die, industry, die!

And so, while the comics medium may be doing fantastic, and while I personally believe there are an unprecedented amount of great comics being published outside Big Two capes books, it has fuck all to do with what we're talking about here, which is the superhero industry dominated by Marvel and DC.
Jude Terror in "Doubling Down: Comics Is Burning, and I'm Playing the Fiddle"

Novo armazém da Diamond em Olive Branch, Mississippi.

A indústria está bem e recomenda-se. Ou, assim nos dizem. Publicado hoje:

This adds to evidence from earlier this month that despite the odds, the health of the comic book publishing industry seems to be on the rise - and counter to pretty much all other traditional publishing trends.
in http://www.newsarama.com/31136-diamond-reveals-more-on-distribution-center-expansion.html ^{21 setembro}

Comics good, other shit, bad. Ou, assim nos dizem:

Those who think comics need to ditch the direct market right this minute had better not read the latest news about Barnes and Noble. The last big box chain had a dismal quarter, fired its CEO, and is looking to shore things up.

Concern about Barnes & Noble’s Nook business gave way to worries about its core retail operation when the country’s largest physical bookstore chain reported disappointing results for the first quarter of fiscal 2017, which ended July 30.

“[CEO Len Riggio] It is one of the worst I have ever experienced in the 50 years I have been in this industry.

Heidi MacDonald in The state of the industry UPDATED AND CORRECTED ^{14 setembro}

Sinais dos tempos. Por cá há três dias Sara Figueiredo Costa também lamentava o fecho de mais uma livraria. Mas a Heidi - que preferimos acompanhar no Publisher Weekly ao Comicsbeat - refere-se ali aos que querem "ditchar" o mercado directo. Oy? Parece que há problemas no paraíso. Let's us dig in, shall we? Melhor do que ninguém -e é dele que ela fala...- o Jude Terror resume os malifícios do direct market aqui:

• Die, Industry, Die! (Or Why Letting Comics Fail is the "Real" Only Way to Save the Industry) ^{30 agosto}
• Doubling Down: Comics Is Burning, and I'm Playing the Fiddle ^{1 setembro}

O nosso resumo, se não vais mesmo ler: o direct market tem um grave erro de concepção porque vive das gerações que ainda conheceram as bancas de venda, quiosques e afins: é um sistema que pelo seu modelo não pode produzir novos leitores. Enter tha downfall of comics. 'brincadeira à parte, o Jude tem mais razão no que diz do que o optimismo da Heidi lhe permite ver. Verdade que os números da Diamond parecem aguentar-se, mas é também discutível que o direct market é agora um sistema fechado sobre si mesmo. 'gain, recomendamos a leitura "as it relates to their unwillingness to do the work required to bring new readers into comics in favor of selling more comics at higher prices to the existing, dwindling fanbase".

Parêntesis: do artigo do Terror caímos numa entrevista de onde citamos os excertos que se seguem, ainda no seguimento destes assuntos e no cruzamento ao cinema que nos ocupava por alturas das férias:

Their films [DC Comics] have cannibalized their perennial sellers like Watchmen, Batman Year One, Dark Knight Returns, V for Vendetta, etc.

Book sales get a bump when a film comes out, but after that, the film is usually the preferred medium.

Watchmen was formerly the go-to TPB that a comic book fan would recommend or give to a friend to read as evidence that comic books and graphic novels were more than superheroes and for kids. Now the friends can either read the graphic novel or cheat and see the film.

in Talking To A DC Comics Beancounter About What’s Really Hurting Comics Sales – The Movies And Cartoons (agosto 2015)

E uma pequena nota sobre a troca de notas entre o Heidi e o Jude: notam quando a coisa ficou pessoal? Diz Jude "I'm not like the majority of comics industry and media personalities you'll find on our little corner of the interwebs, because I have no vested interest in propping up the abysmal status quo", totalmente a propósito de ninguém em particular. Responde Heidi, certamente a ninguém em especial, "I'm off to the Diamond Retailer Summit where my indoctrination into industry dogma will be refreshed". Oh web, porque não podem ser todos amigos e dar-se bem como aqui nOS POSITIVOS?

Filmes? Comics? Novos públicos? A BD parece estar a ter um bom momento - na medida do possível e já o registámos antes - mas fá-lo porque outros canais se abriram que permitem justamente contornar o direct market. Resumimos -e, de nada, papinha toda feita 'cuz u guys 'r tha best:

So What is the Comic Market?

All of the above is just a high-level look at the various facets of what I consider the comic market. It’s clear the distribution choices have exploded in recent years putting the power in the hands of creators and publishers. Today one comic could Kickstarted, sold directly to fans on a digital store, distributed through a publisher or comiXology Submit, sold to stores direclty by the creator, and then eventually turned into a webcomic to be monotized further through ad revenue.

The amount of “indie comics” and “small press” comics that are created and sold are massive and probably dwarf mainstream comics. Digital comics are over $90 million a year. Kickstarter alone is over $7 million a year. Patreon is possibly $100,000+ a year. Not to mention schools, libraries, webcomics, and more!

When we talk about the “health” of the comic market, we should be considering all of this and not focusing on one distributor and two publishers."

in The Comics Are All Right: The Comic Market is More than Diamond, Marvel and DC ^{13 setembro}

Desse mesmo post: Direct Market, Digital Comics, Webcomics, Crowdfunding, Direct Sales (Etsy, Shopify, outas lojas online-d.i.y), e aquela coisa da Libraries and Schools. Do primeiro estamos falados, do segundo e particularmente do terceiro voltaremos aqui com especial interesse, do crowdfunding já mostramos a nossa dor de corno, das lojas online não estamos nem ai -é uma cena pessoal :) -, e aquela coisa das escolas e bibliotecas, bem, tentamos fazer a nossa parte criando este corpo de literatura a distribuir nas dita! OS POSITIVOS: each one teach one.

So, today's point bein': o Jude diz "die! industry! die!". A Heidi diz "admittedly, burning down the industry is a more revolutionary vision, and I’m past my revolutionary days." Nós dizemos que os velhotes têm que se chegar para o lado e largar da vez quando esta já passou. Nessa linha, e recordando que voltaremos aos webcomics como prometido, mais uma hiperligação -dito assim acuso a idade...: já mencionamos antes o Nib a propósito destes temas, e aqui o Bors cruza uma série considerações que nos importam e vos hão-de importar: comics, webcomics, media. Damos-lhe a palavra, destaques nossos:

It’s kind of a weird time to be in media, or new media as it is inventively called. What with the advertising industry turned on its head, the shift to social platforms and rich scum actively trying to destroy news outlets with lawsuits. Believe it or not, I’m going to hit you with something deep here: Comics will survive all this. People actually want to read good stuff, and media outlets are becoming more and more similar and desperate in the content they churn out. I don’t know why most of them never figured out comics were a thing, but that’s on them now.
in Meet the man who’s creating a space for longform journalism — in graphic novel form ^{16 setembro}

Voltaremos. Meanwhile, tha case for brick and mortar:

O tipo de "armazém" que gostamos. Mais fotos aqui.

outra cena