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Kyle Garret On CR’s Ten Unanswered Questions
posted December 17, 2008
 

1. You find the answer to this one and I'll try to figure out why the short story is dying. For years, I've felt the two were connected, as both are overshadowed by long form storytelling, more or less (the infinite serial that is nearly essential for superhero books and novels). I also found, growing up, that alternative comics and short stories crossed paths quite often with regards to content. I suppose there could be an escapism issue in there somewhere.

2. You hit the nail on the head, I think: they're raising their prices because they can. The fact that we've not yet reached the saturation point for event comics has only proven to them that they can string readers along like junkies.

3. What absolutely kills me about Final Crisis is how well it was intended to go. None of DC's books tied into it, save a few one shots and limited series. It was an event comic that fans could ignore if they so chose, an admirable move by one of the Big Two. Ultimately, the blame has to fall squarely on the editors, regardless of whether the artists was slow, the writer was slow, or re-writes were demanded. Even worse, it's clearly a story that will work better as a whole, which means it was going to read poorly on even a monthly schedule, let alone whatever schedule it's on now.

4. Perhaps this IS a sign of event fatigue? Are readers branching out now, trying books that are self-contained? It will be interesting to see how these titles do as Marvel raises their prices on the top tier books (which, I would guess, are going to lose readers -- but only to collected editions).

5. I have no idea. Perhaps the CBLDF needs to defend a Big Two book before people get it.

6. Because we're used to it? Also, I think, because we've watched as the last company to challenge them (Image) morphed into a really great place for a variety of genres, as opposed to the superhero factory it was when it competed with the Big Two. I think the general philosophy is, let the Big Two have their market share and their superheroes, as we'd rather have some diversity than see a company try to play their game.

7. Diamond

8. Because (and as a man who's been published in online literary journals, I know this only too well), most people still don't consider the web "legitimate" as far as publishing is concerned. Much of it is the signal to noise ratio of the web. Part of it, I'm sure, is the fact that the financial stream for a web site is less obvious, so people assume it can't make money. It will be a while before this changes, not just for comics, but for anything published online.

9. Given the state of the economy, I'd be shocked if there were any. Staff positions of any sort are few and far between.

10. Honestly, I think of it as the internet boom and bust or, even better, the speculator market of the 90's. It just grew too fast. I think the audience is still very much there, and I think that, after some pruning, it will thrive for years to come.

Thanks for the mental exercises this morning!