Cassandra Complex: New Direction

The '80s are back, and the comic industry is falling over itself to get in on the act. But outside the comics store it's a different story, and Antony Johnston is all set to give up the ghost of the Direct Market.
15 July 2002

I try to be positive in this column, I really do. But the last few months have made it very difficult indeed.

I'm talking, as it seems everyone is these days, about nostalgia. There are two models of rose-tinted glasses currently being worn by the comic-store-going public (and I define that term so precisely for a reason that will become apparent).

First, we have the genuine nostalgics, who want their childhood heroes to grow up with them. Call it a security buffer against the harsh adult world, or be generous and call it a post-modern appreciation for naive simplicity; either way, the fact is that these people genuinely remember BATTLE OF THE PLANETS as a show suitable for adults, or at the very least one with a 'basic concept' worthy of shoehorning into a 'mature' story.

Second, there are the constant nostalgics; the people who read one or more (and normally it's many more) comic series simply because they started reading them when they were children, and they've read them ever since. Issues of quality don't come into play with this reader too much; sure, they complain when X-MEN isn't being written they way they think it should be, but all they really want is to find out what happens to the characters.

(Which is pretty damn odd when you stop to think about it, and the only comparison I can think of would be cult TV series such as THE X-FILES or BUFFY. Such TV series, however, don't generally last for forty-odd years...)

Too harsh? Too absolutist? But what about the huge diversity of comics, they cry. You've never had it so good!

Which is true - if you look outside a comics store.

This column was galvanised by two recent occurrences; over on his Delphi forum, Warren Ellis has for the last couple of years run weekly "What comics did you buy this week?" polls, asking respondents to list and give their thoughts on the comics they'd purchased. Last month, as a precursor (and doubtless a damn good excuse) to his announcement that the forum would be closing soon, Ellis finally threw up his hands in despair.

It would seem that despite much rhetoric and 'activism' since the end of 1999, the comics-reading public (or rather the ones who responded to those polls, but that's a good cross-section of a supposedly 'activist' audience) hasn't changed its habits much at all.

The new launches of TRANSFORMERS and G.I. JOE, the comic re-working of BATTLE OF THE PLANETS, and the announcement that WildStorm had obtained the license to produce THUNDERCATS comics have between them generated more excitement, more anticipation and (here's the fist-shake-inducing part) more sales than just about anything in the last few years. Yes, including DARK KNIGHT 2 and NEW X-MEN.

But!

A short while later, book trade insider Robert Boyd pointed forum members to a listing on Barnes & Noble's website of their best-selling graphic novels for the previous six months.

(As far as bookstores are concerned, "graphic novel" is a catch-all term for any comic with a spine. This is just one compelling reason why those in the comics community who rail against the term will never succeed.)

The list was enlightening, to say the least; three STAR WARS books, which can easily be attributed to the interest generated by the release of ATTACK OF THE CLONES; only one superhero book, that perennial bestseller THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS; MAUS, another perennial seller; three manga books, GHOST WORLD and a new ASTERIX book.

Pretty encouraging, was the general response. Evidently, the online buyer is two things; one, discerning of taste, and two, probably not a 'regular' comics reader. But there was another surprise in store; further examination revealed that these titles were the Top 10 sellers for Barnes & Noble as a whole, both online and at bricks-and-mortar stores.

Which was a pleasant surprise.

Now then, the point. And the point is, these two events further a belief that I, and a few others, have held for some time now:

If we want to increase the sales and exposure of truly mainstream, quality titles, the direct market should not be our priority.

Clearly the direct market [DM] is important, especially for comics that aren't graphic novels in the sense meant by bookstores. Equally clearly, the DM audience isn't entirely superhero-obsessed, or comics like PREACHER and QUEEN & COUNTRY wouldn't achieve the sales they do within it.

But I think we've nearly reached saturation point. The last two years have seen so much promotion of wholly original works, and so much evangelising on the part of people who support such a movement, and yet here we are. In an industry where the rejuvenation of a children's cartoon (which really wasn't all that special the first time around) is now the best-selling comic in our market.

If there's one thing the Direct Market hates, it's the unfamiliar.

It's quite a blow to think that perhaps this really is it. That all the work we've put in, all the 'activism' we've undertaken, has amounted to - what, exactly? A thousand extra readers for FINDER every month. A few hundred more people picking up THE WAITING PLACE. A market where challenging, phenomenally original and inventive works such as VOX can't survive because there are less than five hundred people in the entire world willing to try it out.

But then again...

Maybe it's not so bad. Because we are, after all, only talking about the Direct Market.

More and more publishers are seeing bookstore sales of their graphic novels match, or even outstrip, their sales through comic speciality stores. More and more bookstores are stocking graphic novels, many seeing it as the fastest-growing section of their industry. Ask Carla Speed McNeil; Colleen Doran; Larry Young; and finally, if you don't believe them, ask DC Comics.

The direct market will never, and should never, go away. It plays a vital role in the comics industry, not least of which is serving the people who really do want to read the same comics they've always read month after month. But we've done all we can for it; it would take a minor miracle to suddenly get an extra two million people walking into comic stores every month.

Time to put our first efforts elsewhere.

Antony Johnston is the author of JULIUS, SPOOKED and THE LONG HAUL. His new ongoing series WASTELAND begins in July 2006.

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