[Vroomfondel]

Well, the last comic shop in my town just closed the other day, and from what I hear this isn't just a local phenomen, either. The comics industry is in a slump. To a certain extent, I can understand this: muscle-bound, tight-wearing superheroes are starting to get a little old, but there are still quite a few quality books out there. Any thoughts? Opinions? Disagreements?

[Keyoke]

I agree that comic book shops are on the decline, Hell, I live in Calgary AB, a fairly decent size city, and we have maybe 4 shops.. maybe 5.. I remember in the 80-90's we had dozens of em..

Odd though, because, I disagree with you in regards to quality of books. Their are some amazing titles out there.. Marvel is putting out some of their best work in years..

Keyoke

[Carmichael]

Yeah, comics are definitely going down the tubes. Odd though, that at the same time comic heroes are making it so big in the movies. Spidey, Supes, Batman, Spawn, Blade. All of them have or will have movies coming out soon. Plus I remember reading that there are plans to make Fantastic 4 and Hulk films.
I guess people would rather spend 8 bucks to see a movie than 2 to sit and read the same story.

[Old_Wolf]

Read the same story?
More like read the real story than watch the bastardized version on film or TV.
(X-Men Evolution is very, very bad IMO.)

<Marvel Rant>
Let's face it, Marvel is trying so hard to go mainstream it hurts. The New X-Men may as well have been called "X-Men:The Movie Years".
What Marvel is doing right now with the X-books is just laughable. Comics aren't exactly a mainstream style media (they're a niche market), and if they did go mainstream we'd start seeing many comics with as much content and relevance as a Britney Spears CD.
</Marvel rant>

Unfortunately if comics are to get out of their slump, they have to pull in new readers. Which includes appealing to the masses. http://www.sffworld.com/ubb/frown.gif

X-Legion aside, I have to agree that some comics right now are simply fantastic. I just wish that the masses could sample books like "Strangers in Paradise" and "SteamPunk" rather than the X-Men movie. (Which had its good and bad points.)

Just my $.02USD. I could be wrong.
-Old_Wolf

[saintjon]

I live in Ottawa and there are quite a few lively comic shops here. Which is good because I'm now hooked on Akira. I'm also thinking of getting into Battle Chasers. Art looks pretty, shoudn't be hard to collect a series where new issues are so infrequent. I would read Spawn, but Christ, where would I begin? I was having a good time just watching those cartoons HBO did. Maybe that's the essence of this comic slump you mentioned Vroom.

[Keyoke]

Battlechaser has ended as of Issue #9. The creator/writer has no plans on making issue #10, and has put the series on hold indefinitely.

Keyoke

[saintjon]

Man, that's great! Er, in a way I mean. Shouldn't be hard to track down nine issues!

[Keyoke]

Yah, it shouldnt be to hard, and you may find them at good prices. Many fans of the series were mad that Joe M. decided to put the series on hiatus. This series was plagued with delays. I think it took him 4-5 years to put out those nine issues, with continual promises to bring the title to a regular schedule. Be warned though, the series doesnt end cleanly.

[jimmers777]

I live in St. Charles, Missouri, right around St. Louis if you don't know, and I can think of ten comic shops that haven't had to close and that have been open, in one location or another my entire life. So whereever these stores are closing, it's not here.

I've been collecting comics since I was a little kid and I've always been able to find something I liked. Something with good art when I was younger and now, something with good writing as I'm older. More than one something, too.

Is the comics industry in a slump? Hell, who cares? I don't want it to disappear entirely and I do what I can to keep that from happening. I buy comics. I enjoy them. I talk to my friends about them. I encourage other people to read them.

I don't go around b*tching about all the problems all the time. Sure, there are things I don't like. This X-men stuff is getting a little better, but I'd still rather have my spandex super-heroes. (I'm trying to think of stuff other than that, but I can't.)

I'm responding to this old thread because from time to time I get frustrated with over-negativity. Amazing Spider-man is the best it's been in a loooong time. Strangers in Paradise leaves me panting for the next issue. Batman is still interesting. There's good stuff out there. If you really care about the industry and you don't want to see it disappear, pay closer attention to the good stuff and talk about it with other people. Eh, I've said my piece.

[Miriamele]

Well, this thread is now four years old...and I'm curious if things have changed at all. Is the comic industry still in a slump, or are sales improving?

Or do sales merely depend on the given city? Where I live there are 3 comic shops for a population of 300,000 (although one of them sells little more than Magic cards). And from what the owners of those shops say business has never been better. I know that the sales of graphic novels and manga have increased quite a bit in recent years, and this is probably helping many shops--but is it at the expense of regular comics?

I am asking about the state of the industry because my husband and I are currently toying with the idea of opening a shop of our own--not necessarily this year, and not necessarily in the place we're living right now. But we're thinking about it, starting to put out feelers as it were.

Any thoughts? :)