Some of the top selling comics of late have been Cartoons. Regular Show, Adventure Time, My Little Pony and Bravest Warriors, the Adventure-Time-esque space adventure are all doing a great deal of business in surprising ways.
WHO is buying these books? Just Kids? Adults? Everybody? The last answer is the most accurate, as any top selling comic needs to appeal across broad audiences. The good news here is we’re getting more kid friendly titles, and more kid business. I guess I’ll have to stop making references to “Mugwumps.”
The bad news is…nothing. Comics are great, and more peeps are loving them! Sweet! My Little Pony Microseries #4 (of 6), Adventure Time #16 and Regular Show #2 are on shelves this week, so make sure you get some! Awwwwww-Yeah!
KICKSTARTING
Oh, no wait! There is bad news. Kickstarter. More and more great books are being sold through Kickstarter, with bonuses and cool swag. WHY is that bad? Because without an internet connection and money to burn funding nifty titles, it is hard to get these books into your mitts…not to mention that the funding can be locked out before you get a chance to find out about it, or that the affordable goals are all taken by the time you do. There’s few outlets for information about all these books, and practically no way to find out about them if you don’t have access to the internet.
The biggest innovation to comic through the 80’s and 90’s was the amazing array of talent in the indie comic market…so much dang talent that the industry had to switch how it did business. The thing was, all these creators still had their product on the shelves, as it was the only game in town.
Now the shining stars are going to come from online…and we might never know about them.
TITLES AND HONORS
Spectrum is the top name in Fantasy and Sci-Fi artwork, and they just announced the latest batch of winners and honorees at their gala banquet somewhere out west. If you’ve never picked up a volume of Spectrum, you should. Every page features the top talents from comics, Hollywood and publishing drawing their hearts out to be the best. Illustrators is Spectrum are the shapers of geek culture to come.
Forbidden Planet has some past volumes of Spectrum available now, and let the staff know that you’re interested in picking up the latest volume when it ships.
GREAT TIMES
Let us take a moment to reflect. From art, to quality of paper, variety of titles and talents…we might be at the high water mark of comic book history. Even if you want to argue there were better stories, artists or titles a few years back, there has never been a better time for reprints! Gorgeous books come out every week, so many it’s hard to keep up!
Many folks, including myself from time to time, get freaked out over the ultimate fate of comics. Between the internet, mobile devices and e-readers, it is difficult to predict what the future of comics looks like…except for one fact.
Whatever shape it takes, style or format, the future of comics looks great!
