Are American Comics Dying?

[Karelia]

Wasn't super-impressed with Isom. I ordered the A cover. I read it and was definitely left underwhelmed. Art was solid, dialogue was decent, story didn't really engage me, character designs were kinda bland tbh. I may still check out the second book, but I expected the book to come out guns blazing, and it wasn't that for me. Just my opinion. Glad most people are digging it. (I never really looked into what reviews were saying, just going off a past post.)

 

[DoomRulz]

So with Aftershock going belly-up and the artists now coming out with news of never-received/late payments, is the question still only "are American comics dying" or...

 

[Sithborg]

I'm not going to write off a 7 year old comic company going into bankruptcy as writing off the whole industry.

 

[Babillygunn]

I’m not that learned on the subject, but I wonder whether the rise of digital comics and subscription services are going to spell the end of smaller floppy comic publishers.

Personally, I have almost exclusively changed my habits since DC launched Ultra and I can read comics digitally a month after they are released. My pull list shrank to 2 titles in the past few weeks, and those are Mark Waid comics. And truth be told, I’m only buying one of them. I didn’t even purchase Batman vs Robin, because I am content to wait and read it digitally. If I like it enough that I want physical copies, I can buy used copies cheaper in a few months.

 

[DoomRulz]

To add to this conversation further. Considering pros literally drove Ed Piskor to self-deletion this past week, the answer to the subject thread is an overwhelming: YES.

 

[MagnarTheGreat]

From now on, Marvel comics will have a QR code to view the final page, and nobody understands why​

https://en.softonic.com/articles/from-now-on-marvel-comics-will-have-a-qr-code-to-view-the-final-page-and-nobody-understands-why

This is stupid. Dividing your comic like this on purpose.

Nobody cares about so-called spoilers. These online QR code pages are also not guaranteed to stay online forever.



See also: the same stupid idea from 25 years ago

The Worst Strategy Guide Ever Made - Kotaku

Pop quiz: does the name “PlayOnline” make your blood boil, or at least cause one of your eyes to start twitching? No? Lucky you. If it does, you might be

kotaku.com

 

[Babillygunn]

Could this be an intentional mechanism to get people to further embrace digital formats of comics?

 

[Karelia]

Here's some happy news for comic book sales.

Absolute Batman #1 Gets Well Over 200,000 Orders

Bleeding Cool has been told by multiple sources that Absolute Batman #1 has received well over 200,000 orders from comic book stores.

bleedingcool.com

 

[Karelia]

 

[blueharvest]

Well, at least the Absolute DC comics are doing great thus far.

 

[Karelia]

Well, at least the Absolute DC comics are doing great thus far.

I believe Wonder Woman hit around 150k pre-orders, with Absolute Superman hitting 180k. I think Absolute Batman hit 250k in pre order/sales.

But yeah, DC really needed a big kick in sales, glad they're getting them. They've struggled keeping more than Batman in the top 10-20 every month, however accurate those things are.

 

[Karelia]

 

[Karelia]