The Death Of Comics Fandom?

By Mike Pellerito

People have been calling for the imminent death of comic books about as many times as "to be continued" has been in a comic book story. What is really in danger is not comic books, but the comic fan. If the standard comic story is based off the 3 act play model, then we are well into the second act, and the final act is not far off. The biggest reason for the end of fandom are the fans themselves.

The basic three-act structure has been used time and time again in many places; including comic books. If you check out a good buddy, all around great writer Joe Edkins website: Joe Edkin.com, Joe has put together a section on his site called ‘Writing for Comic Books" a must-read for anyone interested in writing of any sort.

Here is an abridged version of the three-act structure from Joe:

ACT ONE--THE BEGINNING
Every story beings with an inciting incident (sometimes called the catalyst). This is the action that has happened that gets the entire story rolling--the first link in the chain of events.

ACT TWO--THE MIDDLE (RISING ACTION)
The basic structure to any story is that you set a goal for your protagonist and then put things in the way of the character achieving his or her goal. These obstacles are minor complications and they make up the second act or middle of your story. Each minor complication on the way to the climax of the story should be bigger and fraught with more danger/consequences than the last.

ACT THREE--THE END
Following the climax must come the resolution to the crisis, followed by the denouement where we see why the decision/action mattered, what was learned, and/or what has changed. This is the end of the story.

Joe employed this technique perfectly in SONIC X #19. You can see some of act one here in a First Look Preview:
























The rise of the comic fandom can really be linked to the way comics have been distributed. Granted this is an overly simplified way to look at things but here is the theory. Originally corner stores, bookstores and newsstands were the main ways to buy your comics. In stores like that if someone hung around to talk about comics the store owner would usually rush that person away. If you wanted to talk about comics to a fellow comic reader, you better give some to your friends comics to read or otherwise you are on your own.



See, that last line that is crucial to why comics of that era sold in the hundreds of thousands. Pass along readership did and does more to build an audience than anything.
It also leads directly to act two.

As these readers grew, as most of theses readers were kids, they stayed with comics and were lucky enough to be able to buy their comics in the direct market - otherwise known as comic shops. These stores were started in basements and garages eventually moving into traditional storefronts. Comics old and new, posters, toys, and statues - anything a comic book fan could want. It was something almost like a private club. Now not all stores are like this although it is certainly true of certain stores in certain cases. Run by fans for fans.

Now that last line is crucial to what looks to be shaping up as the third and final act of comic fandom as we know it. Now comics are more insulated and geared to the older fans, not the kids’ material of the newsstand.

Talking to a good friend and another conspirator on Sonic X, cover artist Pat Spaziante at this past February's NY Comic Con, said a rather innocent comment that changed everything. And more importantly predicted the third act.

Basically the conversation, on this topic, lead to the realization that with so many of the superhero comic doing stories tailor made for and coming out very quickly as Graphic Novels, that the only traditional comics left would be kids comics.

If that is truly the case with comics like Archie Comics Digest at supermarkets, in addition to DC, Marvel, Bongo and a handful of others still have traditional comics on the shelves it certainly changes the way things are done. More comics would probably come from the licenses. Dora The Explorer, Go! Diego, Go!, Harry Potter (Oh, man would that be cool!) and various TV and movie properties would all be tapped to be the next comic. Not too dissimilar from the newsstand days when I love Lucy was right next to Superman and Archie.

Where does that leave everyone else?

The big boom right now in publishing is coming from the Graphic Novel. Manga has lead the way and since then everyone has been scrambling to keep pace. Potentially this market could be the chance for biggest new reader growth, as schools, libraries, and the individual can get at a click of the mouse.

Ultimately the ones hurt are the direct market store, the comic shops. How can they compete with the discounts the big bookstore chains offer? Without the weekly comic releases as we know it, what would keep the comic fan coming in weekly?

Add to that the Internet and the many comic forums and other ways for large groups to talk about comics, the comic shop is at a greater disadvantage to compete.

This is something that will easily stir up controversy, and is just a bit of guesswork into the future. What are your thoughts?

A new Graphic Novel, with a bit of a connection to Sonic X, reflects the growing change in variety of material that the Graphic Novel allows.

David Hutchison a very good penciller on the Sonic X roster shares studio space with Rod Espinosa. Rod always seemed to answer the phone. Despite only talking a few times it was obvious how nice he was. His talent was obvious from the various work of his I’d seen, but this new particular project was really impressive.

THE COURAGEOUS PRINCESS, written, drawn, lettered and colored all by Rod Espinosa is as much an exploration of the classic fairy tale, as it is an example of everything fun and new. The story truly hits on every emotion younger readers are going through and older readers have lived through all against the backdrop of a magical world.

Princess Mabelrose is captured by an evil dragon and learns that no princess has ever been rescued. Unlike most in that hopeless situation, Mabelrose decides to free herself. Armed with magical trinkets and meeting new friends, she is on a desperate mission to return home to her parents.

It is one of those stories that are so well done, with characters so likeable, and adventure so harrowing you’ll want to read this one cover to cover in one sitting.

You can find a preview HERE,

THE COURAGEOUS PRINCESS
Price: $14.95
Format: 240 pages, Graphic Novel, Full color. 
ISBN-10: 1-59307-719-X
ISBN-13: 978-1-59307-719-8
Diamond Item Code: NOV060023
Age level: Grade School and Up


Expect more reviews and rambles on All Ages comics next Tuesday! And a few Ideas on how the death of comics fandom as we know It could be averted, and how the comics shop can do It.

If you have a great All Ages project, let us know!
Get in touch: MikeP@SilverBulletComicbooks.com

Thanks for the opportunity to talk about comics! Here are some more comics to talk about-

Check out some new All Ages comic reads on sale this week:

MAR070234 CARTOON NETWORK BLOCK PARTY #33 $2.25
MAR072095 MARVEL ADVENTURES IRON MAN #1 $2.99
MAR072144 SPIDER-MAN LOVES MARY JANE VOL 3 MY SECRET LIFE DIGEST TP $7.99
MAR073253 FUTURAMA COMICS #31 $2.99
MAR073152 ARCHIE #575 $2.25
MAR073156 ARCHIE DOUBLE DIGEST #179 $3.69