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Post by jakefury on Jun 7, 2012 13:28:46 GMT -5
Marvel and DC have been the big two in comics for as long as I can remember. As a kid growing up with comics 99.9 % of my books were from these 2 companies. As I've gotten older (I'm now 36) the big two publishers haven't changed much. On the DC side you still have your major icons like Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and more recently I think you can put Green Lantern in that mix. The company just relaunched all of their titles in an effort to boost sales and bring in new readers.
On the Marvel side not much has changed, except for the fact that they've oversaturated the market with an abundance of Avengers and X-Men titles. Wolverine and Spider-Man are both featured in their own books every month as well as several team books. But that's a rant for another day.
My question is simple. Why don't people read more independent comics? Is it an unfamiliarity with the characters? An unwilligness to try anything new? Brainwashing from too many years of reading Marvel or DC? All jokes aside I'm going to go with option number 2. However, I think that's just an excuse. There are a ton of indy characters with loyal followings over the years. Witchblade, Invincible, the Walking Dead, TMNT and others have all enjoyed very successful runs over the years.
For myself, I'm personally a little sick to my stomach of the same old same old from the big 2, in particularly Marvel. But! Indy comics to the rescue! In the last few weeks I've began reading some relaunched Valiant titles such as X-O Manowar and Harbinger. I'm also exploring Prophecy, a new series by Ron Marz for Dynamite. I am really enjoying them because they are good solid books that don't have a ton of back history to catch up on before reading. I've jumped right in and the water feels fine.
In closing, i only have one more thing to say. Try an indy comic, you may actually end up enjoying it.
~Jake Fury
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Post by Admin on Jun 7, 2012 14:07:12 GMT -5
I want to start reading stuff from Valiant but my local shop hasn't been getting it  That said, I shamelessly promote IDW's TMNT all the time. |
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Post by jakefury on Jun 7, 2012 14:58:16 GMT -5
I want to start reading stuff from Valiant but my local shop hasn't been getting it That said, I shamelessly promote IDW's TMNT all the time. Smite them! XOMOW is awesome. |
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Post by DedmanWalkin on Jun 7, 2012 15:17:55 GMT -5
The same reason why no one votes for third party candidates.
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Post by jakefury on Jun 7, 2012 15:21:18 GMT -5
The same reason why no one votes for third party candidates. That's a really good point. |
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Post by NorCalCO on Jun 7, 2012 18:35:32 GMT -5
Firstly I want to say that I buy 2 IDW titles every month (both Transformers ongoing books) and my son gets 2 Bongo titles (Simpsons and Spongebob). He was also reading Star Wars: The Clone Wars from Dark Horse until it was cancelled.
That said, the vast majority of my books are from Marvel. While I have nothing against indy comic books or characters, Marvel has the characters I have been reading since I was a kid (I'm 36 now) and that I'm passionate about. Just about the only comics I read as a kid that aren't Marvel now were Transformers and G.I. Joe. Both of those former Marvel comic properties are now published by IDW and I gladly support their TF books. I just don't have room on my Pull List for G.I. Joe but wish I did. DC characters never did much for me as a kid and I never picked them up much. One of the things I like the most about comics is continuity and how everything ties together. The more Marvel 616 titles I get the bigger my picture of that universe is. Even within Marvel I have never read an Ultimate Universe book and tend to stay away from anything non-616.
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Post by Crom-Cruach on Jun 7, 2012 21:55:50 GMT -5
Why do most people not read comics from other companies?
1-Years of resistance to the mental rape inflicted by marvel/dc has dulled their ability to believe in anything better
2-change is difficult for us hairless simians
3-Other U.S based companies, struggle to get basic visibility. No visibility=few new readers
4-European Comics are largely not distributed in the U.S because of bullshit trading agreements
5-Disney is evil
6-Warner brothers is evil
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Post by jakefury on Jun 8, 2012 6:57:26 GMT -5
Why do most people not read comics from other companies? 1-Years of resistance to the mental rape inflicted by marvel/dc has dulled their ability to believe in anything better 2-change is difficult for us hairless simians 3-Other U.S based companies, struggle to get basic visibility. No visibility=few new readers4-European Comics are largely not distributed in the U.S because of bullshit trading agreements 5-Disney is evil 6-Warner brothers is evil I think advertising plays a huge part. I've been frequenting CBR and they sem to cater more to the Indys than your typical comic sites. I also saw that Bleeding Cool is now presenting a comic magazine every month. The initial issue had Bloodshot on the cover. |
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Post by Crom-Cruach on Jun 8, 2012 8:24:19 GMT -5
Which is nothing compared to the over-saturation of publicity Marvel and DC have. Think of it this way, you have to seek out advertisement on other companies. Marvel and DC give you the advertisement.
And marvel has Disney, the ultimate evil corporation with a good image. They can swarm the media like few can.
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Post by Admin on Jun 8, 2012 16:52:51 GMT -5
Picked up XO 1 while in the city today.
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Post by jakefury on Jun 8, 2012 17:44:15 GMT -5
Picked up XO 1 while in the city today. Exalt! |
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Beatboks
Team Buster Ledger
Posts: 2,206
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Post by Beatboks on Jun 9, 2012 8:47:28 GMT -5
One of the things I like the most about comics is continuity and how everything ties together. The more Marvel 616 titles I get the bigger my picture of that universe is. Even within Marvel I have never read an Ultimate Universe book and tend to stay away from anything non-616. I think this is a very good point. Most readers tend to get a lot of books from the same "universe" or shared continuity. When I was kid (in the 60's) for me it was all about DC. I grew up watching the adventures of Superman www.imdb.com/title/tt0044231/ Batman www.imdb.com/title/tt0059968/ . nd cartoons like the Superman Aquaman adventure hour , batman In my teens the cartoons of Super friends etc. I read some Avengers, and the Defenders but that was it. I read all (or at least most) of the red circle characters because they featured from time to time in Archie comics (that universe). In the 80's I got into the Australian publisher Cyclone in a BIG way (as much as you can into a publisher putting out less than a dozen titles) I read and collected most things that were part of "shared continuity. For example the marvel "new Universe" with Justice, DP7, (and for some reason the other title names escape me at the moment). I tried Marvel's "1999" I just think that once your into a "universe" it's easier to delve deeper in the one than to explore another a little. that's why there will always be "marvel fanboy's and DC fanboy's |
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Beatboks
Team Buster Ledger
Posts: 2,206
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Post by Beatboks on Jun 9, 2012 8:54:42 GMT -5
For the record, when I watched those shows as a kid, they never looked like they do on those You tube videos. Not on my family's old Black and White TV.
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nelomaxwell
Team Buster Ledger
This groove F***kin suits me, swag two button
Posts: 1,668
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Post by nelomaxwell on Jun 9, 2012 12:58:01 GMT -5
Reppin time. I've been talking about indy books for a bit. I was until recently and Invincible fanatic , so much so that I had gotten everyone at my old Comic shop job to start collecting it religiously. I'm also a fan of the Grendel as you well know and the Darkness. I'm all for Indy books I loved Locke and Key and Enjoyed the Artifacts series. I also buy and read more obscure titles (I did a review for one a while ago.) And While I still do have favs at the big two (Namely Nightwing @ DC and DD, BP Logan @ Marvel) I'm not in a rush to buy anything from them until they show us that they can do something other than Reboot (Looking at you DC) and make heroes tragically fight other heroes (Hey Marvel) that said I'm thinking DC should've never bought out Milestone they could've benefited from having it around later instead of shelving the characters (RIP Static, RIP Hardware).
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RV
Street Level Ledger
Posts: 243
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Post by RV on Jun 10, 2012 18:03:32 GMT -5
Because people grow up on these big characters, so they naturally proceed to buy things with their favorite characters. When they expand their horizon, Marvel/DC is already feeding things down each person's through that people read it regardless of quality (a lot of the time, not all, of course) and really they have no incentive to broaden their horizons beyond that.
People end up being more fans of the characters/world, than the medium.
My 2 cents, at least.
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Post by NorCalCO on Jun 10, 2012 20:37:40 GMT -5
Because people grow up on these big characters, so they naturally proceed to buy things with their favorite characters. When they expand their horizon, Marvel/DC is already feeding things down each person's through that people read it regardless of quality (a lot of the time, not all, of course) and really they have no incentive to broaden their horizons beyond that. People end up being more fans of the characters/world, than the medium. My 2 cents, at least. QFT. |
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