DC & Marvel Are Making The Direct Market Collapse 

A $4.99 cover price combined with poor quality is just stabbing the comic book industry in the heart.

This is willful self-destruction. At a time where superheroes have never been a bigger cultural presence, Marvel and DC, by design, are putting out product no one wants, attacking and driving off loyal customers, and crushing shop owners. When a favorite business closes it's sad even if "it's time". When a business willfully destroys itself, it's infuriating. "We'll always have back issues" is small consolation.

That's a double-edged sword if that's the strategy they want to pursue. Retailers and big box stores, having the power to carry only core titles, definitely won't allow their shelves to be filled with unsellable items.

Ok, second time commenting. Alterna comics are $2.99 which means I’m willing to try all their titles because if I don’t like it no harm, no foul. And their digital is .99 which is how it should be- digital cheaper than print.

I recall when DC fired Bob Wayne (or in management speak they offered him early retirement) that was a clear sign that DC didn't care about comic shops. Bob Wayne was the DC corporate liaison to the direct market, he would call shops and talk about was selling and not selling and he'd organise co-op advertising with them, when DC canned him it was a sign that they don't care what fans or shops really think, that was about 10 years ago.

The image you put up for Phil Boyle while you read his quote, is where my own future in comics lies: back issues, predominantly bronze and silver age. I suspect more and more will be moving to and re-discovering comics from a time when the stories and the innocent simplicity of fun just eclipses the "agenda" of modern product.

I grew up on dc and marvel comics and it’s sad the state it is in today, but how can it be fixed if they don’t want the audience that built them , I say let them burn down so something else can rise up

I’m so sick of seeing everything rebooted every 2 months with a new number one and 18 variants. No comic needs covers a-v. what a joke. Bullshit variants, and 99% of them aren’t even good! A lot are really bad art! Such crap. Also all of the large oversized issues are total garbage too. They are always just a conglomeration of stories by bad writers and bad artist that don’t mean shit and no one will care about 5 minutes after they read it. If it’s a 50 page anniversary issue I want 50 pages of quality art and writing. Not 12 different dumb stories.

I get what you’re saying, some people poisoned the well, and defend the poisoned well as they get sicker. Until we clean the well we can’t drink from it.

Yeah, theyre doing it on purpose. Tom Brevoort makes that bizarre statement about how its just changing, but when he put Ryan North on Fantastic Four he had to know it wouldn't sell. Retailers should file a class action suit.

It doesn't make sense to do your best work at Marvel or DC. They should move away from work-for-hire and do more creative comics that don't belong in a unified universe.

The laziness of the big two is mind-boggling. Some people might be surprised to hear this but Marvel and DC actually still put out good material. Yet they put zero effort in to making potential customers aware of this.

I watch Millar's retailer summit and it's looking bad. DC is down 17% and Marvel is down 24% according to one of the retailers. The big two moving to bookstores doesn't work because they are dying too. We had one Barnes & Noble in Baltimore, and it closed around the same time Geppi closed his museum. By the way, there was a comic book shop inside the museum. I used to buy a lot of new books in the 80s and 90s every month. I going to done by summer and just concentrate on getting back issues. Our library carries trades and graphic novels and not floppies. Libraries aren't going to save comics either.

Makes me happy to support writers and artists that show up and boots on the ground to small shops for signings. I know there are a lot of em, last one I went to was Jenny Frison and she showed up to a shop half the size of a GameStop. Kudos to people like that

I think comic readers need to realize the old days are gone. DC and Marvel aren't independent companies anymore. They're both subsidiaries of much larger companies. Not only that, but I'd be willing to bet those companies don't particularly care about selling comics. You think Warner Bros. and Disney give a damn about comic books? Of course not. They care about the IPs, the characters, that DC and Marvel own. They keep mandating reboots because #1 issues sell well. A new comic costs $5 because Disney and Warner want to see the quarterly numbers tick up a percent or two. What was the death knell for the comic industry was DC and Marvel no longer being independent companies. It just took a while to get there.

I think it’s time for readers to start pushing on social media for C.B. Cebulski to be fired. Perhaps Jim Lee as well. I don’t feel he brings anything of value to D.C. in the position he’s in right now.

I was someone who had a pull list of 15 titles on average per week from 2016 to 2021. Over the last last two years here my pull list has dwindled from the decisions of the big 2. I noticed that starting January of 2024 my pull list is down to only 20 books total. Same with February. From what I am seeing of the March solicits that have leaked it appears it will be the same. I do have a back issue list I hunt for and it seems I will be more focused on that going forward. Jim Lee and C.B. and hell T. Brevort also absolutely need walked to the door by human resources.

Marvel and DC have completey lost my trust. These days I have to read something first before I buy it to ensure I'm getting what I'm paying for. I used to get 25+ comics every month. Now I only get 2. Constant reboots make it easy to stop collecting once quality goes down.

The people in charge of Marvel and DC want that so that their way is the only way, costumers and stores be damned.

While I do empathize with the comicbook retailers, I must say they should not hang their hats on DC and Marvel ever reviving the market. They need new independent authors who can create the next Batman or Spider-Man. Even then, the retailers will have to rely on selling tie-in merchandise. As for prices, that is a tough one. Cost to print is higher than ever while ebooks have eaten into market share. Selling compilations in book stores is a tough sell already. Floppies are a niche that is almost dead to younger fans. It ain't impossible to sell them to kids but if the cost is higher than a slice of pizza, the kids would just go for the slice.

Exactly. They HAD A CHANCE to course correct themselves, but not only choosing the WORST PATH no one wanted as they continue to make the same old mistake. For dc, they probably took the characters as embodiment of ideology too extreme, but they literally did the same mistake they made since the beginning which the first crisis event, but they kept using this as a drug problem that they turn it to a reboot multi event thing. Because of the constant reboot, they kept retooling the dc multiverse a more vast world that in truth its basically 99.999999999999% hallow with nothing there or some are just paste copy. Not to mention the power scaling of dc gotten so worst that its basically 100% plot holes and armor. I still remember the “magical book” that suppose to weight infinity because its the knowledge of the multiverse and only got a few info and never went to get that said book again……….. It was left to be forgotten and never explain why weighted infinity unless it use the user power against themselves making it feel infinite and only analyze the info needed or just screwing them on purpose which they don’t really have power and its all a dream. And that was the many screw up of dc that will never explain and we reach to the point that nearly every characters are now multiverse power house and that INCLUDE batman himself, not joker version, but the armor he used to had from another monitor…ish….. that give him to create and…… make people to change heart…….. WTF?!?!?!? Why didn’t he use it in the last crisis?!? That would’ve been helpful as well the book thing… For me, dc has become so less sense, generic, feels more egotistic with a massive narcissistic and weirderishly that not an actual word, but thats what I got as well just no stakes or something to…… well…….. it is like someone make up a story that it is believable, but the fib starts to become less and less believable as the fibber tries to do those things he/she said and failed miserably and become more annoying and just ignore them. For marvel……….. god…………… they have the same problem with power scaling as dc and gone the weird crap route that dc are taking, but they don’t have much of the multiverse problems dc have, but equal out of destroying the characters core harder than dc…….. a littler more……. Also trying to force flagship the new captain marvel as the flagship character of marvel………… which done miserably bad. Oh wait probably equal, just the prologuing with useless stuff. Sorry, just not happy how much they tortured spiderman so much, it not even the parker luck that hurting peter, it is the narcissist writers and editors that want to bully or kill peter parker badly that its just plain cruelty and understand why the families of the creation of spiderman want him back. With the power scaling, multiverse reboot or any reboot that keeps old series characters not changing, overdosing the political or whatever messages they’re sending for nonsense, destroying old characters in a worst way possible and making new characters look good, but more towards to villainies, plot holes that fill with too many plot holes that cover with flimsy plot armors that will break, and so many more problems that new readers can’t even touch it without being disgusted which destroying comic itself. And I feel bad for comic book stores as thats where nerds gather and talk about fictional characters they loved and community games are play. If these crazy people seriously think that the comic book store are nothing, oh they should soon find out that chain stores like barns n nobles would treat them like crap as the comic book side there are just piles of junk there. Heck people will not remember or know these people who are just insulting them and if they are remember for is that they are the people who kill marvel and dc. Honestly, I don’t see there any hope for them to correct their mistakes at this point, but I will still support to those who are trying to keep marvel and dc alive for the right reason. I doubt they will nerf or remove all the contradictions that marvel and dc has made over the years, but I guess even a massive ignorance is a bliss for those who want the old ways to return, but its hard to be honest.

I wonder how I would get in to writing for Marvel these days… I would love to be one of the writers bucking the trend and bringing out fun, action-packed comics each month.

I agree with you. Years ago I could buy comic books at my local Cumberland Farms store. My local Stop and Shop used to carry comic books maybe six years ago. No more. They have half an isle for magazines and there's plenty of room for comic books but they don't carry them anymore. I tried to see if the vendor would explain why they don't carry comic books but could never get an answer. With the prices constantly going up you would think that would help but it's just accepted that comic books won't sell.

Bad writing isn’t the only problem, the magazine, monthly model is not sustainable. You can’t expect amazing quality on a month to month basis indefinitely. This is the primary reason the big 2 have these over complicated continuities and pointless stories with consequences that don’t carry over long term. The graphic novel format is much more viable. Maybe they need to reset and focus on telling great stories without being bogged down by issue numbers and runs. This is why I prefer else worlds, non continuity tales and why manga and indie titles are popular. Beginning, middle, and end.

I own an online shop, Dangerous Waters Comics and More. We've been around for 3 1/2 years, and due to severely slumping sales we've had to suspend new comics orders and preorders, and are in the process of restructuring our business. We are now going to focus on publishing and our own Kickstarter projects.

Wait a second but Superman under Joshua Williamson and action comics by PKJ and Jeremy adams green lantern book are fantastic in my opinion.

I don’t trust DC to let the books I’m reading be seen through to the end. After reading this hodgepodge of an ending in Action I felt proven right in my assumptions they would just jam a bunch of crap in so he could set up the next writers bs storyline, because apparently the Brainiac event wasn’t his idea either(source? trust me bro) I lost a lot of faith after that.

This result was set in stone as soon as the comic industry made the short sighted decision to cut their legs off and limit their product distribution to just comic book shops.

The problem is. I want to support my LCS. But if I can't get my Batman issue there's no point. Luckily Transformers happened. And I'll try Ultimate Spidey. But I don't know how long that can support. I did get year one facsimiles though

This is just my take... It's better interest rate financing influenced by ESG/DEI/CEI scores from Black Rock, Vanguard and State Street that have guided the editorial policy of comics. When you finance a new blockbuster superhero movie, a single interest point drop on that 400 million debt repayment based upon those scores is more than your entire comics division will make in profit. Thus it's more profitable to use your comics division as a tool to improve those scores rather than sell books.

When they say "libraries" they mean government subsidies. They'll change their tune when the government money dries up.

To be honest I can never see myself walking away from the comic books industry. If anything all this is doing is just encouraging me to look into the more indie and crowd fund guys and leaving the big two behind. I used to buy 6 issues of Marvel comic books a week. Now i'm barely down to 2 a month. The only way they'll get me back is to let guys like Mark Millar and Chuck Dixon come back and write.

I live in NYC. We USED to see magazine shops on most corners on major streets, even in the boroughs. Those are all gone and many have been replaced by weed shops.

Wow. This is fascinating stuff, Wes! Hadn’t really thought about the aesthetic qualities of the people that buy comics or sell comics. Never crossed my mind. Never thought about how these new comic pros look down on people like us. Man, that is so shallow..! Is anyone else feeling stunned?

Never mind that in book stores marvel /dc will be going head to head with Manga & scollastic. Pretty stupid to abandon your strong point and invade your competitors whose audience probably was never interested in your product in the first place.

For comics rebooting/relaunching, variants, events, etc. is like a bad addiction.They keep doing the *same* things that is bad for them not wanting to hurt themselves. Also the big 2's and the a lot of Western comics digital strategy is a joke.

All the people making these decisions should be fired. The heads of the comics and movie industries should be ashamed of what they've done to some of America's favorite characters.

If the comic books on the shelves in December, 2023 took (on average) 6 months to produce, then the earliest MARVEL and DC could "course-correct" and turn things around would be 6 months from now: June of 2024. IF MARVEL and DC make a good-faith effort to improve the quality and integrity of their titles. There are still veteran storytellers out there capable of doing work that could appeal to long-time comic book readers. Does it HAVE to be EXCLUSIVELY for MARVEL and DC?

Too bad for those inside the industry who want to kill the comicshop that the bookstore is nearly dead by now too. When the bookstore dies the library will only ever scale back, as a public service. After all, if people are so totally over physical media that you can't sell it, there's no reason to throw money after it as a public service.

No book sore would have them they generally don’t buy what can’t sell, why they barely have just one book shelf now for graphic novels in my Waterstones the equivalent to B&N in America.

What book stores? There isn't a bookstore with in 45 minutes of me, Barnes& Noble is an hour and a half away. I mean I'd agree with this if there were still Barnes& nobles on every corner but they're just isn't anymore and local book shops are gone. The only one I know of is my hometown and you have to schedule an appointment.

Caught up with Transformers yesterday. Read all three issues back to back, and now I'm EXCITED for Duke and Cobra Commander. Wierd how that works, huh?

Keep up the mindful content production! Thank you

Interesting turn of events you bring to the table. If DM LCS are going to the way side and the attempt to go fully digital again for publications. Its a business model for disaster IMO. Tangible print medium is the corner stone of the industry. Especially from owning artists creations and paying for their compensation respectively. If they eliminate this aspect of the industry then the variant distribution will be gone as well. Every artistic creation becomes a screen capture when the content substance is unrelatable or undesireable. Should we even go there for AI content on the horizon...

I agree with you, 100% man! RIGHT ON! We've got to fight for our right to read some good comics! F those F's! But regardless of their stance and the snobbish ideas they have - they clearly are not the next gen that came from the nurturing of parents, uncles or grandparents who read this stuff in the previous generations. These type of people like most youth have no understanding of or any respect for the past. They can't and don't relate and that's why they don't understand and they aren't even trying to. But the main thing you see with the younger generation is that on top of the fact that they don't seem to do any real research on this industry they want to be involved in they also crumble under intelligent scrutiny and critical thinking and comparative analysis. And when faced with that what do they do? They call names, they make fun of someone's appearance, when we're supposed to be in a society that's been pushing acceptance and inclusion and making everyone feel welcome or part of. Also no matter if they do want to focus on some "class" thing I think they're still going to find out that we are still a niche market and that not everyone that shops at a barnes and Noble or even frequents a library are all comic book fans and will support what they have going on Also the number one most important thing they're missing is that they has to be STORIES and the stories have to be GOOD!! I don't agree that limited series aren't attractive to fans, because most of us are only giving any new series about 3 to 5 issues to grab our attention and keep it, and of course if it's intended to be a long running, ongoing series you have to get the readers on board within that first 3 to 5 issues. Once it's proven to be a success then the publisher can go on and just announce that because we've done so well and the fans like our book so much we're just going to continue the series without a reboot #1 to continue the series we intended to go with in the first place. But mainly, the point is the stories have to be well written and well told and done so on an ongoing long term basis otherwise it's over before it begins. As far as the industry changing just look at the number of creators on social media doing kickstarters and web books and self publishing. One DC and Marvel snob their way out of the industry it will be these new age indie publishers along with the bottom 3 current floppy copy publishers who will fill the vacuum left behind Marvel and DC. About 50% of the new age kickstarter publishers do floppy copies on mail order. And some of them are being ordered into the LCS's currently. All that's needed is a healthy network of all these new age indie crowdfunded and otherwise publishers to get their books into the shops and take over the spaces once held by Marvel and DC. I think that could work. But in the end and ultimately it's all about great, great writing. That is the beginning and end of the comic book industry period. It's about getting back to the roots of what make comics what they are today and that's actually entertaining people with as few politics and agendas as possible. Okay, I'm done.

Yeah, I like this-- I like thunder-passion Thinking Critical. Every so often this guy pokes up and every so often it couldn't have been sooner. I have personally been alarming about the replacement since 2013 (when the "New 52" launched) and since 2016 (when All New Marvel first appeared) 'cause I listened to the interviews-- when they started firing actual artiest and writers for professed Marxist and Commies, I-- we as hobbyist-- [should've] known what was up. This is more than a mere business; this is art-- American art. You can take your wishy-washy "art is like subjective man" logic and dash it on the rocks. Art has a foundation, Art has a purpose, Art has rules and applications of those rules. Very structure of Art is displaying the artist vision. Whether it be religious, political, satire, dramatic or comedy; the point is to for the artist to use techniques and knowledge (be it derivative, direct, or theory) to create an illusion to speak his/her vision. Be it their own ideas, or a baton-mythos, what's created will be an interpretation of how they see the themes in their art. It is not surprising that a Marxist sees the traditions of Americana as poison, the truths of Christ as weakness, and the wisdom of hard work as foolish; there is no surprise that a Commie sees freewill as nonsense, responsibility as slavery, and the virtue of kindness as lunacy. Yes, it is gonna fail because the wielders are simpletons; they lack the discipline to mature past adolescence thus they lack the discipline to create an imagination. I like what you say. I agree-- the big two aren't the ending of comics, but perhaps a burning effigy of a renaissance.

A mildly amusing comic book related story about an experience I had at a "classy" bookstore: I'm not a diehard fan of any particular book but I love buying comic books and graphic novels if the story and art are good. A few years back I stopped by a new Barnes & Noble I had never visited before and after bungling around for a minute I asked a male employee where their "comic section" was. Well to say he was offended and incensed was putting it mildly! He literally turned his nose up to me, snorted, and condescendingly declared "We don't carry COMIC books! We only have GRAPHIC NOVELS."

If i pay $5 then i want to get comics wellness of a good story and character and not to be kicked in the balls over and over again, like Loki by a deg story and bad characterisation.

God I really hope the big 2 can turn it around, I hope they can wake up and start hiring competent writers. But as long as people like Antos are in the industry this is impossible, they need to seriously clean house and get rid of all the trouble makers.

Fatman and Little Boy (Cebulski and Lee) are the H Bomb of the comic industry.

Called it on the Library Sales, even folks like Perch said it was nonsense. 😂😮😢

Very insightful and it explains a lot of things. I do have to wonder though how many 'books' would a bookstore carry? It would also mean the end of the weekly customer as everything would go straight to tpb format, and I dont know how long it takes to put an original graphic novel together as compared to the much smaller weeklies.

Awesome work mate

I think the problem with marvel & dc is that there is no more unique and original stories anymore

I collect a few series I like, and I can tell you, if they go to book stores, I am OUT. I go to the comic book store. I might occasionally buy a graphic novel at the book store, but that's it.

i'm not leaving either. i spend 200$ a month if not more on back issues... screw marvel and dc.

I have given up on any new comics from the big two. I am not who they want as a customer, and they don't produce anything that I want. Sounds like an easy decision to me.

Great synopsis!

In my first justice league script, I have general zod as the main villain.

Diamond killed the Market in the 90's. The creation of the direct market was the beginning of the death spiral by monopolizing the industry. We watched them cause the collapse of smaller publishers.

Old Gods, since my comment keeps getting removed in reply to you for some reason. Here it is for the third time. The shops can’t afford to carry more than a couple books with the current distro. If it wasn’t for people like Mark and Heidi trying to keep them out of Diamond maybe more shops could get the books. And you clearly know nothing about mass production if you name LO. The only crowdfunded book I ever see in chain shops like Newbury are Lore Olympus and that is outselling most the big two as is so imagine if they let CG in? And my two closest LCS both carry Lopresti, Nolan, Rippaverse, and Meyer so go to talk to some shops before parroting talking points from reddit.

What market do these comic book publishers have, I don't see the bookstores or direct retail stores! They have already destroyed the market & these characters, there is no modern readers because they are to busy on Twitter or X

If it's true that they're deliberately trying to destroy the direct market, the last few years of comics suddenly make sense.

I really like my LCS, nice people, nice store and they seem to somehow survive on comics though they did admit if they don't sell every floppy they risk loosing money on that issue and would prefer if the market moved to a graphic novel format. As for Marvel (Disney) and DC I don't want to support them after what they have done.

They've already killed my LCS; doors closed last week. "Marvel and DC. you have FAILED this city!"

Does DC and Marvel realize there are not that many brick and mortar bookstores left?

Heh, they make me think of Basil Fawlty whining that he wants a better class of customer, so he fawns all over a con man posing as a lord, who robs him of a ton of money because Basil couldn't be bothered by the working class people telling him there's something wrong with this guy.

It's been a couple of years since I even considered buying a new comic. Even when they're good, I usually just plain don't really care for the writing style when compared to their 70s/80s counterpart. Why would I pay $5 on a less sure thing issue when I could spend about the same on an Avengers back issue?

I used to be a big comic buyer every month. The entire DC comic output up until Blackest Night and then DC decided to reboot their entire universe and I completely jumped off right there. They wiped out all my favorite characters and history that I had been following for over 20 years and I knew right then and there the industry was on the wrong track. They made the decision to say fuck the long time fans and it's all about new readers. I still dive in every now and then but the goodwill they had with me was gone. When either DC or Marvel are hot it helps the entire industry. When there was big releases i'd be at the comic shop every week and while your there you see other series that grab your interest or is recommended to you. Now who's actually going to the shops ever week? Or going to a shop at all anymore? What the big 2 don't understand is that long time readers get others into the industry because they are passionate about it. You aren't going to have success marketing to casuals because they come and go. It's the long time readers that are the backbone of the industry and when you kill our passion you kill the industry. welcome to the hell you built DC and Marvel you deserve it.

Comics pros feel the same way about their industry as I do about climate change.

I absolutely agree with all the sentiments in this video. I’m a DC and always have been. I’m 33 and grew up reading comics with my father. Wally West is my all time favorite character and Tom King’s Heroes in Crisis made me for the first time walk away from the Flash. Jeremy Adams saved the character, just to be ripped off for a poorer writer in my opinion. DC and Marvel are destroy the industry by destroying great characters.

Watching Patrick (H) Wilems video “How One Movie Killed the 1980s” about Days of Thunder and it seems like Disney is trying to use exactly the same formula to kill Star Wars and Marvel. Maybe the same thing is going on in the comics as well.

The comic industry is collapsing in the same way all magazines and books have collapsed.

If those in Marvel and DC are focused on shifting the comic retail market from comic book stores to Book Store chains, such as Barnes and Noble and Books-A-Million, they're in for in epic failure. Those chain are only going to fill their shelves with what they believe are sellable comics/characters; especially with Manga competing directly against comics.

comic events just highlight the problems. That have been going on for awhile now. A story will gladly be dump or put on pause, just to tie into some event. Which can break the flow and pacing of said story. If not effect it negatively in other ways. Which might not be bad, if the event is good but given how often they pump them out these days. If it bad, you might be waiting weeks, if not months before your favorite comic returns back to the story your invested in. Events should be a very rare thing. Not something that happens every other weekend. For a story should flow naturally, not come off as shoehorned and force in at the last moment. Which events also show off the pricing issue. So many ties in, all for this event. Which depending on how it handle, can be very confusing. More so if there is no reading order and need to read like issue 97 of Venom and then issue 1901 of Spider-man. Which comics, needs to make it simple and easy to pick up a book. Manga master this ages ago. Start with vol one chapter one, than pick up vol two once you finish vol one. Something all these reboots is not helping with.

Well said. There are a few decent comics out there. For others cost is an issue for me but another thing that's pushing me off some titles, mainly DC are the back up stories. Stories by writers and characters I have no interest in.

Continue to fight I know I will but I think things will to change for the better. Nelson peltz getting on that Disney board is that much more important because the movies rely on the subject matter of the comics. A big reason why the first 3 phases of the mcu worked is because it was based off the characters/ material from the comics that work.

Marvel and DC have also successfully gutted their chances of a future. The comics that do sell are for people still holding onto a life long passion there is NO younger generation of comic readers for either company. As it is, I'm stopping ordering all new titles for good and will focus on back issues and Magic. The plan remains to quit completely once I turn 65 in 2026.

I started collecting in the late 70s. I stopped buying issues years ago. The constant reboots and overall terrible writing and overuse of photoshop killed it. I dont even read much online that's free. I never liked mini series. If the story is that good it should be in the regular series. Like Hush.

Minimum wage? Sounds like comic book artist’s wages……..😮

You are so right they just want to make such drastic terrible changes to give them some clout because of their terrible writing.

After Moon Knight book ending in the past week I cannot find a single title that is worth to read anymore ASM sucks, Mckay's The Avengers are uninteresting until now and The X-Men titles are terrible in this final part of Krakoa Era. This will push me away from Marvel and I'll stick just for mangas only.

This is what happens when every participant is awarded a medal... I mean comic book contract

Seems to me that the reason they want to destroy the direct market is they want to get rid of the gatekeeper (local comic shops) in favor of newsstand (book stores, magazine stands, gas stations). They are probably thinking this is best because culturally and politically the big two comic publishers don't have anything in common with the people running the comic shops and ordering the comics. I say let them get their wish, and with it the fall of the direct market. Things have to get worse before they get better I'm afraid. What do you guys think?

The once big two don't care about the direct market. They are banked by their masters and make bank on all the merch that these IPs generate. Retailers better start demanding or coming out with another plan to survive.

We can't save comics as they are now. We have to pick up the pieces and build up.

the comic industry needs change!

A couple of things jumped out at me. I don't think I have seen an original character in years. Dead pool, Cable, Spawn and others all came out within about 8 years. Where are the new characters? It's all variations of one guy. Spider man gets milked the most. I don't care about a black Batman. Put your attention on Bruce Wayne. And so on. Cut down the cast. I bought a Sleepwalker doll a month ago. I got in with that character from issue one. I didn't know there were previous deathloks, but I was in. To me he was new. And darkhawk. None of these characters were especially great, but they were different. Remember when the Sentry was teased in Wizard? It was nuts. And he was good for a time until Bendis got ahold of him. I just want new ideas. Even something like Agent Liberty was fairly solid. With LCS, I miss them. Jimmy the owner might need a shower and all that, but he knows a lot about Curt Swan, Ross Andru, whatever. And the stereotype that they are all arrogant nerds... I have never seen that. That's the Simpsons guy. I used to spend hours in my LCS just talking to the owner. He knew his stuff. I miss that a lot. It's the human connection. I don't think modern creators get that.

Your analysis is quite thorough and insightful as expected, Wes, but as you recently pointed out in another video within your channel, Hasbro isn't helping LCS much either with so many of their... content for "modern audiences". A similar observation can be made about Funko as well.

IF someone is looking strictly for investments.. there are SO many (1,000s) of better options than "comic books"!

I love the talk about short runs an mini-series. Amazing Spider-Man and Fantastic Four were instant hits but it took years for books like X-Men, Daredevil and Iron Man to grow and develop. Those characters never would have lasted based on todays marketing methods. That was also before the direct market when you had to fight for spinner rack slots because there was limited space and every book was not going to be carried. Mini-series were invented for the direct market and they were special events. It would be a test for The Punisher or Wolverine and the hype for those books was massive. It was then expanded to a maxi-series like Secret War but the were always special. Nothing special about anything today

They can't rely on the origin stories of older characters because everyone knows them by heart and they can't create new characters because they're all politically motivated creations that no one buys. So they've locked themselves into the #1 issue mini-series merry-go-round that's really a death spiral for their company. It's crazy that the once-proven method, a short story for the issue, while the long-running story is obscured into the background to be set up in later issues, has all been abandoned because they no longer possess the writing talent for those kinds of stories.

You only talked to the Comic Shops that are doing well. You need to talk to those that are selling a lot of stuff. There's bound to be one in the multiverse...

I think it’s what perch said where it’s ceos who don’t give a fuck, because there in a dead in job with a high pay check. The ceos only job is to stay in the black.

With the shape Warner Brothers is in, there might not be a DC Comics in a couple years.

I don't know what an issue #1 is supposed to do for the comic companies. If no one is reading your books, what difference does a #1 issue make?

Lower the frikking prices. I will buy more comic books. Period. Dont be greedy.

Well they decided that most of their characters and stories they wanted to write weren't for me. I'm not a identity first, romance seeking reader and thats why I don't want to read it. I think most established regular readers pass on the majority of Marvel/DC books because they're full of content that isn't fulfilling or even well developed.

The Japonese have also executed Marvel and DC characters for being nosy, no one challenges Manga and Anime that dominates half the planet.

Ouch