The future of Comic books?

I figured I would start the day by posting a question I have gotten quite frequently. As funny as it sounds, a lot of people have been wondering about the fate of comic book stores due to technological time that we live in. Some say that the stores are pointless and would much rather download their desired book(s) for free. However, if you’re like me it’s not about how much they cost. Rather it’s about the comic book store experience and social interactions with mutual interests with people. What are everyone’s thoughts? :thinking:

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Comic books have been around since 1938, when Superman debuted. We’re not going to see them go away anytime soon. As long as there are fans, there’ll still be comic books.

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I am like you. I enjoy the environment / socializing with others that have similar interests By going to the comic book store.

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We all love comic books, but the sad truth is, CB stores are dying out. When was the last time you saw a kid visit his local CB store?

We all love comic books, but the sad truth is, CB stores are dying out. When was the last time you saw a kid visit his local CB store?

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As long as people enjoy print, print will stick around and so will comic book shops. They may lessen in number and some may diversify what they carry to survive, but I honestly believe in some manner comic shops will always exist. What they end up exactly looking like and what they exactly carry alongside of the comics may change though. I also have wondered if the future of comics may simply be a move towards collections and not single issues. Similar to manga. I still see a bright future though for comics, just one that has to mold itself and figure out what the future looks like. I know that the industry can do it though. They have before and they will continue to do so.

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The biggest problem with the modern comic book store is that the economic model under which they were developed is unsustainable.

Diamond doesn’t sell product at a good enough margin for a store to remain reliably profitable long term. Traditionally you would make up the difference by buying collections and selling back issues but with new comics not appreciating and older key issues sky rocketing past the point where most stores could afford to buy them at all (let alone turn them around at a profit) its hard to see where new stores will come from as old stores close.

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This is a tough question. I’ve been leaning towards digital these days for two reasons: Space and panel-to-panel view. Allow me to explain.

I’ve recently moved into my first apartment and space is limited. One of the advantages of reading digitally is I can get as many comics as I’d like without having to worry about whether they’ll fit in a long box or on a shelf. I’ve been spoiled by Comixology and DC Universe’s ability to read comics panel-to-panel. You can really see some amazing details the artist put in. If I’m reading a story where there is a big reveal on the next page, for example, my eye isn’t immediately drawn to that reveal before I’ve read the preceding page (This isn’t a big problem for me, I should add. It happens once in a blue moon and it’s no one’s fault) So for me, digital at the moment is working for me.

I will say I still prefer going to the comic shop and picking up a physical issue or trade. There’s something about holding it in your hands and flipping through the pages that’s very comforting. It supports the people who worked on the comic as well as the shop itself. And, let’s face it, no matter how many times you enter a comic shop, you’re still amazed to see so many comics and comic-related material in one spot.

I guess it boils down to personal tastes. Personally, I feel like comic shops will continue to be around. No amount of digital comics are going to ruin that. There’s always going to be holes in any digital collection and there’s always gonna be a desire to go to the store and flip through page after page.

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I know of a couple stores here have expanded into having gaming nights and one store has become more of a gaming store that carries comics they host big tournaments

I’ve gone digital for other publishers through various services they offer. But not DC. I can’t give up my DC floppies. As long as my shop is open I’ll be there every week to pick up my books.

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I’ve gone digital for other publishers through various services they offer. But not DC. I can’t give up my DC floppies. As long as my shop is open I’ll be there every week to pick up my books.

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Wow! So many great perspectives and very insightful information on here!!! Thanks for the replies everyone!

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I wonder if getting comic in more stores would help. When I was little there 5 convenient stores, 4 grocery stores, 2 drug stores and Wal Mart in my town that carried comic. And only one comic shop which also sold trading cards. This was the late 80’s through the mid 90’s and I get that people were buying comics in record amounts but have a product readily available has to help with sales.

I agree with LPCustom76. I got my start in comics right before the newsstand model was abandoned. As a kid, my mom would drag me along on her errands, and I would always see comics at the grocery. I remember seeing them in gas stations and drug stores. They were everywhere that you’d find magazines.

But nowadays, most kids don’t even know where to buy comics.

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I view comics similarly like DVDs & Blu rays. I feel like comics should always be set at a certain type price & the majority should never be raised in price. I feel like at the rate the cost of comics are going up, people will buy fewer comics. That’s less money for retailers. The less they make, the more they’ll struggle. If the publishers can find a way to keep single issues affordable in the long term , I don’t think we need to worry about comics going away. Retailers will come & go, that’s business. I still wish some Publishers self distributed. It can be frustrating & difficult dealing with the distributor. There are no other distributors to get books from. I’d rather do business with the publisher directly than the distributor.

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Part of the problem with the newsstand market is that the market isn’t there…at least for traditional floppies. Marvel and DC both tried getting into Barnes and Noble around the time New 52 and Marvel Now launched and both got out (Marvel after about a year; DC stayed in through the beginning of Rebirth). Comics are finding a foothold in the mass market as trades and the 80 page giants though (one of the reasons DC is cancelling a lot of monthlies is to shift the resources in those directions).

If you really want to know the future of monthly comics though…I mean this is pretty much it.

There’s room for both. There’s always a need for print product in some capacity, even if it’s small. Digital simply has a much bigger reach and ease of availability in product obtainment.

We’re no longer in the era when the direct retailer market (DRM) can say “jump” to which all of the publishers in the industry reply “How high?”. The DRM sadly doesn’t have the pull they did even ten years ago, to say nothing of decades prior. They’re still important of course, but the publishers have substantially bigger markets to focus on that will deliver bigger returns and product sell through.

Publishers have to go to where the biggest audiences are so that they can stay in business. They need to continue reaching out to existing fans and more importantly reach new fans, as well as move the most product and make as much money as possible. Hence the Walmart and Target partnerships.

TheDemonEtrigan is correct in his Walmart assessment. Walmart alone has a bigger reach to fans and more importantly potential fans than the direct retailer market most likely ever has in all absolute honesty. No publisher can afford to blow off that market and as always, DC is ahead of everyone else in seeing that potential and realizing it (as they were when they instituted linewide day and date digital releases in 2011 with the debut of The New 52).

Don’t be surprised if Marvel and other publishers start releasing product in the 100 Page Giant model to Walmart, Target and other retailers in the near future.

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What surprises me is how little the companies utilize giveaway comics these days. The first comics I have concrete memories of owning were the ones that came packed in with He-Man figures and much of my affection for the DCU can be traced back to the Super Power mini comics (I’d love to see DC reprint those similar to what Dark Horse did with the He-Man ones). Heck they used to pack comics in boxes of Devil Dogs.

Today digital allows you to pack in a comic with any product. Just slap a QR code on the box/label and a kid could instantly download anything. You could include them with movie tickets (Fandango actually did that for their premium members with Aquaman) and DVDs to try to hook movie fans. The big companies have enough old content lying around (much of it already digitized) that its basically free for them.

To say nothing of cereal pack-in/mail order comics.

There was a resurgence of the cereal pack-ins a few years ago, but that seems to have fallen to the wayside for the moment.

The very first comics I remember getting were from the Batman movie cereal. I think that kind of thing has merit today.

The QR code idea is solid too.

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When I was a kid, 50 cents was the same price as a coke. It was pretty easy to afford a comic. And like toy guys have said, comics are everywhere. It was pretty easy to find a comic.

Now, comics are routinely four dollars or more. And they’re pretty difficult to find, especially for kids. That’s a huge problem.

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