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Joe Field On CR’s Ten Unanswered Questions
posted December 17, 2008
 

1. Why Don't Alternative Comic Books Sell Better In Comics Shops?
Most of what you wrote is spot on--- not enough "big name" creators regularly producing new material, lack of appeal to those who frequent comic specialty stores, etc.

But the proliferation of stores that seem to favor alt-comics is a little misleading. Most of the new stores actively support book-form alt-comics, but have come to the party too late to be able to move the needle much on periodical format comics of any kind, including alt-comics.

Comics are art and commerce, though, often squeezed together uncomfortably. I'm pretty sure that if we had, say for instance, an Eightball or Thrizzle published in periodical form on a monthly basis, we'd see a more regular turn-out of readers looking for alt-comics. But because of the irregularity of publishing schedules, alt-comics readers were trained earlier to wait for the collected editions.

The sales of Marvel and DC comics often work on inertia. The purchases tend to be habitual in most cases, with little time to think about whether that last issue was really good enough to keep buying the series. With most alt-comics, there's so much space between creative outings for each artist that each new thing has to make most of its own market.

As for Jeff Smith being among the last of those who follows the traditional sales model with success, I will also nominate Terry Moore in that category. Both of those creative pros are not only terrifically talented, they both know that marketing and promoting their work is an important part of the job. They don't stop when they send their work off to the printer.

4. Why Have Sales Gone Up On The Lower Part Of The Top 300?
With the top part of the sales charts dominated by "event" comics and tie-ins, it could be that the lower part of the top 300 provide a safer haven from cross-over burn-out.

Better sales on the lower reaches of the top 300 is also indicative of something that happens in other media. There are 500 channels on TV but rarely does anything get truly big ratings anymore. There are thousands of radio stations, but the audience is so splintered nothing dominates. We hear about the mega-hits in video games and movies, but there are thousands of titles produced and some are making some profit even without the headlines.