7 Reasons You Should Give Up Superhero Comics In 2017

Back before the 1980s, comics were mostly available on newsstands. They were like just like magazines. The cover of an issue might catch your eye and, even though you don’t usually read it, you buy a copy. Comics had to appeal to average people as well as dedicated fans and part of that was done by chasing trends. Wonder Woman lost her powers and learned Judo to make her seem more feminist (even though that makes no sense) and characters like Spider-Woman and Ms. Marvel (the white one) were also riding the wave of female empowerment. Luke Cage was created because of the popularity of Blaxploitation films. Vibe was a breakdancer because that was hot on the streets.

But since then, comics have become a specialty item, ordered through particular methods. There’s practically no advertising aimed toward people who aren’t already into comics or some tangential geek media. Many react with shock that comic books are even still being published and some are surprised to find out, for instance, that Superman is actually alive - they thought he died in 1992.

Do the legions of fans demanding season three of Rick and Morty know there’s a comic based on the show? How would they even find out? Yet, the Big Two constantly use gimmicks to gain these new readers that end up alienating the people who actually buy comics and invariably fail. They seem to think that the problems are due to representation; so the teenage girls who squee over the Avengers movies but don’t read comics are only avoiding the medium because there aren’t enough “girly” books. Forget that the supposedly male oriented Avengers movies have tickled the fancy of young women; forget the direct market stores that are often uninviting to newcomers; forget that these girls have no way to become immersed in these comic universes other than “read a bunch of wiki articles;” the real way to get them into stores is a woman Thor and a bunch of series with webcomic art.

These half-assed attempts to gain new readers just flat out don’t work. Any increase in sales is almost definitely from people who were already reading comics and just expanded their diet. Why bother doing them at all? To impress your friends from art school? To pay lip service to those who totally absolutely definitely would buy your comics if you jump through the hoops they demand?