to be getting older. The younger reader that once was the staple of the comic book market now has a multitude of other entertainment options. When the children of today get older, they might not have learned the ability to appreciate the art form of comics. As the fan base gets older, it is not replaced by new readers. With this view, stagnation and declining sales are inevitible.

There is, however, another way to look at the situation. We all are aware of the stigma which used to be attached to comic collecting. The older fans out there can certainly remember when admitting to collecting and enjoying comics was equal to admitting to an inferior intellect. Comic books were childish and shallow. They were entertainment fit only for feeble minded misfits. Although that view still exists somewhat, it is not nearly as pervasive. This view was largely due to the fact that virtually everyone had read comic books as children and only remembered them as lightweight entertainment. As the children of today are more occupied with video games, computers and television, this stigma could even disolve entirely.

There are several examples of art forms that lost their mass popularity but refused to die. Jazz music was once the popular music of its' day. As it declined from popularity, many predicted that it would soon fade from existance entirely. As most any music lover can tell you, that did not happen. Certainly Jazz will never compete for the top position on the popular music charts, but its' devoted fans keep the art form alive and vibrant. I think that this could easily be the case with comics. Already we have seen them go from a cheaply produced item that was sold at every street corner drug store to a more expensive specialty item.

This is not to say that hurdles don't exist. The biggest one is fan apathy. It is frustrating to hear someone say that they "used to read comics"but X-Men began to bore them so they quit comic books entirely. To me this is similar to saying that Seinfeld wasn't funny anymore so they got rid of their TV. This is not X-men or Batman that we're talking about, but rather the art form of comics. It is not limited to popular characters. It could be as diverse as the imaginations of its' creators and the demands of its' fans wish it to be. While spandex clad superheroes and buxom women populate the majority of books on the stands, their prevelance is less than it once was. Books like Bone, A Distant Soil, Sin City, Naughty Bits and a suprisingly large group of others now give much needed variety to the comic racks. As comic fans we're finally growing up, perhaps a little slowly, but still growing nonetheless.

This is the reason that I'm optimistic. It simply isn't conceivible that an art form I love could just disappear. We most likely will see some changes in the distribution and retail system, perhaps drastic changes. But you wouldn't be here viewing this site if you didn't care about the art of comics. I certainly wouldn't be going to all the trouble that is involved with putting together a web site. I hear a lot of grumbling, but I also see that spark of passion for the art form. As long as that spark remains, comics will continue to entertain us.

Illustration by Gerald Kelley