If you're looking to make your millions, do not go into the comic book industry. Like most creative industries, the people who succeed in comics are those doing it for the love of the form, rather than for the money - because, exceptions like Robert Kirkman and Mark Millar aside, there isn't a whole lot in it. Comics don't sell much, the pay's not amazing, and the job security's pretty crummy too. Don't get started on health insurance, either. As belts continue to be tightened then, like all capitalist businesses, both writers and artists will be asked to do much more work for much less pay, which doesn't bode well. That is, if they're relied on to work at all. It's entirely possible that they'll follow the lead of the animation industry: rather than relying on the fatally human (and thus prone to delays) single creators, farming out the work to teams of foreign artists who can follow an established style sheet and produce comics that all look the same. Writers, meanwhile, will be less inclined to create and maintain original works and more like custodians of current properties - even more so than they are now, with stories produced in a similar fashion to Hollywood or mainstream television. As in, written by a committee, with little credit given.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
