Comments on: The Comics Arms Race and the Failure of Diversity http://blog.commarts.wisc.edu/2013/03/18/the-comics-arms-race-and-the-failure-of-diversity/ Responses to Media and Culture Fri, 12 Feb 2016 19:35:04 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=4.7.5 By: Bradley Schauer http://blog.commarts.wisc.edu/2013/03/18/the-comics-arms-race-and-the-failure-of-diversity/comment-page-1/#comment-398219 Tue, 19 Mar 2013 02:20:46 +0000 http://blog.commarts.wisc.edu/?p=19087#comment-398219 Great recommendations, Derek. I’m reading them all except for Rachel Rising, and I’m teaching Mind MGMT in my comics class next week. We’ll see what my students think of it!

Sadly, I also agree with your assessment of the New 52 as a missed opportunity. I think the writing was on the wall when they hired Bob Harras as editor-in-chief. It’s no surprise that he brought warmed-over ’90s writers and gimmicks with him.

But I also think mainstream comics readers are disappointingly unadventurous; if a book is even slightly offbeat or is more peripheral to the main superhero universe, sales tend to be poor. The publishers foster this attitude by assigning unknown or second-rate talent to the less popular books, or with their strange publishing choices. A number of recent DC books, for instance, seemed destined for quick cancellation before the first issues even hit the stands. Is it a surprise that there wasn’t a huge audience for the new Vibe book?

]]> By: Derek Kompare http://blog.commarts.wisc.edu/2013/03/18/the-comics-arms-race-and-the-failure-of-diversity/comment-page-1/#comment-398167 Mon, 18 Mar 2013 18:11:09 +0000 http://blog.commarts.wisc.edu/?p=19087#comment-398167 Excellent analysis of the current state of the top of the comics industry, Brad. What’s striking, if sadly not surprising, is how much both companies (though especially DC in the past couple of years) have simultaneously claimed that they are seeking to “expand” the market (in terms of a diversity of readers, genres, and styles) while also quadrupling-down on their core market (in the same terms). Forgive me now for going on a bit of a rant…

The New 52 represented arguably the best opportunity in years to really forge something distinct and relevant, but very soon collapsed into the usual pastiche of ancient fanboy fantasies (with a few exceptions, notably Snyder’s Batman, Williams’ Batwoman, and Azzarello’s Wonder Woman). I tried out every New 52 title at its launch, but my DC pull list is down to about half a dozen.

As for Marvel, while they might have a few more intriguing writers, I tired of their gimmicks and events years ago, and only vaguely “keep up” via the promo copy in Marvel Previews every month.

But your last sentence is exactly where things are strongest these days, and where I hope the industry is headed. While I would ideally want a few dozen or more healthy publishers consistently putting out diverse genres and stories from diverse creators, and always high quality, I know the market is not nearly that forgiving these days. So instead, I hope that Image, Dark Horse, IDW, Oni, and Boom! (in that order, actually) can at least forge a growing counter-argument to the Big 2’s regurgitated super-angst. Comics are too important to leave to the marketing strategies of DC and Marvel (again!).

Accordingly, for those not reading comics, here’s a few big recommendations from outside the Big Two, all launched within the past year or so:

Fatale (Image), by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips
Saga (Image), by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples
Manhattan Projects (Image), by Jonathan Hickman and Nick Pitarra
The Massive (Dark Horse), by Brian Wood and Kristian Donaldson
Mind MGMT (Dark Horse), by Matt Kindt
Rachel Rising (Abstract), by Terry Moore
Stumptown (Oni), by Greg Rucka and Matthew Southworth

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