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To Be Continued #13
The McDuffie Genius Grant, Part III Before we get started this week, I should warn you that I'm in a pretty foul mood. I know that the holiday season should be a reflective and spiritual time and all that kind of good stuff, still I can't help but focus on matters of a more material nature. The sad fact is that no one thought to give me a copy of Legion Archives #9 for Christmas. What were my loved ones thinking? I mean, the books are right in the middle of reprinting the Shooter stuff. You know what I got instead? Four razors and a beard clipper. Well, at least I can take a hint. As soon as I finish this column, I'm going out to buy myself a Legion Archive. Right after I shave my beard, that is. For the past few weeks, we've been discussing various reader suggestions on how we might save the comics industry. For my part, I've offered a five dollar cash award to whoever comes up with a workable plan. This special McDuffie Genius Grant is still on the table, waiting for some bright reader to pick it up and walk away. Let's look at some more of your modest proposals. Hernan Espinoza wrote, proving it is possible to have a more negative outlook than mine: "Answer: Let. it. die. I'm serious. First, contrary to the apocalyptic PR, the "comic book industry" is a system for the publication and distribution of a huge fraction of American comics; BUT IT IS NOT COMICS. The current "Comic Book Industry" seems like a shelter for comics, but it's really a trap. *When* the current system collapses and the "Comic Book Industry" dies; comics will not die, comics will be freed." Ahem. Apparently I'm not the only person who didn't get his Legion Archive for Christmas. Not that I disagree with Hernan, mind you. If the system collapses, something else will take its place. Comics on-line, print-on-demand comics, comics downloaded to a (yet-to-be-invented) portable color e-book player, these are all reasonable guesses at how we might deliver comics-style content to the (allegedly) hungry, (allegedly) mass audience out there. But will it be comics? Is a TV variety show vaudeville? I'm a bad person to ask. Me? I don't even think I've really seen a film, if I've only seen it on videotape. But if movie theaters went the way of crochet stores (ask your parents), I'd certainly keep watching tapes, if they kept making them. Words in combination with pictures make an especially compelling tool for story-telling. In various (and overlapping) fashions, live performance, television, movies and animation all trade on this strength. But comics have special properties associated with it that none of the other forms can claim. Comics benefit from a unique interplay between static images and prose. There are effects an artist can achieve in comics that simply can't be reproduced in any other form. That's the quality I want to hold on to, no matter how we end up delivering the content. New ways of delivering content are much on Hugh Sheridan's mind. He thinks we should just relax and embrace the internet: "I think that this contraption which we are currently using to communicate could be used to save the comics industry. Some people blame the internet for the industry's steep decline, because the rise of the 'net correlates roughly with the fall in comic buying (even though the fall was obviously due to the false pregnancy that was the speculator boom). But I think that this new medium is an incredible opportunity for comics. "At the moment the Internet is largely reliant on the static image to convey information. The comic strip has been shown to be the most effective way of presenting information without moving images. So, for the moment at least, comic books have a clear advantage over other material on the 'net. "This advantage could be exploited in lots of ways. Although admittedly I don't know how technologically feasible or expensive it would be, I think that providing back-issues online would be a great use of the medium. At the moment some companies create new material for their sites, but this stuff is usually hindered by the fact that the talent is often subpar and the stories inevitably will never be acknowledged in the main printed continuity. However, even if only selected old stories were provided, I believe comic book websites would be more attractive to casual browsers." Okay, this is interesting. Assuming that bandwidth problems will be solved, so I'm not spending a half-hour to download a screen-quality comic (much less a print-quality one), I'd pay quite a bit to be able to browse a library of back issues and pick out the interesting ones. But how do we make money at it? Sell subscriptions? Sell ads? We're right back to the kind of structural problems we've struggling with now. What's it going to cost to digitize all this material? What do I have to invest up front? How do I let my audience know the stuff is available? What do I charge? It's a brand-new business. Maybe DC Comics (and a tech partner?) could experiment with this. They've already got the complete run of Mad digitized, it's a very strong brand. Why not offer issues or features on some sort of a pay-per-view plan to see if there's any money in it? If the reprints work, the finances for potential all-new stuff are easier to figure. Is this a plan? Do I owe Hugh five bucks? I haven't even explained my ad-driven magazine model yet, am I obsolete before I even get to try it? What do you guys think? As always, this is To Be Continued…
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