Thursday 4 October 2012

IS THERE A FUTURE FOR BRITISH COMICS IN PRINT?


Image copyright D.C. THOMSON & Co, Ltd

I'm afraid we may have to consider the distinct possibility that nothing can be done to save comics in print form in this country and that their eventual demise is inevitable.  Perhaps they really are a dying breed and the digital dimension is the only way in which they can possibly continue.  (Strictly speaking, they wouldn't really be comics then, though they would still be comic strips.)

However, assuming they can be saved, here is perhaps a way to do it.  We all know that newsagents and supermarkets prefer to stock more expensive items as their percentage from sales is bigger, but they'd be foolish to ignore lower-priced items selling in large volumes.  After all, it results in the same thing - profits.

So, what can comic companies do to help their products perform better on the shelves?  Off the top of my head, here are a few suggestions which I think may be worth considering:

1)  Start employing writers who can produce consistently funny strips on a weekly basis. No more editors slumming as writers to supplement their earnings and churning out tired, formulaic, unfunny stories that merely fill space.  Stop aiming strips primarily at an infant audience and start crafting stories which not only children can enjoy, but also teenagers and adults who thumb through a copy in their idle moments.  Remember Dennis the Menace at his finest, when his capers weren't written down to an infant's mentality?  Kids and parents could both find things to laugh over in his exploits.

2)  Give kids stories they can relate to - which are funny - that reflect things they have experience of.  (Conflict with parents, teachers, authority, etc.)  No more ridiculous and repetitive concepts like Gnipper, Rasher, Thrasher, Basher, Crasher, Donner and Blitzen, or however many pets Dennis currently has.  (I might have invented a few there, in order to make a point.)  No more ex-army neighbours with tanks in their back gardens and nonsense of that sort, or flying around in rocket-powered Dennis mobiles.  Keep it real, but make it funny.  (Of course, if the concept of the strip is about a boy with a rocket-powered vehicle or a menagerie of pets, then the above 'restrictions' need not apply.)

3)  Hire artists who can tell a story without merely repeating one panel throughout the length of a strip, or is just a series of talking heads.  Artists who can make funny things funnier by the way they draw them, who have a good grasp of sequential storytelling and whose depiction of events can be understood at a glance - and which don't induce eyestrain and a headache.  Oh, and who don't draw like six-year olds.

4)  Use lettering fonts which are instantly legible and pleasing to the eye, not ones that look as if a chicken has walked through ink and scampered all over the page.  Use a consistent style throughout, to give the comic a sense of unity, rather than just being a hodgepodge collection of random strips.  One cannot seriously defend upper and lower case lettering on the grounds that children (or anyone) find it easier to read, when one is using barely legible amateurish scrawls.  A scrawl is a scrawl, whether rendered in upper case or upper and lower.  You'd think this truth would be obvious to all.

5)  Keep the costs as low as possible by perhaps reducing page count (The Beano and Dandy had phenomenal sales when they had only 16 or 20 pages, remember), using cheaper paper and exploiting traditional, familiar characters that'll prompt parents to buy comics for their children out of a sense of nostalgia.  One of the main factors in The Beano's and Dandy's longevity was the 'nostalgia-factor'.  This alone, of course, won't sustain a comic if it isn't any good - it still needs to be well-written, well-drawn and funny.  Humour comics have fallen into the habit of being faintly amusing - and then only sometimes - over the past couple of decades (with exceptions of course), and this needs to be reversed.

6)  Cut the price.  Which can be done if production costs are kept to a minimum.  Investigate supplying to 'pound shops' - they're springing up all over the country and are perhaps an avenue which can be exploited.  (Back issues could be sold, three in a bag, for a £1, rather than just being pulped.)  Another thing which should be emphasized is the educational aspect of comics and how they can help children develop an appetite for reading, along with the ability to do so.  Parents need to be encouraged to renew the once-popular custom of buying comics for their kids, and the educational aspect could be a way of doing it.

Well, these are just a few ideas for the purpose of kick-starting reflection and discussion on how printed comics can not only survive, but thrive, in the decades to come.  Thirty years ago they said that Cinema was dead with the advent of the video, but a reversal in its fortunes was achieved which can surely be emulated by comics if we all put our minds to it.

So how about it?  Anyone else got any ideas?

*******

(A version of this post was first published on another site.)

41 comments:

TwoHeadedBoy said...

Good points all around, particularly the £-stretcher and "education" matters. I know it was the Beano and the Dandy that got me into reading, and that was only as far back as 1992 (can the world have REALLY changed that much in 20 years?).

Meanwhile, it seems it's a matter of rounding up such people who HAVE the talent, but who'd also believe such a thing could be done. Okay if I rattle off a "dream team" of currently-working artists?

-Dave Sutherland
-Tom Paterson
-John Fardell
-Lee Healey
-Simon Thorp
-Hunt Emerson
-Lee James Turnock
-Frank Quitely (more for his Electric Soup stuff than his superhero stuff)
-Lew Stringer
-Steve Bell

They'd all fit in well with each other (stylistically and aesthetically), and I'm guessing (perhaps with the exception of Quitely) they'd be "up" for this sort of thing.

Pipe dreams is all! I'd buy it.

Kid said...

There's two or three names on your list that I'm not familiar with, so permit one of my own.

Tom Paterson
Ken H. Harrison
Dave Sutherland
Nigel Parkinson
Hunt Emerson
Wayne Thomson
Martin Baxendale
Steve Bell
Steve Bright
Marie Severin

Okay, Marie Severin's American and I'm not sure if she's currently working (or if Leo's boy is either), but she's a great humour artist. I'm not convinced that Lee's style would fit in with the others - it seems more suited to the 'underground' style of comics and there's one name on your list who'd have to up his game before I'd consider using him.

All we need now is some seriously funny writers. (Oh, look - a contradiction in terms.)

Dougie said...

Short story about modern comics:I subscribed to The Phoenix earlier this year. My plan was to use it in the classroom for our youngest kids or those with support needs or English as a second language. If it was skewed too young for 11 to 12- year-olds, I planned to send it to my 6-year-old nephew.

Despite receiving a couple of polite emails, they never sent me anything at all (or took any money out of my account-probably just as well). I couldn't be bothered to pursue it further because it didn't seem like a serious business concern.

Kid said...

From what I've heard, Dougie, even some professional comics contributors have had all sorts of difficulties obtaining it via subscription or from Waitrose. Funnily enough, Forbidden Planet in Glasgow sell it. I saw it last time I was in.

Beanodaytoday said...

Here's my mighty 10 for a humour weekly

Nigel Parkinson
Jamie Smart
Steve Bell
Tom Patterson
Lew Stringer
Skottie Young
Ken H. Harrison
Laura Howell
Gary Northfield
Cat Sullivan

2 pages each = 20 pages + covers and ads = 24 pages

TwoHeadedBoy said...

How could I forget Ken Harrison? Mike Pearse and Kev Sutherland would be welcome too.

Kid said...

I've never heard of three of them and another is someone whose work I'm unfamiliar with. Another would have to up his game and there's one I would never use under any circumstances - if it was 'my' comic that is. However, if it's 'your' comic we're talking about, you'd be free to use whoever you like.

Beanodaytoday said...

This might help you identify them

Nigel Parkinson (Cuddles & Dimples, Harry Hill, Dennis the Menace)

Jamie Smart (Desperate Dan)

Steve Bell (Guardian cartoonist)

Tom Patterson (Calamity James, Fiddle O'Diddle)

Lew Stringer (Postman Prat, Combat Colin)

Skottie Young (American, draws Wizard of Oz for Marvel)

Ken H. Harrison (Minnie the Minx)

Laura Howell (Meebo & Zuky, Beano)

Gary Northfield (Derek the Sheep, Beano)

Cat Sullivan (2000 A.D. and Viz)

Mike Pearce and Kev Sutherland did Bash St Kids longer stories a few years back

They're all at the top of their game. Who don't you like?

Kid said...

Tom Paterson's name only has one 't' in his surname, I believe, and I'm familiar with what the artists in my list do. However, thanks for advising me of the others and what strips they work on. It wouldn't be fair to identify the one whose style I'm not so keen on, but if he's at the top of his game, he needs to find something else to play at.

Anonymous said...

BACK TO YOUR OLD TRICKS AGAIN KID?

Kid said...

Uh oh - the nutter's back.

Anonymous said...

Actually I think the Beano, art wise looks really impressive at times, its the stories not funny at all (IMHO) but as making a list is always fun, the artists I would go for are:

Tom Paterson
Ken H. Harrison
Nigel Parkinson
Hunt Emerson
Steve Bright
Lew Stringer
Kev O'Neill
Steve Parkhouse
Jamie Smart
Sergio Aragones

ok Sergio is Spanish(Mexican) American (not sure what he wants to be called) but you choose the great Marie Severin, Kev O'Neill I think is a great cartoonist and Steve Parkhouse I would use on a Brassneck type strip. I know some folk are not fans of Jamie Smart but I think on the right character he is really good (not Dan though) -McScotty


Kid said...

I remember Kevin O'Neill's 'Captain Klep' (I think it was called) and you're right - he is a good cartoonist. He also did a page for Denis Gifford's 'Ally Sloper' mag, if I remember correctly. And Sergio Aragones would certainly be an asset. Incidentally, I inadvertently misspelt Wayne Thompson's surname - it's spelt with a 'p'. (I couldn't have hit the key hard enough.)

2manycomics said...

I like all the art suggestions. Sounds like a dream team. Good luck with this project.

Beanodaytoday said...

1 - Get sponsorship from local companies and give away comics to schools.

2 - Print the comics in red and black to save costs.

3 - Get artists to post leaflets in their areas to adeverise the comic and get them to do signings at public galleries, libraries, art centres, shops.

4 - Do what L.Miller did and have a market stall selling comics.

Kid said...

That might work for small press publications and self-published fanzines, but I suspect that large-scale enterprises would require something more. Interesting ideas 'though.

TwoHeadedBoy said...

I'm guessing John Fardell and Lee Healey are the names from my list you're not familiar with?

They both currently work for Viz - John Fardell does "The Modern Parents" and "The Critics" and also has a couple of children's books out.

Lee Healey does "The Drunken Bakers", and he did a lot of stuff for Acne and the like back in the day.

Kid said...

Thanks. Simon Thorp doesn't ring a bell either, although Quasimodo does.

TwoHeadedBoy said...

Esmeralda's cooking a vat of custard, when she accidentally knocks it onto Quasimodo. He lets out a huge scream.

"It's only custard!" says Esmeralda.

"Phew" says Quasimodo, "For a moment there I thought my hump had burst."

Simon Thorp's also a Viz-player, producing incredibly detailed and incredibly funny pictures (big posters of "The Shittish Isles" and "Cuntinental Europe", for instance). His regular characters include Farmer Palmer, 8 Ace, Fru T. Bunn, Mrs. Brady (old lady) and Finbarr Saunders.

Dick said...

This is why this project of yours will never happen if you can't even be bothered to do your research. Simon Thorp's work has been read by millions of people over the years but your so out of touch you've never heard of him.

Kid said...

What project? There is no project. We're talking hypothetically. Seems it's you who needs to do your research - or at least learn to comment on what's actually under discussion. (And you meant 'you're', not 'your'.) Dick by name, dick by nature it seems.

******

TwoHeadedBoy, I don't read Viz, which is why I'm not familiar with his work or his name (no shame - I bet HE'S never heard of ME), but I'll check him out on the internet.

Anonymous said...

Most of your proposals are idealistic but impractical.

Comics with lower prices would mean lowering the budget to produce them which would mean paying writers and artists less, but you want the best creators working on it. You can't have both.

You expect retailers to order lots of cheap comics on faith, when they could use the same shelving area to make higher profits on other goods. Unworkable.

Dandy and Beano were both £1.50, which is about as cheap as one could go, but they still don't sell high numbers despite using some of the artists you propose.

You're often swift to criticise the efforts of others but reluctant to "have a go" yourself. May I suggest to try your hand at starting off with a small press comic and seeing just how difficult it is to build an audience before you start telling the big boys how to play with their toys?

Kid said...

Now I wonder who this could be from?

Your first point is nonsense. Artists and writers wouldn't necessarily be paid less, but fewer artists and writers would be required per comic. With a lower budget due to fewer pages, profits would potentially be higher if the lower priced article sold more. Survival of the fittest applies in business as well as nature.

Your second point seems to contradict your third point to some degree, but you're overlooking the fact that retailers sell cheaper items than comics when, according to you, they could make higher profits on other goods. The fact is (as I've already said), if comics were cheaper than they are, they might sell far more - resulting in higher profits. Comics traditionally sold in far higher numbers when they were the cheapest form of kids' entertainment available, something we'd be wise to remember.

As for telling the big boys how to play with their toys - well, someone needs to because they're making a mess of things. And for 15 years I played with these toys with some of the biggest boys around. As for doing it myself - I like food, but I don't cook ('though I can tell a good meal when I taste one). I like comics, but I no longer have a desire to be involved in producing them myself. That hardly disqualifies me from having an opinion, nor does it invalidate my considered thoughts on the matter, based on experience in the big league myself.

Anonymous said...

Let's put things into perspective. You were a lettererer and resize artist. Publishing is a different league.

Of course, shops do sell mass produced items for a,pound or less. Doesn't mean comics could be produced as cheaply. When creatives, printers, distributors, and Poundland have taken their portion out of the budget, what would that leave you out of that £1 per comic? Sweet f.a

True, comics USED to be the cheapest form of entertainment, when they sold up to a million copies a week. Your nostalgic rose tinted view ignores the reality that sales have been falling for over 50 years. A wish to make things like they used to be is an unrealistic view that ignores the fact that the world constantly changes, admittedly not always for the better.

If you could wish away x-boxes, the internet, multi-channel tv, inflation, and other things that have affected sales then you MIGHT have a chance for a pound comic to sell the huge numbers itd need to support it. Good luck with that fantasy.

Kid said...

Yes indeed, let's put things in perspective. I was a letterer, resize artist, AND restoration artist for the two biggest comics publishing companies in the world. Unless you're in publishing yourself (and we're not including self-published fanzines with a readership of twelve people), then you're not in a higher league than I was and are therefore not any more qualified to comment on such things.

As for being sold in pound shops - if WH Smith could sell a comic for a pound and the publishers could make a profit, then why couldn't a pound shop? Anyway if you were paying attention, you'd have noticed that option was more geared towards back issues in bags of three - the purpose of which was to maintain a presence in the eyes of the public and perhaps create an appetite for contemporary issues.

However, not all the options I was suggesting were necessarily interdependent on one another. If prices COULDN'T be reduced (although if you include fewer pages, cheaper paper, less colour, etc., there's no reason why they couldn't be), then the pound shop avenue is still worth exploring for selling weekly comics.

As for the world changing, it's because of that very reality that I said the demise of comics in print form may be inevitable. If we're serious about trying to reverse the trend however, we have to explore the options - which is what I've done - unlike yourself who offer no ideas at all.

As for your last point: Japan has all the technological entertainments you mention, yet still manage to sell comics in bucketloads. If it can be done there, then perhaps there's a chance over here of doing the same thing.

It's a far better idea than filling a once-great comic with badly written, badly-drawn, and badly lettered tat (with a few exceptions) and expecting it to sell. Now that's what I call a REAL fantasy.

Anonymous said...

It sounds like you have a combination of admirable idealism, a big ego, and unhealthy resentment towards people working on current comics. ("badly written, badly-drawn, and badly lettered tat"???? Care to name them so we can compare them to your handful of Jack Kirby tracings?)

It's easy for you to criticise because you'll never set your ideas to work. The world's full of people like that. Enjoy your impractical dream, because I'm afraid that's all it is.

Kid said...

An ego matched by talent, if not ambition, I'd venture to say. And isn't it 'big' of me to give you the opportunity of slipping in your skewed perceptions of what lies behind my criticisms of a certain comic. The fact that I've never sought work as an artist from the comic in question (although I was once invited to submit samples of lettering) puts paid to that piece of nonsense. What I resent is a comic being ruined because of a misguided attempt to turn it into something it wasn't. And the thousands of readers who deserted it in droves proves that I and others were correct in our observations.

And I have no dreams, impractical or otherwise, pertaining to comics. I was merely trying to kick-start ideas and suggestions which might be worth considering. You, sir, show an impoverished reaction in that regard, in that you singularly failed to make even one helpful contribution to the subject. However, I'm sure you've enjoyed your sly digs. Why, one could be forgiven for thinking you were pursuing some kind of personal vendetta against me.

As for 'Jack Kirby tracings', at least in that department I'm in good company alongside Neal Adams, Mike Royer and quite a few other noted artists. I employed the exact same methods as they did in their inking and re-creations of Kirby art. You'll never rise that high, so your attempts to denigrate the art of restoration reveals your own sorry resentments.

Anonymous said...

I've heard of Neal Adams and Mike Royer. I'd never heard of you until you started your blog but as I'll "never rise as high" as you perhaps you move in loftier circles than I. Sly dig? Personal vendetta? Neither, just giving as good as I get.

Re: helpful contribution to saving print comics. Graphic novels seem the way forward. Most other countries are doing them, and the UK is getting there too. Grandville, Rainbow Orchid, Alice in Sunderland, Classical Comics, Ethel and Ernest, Laika....... all successful books. Publishers should develop comics more toward that direction instead of trying to jump start a dead model like weekly comics.

chipndale said...

POUNDLAND sell hardback books for a quid so printing must be dead cheap they could do a 24 page comic for a pound easy

Kid said...

Giving as good as you get? Not from where I'm standing - I'm well ahead on points. And despite your attempted putdowns, inking Kirby while he still lived is no mean achievement. You've never heard of me? You're not alone - millions are in the same boat, so you won't find me fretting over not being recognised by an anonymous nobody. As for moving in loftier circles - I suspect it wouldn't be hard, but we'll never know because you lack the courage to identify yourself.

As for graphic novels, they're not the subject under discussion - we're talking weekly or monthly comics and how to preserve them, if possible. That's like someone asking for directions to one place and being sent somewhere else. A book is not a comic, so essentially you're admitting that, on the subject of saving the traditional comic, you have nothing useful to contribute. (If you had, you'd have come out with it up-front, instead of your last-gasp afterthought four comments down the line.)

You could have saved us both some time by just saying as much to begin with, but you were obviously more concerned with insulting me than offering any practical suggestions. You might want to think about taking up a hobby.

******

Chipndale, I suspect the reason that books are so cheap in Poundland is primarily because they're remaindered copies.

Anonymous said...

But you haven't come up with any fresh ideas to preserve weekly or monthly comics either.

All you've done is to suggest turning the clock back to how comics were 30 or 40 years ago, as though that would magically boost sales to how they were back then.

You haven't taken into account changing tastes, retailer demands, or rising print costs.

Remember that comics changed from the old format because sales were in freefall. If sales had been considered good, they wouldn't have made those changes.

You can't go back. Times have changed. We need forward-thinkers not nostalgia-obsessed fans with no grasp of the practicalities of modern publishing behind the wheel. Graphic novels are the way to go me thinks.

PS: Bagging unsold comics and reissuing them? Been done by DC Thomson and Titan in recent years. If it was successful they'd do it more often.

PPS: You don't cook? How do you live?

Kid said...

Who said anything about FRESH ideas? Sometimes old ideas are worth reconsidering. However, you're simplifying and misrepresenting what I'm suggesting in pursuit of your own agenda. One thing to remember is that publishers would love to have the circulation of what some comics from years ago had when they were cancelled. At one time, a comic selling 130,000 a week was merged with a sister title - nowadays that would be regarded as a bestseller.

To say that all I've done is to suggest making comics as they were 30 or 40 years ago is nonsense - there's far more meat to my proposals than that. The sales of 4 decades ago, yes - not necessarily the content or the look. The fact is, I've lost count of the times I've heard a parent tell their kid to put a comic back because they're "not paying that price for it", so the cost is obviously a factor.

Also, in The Beano and Dandy's case, they're aiming at a far younger audience than they once were, preventing them from appealling to a wider age group. If you reduce the page count, use cheaper paper, less colour, aim at a more encompassing age range, etc., you improve the potential to sell more copies - at least, you DO if you're producing a quality product.

As for needing forward thinkers - those who proposed all those "forward-thinking" changes to The Dandy over recent years didn't seem to have much success with their ideas, did they? In fact, it's because of those so-called forward thinkers that The Dandy is doomed to oblivion.

Once upon a time, comics were available from a far wider choice of outlets - now their accessibility is more restricted and they're far more difficult to obtain. They just aren't as readily available as they once were. Are you seriously telling me that, in that instance, investigating the possibility of expanding the number of retail outlets which sell them isn't worth investigating with a view to increasing sales? It's you that's out of touch, mate.

As for graphic novels - essentially a different animal. Not everyone wants to hand over £15 at a time just to get their comic strip fix. That's a different market - the book market. I'm talking about the weekly and monthly comics market - which may well be dead, but you'll forgive our attempts to recuscitate the patient and not just bury the poor sod without exploring the options for survival.

On the point of bagging comics, yes, it's been done before - but they still usually only go on sale in the usual outlets - with an army of pound shops punting them, it may well raise a title's profile somewhat.

Anyway, we've heard your view - comics are dead and graphic novels are the way forward. As I said, you should just have said that at the beginning.

How do I live? I get one of the servants to rustle something up for me.

Mr Straightman said...

For the record I did get a cartoon in the Beano back in 1991. I offered my services to the Done-dy but they wanted none of it, they'd decided the chicken scratch / Anime school was the way ahead. And look what good it did them.

Anonymous said...

Thought I'd share the good news. People such as you aired your concerns. They listened. (Creatively awry is putting it mildly!) Bad apples gone.

Dear Kevin,

As the person who runs the company and is also personally presiding over the future of the comics that you and I love so much, I’ve decided to write back to your brilliant email. Although I’m concerned about how closely you resemble a staffy, I love your passion just as much as I do your ideas. The Dandy is absolutely not dying, and in just over two months I think you, and the hundreds and thousands like you, will get to enjoy a new generation of The Dandy for the next 75 years. We have gone a little creatively awry in recent years and the business has floundered because of the digital revolution; by fixing the former, and actually embracing the latter, I think you might quite like what we’re doing.

Thanks a million for taking the time to write, I’ve passed on your thoughts to the team and we’re all excited to see if we’ve pressed your buttons or not.

Ellis

Ellis Watson
CEO, DC Thomson Publishing

Kid said...

Well, that makes for interesting reading. Any chance of seeing the email it's responding to?

Anonymous said...

More revelations on this site over coming weeks.
http://tinyurl.com/clhhend

Kid said...

I tried the link, but it didn't work at first. The site (Comics UK) is listed on my blog list if anyone has similar difficulty linking to it.

Interestingly, one of your members (The Captain) posted a comment on one of my posts, saying that I was banned from the site. As far as I can remember, I've never even tried to join it, but the man is more than a little bonkers, going by the abusive comments he leaves on various posts of mine.

Thanks for commenting.

Anonymous said...

You should join!

Kid said...

I suspect that one or two people (they know who they are) might have their noses put out of joint if I did. Tell you what 'though - Comics UK can become members of MY blog. Tee hee.

I win, you lose said...

I'm having such fun deleting unread the many childish comments that the loser formerly known as 'Captain Storm' insists on bombarding me with. Talk about obsession? He obviously has far too much time on his hands. Keep taking the happy pills, Cap - or whatever you're calling yourself at the moment.

I didn't read your last one, nor will I be reading any further ones - but feel perfectly free to continue your exercise in futility. After all, it's what losers do best.

Heave ho, me hearty.

Kid said...

Interestingly, I did eventually join Comics UK, and I was right - it did put a few noses out of joint, in particular one Andy Boal, who was a moderator and who did his best to get rid of me, never having wanted me to be allowed to join in the first place. For example, he issued me warnings for merely responding to some members who seemed to have free rein to attack me - warnings that the site owner said should never have been issued. I resigned from the site, only for Andy Boal to ban me - for leaving (I kid you not). The site owner invited me to rejoin, but I decided it wasn't worth the hassle.



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