An easy pivot for the Comics Industry.

Genre Comics an easy win?

Getting to work in a comic shop has really opened my eyes to one thing: what happened to genre comics? An easy blame would be that superhero books were just too easy to make money on—maybe even half true. But being where I work, we do get some foot traffic or just curious people. Too often, I see people come in, pick up a few books, kind of look through them, and seem perplexed at what they’re looking at. I really would like to know what they’re thinking. Is it the characters, the art, the price? I’ve got to ask a couple of people that question.

The move away from standardized comic art might be a bad move. Personally, I can appreciate some “bad” comic art, but super “modern” comic art being in every other comic just doesn’t appeal to everyday people. I get that; it can be tiring even to me. It’s hard to get enveloped in a world when everyone looks flat as fuck. Comics need to look like comics, not a fashion statement. It even bleeds into the people trying to do everything proportionally correct—make that shit dynamic and “fun” to look at.

We might need to dial down the superhero stuff and put out some genre-specific books: just straight western, war, horror, romance, etc. Also, having clean and concise trade dress—bring back the classic designs labeling the book for what it is so people who don’t know what it is can see it on the cover. I love those Gold to Silver Age books that are labeled on the cover with “Romance” or “Horror” on the trade dress. I didn’t even know there were genre-specific romance books until I worked at a comic shop! It would just be nice to clean up the trade dress anyway; there are some truly horrible ones that are almost unreadable.

Having genre books, you’re going to capture a new and bigger audience. Not everyone wants to read superhero stuff, even if it’s in the cultural zeitgeist more than ever. Look over at novels like romance or horror—they’re killing it in sales, and at one point, comics had specific books for that. It’s a comic, not a picture book. Being able to go through a comic in less than 10 minutes is absolutely ridiculous. Reading “Ahh,” “Ummf,” “Hmmf” while someone walks up a hill for a full page is an insult to the consumers and their intelligence. Just two panels are needed—one at the bottom and one at the top! Paying $6 for that? I’m not coming back; it’s just a waste of time and money.

Really, in the end, a big shift in the industry needs to happen: distribution, storytelling, the number of series—all need a change. Those are definitely not easy changes, like changing the cover to be clearer and more concise about what it is. I don’t personally see any of that happening soon; too many people higher up are looking at the short term, but that will be their downfall. Personally, I think we’ll see licensed comic characters, and then a renaissance in the industry will happen—and that couldn’t happen soon enough. Getting these characters into the hands of people who care who they are is much needed right now.