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Captain America and Capitalism
May. 3rd, 2006 09:07 pmI was in the comics store today. It's a big day for mega-super-crossovers. The last issue of DC's Infinite Crisis and the first issue of Marvel's Civil War both came out today. Both issues had multiple covers. The same contents inside, but a choice of covers. A lot of other comics on the shelves had variant covers too. It's the early 1990s all over again.
Does anyone remember that time? Flush with corporate profits from a big superhero film, comic book companies kept releasing pointless crossovers - often riffing on Crisis on Infinite Earths, Watchmen, Dark Knight and X-Men. They had multiple covers that were sold as collector's items. It became a stock market of sorts. Big profits, minimal quality.
And then the crash came. Comic book sales plummeted as readers turned away from the artform.
It looks like the comics industry has been condemned to repeat its past.
And the stories? A sequel to Crisis, and something that Marvel continually claims is not like Watchmen ("first rule of politics: never believe anything until it's officially been denied.) Oh, and aren't superhero films make lots of cash? Oh, a Bush in the White House. My, how times change.
The most odious thing was that the comic book shop -- 1,000,000 Comics on Yonge St. in Toronto -- was selling the special alternate cover to Civil War for $99.95. For a frigging comic book, which cost around $5 if you just shelled out for the plainer cover! As I was at the checkout counter, a woman had been tasked to buy to comic with the special cover for her son. She was contemplating the kid's insane request (although I doubt he knew how much these hucksters would be selling the comic for). How can something that has only been on the shelves for a few hours be worth so much? Because of greedy comic store owners and gullible buyers, that's how.
I remember when the Death of Superman issues were being marked up to insanely high prices days after their release.
It's happening all over again. And that means the crash is coming too. Hopefully the good stuff -- works like Clyde Fans Book One, Persepolis and Palestine can survive it.
Allen
Does anyone remember that time? Flush with corporate profits from a big superhero film, comic book companies kept releasing pointless crossovers - often riffing on Crisis on Infinite Earths, Watchmen, Dark Knight and X-Men. They had multiple covers that were sold as collector's items. It became a stock market of sorts. Big profits, minimal quality.
And then the crash came. Comic book sales plummeted as readers turned away from the artform.
It looks like the comics industry has been condemned to repeat its past.
And the stories? A sequel to Crisis, and something that Marvel continually claims is not like Watchmen ("first rule of politics: never believe anything until it's officially been denied.) Oh, and aren't superhero films make lots of cash? Oh, a Bush in the White House. My, how times change.
The most odious thing was that the comic book shop -- 1,000,000 Comics on Yonge St. in Toronto -- was selling the special alternate cover to Civil War for $99.95. For a frigging comic book, which cost around $5 if you just shelled out for the plainer cover! As I was at the checkout counter, a woman had been tasked to buy to comic with the special cover for her son. She was contemplating the kid's insane request (although I doubt he knew how much these hucksters would be selling the comic for). How can something that has only been on the shelves for a few hours be worth so much? Because of greedy comic store owners and gullible buyers, that's how.
I remember when the Death of Superman issues were being marked up to insanely high prices days after their release.
It's happening all over again. And that means the crash is coming too. Hopefully the good stuff -- works like Clyde Fans Book One, Persepolis and Palestine can survive it.
Allen
