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Shel Holtz
Communicating at the Intersection of Business and Technology
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What’s a comic book geek to do?

“Print is dead!” shout the digital fanboys. “All tangible media will be gone by 2012,” proclaims Steve Rubel. If you listen carefully, you can hear the anguished screams of comic book geeks.

Well, not really.

Comic books—and especially graphic novels—are one form of print media that hasn’t made the transition to the Web. You can’t put an unread comic in a plastic sleeve marked as “mint.” You can’t smell the ink when you crack open a new issue, or gaze lovingly at the art and the inking that just wouldn’t look the same on a monitor. (I’m not into comics, by the way, but my wife has one hell of a collection.)

imageConsider the Marvel comic book that just hit the stands in which Spiderman saves the Barack Obama inauguration—with a little help from the candidate. By all reports, this will fly off the shelves and become another collector’s item. (There are no online collector’s item, since the ability to find content any time precludes the need to collect anything beyond bookmarks and Delicious links.)

Comics and graphic novels represent a form of tangible media that won’t be going anywhere. If you look hard enough, you’ll find others. For example, there’s the brochure you can pull from a display at the booth where you buy your tickets for Alcatraz tours. Will these be replaced by 2012 with a data file I can have beamed to my smartphone? Don’t hold your breath.

This is part of what I mean when I suggest there will be a market for print even as more and more content goes digital.

01/15/09 | 6 Comments | What’s a comic book geek to do?

Comments

  • 1.Ha. But that's not quite what I said. I said that they would be gone OR in sharp decline by then.

    Steve Rubel | January 2009 | Intangible Land

  • 2.Right, Steve. So you think comics and graphic novels will be in sharp decline by 2012? I don't think they'll be anywhere near it. Or brochures. Or scads of other tangible media.

    Shel Holtz | January 2009

  • 3.Yup, I do.

    Steve Rubel | January 2009 | Intangible Land

  • 4.Steve, could you possibly elaborate on that? Let's look at the comic book industry alone. The industry has experienced eight consecutive years of growth. In 2008, sales continued to trend strong and the graphic novel category grew by 5%. Analysts expect 2009 to be another good year. The growth is fueled by a variety of factors, including successful movies based on comic book franchises, strong retail merchandising tie-ins, and a fan base that isn't getting older -- young people continue to succumb to the allure of comics. Collecting is a passion and fan groups form around popular titles. The 4,000 comic book stores nationwide serve as gathering points for fans; drop into a comic book store some Saturday afternoon.

    To me, this indicates that comic books represent a healthy market for print. The TOTAL market for print is shrinking, to be sure, but there remain niches in which the demand will remain strong; comic books and graphic novels are one of them. (Another is print-on-demand -- Blurb.com had a fantastic year, exceeding their stretch performance goals).

    If trends and predictions hold true, and 2009 represents another year of growth in the industry, wouldn't a complete collapse in three years -- from healthy and growing in 2009 to sharp decline in 2012 -- seem a bit far-fetched?

    Shel Holtz | January 2009 | Concord, CA

  • 5.Even as a huge comic book fan and lapsed collector, I'm afraid I disagree with you to some extent.

    There will always be a market for print editions of comics, but that's because of the passionate collecting market - in the same way as vinyl has survived CDs and MP3s to actually increase in sales last year - but it's partly because there haven't been many online-only comics that have rivaled the fame of the print products yet - for instance Jonas Moore (http://www.jonasmoore.com/) is quite cool, but it's one of the only examples of it's type I can think of.

    As for brochures at places like Alcatraz - look at the Wikitude AR Guide from Mobilizy - Wikipedia information for notable landmarks etc.
    http://www.mobilizy.com/

    Dan Thornton | January 2009 | Peterborough, UK

  • 6.Dan: When you say there will always be a market, you make my point for me. New technologies force older ones into a niche where their strengths provide distinct advantage. However, I don't think it's right to equate the vinyl LP market with the comic book market. One is a small group of afficianados, the other a very large group more aptly compared to baseball trading card fans. The market for comic books, manga, and graphic novels is much larger than the market for vinyl. I doubt there are 4,000 vinyl shops nationwide!

    Shel Holtz | January 2009 | Concord, CA

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