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Hmmmm....
Interesting question. I think you have to first define what you mean by “fix.” There seems to be two avenues of thought on this, with two different conclusions:
-If by fix you mean “ make stuff that I like,” then no; it can’t be fixed. At least not forcibly. Times change, and we’re not the target audience any more. The problem there isn’t with DC, it’s with us. We got old. But it’s not hopeless; eventually things will swing back to something more appealing. You’re dealing with perpetual books; they run in cycles, and there’s only a limited number of permutations. Eventually EVERYTHING will come back around.
-If by fix you mean “increase sales” then sure, that can be done. But you won’t like it. Like I said; we’re not the target audience. We’re a diminishing resource; not just ‘cos we’re dropping their books, but because we’re old and dying off. Catering to us is a losing proposition for DC, and I’m pretty sure stuff that’d appeal to the current crop of fans wouldn’t appeal to us.
For specifics:
>The new 52 came on the heels of the prior issues with no real lag time.
Oh, HELL yeah! They were hyping “52" months before that Flash one was done! I think that’s symptomatic of a problem the Big Two-ish have had for while though; they’re so self-referencing and recycled that they’ve become intellectually inbred. Folks EXPECT an annual redo every year.... and each redo is obsessed with showing some slight tweak of the characters, which requires a pre-existing attachment to have any sort of meaning. So you end up with something “new” that’s only shocking or surprising if you’re familiar with the last one, and a bunch of old obscure characters from 20 years ago.
The best thing to do would be to just put the books out, and if you change stuff do it without much fanfare.... like they used to. Folks will fall in line, and won’t blow a fuse over minor changes (such as Supes without undies) without the months of nerdly stewing.
>if you actually did gain any new readership with the new 52, if you revert to the old DCU they'll leave.
I seem to recall in another post that the numbers implied the reboots DO see a surge of sales, for a few months; but that it appears the Big Two-ish aren’t bringing new readers in, they’re just swapping the current ones for a bit. I suspect that’s okay withe the companies ‘cos they’re actually big conglomerates who make more money licensing out the characters than they do from the comics.
That’s the problem with a full-on marketing blitz; sure, you might make Spiderman more popular but it won’t necessarily do anything for comic sales. It’s more likely to show the company how much the comic doesn’t matter.
>Bring back some of the fantastical stuff they use to do.
THIS is a good idea too; and I think digital could facilitate it, since it’s a lot less expensive. They really need to invest in some comic R&D: produce DIFFERENT things.... GENUINELY different things, not just slightly less and slightly more angsty heroes.... so’s to snag a DIFFERENT audience. Part of the problem with becoming intellectually inbred is that everything starts looking the same. If you get tired of the basic style there’s nothing else for you. That’s a big part of what killed things in the 90's. EVERYBODY did Image style comics.... even companies who had no reason doing them.... and when the luster wore off there was nothing else the readers could move on to.
I know it’s a touchy subject here; but look what the Japanese companies did: they brought over a lot of different stuff. Kids books, adult books, action, comedy, soap operas, drama, horror.... and for over a decade they ruled ‘cos they brought in lots of different readers. It shows that this idea works; and provides a ready template of where things could go. The Big Two-ish have huge catalogues of characters; they could easily produce a massive variety of material and lure in all sorts of new readers. Put up a weekly or daily strip on the website; something funny, something more soap-opera like, something odd.... something FREE. Something different. Minimal expense, massive potential. (People lament the death of the newspaper strip; they’re not dead, they’re online.)
>THey really need to cut the price of downloads too.
THAT’S a big one too, and I think they’re missing out on a potential game changer here. But:
>DC Doesn't feel the need to fix anything right now.
I agree, and I suspect that’s why the price for digital is so high; ‘cos some clown in an office thinks folks will pay the same as a floppy copy. I also suspect that’s why the reboots run rampant: they work. Sales go up. Not for good, but for a few months, and we’ll get the same boost next year with the NEW redo....
>There's a reason we all fondly remember the 1970's as one of the best periods for superheroes.
The irony there is that the 70's were the time of the comic implosion; a down-time for the (then) Big Two. We remember it fondly ‘cos we were too new and inexperienced to realize what had happened:
It was a time startlingly similar to what’s going on now. So yeah; look at it all as part of the great cosmic cycle.
Don C.
Interesting question. I think you have to first define what you mean by “fix.” There seems to be two avenues of thought on this, with two different conclusions:
-If by fix you mean “ make stuff that I like,” then no; it can’t be fixed. At least not forcibly. Times change, and we’re not the target audience any more. The problem there isn’t with DC, it’s with us. We got old. But it’s not hopeless; eventually things will swing back to something more appealing. You’re dealing with perpetual books; they run in cycles, and there’s only a limited number of permutations. Eventually EVERYTHING will come back around.
-If by fix you mean “increase sales” then sure, that can be done. But you won’t like it. Like I said; we’re not the target audience. We’re a diminishing resource; not just ‘cos we’re dropping their books, but because we’re old and dying off. Catering to us is a losing proposition for DC, and I’m pretty sure stuff that’d appeal to the current crop of fans wouldn’t appeal to us.
For specifics:
>The new 52 came on the heels of the prior issues with no real lag time.
Oh, HELL yeah! They were hyping “52" months before that Flash one was done! I think that’s symptomatic of a problem the Big Two-ish have had for while though; they’re so self-referencing and recycled that they’ve become intellectually inbred. Folks EXPECT an annual redo every year.... and each redo is obsessed with showing some slight tweak of the characters, which requires a pre-existing attachment to have any sort of meaning. So you end up with something “new” that’s only shocking or surprising if you’re familiar with the last one, and a bunch of old obscure characters from 20 years ago.
The best thing to do would be to just put the books out, and if you change stuff do it without much fanfare.... like they used to. Folks will fall in line, and won’t blow a fuse over minor changes (such as Supes without undies) without the months of nerdly stewing.
>if you actually did gain any new readership with the new 52, if you revert to the old DCU they'll leave.
I seem to recall in another post that the numbers implied the reboots DO see a surge of sales, for a few months; but that it appears the Big Two-ish aren’t bringing new readers in, they’re just swapping the current ones for a bit. I suspect that’s okay withe the companies ‘cos they’re actually big conglomerates who make more money licensing out the characters than they do from the comics.
That’s the problem with a full-on marketing blitz; sure, you might make Spiderman more popular but it won’t necessarily do anything for comic sales. It’s more likely to show the company how much the comic doesn’t matter.
>Bring back some of the fantastical stuff they use to do.
THIS is a good idea too; and I think digital could facilitate it, since it’s a lot less expensive. They really need to invest in some comic R&D: produce DIFFERENT things.... GENUINELY different things, not just slightly less and slightly more angsty heroes.... so’s to snag a DIFFERENT audience. Part of the problem with becoming intellectually inbred is that everything starts looking the same. If you get tired of the basic style there’s nothing else for you. That’s a big part of what killed things in the 90's. EVERYBODY did Image style comics.... even companies who had no reason doing them.... and when the luster wore off there was nothing else the readers could move on to.
I know it’s a touchy subject here; but look what the Japanese companies did: they brought over a lot of different stuff. Kids books, adult books, action, comedy, soap operas, drama, horror.... and for over a decade they ruled ‘cos they brought in lots of different readers. It shows that this idea works; and provides a ready template of where things could go. The Big Two-ish have huge catalogues of characters; they could easily produce a massive variety of material and lure in all sorts of new readers. Put up a weekly or daily strip on the website; something funny, something more soap-opera like, something odd.... something FREE. Something different. Minimal expense, massive potential. (People lament the death of the newspaper strip; they’re not dead, they’re online.)
>THey really need to cut the price of downloads too.
THAT’S a big one too, and I think they’re missing out on a potential game changer here. But:
>DC Doesn't feel the need to fix anything right now.
I agree, and I suspect that’s why the price for digital is so high; ‘cos some clown in an office thinks folks will pay the same as a floppy copy. I also suspect that’s why the reboots run rampant: they work. Sales go up. Not for good, but for a few months, and we’ll get the same boost next year with the NEW redo....
>There's a reason we all fondly remember the 1970's as one of the best periods for superheroes.
The irony there is that the 70's were the time of the comic implosion; a down-time for the (then) Big Two. We remember it fondly ‘cos we were too new and inexperienced to realize what had happened:
It was a time startlingly similar to what’s going on now. So yeah; look at it all as part of the great cosmic cycle.
Don C.
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