I can see this sparking a debate, but, my goal is not to be inflammatory, rather, I’m curious as to why-- seemingly at any rate-- magical heroes do not seem to be able to anchor a longer ongoing comics run as individuals. There are limited runs of course, some great ones on this platform, but, longer books such as JLD and Hellblazer seem to be rather sparse when looking through the lens of multi-volume comic runs.
Any thoughts as to why this would be?
I don’t think it’s specifically magic characters that don’t sell. Books that don’t fit the traditional superhero mold tend to sell less in general. Anything from horror to slice of life to satire. Not to mention, there aren’t many magical characters that could be considered A-listers. At best, there are a large number of B-listers, like Raven, Zatanna, or Constantine. Point being, if it isn’t Avengers or Justice League, it isn’t really going to move a ton of units, at least not in print.
Magic leads to magic sized plot holes for writers who lack the focus to maintain a system. It’s not that magic doesn’t sell it’s that magic supposedly has no real limit and so writing magic characters with limits is challenging because they have to create reasons why the characters don’t have a spell for a certain situation. In my opinion they simply don’t focus on magic characters because badly written magic can destroy a plot. For example compare Full metal alchemist with a focused magic system to RWBY with a confusingly handled magic system. It’s not that the magic characters don’t sell it’s that (at least in my opinion) writers won’t commit to characters who could solve the problem of any team up movies in half the time. Just teleport the bad guy into the sun is a common thing I hear (especially for marvel movies), so avoiding the characters who can do something is a ploy to make the audience forget that the characters can do something.
I agree with the plot hole thing. Or the plot hole is just magically resolved with some spell they’ve should’ve used in page 1 and everything would’ve been fine. Just my thoughts of course, not saying this is true ALL the time.
I haven’t read many magic titles, but doesn’t Sabrina sell well? And they got a Netflix deal out of it.
Book of Magic by Neil Gaimen was brilliant, and Doctor Strange has been in print for decades. Magic stories aren’t as easy as the regular hero stories and need to be more story and character driven as opposed to action. It requires more of the reader and doesn’t lend itself to reading now and then, so less readers and the major publisher s aren’t as interested in a book that takes longer to find its footing in my opinion
Grant Morrison would slay if he did a series centered on the use of magic
Sabrina is interesting because they have limits on where and when they can do things. They rely on objects, their own power, and summoning mainly while keeping people around the same power level unless they have a specific reason to be that powerful. They have a more defined magic system that keeps people engaged because the characters can’t just wave a wand once in most scenarios. Not to mention their magic is similar to “works” in a sense as it must be practiced, taught, and occasionally comes at a price. So Sabrina is a good example of defining a system that can suit the plot without having the audience ask why didn’t they do something earlier.
Yes, honestly a magic system is a test of skill for most writers and many but not all fall short in some scenarios.
I liked Mystik U… 