By Omar Castellon
On
Aug. 31, DC Comics officially rebooted its fictional universe in an attempt to
draw in new readers. Among other
things, this move, dubbed “The New 52”, either cancels or renumbers all DC
publications from #1. The decision
was made in the wake of dwindling readership numbers, which have been in
decline for the last three years. Modern
comic sales have come nowhere close to what they were in the past.
For
example, the first issue of Marvel’s new X-Men series, released in 1991, sold
over 8 million copies, making it the best selling comic book of all time. Today the most popular titles from
either publisher are more likely to see sales numbers in the 100,000
range. Of course, the success of X-Men #1 was partially due to the fact
that it had four variant covers, meaning people bought multiple copies of the
same issue. However, that still
doesn’t fully account for the disparity between current sales and those from 20
years ago. Thus, the ultimate
question is: What can be done to salvage the major comics industry?
Perhaps
the most significant problem facing the major publishers is exposure. For the majority of their existence,
comic books were available in grocery stores, pharmacies and department
stores. Essentially, they could be purchased anywhere, but now it’s
uncommon to find them outside of specialized retailers. It certainly doesn’t help that comics
found in places such as Barnes & Noble are mostly in the form of trade
paperbacks, which can be thought of as anthologies comprised of months old
stories.
The
second dilemma facing Marvel and DC has to do with pricing. Currently, the typical comic book costs
either three or four dollars. To
some this may not sound like much, but consider that the average length of a
comic is 32 pages, with 10 of those dedicated to ads. Simply put, there is very little bang-for-your-buck to be
had with a mainstream American comics.
If sales are to increase, Marvel and DC must do one of two things. They can choose to lower the price of
their titles to something more reasonable, or increase the amount to content
per issue.
Both
Marvel and DC are responsible for some of the most memorable characters in all
of pop culture. Superman, Captain
America, Spider-Man and Batman have become timeless figures and will always
remain relevant in some form, be it animation, films or toy lines. Nevertheless, it would truly be
disheartening to see the medium that gave such icons life fade away.
