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Friday, September 3, 2010
An Introduction
How comics are seen from across the Atlantic
Hello everybody, this is your captain speaking, and this is a two-way trip overseas that will be presented to you, here, every week. We'll talk comics, artists, industry, and you'll see how and why, things are seen from the "old Europe" perspective. But first… let me introduce myself. Nearly six years ago, in 1998, I created (with some friends) the first mainstream comic book news magazine in France dedicated solely to American comics: COMIC BOX. After 3 and half years of existence and 35 issues, we had to pull the plug on the monthly magazine due to financial problems experienced by the company that published the title. After succeeding in getting our title back from the cemetery of dead companies, we found a new home at Editions USA, an independent publisher, where COMIC BOX was brought back to life as an annual anthology book. And thanks to Caleb Gerard and Richard Starkings, there will be a little COMIC BOX planet in the COMIC WORLD NEWS universe. Now that we know each other, let's analyze a bit… FANTASIES Europe is often seen by American comic book pros as the Valhalla of the artists. Let's take the market I know most, France, as an example. Here, you have two channels of distribution for comic books : newstands and bookstores. What is called the direct market, aka the comic-shops, are not significant (less than 60 stores in the whole country). The newsstands were the place where the American comic books conquered the public. Back in the ‘60s and ‘70s, one (or two depending on the year) publisher was dominating. Most of the titles were from Marvel comics. A lot of kids from this generation, including me, grew up reading anthology titles like STRANGE or TITANS that contained three or four series for a bargain price. This is where the X-MEN debuted in the early seventies and became the hottest title here, before it even became popular in the US, whereas the Avengers never really interested the audience. Then, in the ‘90s, this market started to decrease. In 1997, Panini Comics took over the Marvel License leaving Image and DC to the historic publisher Semic. But as sales were sagging, it was clear that to survive, these players would have to take the fight elsewhere. And elsewhere meant the bookstores. This is where you find what we call "BD" (that stands for Bandes Dessinées - the translation of comic-strips). The BDs are historically presented in hardcover 8x11" format (though the Euro-comics like Spirou or Lanfeust are also serialized in dedicated magazines for the newsstands). All the European publishers have used that format since the ‘60s. Sales can range from 2000 to a few million copies for France only. This is where people go to buy their books (and in some stores CDs & DVDs, too). Many American friends I have in the industry told me they had difficulties undersanding how people can follow a series with so much time (one or two years) between each album. Some sagas like XIII, ASTERIX or LARGO WINCH have been running for decades! With each volume consisting in 48 pages of story and art (highly detailed, though). And in most of Europe, the system works the same. So, our American comics importers had to do the same. And today, most of the sales and profit are made on the books. Panini and Semic produce high quality books that look and feel like the Europeans, but are our old buddies' comics ! Long story short, when we see how the American market is evolving, it seems that the European model is slowly taking control over the classic monthly comics standard (I know some will recall that some independent comic companies weren't publishing leaflets, but books, for 30 years in the US, but they were not the big players). Recently, Marvel has fought to create a hardcover division for their trades (that wasn't their policy before), and DC takes even the risk of launching high profiles books like WONDER WOMAN: THE HIKETEIA or JLA/JSA directly as hardcovers. In the end, this means much more money for the companies and lower risks. But, is the public ready to be conquered? A few years ago I went to New York. There were already comic books at Barnes & Nobles and the Virgin Megastore. But they weren't properly put in the alleys. In Europe, there are BD corners even in the supermarkets because one day, a guy named Leclerc, fan of BD himself, decided that all his stores should have a decent corner for comics. And the other brands then followed. Does this means that the European distribution model is perfect? Far from that. It has a lot of problems. First, it's not flexible. There are some times in the year when you can't issue an album. In the summer for example. Why? Because the distributors decreed that "nobody buys books in the summer". So they don't put new albums on the shelves. It's June or September. Period. The other problem is that the representatives that place the albums on the stands don't really know what they sell. They start prospecting three month prior to the release and have few elements to "sell the books" to retailers since those books are in progress. Add the fact that it is forbidden to advertise for books on TV and you'll find why comics are selling so well here: luck! HIDE & SEEK So can this model be reproduced in the US? I don't think so. It is obvious that there will be more trades, more hardcovers, more albums in general. And the audience is always demanding more quality from the books. Everyone knows that quality means time. Comics, except for some icons, are not really monthly anymore though publishers use tricks to hide it. Marvel has its "rotating teams technique" whereas DC asks the art teams to deliver complete story arcs before even solicitation. The good part is that they need more arms to produce all that comics. The bad part is that this system can't last long - especially if the books are failing expectations. But, during that time, everybody thinks of what could be the next mutation of the distribution system. Meanwhile, Manga has invaded the USA and kicked everybody's ass with numbers so high that comic book companies don't remember how it feels to have those sales. Again, I'll call one example we know here. Manga isn't new. DRAGONBALL was first brought here in 1988. But, the market share of mangas has been multiplied by hundreds since that date. Can the Japanese invasion be contained? No. Can it be mutated? Yes. Some publishers from both sides of the Atlantic have found their solution - produce manga-like comics but with occidental standards of quality. Not to mention the Chinese/Hong-Kong school (Tony Wong, Andy Seto, etc.) which brings the best of both worlds together. It may be a small world after all… Next time at CWN: Well, this was a little bit technical for that first time. Next, we'll dip a little more into the characters and, on the eve of a new ALPHA FLIGHT series, see how foreign characters are treated in US comics from an "alien" point of view. Stay tuned !
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April 22, 2008:
February 4, 2008:
November 20, 2006:
A Comic-Con without the Captain
