Synergy is the buzzword that'll be fuelling the comic book industry for the next decade or so. Besides making sure their comics are as close to their movie adaptations as possible, expect companies to be looking to bring other recognisable media properties to the four-colour world. Seriously, so many buzzwords. Already there are publishers like Dynamite, IDW and BOOM! where the majority of their output is comic book spin-offs of TV shows and movies, from Adventure Time to Django Unchained to The Avengers (who, ironically, have to be referred to as Steed and Mrs Peel so people don't confuse them with some other team). Just as movie studios are increasingly leaning on remakes, reboots and updates of old properties as "safe bets" that'll bring in the punters and make up for the shortfalls of risking original ideas, expect comic book publishers to follow suit. Why take a chance on an untested, new series when you could just buy the licence to an existing property, with an existing fanbase who are all but guaranteed to buy the further adventures in print? Considering even the biggest superhero titles barely scrape 400,000 sales a month, buying the rights to a Ghostbusters comic seems like a smart investment.
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/
