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Hi guys, i'm a student doing a dissertation at uni. As a lover of comic books i decided do it on the 'comic book market'.
I just wanted your opinion on how you think the comic book market has changed over the last 20 odd years. With the introduction of the many comic book movies recently and the games that follow, it seems that kids now days instead of picking up and reading a comic they would much rather just watch the movie or play the video game!!
What kind of effect do you think the movie franchise has had on the comic book market? Are kids nowdays as interested in comics? Andy

Originally posted by furnitureboy
Hi guys, i'm a student doing a dissertation at uni. As a lover of comic books i decided do it on the 'comic book market'.
I just wanted your opinion on how you think the comic book market has changed over the last 20 odd years. With the introduction of the many comic book movies recently and the games that follow, it seems that kids now days instead of picking up and reading a comic they would much rather just watch the movie or play the video game!!
What kind of effect do you think the movie franchise has had on the comic book market? Are kids nowdays as interested in comics? Andy

The Movie buisness has improved it in my eyes, kids watch the film, buy the franchise and then turn to the comics.

Now digital comics have almost ruined the comic buisness, with people able to get scans and such on websites and cbr comics, why spend money at the shop? I buy it in the shop as it may be worth something someday.

I would write more but i'm tired.

General trends I've noticed are: some characters seem to have gotten younger; their costumes are more along the lines of streetwear rather than spandex; and there seems to be a bit of anime influence. Most obvious: the artwork is very sophisticated.

yeah i know what you mean, it seems to me thought hat kids have just got lazy now days and would rather sit in front of the tv and watch a film.

Originally posted by furnitureboy
yeah i know what you mean, it seems to me thought hat kids have just got lazy now days and would rather sit in front of the tv and watch a film.

Agreed, most people won't know who the FF were before the film.

Film--->Franchise-->Kids like franchise-->Kids start comics.

Thats what happened to me anway.

it was some of the awsome artwork out there that got me going, thanks for your help dude!

If you need anything else feel free to pm me.

Originally posted by Sub_Mariner
Now digital comics have almost ruined the comic buisness

No it hasn't... most people I know who have downloadded comics are still buying all the regular titles that they always bought.... most are even picking up an extra book or two that they wouldn't have bought before because they had heard various things about it that put them off, or they simply hadn't heard of it at all

Originally posted by Scoobless
No it hasn't... most people I know who have downloadded comics are still buying all the regular titles that they always bought.... most are even picking up an extra book or two that they wouldn't have bought before because they had heard various things about it that put them off, or they simply hadn't heard of it at all

I do both aswell, but it potentially could ruin it.

My comic life began in burger king when i was extremely little they sold some little X-men toys. It's just snow-balled from their I guess

My comic life started off with TV programmes...then it moved on to trading cards(Emma Frost was my first one)...along with Magneto removing Wolverines Skeleton..then it moved onto comics...

I think the spandex is the in thing right now, with a little more style....well at least for the X-Men...

As for digital comics....it doesn't have the same feeling as owning your own paper comic...that's why i buy all my comics....

On the flip side though I have read a few digital comics and they have broadened my tastes in comics....so I buy more then I used to.

Originally posted by furnitureboy
Hi guys, i'm a student doing a dissertation at uni. As a lover of comic books i decided do it on the 'comic book market'.
I just wanted your opinion on how you think the comic book market has changed over the last 20 odd years. With the introduction of the many comic book movies recently and the games that follow, it seems that kids now days instead of picking up and reading a comic they would much rather just watch the movie or play the video game!!
What kind of effect do you think the movie franchise has had on the comic book market? Are kids nowdays as interested in comics? Andy

IMO the movies only peek the comsumers interest in comic books. The movies may be good and all but they dont compare to the comic books, specially storyline. I'll use Spider-Man and Batman as examples. Their movies have done pretty good but they have over 40+ years of storylines in the comic books that while we would love for them to get made, it wont happen and it will only take a Joel Schumancher(sp?) to set back a franchise for years and made the fans lose interest. Movies are just a window into the comic book industry.


Originally posted by Scoobless
No it hasn't... most people I know who have downloadded comics are still buying all the regular titles that they always bought.... most are even picking up an extra book or two that they wouldn't have bought before because they had heard various things about it that put them off, or they simply hadn't heard of it at all

I was asked recently by a friend that because of financial hardship stopped buying comics and just download them, he asked why I still buy the comic books when I already have them on my pc, Why waste money. The answer is simple, As a collector I like the feel of having them in my hands, going to the CB store, have a few conversations with the owner/customers. Go home and kick back and read the comic, I dont know about anyone else but for me is a good feeling and if it is a storyline like Civil War it makes it much sweeter. Also having to go throu the trouble of hunting for back issues whene there was no comics to download makes comics more special to me and when u r hunting for a good issue or let say a characthers 1st appearance and after months of searching you finally find it and u have it in ur hands, its a great feeling. Now why I download them? Well when I buy a comic book, specially ones that I bought years ago and is nicely put in its bag and its safely put away in a nice place I really dont wanna bother gouing through all the trouble of looking for them, take them out and put them back again. With the downloaded versions I could just search anygiven cb file and find whatever Im looking for. Thats my 2 cents.

Originally posted by Sub_Mariner
I do both aswell, but it potentially could ruin it.

doubtful

ive talked about this at some length in other threads

basically, pirating media really never leads to a downfall in sales trends, and it is very hard to make any sort of comparison to other media types like music or movies, since the base and core marketplace for both are entirely differant

another great point would be that, in the case of music or movies, they have spent the past 20 years becomming less creative and more tailored to making quick money. It has brought the quality of the product down so much that in many ways people are unwilling or even just dissapointed when they have to purchase the full product. Comics on the other hand have been continuously getting more creative and improving in pretty much every category, especially with regard to mature content.

ya, again, my 2cents