>>8120032
Stop making terrible stories.

I say that we go a little weeaboo and have a giant, shitty paper format monthly, like Shounen Jump. You buy the colored trades if you particularly like it.

Try to end the clusterfuck continuities. I would actually prefer a lot of characters having their own separate little worlds with occasional crossovers.

throughout the 1990s Disney Adventures published in Australia was stocked at the supermarket checkout, it was this pocketbook sized magazine that contained all sorts of things including comic strips
Joss Whedon and J.J. Abrams are terrible writers - why would you want to force them on children?

They don't seel comics in supermarket in the US?

Also less graphical violence ans sex. Implying stuff is enough. Don't forget that the first person to please when selling to kids is their parents...

Stop targeting neckbeards. Stop making cross overs. Stop putting Wolverine on the fucking cover of everything.

>>8120032
I think this is a good plan. Have anthology mags as tryouts starting with the kid titles and maybe one for the most popular heroes (Batman magazine or something) which would reprint stories from a couple of years ago. If those take off, expand the line.

I would happily pay to get every Bat-book together in one magazine...even if I had to sacrifice color.

>>8120098
Please don't turn this into a "I hate writer X thread," okay?

Marvel has 2 anthologies going.

Take a few leafs from Manga, have larger books. At face value comics are expensive.

>>8120098
I'm not sure what happened to Disney Adventures, sure dont see it anymore. Maybe they shut it down along with the animation studio?

>>8120112
They haven't in years. It's disappointing.

>>8120196
oh wait no its apparently still going: http://www.disney.com.au/disneyadventures/

>>8120098
>>Joss Whedon and J.J. Abrams are terrible writers - why would you want to force them on children?

Because they would attract attention. Put "from the creator of Lost" on anything and it'll sell.

And they would be writing for the older readers anthology.

>>8120173
but where are they sold?
I don't see them in stores anywhere.

>>8120173
I think they only have one. Marvel Presents was cancelled.

And less cape books.
We also need less capebooks.

The question is will kids actually enjoy of them? No, seriously just think about it.

Less ongoings more minis.

>>8120247
Kids love batman and spiderman in cartoon, they don't have reason to hate comics.

>>8120262

You would be surprised. They're two different mediums.

>>8120271
Dunno. I'm pretty sure you could make them love comics again with a good enough marketing campain.

>>8120288

Why is that? Kids are considerably more picky than adults when it comes to these things if you think about it.

>>8120303
You need to make the comics be COOL again. It's easy and difficult at the same time, but I think It's doable.

>>8120247
Kids today aren't any different from the kids of the last half century.

>>8120303
kids like what is fun.
bright colors and crazy shit happening everywhere.
comics is or was great at that.
show that to kids let them decide, if they can't get kids and young teens to pick up a comic book for some quick and cheap entertainment then the industry is fucked.

>>8120247
As long as they're actually written for kids (ie not patronizing or grimdark) I don't see why not.

>>8120328

They aren't?

>>8120401

That's the problem, most of the things mentioned simply come off as patronising and forced.

Cross market comics with movies. DC's marketing response to Dark Knight has been pitiful.

>>8120395

no kids love GRIMDARK shut up

>>8120448
>>They aren't?

How would they be?

>>That's the problem, most of the things mentioned simply come off as patronising and forced.

?

>>8120112
>modern comics
>selling to kids

You're not understanding something here.

>>8120328

That's the problem.

>>8120484
>>8120401
>>8120395
>>8120328
>>8120303
>>8120262

Kids are no longer the target demographic.

>>8120505
That's why we're talking about expanding the target demographic.

>>8120474
Put out the joker graphic novel and made sure bookstores had all the big batman graphic novels are up front?

Movies have all ways had a small effect on individual issue sale.s

There's a reason DC owns the graphic novel and trade paperback market.

>>8120485

Easier exposure to the world leads to them losing their innocence at a much younger age.

Most of the humour in MA simply feels forced and dull, it's trying too hard to be this simple fun thing but it's falling short so much. Tiny Titans is simply for the most part making fun of the main DCU and only really becomes funny if you keep up to date with it.

Seriously what the fuck?

>>8120032
>The most important thing is for Marvel and DC to fire their respective creative teams entirely. Next they should only hire over-hyped and over-paid writing talent from outside the realm of comics. Next they should pander to a market that hasn't cared about them since the late 1970s.

>>8120474
Goddamn DC needs to get desperate. The economy's crashing and they might lose their jobs as early as tomorrow and they come out with REBELS.

WHORE OUT THE MAINSTREAM STUFF.

DC, you can't afford to come out with "fan" books. You can only do that when you are dominating the market.

We should spam the shit out of comics EVERYWHERE. I am sure I've made atleast 10 /co/mrades that way.

Make a Nick Magazine/Disney Adventures style comic magazine with exclusive minicomics and interviews and other fun shit, kids would eat it up.

>>8120505

And people are wondering why the industry is going to shit...?

Is there any way you can branch out marketing comics to different audiences, like how the Wii was advertised for all ages?

I'd rather have the company die than have it ruined by an influx of shitty kiddy fanservice influences.

Then it'll start the whole 'comics made my kid gay/a rapist/gangmember' shit.


...
On second thought that sounds funny, do it.

Turn all comics into cheap flash-animations, and sell them through itunes.

I think the best thing right now would be to advertise, advertise, advertise.

One interesting way would be to basically have a nerdy, geeky show on MTV, with very attractive hosts mixed in with more stereotypical ones, or somewhere where kids would look at it and get the idea that nerds are not people that you should inherently disassociate yourself with. If you can equate comic books as "cool" in a mainstream fashion, you'll have it made.

Take a lesson from Archie Comics (my god, I feel dirty writing that) and put out reruns of storylines in digest format. You can sell them at grocery stores (same size as crossword puzzle books...and Archie digests, which are still sold at grocery stores).

I would buy them, and I don't usually buy comics.

>>8120529
You're twisting my words.

>>8120582
Most of DC's child line does this with cartoon tie ins

>>8120617
really? Never seen 'em.

>>8120533
They own Marvel in graphic novel sales. Marvel didn't even have one in the top ten last year. DC had 8.

Its almost like they took advantage of the dark Knight and watchman movie hype...

DC also has double Marvel's back list sales

>>8120625
See the Scooby Doo ones? Those are DC

>>8120484
Actually they do, well older kids anyway. I find that younger kids like titles with adventure and brave heroes fighting villains from dimension nemesis x and...holy shit!
That's what comics are supposed to be about!

>>8120649
Imagine how much DC would be dominating in trade sales if they actually had a competent marketing department.

>>8120582
Also, make them cheap.
You have to make certain that the consumer believes him or herself to be getting a great deal.
Each digest has to contain at least two full issues for less than the price of a standard direct market issue.

>>8120072

This. Also publish more miniature-sized books like Marvel Adventures is doing. The same size as manga collections.

>>8120688
>That's what comics are supposed to be about!

This is an arbitrary and self-defeating attitude.

>>8120713

"The industry is in a rut, but I'm going to stick my head in the sand like everyone else" is an arbitrary and self-defeating attitude.

>>8120608
I did and I apologize.

Isn't the lack of comics in supermarkets and drug stores more about distribution than sales? And the lack of sales due to a lack of decent product placement within said stores (I haven't seen a comic rack in years upon years in a supermarket/drug store)?
Is Diamond the sole distributor of Marvel/DC?

>>8120735
I don't see how your strawman argument negates my point.

Kids suck and like shitty things, I'd rather see the industry rot from the inside out, then see it be completely dumbed down again, just so we can sell to kids.

>>8120753
The fact that those demographics aren't picking up comics negates your argument.

>>8120744
>>Isn't the lack of comics in supermarkets and drug stores more about distribution than sales?

As far as I know stores have been leery of stocking comics ever since the collectors market collapsed.

>>Is Diamond the sole distributor of Marvel/DC?

Yes.

Just stop with the CROSSOVER EVENT OF THE CENTURY bullshit. I know comicbook neckbeards eat EVENTS shit up but the key here is to appeal to the next line of kids.

>>8120808
My point is that pigeonholing an entire artistic medium into one specific tone in one specific genre is backwards. What the industry needs is better product at a better cost with greater variety, along with actual advertising and visibility.

>That's what comics are supposed to be about!
BIFF! BAM! POW!
COMICS ARE FOR KIDS!

Make comics cheap, fun, and for actual kids again.

>>8120842
Hahaha, what?

If anything comic book neckbeards are sick of the constant events, if anyone would love them, it's kids.

Would switching the focus away from collectors help or harm the industry?

>>8120865
Help. That's why they did in after the crash in the 90's.

>>8120845
>What the industry needs is better product at a better cost
>actual advertising and visibility.
THIS

>>8120850

As opposed to GORE! RAPE! DEEP! MATURE COMICS FOR MATURE READERS SUCH AS MYSELF!, then?

RULK and Bendis's dumbed down dialogue are bringing the kids in. Sadly that's on Marvel's side.

I don't care what DC pulls out of its ass I just want to read more SUPERMANS

>>8120888
>>8120850

False dichotomy.

>If anything comic book neckbeards are sick of the constant events, if anyone would love them, it's kids.
I'm not convinced that anyone loves them.
I believe that few actually like them.
I could easily live without them.

TROLL

>>8120906
>I'm not convinced that anyone loves them.

They're consistent sales boosts.

>>8120863

OK wait.

Comic books are no longer for kids.

Books like Secret Invasion and Final Crisis sell more than any other book.

So... who's buying them? Non...kid...teen...things?

>>8120906
Some of the complaints about final crisis was that every other dc book didn't tie into it like marvel does with their crossovers.

So yes people like crossovers. Not smart people, but still people.

>>8120918

Because people still believe that those will then become collectors items.

Why do people assume that kids give a shit about anything other than people punching each other. That's all they want from comics. I know that, because that's all I wanted from comics when I was 8, and that's all any of my friends wanted too. I fucking loved Invasion! as a kid, despite the fact that it was total shit, because it was just like 200 pages of people attacking each other.

>>8120904
It was a joke, an old phrase invoked to satirize a typical outsider perspetive to the comics industry.
It's meant to read like a badly researched newspaper article. It was used a lot in early 1990s indie comics.
It may have been an actual headline, but I have no proof of that.

Have more of them like Ultimate Spider-Man, in the sense that it's one continuous line of story, where all of the arcs are connected.

Sure, it's great when a monumentous event like the death of Gwen Stacey or Babs Gordon getting shot affect the rest of the comic universe, but it would be great if everything that happened affected the rest of the universe.

90% of these ideas would ruin the market.
Realize that this is the best time the comic industry has had since the 90's (only with more quality) and just read what you like.

Have an online digital distribution service that doesn't suck. More self contained stories with minimal crossovers that are new reader friendly. Quit leading one huge universe wide event into another. Make a Green lantern buddy cop comic with Guy and G'nort.

>>8120975
Right the quality of comics is better than ever but the industry itself is still in poor shape.

Wait a minute
>>8120753
>>8120808
>>8120904
Who's refereeing this thread?
Why is there a debate ref?

Seriously though guys, the stories have nothing to do with the sales. During the Silver-Age, Superman comics were able to sell over 100 million copies, and I severely doubt that had anything to do with how well they were written.

The best way to appeal to kids, is to just get those titles out there, print some digests and throw them in the Supermarket line, right next to the candy where kids will actually see them, get some trades into the Scholastic Books Fairs at schools, donate some books to the School Library, and try have them promoted.

It's really not that hard, DC and Marvel just aren't trying.

>>8120845

This. A hundred times this.

>>8121022
Have you seen those SA Superman covers though? Those are fucking awesome.

>>8121022
No manga, cable or internet back then, though.

Wanna know what I think they should do? They should do something that's a cross between the Ultimate Universe and that new Spider-man cartoon. A modern universe for the comics, but without all of that bizarre over-modernization.

>>8121022
You're assuming that DC and Marvel WANT to market to children. They don't.

>>8120998
>>8120975

I'd say it's both.

The quality of monthly (or equivalent) comics is better in the 90's. The sales aren't as good as the EARLY 90's, but that was when people were convinced by the idea comics were gonna be worth something some day.

But comics sales are better than the really late 90's, when books were starting to slide down to 40,000-60,000. The sales charts recently look as though that may be the case again, but the difference between this market and the market in the 90's is the concentrated effort at a TPB market.

>>8121039

>manga

Won't always be popular.

>cable

Meh. Children still read obviously.

>internet

The fact anyone reads Ctrl+Alt+Del but won't read a Marvel or DC titles confuses the fuck out of me.

>>8121061
Spectacular Spider-Man and Batman: Brave and the Bold disagree with you.

>>8121022
I think it's too late Peggy. The vidya games and cell-phones have taken over.

>>8121067
They're marketing cartoons and toys to kids, comics and movies to bigger kids.

>>8121063

>Meh. Children still read obviously.

Not really.

>>8121039

I don't know-- there was manga, cable, and the internet when pokemon cards were huge. Kids love trading and collecting things. People in general love physical objects.

Comics have a place in the market for kids. They just focus all their stories/marketing on nerds and tweenagers instead.

I don't get why the comics industry has just decided that kids aren't worth trying to attract. There are only a few titles aimed for kids out there that are available in the bookstore at which I work, and they're embarrassing; kids look at a series like Tiny Titans and feel like they're being patronized.

>>8121094

Then why do they buy manga?

>>8121063
>>The fact anyone reads Ctrl+Alt+Del but won't read a Marvel or DC titles confuses the fuck out of me.

It's mostly about marketing...as long as comic books remain in the minds of the general population as a hobby for fat unwashed nerds who live in their parents' basements, people will be leery about picking comic books up.

Personally I think the comic book movie business and animation series is a really good business decision.

>>8121061

I laughed at this.

>>8121109

Nothing which requires all that much reading.

>>8121124

And comics and manga are somehow different in reading scales?

Drop monthly serials completely because even the highest selling ones barely get over 100K.

Instead, follow the manga market. Lump a bunch of likeminded serials into a single anthology booklet and release them every week. After 4-6 months or a story arc, collect it in a TPB. DC and Marvel have enough monthly lines that they can safely split them up into 3-4 monthly anthologies and still maintain a good schedule.

Not only will this encourage chain stores like Borders to carry the books, but people will also be encouraged to buy them because they don't have to spend fucking 4$ on 22 pages + half that amount in advertisements.

>>8120845
That's not what i was implying. What I am saying is that there is no hole for that bird to pigeon.
Can you name a comic that a kid has ease of access too and can afford that they would want to pick up?
Serious business super clever and filled with pop culture references isn't going to bring in the kids.
It will however bring in the hipsters who read comics ironically.
Okay the srs bizness would keep kids waiting for the next issue but there's still the problem of them not picking them up because they didn't like the cover the cost was prohibitive not to mention the fact that they didn't know it existed in the first place.

>>8121109
Average comic book page ha like 3 times more words than average manga page.

>>8120701
Hate to tell ya, but Marvel (or I should say Panini UK) put out a good 3 or 4 issuses worth in a collector's format for the price of 1 US issue, with the Collectors' editions, and you can pick up these editions in most Branches of WHSmith, and some other Newsagents/corner shops/Supermarkets.

They even have a Spider-man Kids' Comic, but I don't know much about that...

>>8121124

Lots of old great comics didn't have that much in the way of words. Part of what makes comics awesome is that you "read" the pictures. The Japanese are apparently just the only people who think marketing kids is worth it.

http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=92159514&blogID=471980198

>We discussed many of the obvious reasons why comics cost what they do today. You know, the nuts and bolts expenditures of hard costs. And as we were going over it I brought up the idea that one of the things that while comics for so many years lived with this perception by the mainstream that we were nothing but a children’s medium and dumbed down literature, we as an industry, internally ghettoize ourselves with this nostalgic belief that, “Oh, they used to cost 10 cents. They used to cost 25 cents.
That’s what they should cost.” That somehow we are a cheap and in many cases, not very valued commodity. Quite frankly, I don’t want to believe that or think that way. Yet we cling to it and in today’s modern world, it sets up what could be unreasonable expectations.
So, is it possible that as a whole comic’s really are underpriced ?

>Seriously, we work very hard, every day to keep the price of comics where they are. And by asking this question, all I’m trying to do is to highlight how hard we do work and what we have to go through—and that’s Marvel, or DC, or Image or anyone—to keep the prices as low as they are.

>>8121143

That's what I was about to say. Unless you just strictly only buy the mindless nothing but action books. Even then there's the 15 pages of them explaining the move they just used and how it beats up the other guy. Then of course the other guy has his 15 pages of how, even though it looked like it hurt like hell, he's immune.

Make each story self contained and not a 5 year soap opera story arc. When I started reading back in the 70s we used to get a small recap on the first page if the story was more than 1 book long and we were constantly reminded how a hero's powers worked and why throughout the book. I think Stan Lee said that made it so every kid could pick up any comic at anytime and instantly be up to speed with most of what was going on in the series. Obviously there were also longer sub-threads dealing with topics for older readers but a 10 year old never picked up on that.

And coming from someone who's jerked off to many a comic (Sue Storm took my virginity! yum!), enough is enough with the giant tits so common today. (did I fucking really say that? yes, yes i did)

>>8121100

this

people will always like Things

the internet really can't compare in that respect

>>8121151

Nice statistic that came out of your ass. I think you're generalizing the very different genres of both.

Manga (Especially shonen manga) is a lot more kinetic than Superhero comics, as they have like half as many panels per pages and rarely have all that much dialog, and you could probably finish a 200 page book in like 20 minutes.

Kill all cape adventures.

Get rid of any comic series that doesn't have a beginning, middle or end.

No comic book series will be allowed to reach more than 100 issues.

This is how we turn comics from WWF to literature.

We already have literature quality titles, but there is an overwhelming amount of sewage floating over it.

>>8121192

>>8121192
>>Kill all cape adventures.

This is still pretty delusional thinking. Every bit as bad as the idiots that won't read anything but cape adventures.

>>8121192
This isn't what kids want, this is what YOU want.

And these are some pretty shit ideas anyway.

Get comics into Wal-Mart.

Instead of candy at the checkout, there's some comics there.

Problem solves.

>>8121192

Agree and disagree. I agree that they should revolve more around the "epic" story that takes longer to read and involves different issues. I know I for one am not all that big in the single issue enemy vs hero as much as I am with the serious dilemma vs many heroes.

>>8121192

Wow. Ahahaha.

I think there should be some more quality series, but saying that pulp, kids comics, and other self-indulgent things that make comics fun should be done away with? No way, brah.

>>8121192
This is the kind of stunted Alan David Doane-ish thinking that I hate. WAH WAH GET RID OF THE COMICS INDUSTRY WAH

>>8121192

P:>

>>8121168
>Joe Quesada suggests that the consumer isn't paying enough
facepalm.jpg

>>8121192
These views are exaggerated. etc etc.

essentially, our "society relations" are in the crapper. comics are synonomus with cape comics.

Titles that take forervev
jln b

fuckit, this is 4chan. I've done this before and deleted it(other threads) but you just walk away from this thing. nothing matters on here.

Are there really any "all ages" comics left?

It's kind of sad that the only "kid friendly" comics left are the ones DIRECTLY targeted at kids. "Classic" films and literature are classics because they appeal to a broad audience. Modern comics with their ultra violence and RAPE WHORES RAPE only appeal to that small crowd that actually hangs out at the comic shops.

We need more general all ages material like Bone. Something that's dramatic but not sensationalist. If you pick up any silver age comic you'll find that it's A) usually a self contained story and B) contains material that both adults and kids could relate to.

I can't pick up a single comic book except for the ones labeled "FOR KIDS LULZ" and give it to a 10 year old without getting a guilty conscience.

>>8121331
RULK is pretty all ages

>>8121331
>. "Classic" films and literature are classics because they appeal to a broad audience.
Yeah I know tons of kids who love classics like Citizen Kane and Lolita.

>>8121349
Don't forget War and Peace. What kid doesn't love War and Peace?

>>8121347
GET YOUR GOD DAMN RULK OUT OF HERE

Archie comics still sell. You can find them in nearly any supermarket and you can find a magazine format Archie comic in magazine racks.
I can't find major comics collected or otherwise except in CB shops and bookstores. The latter, few kids go to the former even fewer kids go too.
Collect some comics in magazine format put in some magazine rack for a relatively cheap price and let the market decide.

>>8121349

I read Lolita in grade 8 and saw Citizen Kane at grade 7. They might not be generally appreciated by kids as a whole, but kids can watch them without worrying about EVISCERATION CHILD RAPE WHORES PARENTAL ABUSE RAPE WHORES BLOOD N GUTS.

I saw Alien when I was six which relied more on psychological horror than gore horror like pretty much every modern thriller film does.

Publish the entire line in Japanese black & white type format. Serious collector can still get individual issues (with lower print runs) or wait for the trade paperback to come out in color.

>>8121416

Wait. The whole point of Lolita WAS child rape.

I've agreed with your points thusfar, but, uh.

>>8121424

No. Must have Color.

>>8121331

Tom Strong
Shazam!: The Monster Society of Evil
Madman
Superman: Peace on Earth
Batman: War on Crime
Shazam!: The Power of Hope
Impulse
Hellboy (in many instances)
Blue Beetle (with Jaime Reyes)

Hey guys, I know how to keep kids reading comics!

>>8121441
Archie is in color