Brian Hibbs sees gloom on the sales horizon
The manager of ComixExperience in SanFrancisco has written his latest Tilting at Windmills column for CBR, and does not see a rosy future ahead for the market. "Event" marketing is just one of the causes for the industry's downfall, and towards the end, he says:
Update: Josh Blaylock is wondering if next Feburary will be a wipeout. I'm afraid it's quite possible.
“Event Marketing” is now counter-productive; over-proliferation is counter-productive, focusing on the short-term gain, but ultimately eroding consumer confidence in a work by the constant barrage of new #1s is counter-productive, Price increases are counter-productive. We have to pack comics full of action and wonder and crazy ideas again. We have to not publish comics that “don’t matter,” we have to stop tying them all together so closely and making the enjoyment of one dependent upon the purchase of another. We have to strip lines down, hard, to just the brilliant shiny heart of it all...But don't count on it to happen with such awful people as Joe Quesada and Dan DiDio in charge. They're only going to keep milking the periodicals dry with events and stunts, and do nothing to reverse the damage they've done to continuity, nor will they try to change the publishing format.
Update: Josh Blaylock is wondering if next Feburary will be a wipeout. I'm afraid it's quite possible.
Labels: bad editors, crossoverloading, dc comics, marvel comics, sales
