I'm starting to wonder what Mr Tim's comic shop is actually called, considering the confusion some of his customers seem to have about the nature of the place.
What's he talking about? There's "Straight Trippin," "Beat Box Quarterly," "Doctor Who: Electric Boogaloo,"... Okay, truth is, I know as much about Hip Hop as I do about the current state of Spider-Man's life. Which is to say, almost nothing. I stopped following both in the 90's when both had bad storylines involving clones. Although, from what I understand, both Spider-Man and Hip Hop made deals with the devil.
I had the same problem with Circuit City. They have a ton of televisions, stereos and video cameras, but not one single hint of a McDonald's Big Mac. Where's the professionalism?
I checked out the local music store and was shocked to discover they didn't have any comic books whatsoever. None! And they though I was crazy for asking! Can you imagine?..
While this customer's comment may sound pretty silly (and I agree - what did he expect?) it does make a point of sorts - American comic books are focused almost exclusively on the super-hero genre. There's plenty of manga about music groups, and there's no reason there couldn't be a comic book about Hip Hop artists, real or fictitious. Maybe some more comic book publishers should consider branching out in their subject matter if they want to broaden their readership.
@MP This may be true, although there ARE lots of non-superhero comic out there and Manga is readily available in the US. Perhaps the lack of Hip Hop comics is due to a lack of creators who are Hip Hop fans. So, if you want there to be a Hip Hop comic, go ahead and create it!
MP: The major comic companies produce mainly super-hero books because those are the ones that sell. Ask your local comic shop employee which sells more in a given month, an issue of the Avengers, or the latest adaptation of a Jane Eyre novel. My wager is going to be that the super-hero book is going to outsell the literature adaptation by a considerable margin. While this isn't exactly your point of selling books based on real or fictitious music groups, it illustrates the fact that comic companies print comics to make money from them. There are a ton of indy labels who will be glad to produce your music-themed comics. There have been several titles in just the past three years or so based on this idea. But the fact remains that Marvel (Disney) and DC (Time Warner) are less interested in the art of comics and more interested in the science of selling comics.
the 2 major comic publishers haven't seriously pushed anything in the last 50+ years that wasn't superheroes. there was a period between the golden & silver ages when comics still sold quite well yet the dominant genres were horror, crime, romance, etc, not superheroes. did they stop publishing those other genres because they weren't commercially viable? no, they stopped because some morality wingnuts went on a crusade against comics. now 50+ years on, of course the biggest comic titles are superhero books, because the major publishers have ingrained in the public's consciousness that comics are about superheroes & nothing else. yet somehow even the biggest superhero titles nowadays can't manage to sell more than a few hundred thousand copies. so much for the science of selling comics. i find the idea that superheroes are the only commercially viable subject matter for comics is very narrow-minded & ignores the history of the medium (where there is strong evidence to the contrary).
now... perhaps this sounds crazy to people who still love superhero comics, but has it ever crossed your mind that comics have become a niche medium in the united states because of the major publishers' strict adherence to a single genre (superhero) for the past 50+ years? and that perhaps, when those publishers abandoned other popular genres 50+ years ago in order to focus solely upon superheroes, they DOOMED THEMSELVES to inevitably become a niche medium?
Yes, because things that were economically viable in the 1950's are sure to be exactly the same nowadays as they were back then. Your argument that the superheroes survived the comics scare of the 1950's is absurd. Dr. Wertham singled out Superman as a fascist, Batman and Robin as homosexuals, Wonder Woman as the champion of evil feminism, and many others.
The comic book industry (yes, industry, not art medium) is constantly in a state of flux. The companies produce what the market demands. There may be a chicken-and-egg argument to be made, but the fact is, if Marvel or DC suddenly got 100,000 people demanding (or, to phrase it more accurately, pre-ordering) a book about a hip hop group touring the country and doing shows and signings, you'd see it once a month, every month, with the best talent they could find.
Basically, if you want to see a comic book by the major publishers that steps out of the cape-filled universe, then get you and 100,000 of your closest friends, step up to the plate, and commit to spending four bucks a month on a book that has nothing to do with superheroes. I bet if you sent them a check for $400,000 to cover the first month's sales, they'd have it in the very next Previews catalog. However, if you're unwilling to take that step, stop whining about superhero comics or a lack of non-superhero comics. Because of the Yankees, we have a Pittsburgh Pirates. Thanks to Superman, you get to have your Morning Glories.
Commercial stagnation? Really? That's your argument? Disney spent FOUR BILLION DOLLARS to acquire the Marvel Universe. I'm not sure which alternate plane of reality where a company sells for FOUR BILLION DOLLARS qualifies as commercial stagnation. But the comic book industry has never been more profitable that it is right now. The reason for that being that the publishers and their parent companies are applying smart business techniques and cutting their margins to maximize their returns.
Way to take one line of an argument, strip it down to its most basic form, and then twist it to fit your ideas.
Now,if you want to have an intelligent discussion about the artistic side of the medium, I'll be happy to engage in that discussion. But it's clear that the argument about the industry side isn't going to change, so I'm pretty much done with this particular topic.
Yes...it is a comic store.
ReplyDeleteI bet one of those books was about Spider-Man AND Hip Hop...
ReplyDeleteHmmm...there are comics about hip hop, but yes, there will be more featuring spiderman.
ReplyDeleteWhat?
ReplyDeleteSo there are no comics about the Philadelphia 76ers mascot?
ReplyDeleteI've heard they have books on Ulysses.
ReplyDeleteThere's such a thing as a book on hip-hop?
ReplyDeleteThere was a superhero named Hip Hop?
ReplyDeleteHe should take this opportunity to create his own comic about hiphop
ReplyDeleteHe should also shave that crap off his upper lip.
ReplyDeletejust doin' my thing like Ben Grimm, son
ReplyDeleteI'm starting to wonder what Mr Tim's comic shop is actually called, considering the confusion some of his customers seem to have about the nature of the place.
ReplyDeleteIt's called "No Comics In Here", apparently.
ReplyDeleteI believe it was Amazing Spider-Man #549 where he fought the evil Doctor Pachyderm Hip-Hop-Amus.
ReplyDeleteMore a fan of Jazz myself. Though, it is as equally hard to find in the sea of Spider-Man that is most comic books shops.
ReplyDeleteGOD! This is the worst Williams-Sonoma EVER. It's just got all colanders and shit! Where's the stuff about contemporary alternative country????
ReplyDeleteI was going to ask if this guy was a white dude with a crustache, but I already know the answer.
ReplyDeleteThe answer is yes.
You mean to tell me you didn't get the Fame comic about 50 Cent? Or did it just sell out that quickly?
ReplyDeleteWhat's he talking about? There's "Straight Trippin," "Beat Box Quarterly," "Doctor Who: Electric Boogaloo,"...
ReplyDeleteOkay, truth is, I know as much about Hip Hop as I do about the current state of Spider-Man's life. Which is to say, almost nothing. I stopped following both in the 90's when both had bad storylines involving clones. Although, from what I understand, both Spider-Man and Hip Hop made deals with the devil.
I had the same problem with Circuit City. They have a ton of televisions, stereos and video cameras, but not one single hint of a McDonald's Big Mac. Where's the professionalism?
ReplyDeleteBoondocks
ReplyDeleteI checked out the local music store and was shocked to discover they didn't have any comic books whatsoever. None! And they though I was crazy for asking! Can you imagine?..
ReplyDeleteWhile this customer's comment may sound pretty silly (and I agree - what did he expect?) it does make a point of sorts - American comic books are focused almost exclusively on the super-hero genre. There's plenty of manga about music groups, and there's no reason there couldn't be a comic book about Hip Hop artists, real or fictitious. Maybe some more comic book publishers should consider branching out in their subject matter if they want to broaden their readership.
ReplyDeleteI have the reverse problem when I go to a record store. The nerve!
ReplyDeletemister tim forgot to use the "it's true" label on this one.
ReplyDeleteMP: True dat. White people think they own comix.
ReplyDelete@MP This may be true, although there ARE lots of non-superhero comic out there and Manga is readily available in the US. Perhaps the lack of Hip Hop comics is due to a lack of creators who are Hip Hop fans. So, if you want there to be a Hip Hop comic, go ahead and create it!
ReplyDeleteIs Hip Hop some sort of frog themed super hero?
ReplyDeleteMP: The major comic companies produce mainly super-hero books because those are the ones that sell. Ask your local comic shop employee which sells more in a given month, an issue of the Avengers, or the latest adaptation of a Jane Eyre novel. My wager is going to be that the super-hero book is going to outsell the literature adaptation by a considerable margin. While this isn't exactly your point of selling books based on real or fictitious music groups, it illustrates the fact that comic companies print comics to make money from them. There are a ton of indy labels who will be glad to produce your music-themed comics. There have been several titles in just the past three years or so based on this idea. But the fact remains that Marvel (Disney) and DC (Time Warner) are less interested in the art of comics and more interested in the science of selling comics.
ReplyDeletethe 2 major comic publishers haven't seriously pushed anything in the last 50+ years that wasn't superheroes. there was a period between the golden & silver ages when comics still sold quite well yet the dominant genres were horror, crime, romance, etc, not superheroes. did they stop publishing those other genres because they weren't commercially viable? no, they stopped because some morality wingnuts went on a crusade against comics. now 50+ years on, of course the biggest comic titles are superhero books, because the major publishers have ingrained in the public's consciousness that comics are about superheroes & nothing else. yet somehow even the biggest superhero titles nowadays can't manage to sell more than a few hundred thousand copies. so much for the science of selling comics. i find the idea that superheroes are the only commercially viable subject matter for comics is very narrow-minded & ignores the history of the medium (where there is strong evidence to the contrary).
ReplyDeletenow... perhaps this sounds crazy to people who still love superhero comics, but has it ever crossed your mind that comics have become a niche medium in the united states because of the major publishers' strict adherence to a single genre (superhero) for the past 50+ years? and that perhaps, when those publishers abandoned other popular genres 50+ years ago in order to focus solely upon superheroes, they DOOMED THEMSELVES to inevitably become a niche medium?
ReplyDeleteTokyo Tribes. Another missed sale.
ReplyDelete/Brute Force/ had a super-intelligent kangaroo named Hip Hop.
ReplyDeleteYes, because things that were economically viable in the 1950's are sure to be exactly the same nowadays as they were back then. Your argument that the superheroes survived the comics scare of the 1950's is absurd. Dr. Wertham singled out Superman as a fascist, Batman and Robin as homosexuals, Wonder Woman as the champion of evil feminism, and many others.
ReplyDeleteThe comic book industry (yes, industry, not art medium) is constantly in a state of flux. The companies produce what the market demands. There may be a chicken-and-egg argument to be made, but the fact is, if Marvel or DC suddenly got 100,000 people demanding (or, to phrase it more accurately, pre-ordering) a book about a hip hop group touring the country and doing shows and signings, you'd see it once a month, every month, with the best talent they could find.
Basically, if you want to see a comic book by the major publishers that steps out of the cape-filled universe, then get you and 100,000 of your closest friends, step up to the plate, and commit to spending four bucks a month on a book that has nothing to do with superheroes. I bet if you sent them a check for $400,000 to cover the first month's sales, they'd have it in the very next Previews catalog. However, if you're unwilling to take that step, stop whining about superhero comics or a lack of non-superhero comics. Because of the Yankees, we have a Pittsburgh Pirates. Thanks to Superman, you get to have your Morning Glories.
one person's artistic and commercial stagnation is another person's constant flux, i suppose.
ReplyDeleteCommercial stagnation? Really? That's your argument? Disney spent FOUR BILLION DOLLARS to acquire the Marvel Universe. I'm not sure which alternate plane of reality where a company sells for FOUR BILLION DOLLARS qualifies as commercial stagnation. But the comic book industry has never been more profitable that it is right now. The reason for that being that the publishers and their parent companies are applying smart business techniques and cutting their margins to maximize their returns.
ReplyDeleteWay to take one line of an argument, strip it down to its most basic form, and then twist it to fit your ideas.
Now,if you want to have an intelligent discussion about the artistic side of the medium, I'll be happy to engage in that discussion. But it's clear that the argument about the industry side isn't going to change, so I'm pretty much done with this particular topic.
fictional eyes said... He should hep himself to some Jim Mahfood.
ReplyDeleteYup. Exactly what I was thinking