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no-one mentioned Manga (or anything) as profitable, simply as there being more than just 'superhero' comics available.

the official line is that they get reprinted as demand has it.

The casefiles seem to get reprinted quite often as they seem to be the biggest sales.

If you look at the site's own book shop you can see the Dredd items by date of publication - this seems to include by date of REPRINT publication rather than initial release date. All the casefiles around 5 but excluding it seem to have been reprinted not that long ago so one imagines it wont be long till it comes around again.

Whatever you do DONT spend that sorta money on it unless you have Jigsaw Disease and only have days left.

http://shop.2000adonline.com/categories/judge_dredd/1

and if apple take over comics hasn't PJ got a 'ban for life'??

OH NOES!

I would say 'buy it to support it' if you can but I really REALLY don't like the art style or Kick-Ass. I just don't 'get' yank violent comics.

However I will be buying StripUK to support it aside from the fact I'm fairly sure I'll like its content 100 times more than Clint.

As for 'VVanker' (all men are)' it really sounds like PR more than anything - Clint would have to be a sterling success to consider launching another title so soon. But ya know, again, good luck to em if there is any truth to it.

That would be brilliant. I totally missed the tharg developments till about 2 days after the event!

You see its not for me, the mrs wants a Mongrol...  yeah I know, she has a 'laura' thing going on.

I'm more with Jim on this point.  As I've espoused elsewhere, all-colour comics starring, in Marvel's case, Spider-Man, Captain America, Hulk etc on Take-A-Break cheap glossy paper for 99p, available in newsagents would, I think, lead to a new golden age of comics.

I sincerely hope that StripUK, with Jim aboard taking on all comers, does exactly that - however i have doubts over whether they will and whether the popularity of the medium itself isn't more then issue. But 'GO THEM' if they are going to try and I'll certainly be buying it.

Marvel and DC will never do such because they don't need to nor will corporate finance allow such a repositioning. It would take a desperate last throw of the dice for one of them to turn into a 99c outfit and they are leveraged against doing such because even if its a success for a Spiderman reboot the implications for all their other titles. Besides which another market reality in the 'real actual paper comics' market is that could there even be a return to the Mom n Pop stores? Those aren't exactly healthy and even popular magazines have difficulty getting rack-space in bigger chains.

For the record, I agree with Jim, too.

He's correct about the sales figures of the '80s compared to today.
And that would have a lot to do with the switch to direct market in the '90s, removing them from the general public.

Which is something I agreed with right at the very start. However the topic is about a 'perfect storm' coming for the US market and my point was clearly that there will always be a market for bed-wetting superhero fans because the US domestic market is large enough and there are always enough young boys needing 'empowerment' stories. After that of course it all got slightly derailed by Capt. Vent and the Forces of 'I'm Right'.

Threats to post personal correspondence?

Constant foul language abuse?

Derogatory posts with other members that bear the hall marks of internet bullying?

Catch a grip Jim, or at least learn to post without tirades of insults and abuse.

Cheers

BPP

I totally agree with you.

1. With the production cost of digital comics being so low, we will see an influx of DIY comics created by writers and artists that are FANS, that have an internal desire to see the medium survive. Not businessmen. This will bring the big guns a wake-up call (hopefully) and will have to react accordingly if they are to compete with the new blood.

2. One of the biggest mistakes American comics made was to go all direct market in the '90s. Once they took them out of the grocery stores and gas stations they effectively closed the door on new readers.

Nice to see someone who gets some value from my perspective. The only fear i have is that the big 2 have a comfort zone created by the fact they can pay more (so talent goes there) and that comics are a VERY unforgiving medium for new talent - especially artists - and so 'unprofessional' stuff (unprofessional in the sense that it is by emerging talent who need more time to learn their craft) may be given a poor reception by the new audience. However then you see the amount of people on deviantART etc with talent and you just hope that there is a merge between the talent and the independent spirit.

Oh dear.

Another person you just have to have a row with eh Jim? Jamesedwards was talking rot so I sent you a PM saying well done - apparently thats proof of some need to be your buddy. Whatever Jim.

Its not me who everyone has fights with all the time. Do us a favour and add me to your ever-long block-list eh? I certainly can do without your angry sweary bitter routine.

Cheers

BPP.

BTW - nice to see your precise what period of Marvel / DC you were talking about after 3 pages of posts. Bit late like but i guess such is the result of such an imprecise bombastic prose style. Notice you don't talk about any of the other issues I've mentioned (Diamond, Marvel's Direct Sales policy, Archie and other publishers) but rather just insult away with your imprecise assertions and simplistic mantra, intent on a argument when I've always been open to a dialogue.

Could i suggest that when something comes available for purchase you start a new thread about it so that people who aren't following this one become more easily aware of it. Even just an announcement of 'on sale now' or 'limited buying period starts XXXX hundred hours' in the general section.

Simply cause this thread has gone on so long am sure many forget to check it and a new one would have more impact.

that would be cool.

Oh and Jim, as for your previous post about 'I'm right, you're wrong you got nothing' we'll i concede i initially believed you were talking about the 90s not the 50s and 60s. So I initially answered accordingly. If you really think that a simple sell em cheap sell em by the millions is going to work in our modern era then good on you. I also look forward to your advocacy of Travelling mistrals and Pathe news.   

Cheers

BPP

Oh and I didn't tackle your rather ridiculous view on elasticity of demand because here isn't the time nor place. But, ya know, its rather silly.

Don't just take a cheap shot and run. Your previous post demonstrated how comprehensively you didn't have a response, and I was prepared to let that lie without rubbing your face in it.

You, apparently, want to resort to the tactics of the playground and go "Ner-Ner" and run off sniggering. You ignored the fact that I dismissed your counter-point about "gimmick sales", you had no comeback on the idiocy of supporting a business model that is predicated on declining unit sales, and yet you now have the audacity to fire off a post-and-run accusation that I'm silly because you're afraid of losing face.

At this point, it's clear that you are either a clueless idiot, or that you are doing your very best to bait me.

Cheers

Jim

Okay Jim, its a basics of economics that demand curves are not straight - as you propose in your silly example of selling one issue for 200,000 but they are, indeed 'curved'. Now I, unlike you, am not going to get involved in personal insults and calling people 'clueless idiot(s)' simply I say that you don't 'get' pricing policy which is rather more complex than 'sell em cheap sell em by the million'. That works for some products, that works in some situations but not in all. It dosn't work in an unpopular medium (unpopular relative to the alternatives a consumer can spend his disposable income on)  which is what we are dealing with.

Cheers

BPP.

comics are diverse - from Archie to Manga to Scott Pilgrim to Fantagraphics to Movie Tie-ins to Underground Comix to the odd Maus / Persopolis break-out etc etc. The medium just isn't popular. You can't move in the States for merchandising based on comics but its Film driven interest and nobody wants to pick up the damm pieces of paper. Even fewer want to go on and look at the non-big 2 output.

The Ipad may well be a turning point because comics work really well on it and I'd jolly well hope it is but in all likelihood any drive from there has to come from outside the big two - the nature of Companies and the existing market position means they are VERY unlikely to just start selling at a tiny price. Shame but true. And they dont need to - Marvel's position is very nice as they see it. Alan Moore may say DC are in the shvt but how many times has one heard that - not so long ago it was DC who were percieved as having all the marketable IP and Marvel struggling. Its easy to knock the big two but they are still around and there is still a comics indusry piggy-backing off the Structure they have sustained. Lets be honest - no Marvel or DC = No Comic Stores = dead. So the question is... does tech change this? Hopefully. Hopefully but in a way that still allows Comic Stores to exist and for product still to be stocked by Barnes & Nobel etc.

Anyway more than likely any revolution in comics popularity as a medium has to come from a younger generation of producers and consumers. Our Peers have already made up their minds.

Oh and I didn't tackle your rather ridiculous view on elasticity of demand because here isn't the time nor place. But, ya know, its rather silly.

Cheers

BPP.