Discourse Chronicle

Yes, but the big two (or any publisher) does not know how to reach an audience outside of their peers and the current fan base. I listened to Ron Marz talk about this when he did guest-speaking at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire English Fest (a student-run conference I used to manage) and he said the same thing. As far as he knows, there is no "magic bullet" to help comics, but everyone keeps trying.

Now, I mean absolutely no disrespect toward anime or manga. If anything, I would love to see those scholars working together with comic scholars more, like Frenchy Lunning does at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. For me, I am not ready or willing to let my research interests cross the Pacific yet.

Ah, but even those revamped characters won't reach much beyond their current fan base. Until the big two start producing comix that appeal to someone else, they're going to be stuck in the same rut.

As long as the popular perception remains that comix = superhero narratives, most people aren't going to give them a second glance (unless they're turned into films -- even then, folks who see the films mostly don't buy the comix). I wouldn't say that non-superhero titles are a big part of the market, just that they have the best potential for bringing it out of the moribund world of geekdom (and I say that as a self-identifying geek ;-) and into the real world. But Marvel and DC are going to keep beating what is increasingly a dead horse.

I don't read superhero titles and I doubt I ever will. The concept has no interest for me. No matter what they do to Superman, I'm just not going to care. For the record, I don't care about mystery novels or romances either. They are narratives that hold little appeal for me. Some people can't get enough of them. Enough that they are huge industries. Superhero comix doesn't even have that big of a niche market.

I realize that there are plenty of independent and non-mainstream comics, but I am not interested in those types and I am not convinced they make up a majority of the market. I was only highlighting Wright's historical connection between superheroes and comic books because I disagreed with what Chin said in the article.

I agree that comics need to make appeals toward a broader audience and I believe companies such as Marvel and DC are getting closer to doing so with their "Ultimate" and "All-Star" line, respectively. These titles reinvent timeless characters such as Spider-Man and Superman without decades of lore to remember and doing so seems to be slowly winning back a marginal audience from manga. New and old readers are also apparently satisfied with these offerings as well.

"Obviously comic books are going to be focused on superheroes." I'm not sure I agree with that -- there are so many terrific comix out there, many of which have nothing to do with superheroes. Count me as a reader who loathes superhero narratives -- and not because they're "not real." After all, the majority of titles I do read fall under the wide umbrella of fantasy. I think superhero narratives will always have an appeal, especially to young males (or to older males who grew up reading them), but the future of comics (if it has one)lies in reaching audiences beyond the traditional fanboy base. Perceptions have to change both inside and outside the marketplace, so that people can begin to enjoy the power of the art form without relgating it to only one particular genre. Manga already does that -- there is manga for every age and interest and *that's* why manga has grown so fast here, too. Manga is form that doesn't determine contents -- someday American comix artists and buyers might realise it too, but it'll probably be too late for the industry.