About Isaac Magaña
Location: Corvallis, OR
Occupation: Computer Support
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New readers and old readers are getting ready for the summer comic movies. But will both new and old readers stay after the summer? Who will the writers and publishers produce their comics for? If readers are lucky enough, the stories will be for both new and old, it will be a balance.
There are going to be some great comic book movies hitting theaters this summer. I’m predicating that these movies are going to have a positive impact on comic readership, because they will increase the amount of new readers. Publishers will now have a challenge on their hands: how do you keep new readers when current stories are built upon comics that have been publishing for over 10 years? On the flip side of that question, how do you write stories for new readers that don’t dismiss long time readers, as well as the past 10 years of a published title? I guess comic publishers have to learn to strike a balance, which has become very important. What does a balance look like?
New readers have always trickled into comics. Due to the popularity of comic movies, new readers tend to come along in spurts. They buy a few books and try to follow the story arc, they get lost and then they drop the books. A movie sequel hits theaters and they try it again, lasting longer than before, but still lost and therefore dropping the book. When I say lost I mean that new readers can’t understand the context of some the story due to major story elements involving a past story. New readers aren’t consistent unlike regular readers who have followed a book or character for at least one whole year.
Publishers have tried new methods to keep the movie fans interested in comics after movie momentum has waned. Publishers build comics directly related to the movies. These are generally single issue stories that are more a part of the movie than they are about the comic that has been published for a long time. The idea is that these movie issues will act as a bridge to the regular comics. It’s a good idea, but it’s a big transition to go from a single issue story to one that has been going for over 10 years.
Another option has been to write completely new stories so that new readers can jump on and not have to worry about the past stories that they never read. This is good because it keeps new readers involved, but then the consistent readers feel short-changed. Long-time readers read those past stories, they know what a character has gone thru and to dismiss all that to keep new readers only helps to breed some contempt. “Contempt” is probably too strong a word, but there are some ill feelings. Publishers don’t want to dismiss consistent readers because they tend to be the majority of readers now. Dismissing them would truly hurt those core readers who have followed a series over a 5 year span.
Publishing comics has become a balancing act. On one hand you have writers who want to write stories involving a character’s past, but they can’t because new readers aren’t familiar with that past. On the other hand, if your writer wants to write something brand new about a character, you run the risk of disenfranchising long time readers. It’s a balance.
A compromise that could work is for stories to be accessible to new readers in ways that recognize the past. How do they do that? Well, they mention the past but don’t make those past events the main focus of the current story. It validates long time readers when past stories are brought up again, while for new readers it doesn’t disable them from enjoying the current story. It’s a balance that needs to be done right; sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. I hope for the sake of readers everywhere that publishers have a good plan before the summer movies get here.
