It has been over a year since I wrote on the comics and collectors as a dying breed. Let's take a look at the hobby a year later.

     What has changed? Marvel seems to be pulling themselves out of the mud somewhat. They have tried all sorts of ideas; some have failed like their "Backpack Comics." Other attempts to revive some of their characters have brought up their sales. Interest is high again on Spider-Man with the anticipation for the big-screen motion picture coming up next spring. Many projects are in the works for more major films utilizing their characters and that can only serve to give sales a shot in the arm. Overall, sales are still not what they used to be and Marvel, the once monster seller that it was, has lost a lot of ground to DC comics.
     DC comics, on the other hand, seems to be doing well. They have revived the Green Arrow with great success and even a new version of Brave and the Bold is in the planning stages. The newly designed Justice League and Justice Society books are selling well. Other older characters like Deadman, are being featured again and John Byrne has a limited series Superman/Batman Generations II that is a feast for the eyes.
     Their series of DC Archives hardback books come out regularly with prime golden age material that is grabbed up by the old collectors. This is something that Marvel, with its almost endless inventory of Timely Comics classics will not do.
     Superman has been redesigned via the use of Japanese Manga (ugh!) art and the sales must justify it, although it has driven some of the older collectors, like me, away from the book. Getting Will Eisner into the DC stable has been a plus, as publication of his early Spirit work in Archives is the best reproduction and coloring of that material I have ever seen. So, I remain, for the most part, a DC fan of many of their books.
     Comics shops seem to be continuing to close, and even ones that remain open have diversified into other fields like models, toys and gaming. My favorite shop dropped comics altogether after multiple problems with the sole comic distributor Diamond.
     Discounts seem to be falling by the wayside and many stores cannot compete with what books sell for on the deeply discounted Internet sites.
     The Pokemon craze seems to have died and a few shops that specialized in Pokemon and its trading cards have shut their doors.
     So are things any better? I don't think so. I was in a comic shop yesterday and my grand purchase was two comic books, a far cry from the stack I used to buy. My interest in Marvel has waned and I am slowly selling off my prime Marvel material on the Internet.      A contributing factor to most of the problem is the monopolistic Diamond Publishing, which has sole distribution rights to all the comics. They are inept at best, fouling up orders from the comic shop owners. This in turn loses the shops customers when they cannot deliver what was ordered in a timely fashion. The comics shops have no alternative source to turn to and must suffer with bad management and indifferent customer service. The youngsters have not returned to the hobby, the only people I see in the specialty shops are older collectors, still holding onto their hope that things will get better...I doubt it. Thank God for reprints.
Tom Mason
Sept. 2001

For the commentary Tom made on the comic book industry last year, click here.  A Dying Breed

©2002 by Tom Mason