Michael Patrick Sullivan
Being an inarticulate rant on why you have to break a bone to make it stronger (however it’s a rib that’s perilously close to the heart).
I think it’s fairly obvious that, if Marvel or DC were to cease to be, as a result of either corporate mismanagement, general lack of cash or the rather ironic big honking meteorite, that at least 50% of the comic shops in the United States (if not the world) would close within a year or two.
Look at the racks in your average comic store (and I stress the word average). It probably falls into three categories. Marvel. DC. Everybody else. Just going by rack space, that’s 1/3 of sales vanishing. Maybe more if it’s Marvel.
What store can continue to exist with a 33% loss in revenue? Even if the difference is made up from toys and games, it’s still gonna be a huge chunk, and in my experience, a lot of stores out there are poorly managed and simply won’t take the hit (they might be able to, but they just don’t know how).
With all these stores going under like James Cameron’s extras, you could start taking bets on the exact day the remaining publishers announce they are done. No place to sell the comics means no money means no comics.
Is this a commentary on the dangerous reliance of the industry on the direct market? Nope. Not getting into that.
Let’s figure that the collapse of the comics industry after one of the big two calling it quits would unfold fairly rapidly. About two years. That’s an ungodly number of creators out of work.
Some of the writers might get absorbed into the film and television industries, particularly ones that came from there. Most of them won’t. Most of them simply aren’t good enough. That, and there just isn’t room for all of them anyway.
Artists. There’s even more of them. Maybe some of them can make their way into advertising, but I’m sure a lot more won’t. As you head down the creative chain, there’s less use for these individuals in other industries. Inkers. Colourists. Letterers. There aren’t enough places to go round and too many of them simply have comics in their blood to simply accept falling back on their degree in chemical engineering. They will not allow comics to die. They will force it to change into a once again (and possibly more) viable beast. They will create the new standard.
The distributors will be gone, so new channels will have to be created. Websites. Mail order. Efforts on the part of the individual. Only those with a passion for the art form will continue to buy or create.
Are you seeing how this is a good thing?
For some time, the whole process of being involved in comics will be even harder, whether creator or consumer. It will act as a “screening” process. Gone will be the creative teams cranking out a crap book for a paycheck. Gone will be the mindless fanboys buying it, and possibly not even reading it. All will be rebuilt from the still smouldering ashes. Only that which can survive this “screening” process will thrive. Trendy toy comics will not survive the drastically reduced amount of sales in this new environment. It’ll become more work than its demographic will be willing to put out.
Some super-heroes might survive. Maybe some of the bigger name creators, who might be in a good financial position to do so, will purchase the rights to some of the old super-heroes. To continue these super-hero serials, only those who had such a jones to work on these guys will have to actually shell out their own money to do it (with no guarantee of making the money back).
All comics will be as indy comics, however the consumer will have to jump through some extra hoops to get the works, and no one is going the extra mile for crap, thus only quality will survive...in theory.
So let’s get to it! Hey Sony! Buy Marvel for the characters and close off publishing to cut costs. Hey AOL-Time-Warner! Do you guys even know you publish comics? You don’t even need the characters since you scar them beyond recognition once they get into the film development process.
Burn it all. Burn it. Burn.
Michael Patrick Sullivan really needs a WGA signatory agent, so if you know one, or you’ve got a nephew who works in the CAA mailroom, or you’ve got pictures of the 1997 Warden White & Assoc. Xmas party (You know, the one with ah...yeah.), then e-mail me at michael@popimage.com.
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