What is? The British comics industry, that's what! Remember all the comics that newsagents' counters used to strain under, week by week, the product of IPC and DCT? I'm talking about real comics, not puzzle or activity mags with a smattering of comic strip content - actual comics that were filled to the gills with strip after strip, for only a few pence, published by mighty empires devoted to producing weekly periodicals for kids all over the country (and abroad). Companies which were in competition with each other, vying for whatever pocket money wasn't spent on sweets and toys.
That doesn't exist any more. It has expired, turned up its tootsies, fallen off the twig, shuffled off this mortal coil, is pushing up the daisies - dead! What remains today is nothing more than the equivalent of a craft fayre or car boot sale, where anaemic and emaciated survivors cling on frantically by their fingertips, trying to be all things to all kids, but sadly ignored by the majority of them. Circulation figures today are generally so poor that, in the industry's heyday, a comic would have suffered cancellation long before it ever sank so low.
Don't be misled by those who say otherwise; those whose self-interests lie in 'talking up' the current lamentable situation. We're talking about comics - as in weekly, published paper comics, devoted mainly to humour and adventure strips for the entertainment of kids and teenagers, at a reasonable price. We're not talking about on-line cartoons or collected editions in book form. Comic strips can be published in a variety of mediums, but a book is a book and a website is a website, which - although they might feature comic strips - are not in themselves 'comics' in the traditional sense.
So, to reiterate - the industry of traditional, weekly, published paper periodicals called comics is, sadly, dead. The BEANO and 2000 A.D. do not constitute an 'industry'. No amount of wishful-thinking, or reinterpretation of the facts can change that. However, whether it's an immutable condition is by no means certain. Perhaps, someday, that once-mighty industry can be resurrected, and, if so, those of us who love comics - real comics - printed paper comics - will welcome their return. What else can I say?
Roll on that day, eh?
