Comic Books "Tougher than other mediums"
Wednesday, Dec 10, 2008
Tom Spurgeon writing at the Comics Reporter site:
I see signs of toughness in elements of the comics industry, particularly in comparison to other media industries right now. Things may get bad, they may get outright horrible, but relative to the apocalyptic upheaval experienced by book publishing recently and the newspaper industry over the last several months, I think we can safely say that comics -- stupid, inbred, lectured-to, looked down-upon comics -- wasn't first in line. I think that's a source of hope, for at least as long as it lasts, and I think a significant contributor that comes from a compulsive addiction to making comics. Comics may have a problem spreading their investment back into the industry into elements of infrastructure and even the talent involved, but there's plenty of energy and devotion going into comics.
Spurgeon's right: comics publishers and readers are used to companies going belly up, comics know economic disaster rather well from long years with an industry pushed (often) to the edge.
It's fair to say that going forward into recession, depression or whatever malaise is revealing itself in the current turmoil across continents and their economies, comics will weather the problem with a lot more enthusiasm. The lumbering, somnolent giant of mainstream media is collapsing, no longer able to feed the enormous overhead it has amassed. Like comic book publishers from thirty years ago, newspapers and book publishers are being forced to reshape into something viable.
Related:
Comic Book Sales Clobbered in January 2011
Comic Book Sales September 2008
Comic Book Sales November 2008
Comic Books Tougher Than Other Mediums - Tom Spurgeon