The irrepressible Man of the Atom continues his journey through American comic book history. Continuing his deep dive into comic book distribution, he takes a page–or three–from legendary Marvel editor-in-chief Jim Shooter. Which distro method is superior: Newsstands or the direct market?
Shooter’s and Rozanski’s analyses are well worth your consideration. A point that both Shooter and Rozanski make is that both distribution models have their advantages and disadvantages. Shooter points out that the market would probably be stronger if both models survived and were used together, and he attempted to move that direction within the company. He didn’t succeed in that effort. Shooter was fired from Marvel in 1987. The single Direct Market model moved forward at Marvel.
Both men also point out the Newsstand model was where most new readers originated, and that the loss of the Newsstand market made expanding the comics market difficult. Movies, television, and other IP development keeps the name of your product on the public’s lips, but that often doesn’t translate to selling your magazines.
In light of Shooter’s insights, it’s no mystery why comic book sales are plummeting now that the Big Two have been relegated to IP banks for Hollywood nostalgia churn. If you want a picture of cinema’s future, imagine Batman punching the clown … forever.
Which is a state of affairs nobody would have expected back in 1968.
Browsing Chris Tolworthy’s site, and from reading other comic book blogs talking about the late 60s/early 70s era, it was clear that Stan, Jack, and the rest of the Bullpen were convinced that superheroes were a fad that would run its course, as it did in the WWII era. In fact, they were concerned that in 1968 it already HAD run its course.
That superheroes were a fad whose shelf life was unnaturally stretched by the hype machine is a sentiment you find among a lot of industry players. Say what you will about Alan Moore, it wasn’t an accident that he portrayed a “What if Stan and Jack were right?” comics industry twenty years later in Watchmen.
What happened?
