The comics industry is dying. Comics shops are closing all around America because they’re seeing so little return on investment. The mere act of a comic shop selling comics has become a financially unsustainable business practice. There’s no profit in it anymore. And whether you like it or not, the comics industry is a business. Comic book publishers and the creators who work with them are required to produce something with enough appeal that publishing comics yields more money than they spend. (At least, that’s how it needs to be if one wants to be considered a professional at it.) Even with Marvel movies becoming smash hit after smash hit, stores still can’t move enough product to stay in business. Even the big-name superheroes are struggling. So, the question isn’t: Is the comics industry in trouble. The question is: why is it in trouble?
If you bring the matter up with Marvel comics pros, they’ll tell you that the industry is doing great. They’ll tell you nothing is wrong. They’ll show you the latest sales numbers and brag that Marvel can still push out comics that bring back hundreds of thousands of dollars…then they’ll start an IndieGoGo so they can afford a sandwich…that has to be split between eight roommates…in an apartment that would barely qualify as a closet.
But why such a weird offset. If the comics industry is booming, why are so many creators struggling to buy food and pay rent? Because, like a Hollywood celebrity’s sense of compassion, it all a lie.
The stated revenue for each comic is thrown off a bit. See, there’s a difference between shipped units and sold. Shipped units refer to how many comics are sold to stores. Sold units are the copies bought by actual customers. This is why comic shops are getting into trouble, and it’s because SJW Marvel is producing garbage no one wants to buy.
Comic shops purchase these comics from Marvel with the hopes of then turning around and selling them to customers. So, while it might say a Marvel comic had raked in over $100,000 for that month, it’s usually referring to how much comics shops paid for it. So you have instances where one shop might purchase $1000 worth of one comic but, since no one wants to read about how conservatives are all Nazis or whatever, the shop only sells $100 worth of that comic. That leaves the shop out $900 – for just ONE comic.
So anyone with a working brain, and therefore probably not working at Marvel, will admit that there’s a problem in the comics industry when selling at a loss becomes normal. So the pros will push the big numbers (how many units were shipped to stores) and neglect the significantly smaller number (how many were sold to customers. But the Marvel Lie doesn’t end there.
Marvel Comics is like a rabid alcoholic trying to pretend he’s over his drinking problem by going to A.A. meetings. Like someone trying to con their friends and family into thinking they’re fine.
Marvel has developed a tactic of canceling books with failing numbers, even by Marvel standards, and then rebooting them. One of these rebooted titles was the new diversity Ice Man where the writers turned the little dial in his brain from straight to flaming gay stereotype. Since they changed nothing in the reboot, even the creators are the same, they tried something new.
Several comic shops were surprised to receive double the copies of the new Ice Man.
And since several shops received double their order, it’s looking less like a mistake and more like a desperate gasp of a dying man. It’s very likely that in order to help hide the sales declining sales figures, and to help doctor a success narrative, that Marvel will celebrate all these bolstered numbers as evidence that people love their garbage. They’ll also likely present those numbers as evidence that #ComicsGate is wrong about Marvel’s diversity line tanking their profits.
But why do this? Why play the hopeless drunk? Why try to prove that the poison your drinking is actually helping?
Because as with all things on the side of Social Justice, looking good is far better than actually being good. Marvel is an addict obsessed with a deadly poison. If you try to help, it’ll kick and scream; it’ll insult you; it might even try to ruin you. If left unchecked, Marvel will kill itself on this poison.
Its only hope lies with the fans. But do the fans think Marvel is still worth saving?
Literature Devil 