Evil G
07-12-2004, 06:23 PM
i just had a strange thought.
comics have been around for a lot longer, and have gone though a lot of ups and downs, some of which are similar to what has been experienced in techno.
i worked in a comic book store in the early 90's, and though this may sound weird, i was highly respected in the industry. DC comics would actually pay for me to fly to Los Angeles every year to participate in seminars on comic book marketing. at the time, we were pushing comics into an older, more mature market, and having great success.
but eventually the bubble burst, small publishers went under, distributers went under, and even big publishers started to go under. nobody could really put their finger on a specific reason, other than that it wasn't cool anymore. the internet was being used to trade collector comics at the time, but that was about it. digital media definitely could not be blamed for the problems the industry experienced.
i don't have many connections to the comic industry anymore, but my impression is that it eventually stabilized back to it's pre boom levels, meaning specialty "underground" comics are few and far between, and only the generic mainstream stuff gets any shelf space.
what i do see today though is a lot of underground comic strips online. they realized that the overhead of printing and distribution was too high, and that the only way to succeed would be to adopt to new technology. most online comic strips are free for the reading, and they make their money on selling t-shirts and other merchandise.
i know there is a major difference in that there is no such thing as a comic strip dj - you don't buy a comic and turn around and read it to someone for money - but it seems that readers who like the comic enough and who want to continue to read it, don't hesitate to support the artists by buying their merch. it might take some time to convince the techno kids to change their views on merch, but it seems like there is potential here.
comics have been around for a lot longer, and have gone though a lot of ups and downs, some of which are similar to what has been experienced in techno.
i worked in a comic book store in the early 90's, and though this may sound weird, i was highly respected in the industry. DC comics would actually pay for me to fly to Los Angeles every year to participate in seminars on comic book marketing. at the time, we were pushing comics into an older, more mature market, and having great success.
but eventually the bubble burst, small publishers went under, distributers went under, and even big publishers started to go under. nobody could really put their finger on a specific reason, other than that it wasn't cool anymore. the internet was being used to trade collector comics at the time, but that was about it. digital media definitely could not be blamed for the problems the industry experienced.
i don't have many connections to the comic industry anymore, but my impression is that it eventually stabilized back to it's pre boom levels, meaning specialty "underground" comics are few and far between, and only the generic mainstream stuff gets any shelf space.
what i do see today though is a lot of underground comic strips online. they realized that the overhead of printing and distribution was too high, and that the only way to succeed would be to adopt to new technology. most online comic strips are free for the reading, and they make their money on selling t-shirts and other merchandise.
i know there is a major difference in that there is no such thing as a comic strip dj - you don't buy a comic and turn around and read it to someone for money - but it seems that readers who like the comic enough and who want to continue to read it, don't hesitate to support the artists by buying their merch. it might take some time to convince the techno kids to change their views on merch, but it seems like there is potential here.