COMICS CULTURE SHRAPNEL from CBEM 289
No matter what your tastes are, comic reading can be a very expensive hobby. Between crossovers and spinoffs, small independent titles and graphic novels, comic collectors are going to spend a pretty penny to maintain this comfortable state of affairs.
I mean collectors separate from what I consider myself, which is a comic reader. Not that I find anything wrong with collecting the comics, putting them in mylar and sealing the bag for a far away day. I've been guilty of the crime myself. And I envy the people who can afford to make comic collecting a major part of their lives and budget. I see them at the store, piles of books on the counter, they pull out their credit card...and when the clerk at the store has to open the display case to get that light-up lantern replica, that's them too. I am envious.
I should also feel grateful because collectors make possible for the rest of us to merely be readers, and not investors in the future of the industry. There's no reason we should. Why must every comics reader carry some undefined burden on their back, as if the future of the industry entirely depended on whether you bought that issue of Superman, Crimson, or Dork Tower? Is there any other medium that acts so needy towards its fans? As much as I love comic books, I'm not ready to sell my first born child in order to afford to buy every Image title being published, or pawn all my jewelry and this computer I'm using in order to afford everything sold at the Small Press Expo. I need food and clothing a lot more than I need comics.
What we really need is an industry that can take care of itself. Good business sense is needed, sensible marketing strategies. Real world economics. These things are absent from the comic publishing business model, and all our funds are not going to change the way the industry is run. So deal with it. As readers, it isn't our responsibility to figure out how our favorite company is going to save itself. We're the consumers. We affect business by buying what we like. We vote with our dollars. And when you don't have a lot of money to portion out, that vote counts a lot more.
We need to stop treating the comics industry like it's some child that needs to be coddled and pampered. If we do, maybe it'll stop acting like one and grow up. Which is why we need more readers and not more collectors. Collectors tend to buy the same titles, the same products. When only one type of output is received positively, there becomes little reason to produce anything else. Innovation is stifled. The comics industry needs consumers, not investors. We need people who consider comics as just another form of entertainment. And they need to stay that way. When introducing friends and colleagues to comics reading, don't try to make them collectors. Let them stay just as they are: readers. Comics shouldn't be different from any other form of media. Because it isn't. It's just entertainment.