http://zak-site.com/Great-American-Novel/comic_sales.htmlThis is a great overview of the market, over the last 60 years.
I think we've all known a long time that Marvel began to surpass DC sales in the late 1960's/early 1970's, at the point when Marvel stopped using DC's distributor so they could expand their line, circa 1968 (using DC's distributor, the condition was Marvel could only have 8 titles a month, which explains why so many characters were crammed into STRANGE TALES, TALES TO ASTONISH and TALES OF SUSPENSE. And then all these characters got their own books in 1968, when Marvel got its own distributer again for the first time in 15 years since the comic-market implosion of the pre-Code era of 1955-1956. )
I always thought the main factor in DC surpassing Marvel in 1971-1972 was that DC began 52 page books for 25 cents, while Marvel still had books priced at 15 and 20 cents, and fans in any era don't go for more pages of story, they go for whatever comics are cheaper.
But it was more than that.
Marvel began surpassing DC as early as 1966. And the factor seems to be the sheer dynamic quality and consistency of the Marvel line, building momentum and readership over a decade.
Over the last 40 years, there are many other factors in the industry's decline, but key to the decline of the market is the growing unaffordability of comics to younger readers (and increasingly, to even older readers!)
I used to think over the last 25 years, in which close to 100% of my comics spending has been on reprint collections and back issues, that I was spending
more.
But increasingly, I've realized I generally spend a lot
less, and enjoy them a hell of a lot more.
The part in the article about increasingly expensive issues, reader-exploiting crossover stories, and other gimmicks like polybagged books, foil covers and trading cards, is absolutely spot on. And traces back to precisely when I was repulsed and largely stopped buying new comics altogether. There's nothing I've passed up buying over the last 30 years that I couldn't buy, if I wanted to, at a fraction of the price, a few years later.
And the advantage of buying back issues, beyond lower price, is I can buy and read the complete series at one time instead of waiting for stuff that often is not published consistently and on time. Frank Miller's RONIN, Barr and Bolland's CAMELOT 3000, and Moore/Gibbons WATCHMEN come to mind. All of these I stopped buying, and got all the back issues at cover price or less a year or two after the fact.
The part about the various changes in comics marketing in the 1990's, 2000-2006 period, and the changing eras of the market on up to the present was really enlightening. There is an intelligence and savvy to the changes in the market by the major publishers, but seeing the factors determining the market changes, the market exploitation of comic-based movies and collected trade editions, and that continuity considerations now extend (at most) back only 5 years, all further convince me that the post-1987 industry has no soul, and satisfying its readership with enduring quality material is not even a consideration.
And that I made the right decision walking away from it.
