Comics UK

colcool007 wrote:

Michael Anden wrote:Well aren't you just a ray of sunshine.

Actually, Chris and Paul Scott both put their money where their mouths were and self-published comics. While they were well received at the Expos and comic events, they did not have enough appeal to break through to the mainstream.

I guess their OBEs are in the mail.

Geoff42,

From their earliest days, the science fiction, horror and fantasy genres have attracted a small but dedicated fan base which will follow them pretty much through thick and thin. When it started, 2000ad was a boy's adventure weekly with more in common with the punk rock phenonomen and Star Wars (a mass-market family film) than Hugo Gernsback. That's why it used to sell 100,000+ copies a week. Now it's pumping out something like a quarter of that circulation I'd argue that it's surviving on its core SF fan base, but like you, I'm glad it's still there.

Anorak783 wrote:Geoff42,

From their earliest days, the science fiction, horror and fantasy genres have attracted a small but dedicated fan base which will follow them pretty much through thick and thin. When it started, 2000ad was a boy's adventure weekly with more in common with the punk rock phenonomen and Star Wars (a mass-market family film) than Hugo Gernsback. That's why it used to sell 100,000+ copies a week. Now it's pumping out something like a quarter of that circulation I'd argue that it's surviving on its core SF fan base, but like you, I'm glad it's still there.

It's also worth Rebellion's time to keep 2000AD and the Megazine going so that they can generate material to be reused in albums and US reprints.

Anorak783 wrote:Geoff42,

From their earliest days, the science fiction, horror and fantasy genres have attracted a small but dedicated fan base which will follow them pretty much through thick and thin. When it started, 2000ad was a boy's adventure weekly with more in common with the punk rock phenonomen and Star Wars (a mass-market family film) than Hugo Gernsback. That's why it used to sell 100,000+ copies a week. Now it's pumping out something like a quarter of that circulation I'd argue that it's surviving on its core SF fan base, but like you, I'm glad it's still there.

I don't see punk making a comeback anytime soon when the most eardrum-splitting, complacency-quaking, establishment-shredding rock music you hear in the charts these days is Ed Sheeran... but maybe if the new Star Wars movie doesn't suck like a Dyson, there's a chance interest in sci-fi comics- and by spurious process of osmosis other genres of the medium- might pick up again round these here parts.

Though I guess comics will continue to face stiff competition from all the other distractions of the modern world, like this 'cup and ball on a string' toy kids are all over like white on rice these days- or the fast-growing popularity of this 'telephone machine' device I keep hearing about from my fellow parishioners during my regular bicycle rides to evensong, as is my wont.

One idea I've had that might whip up some interest is 3D comics- bear with me- displayed through something like Google Glass (a double lensed version- is there such a thing?) or this new virtual reality 'Occulus Rift' headset deal they're developing for movies and games and whatnot. It's occurred to me that comics could benefit from being displayed- if they have to be 'displayed'- on a seemingly vast, panoramic IMAX-type image projected directly on the retina.

There are some pretty striking pieces stereo pair-converted art out there by the like of Jim3DLong that could inject new life into comics, if done sufficiently well to eliminate the 'cardboard cut-out' effect (J3DL comes pretty close to overcoming this). Of course plenty of people hate 3D, but that aspect could be optional.

We're still a long-way of from mass-produced full-colour holographic 'paper', but the impressive 3D posters for the likes of the Hobbit movie and the Terminator one-off sheet created by xyzrgb(.com) could give future comics a shot in the arm in terms of immersion and publicity. This is nothing that would be feasible in the near future, but could still be a lot closer than we think.

For me, I doubt any addition of bells and whistles will ever beat lines and colour on paper, but I'd like to think I'm becoming more open to new ways the medium can draw the interest of new audiences.

I guess the question in regard to such things is, who's got both the money and inclination to support such ventures.

In the meantime, the very fact that anyone anywhere is still publishing comics at all is something to be grateful for in this age of so-called 'information saturation'.

I hadn't thought about that, Lew, as regards graphic novels that reprint 2000 ad material. I do recall that Dave Sims was publishing Cerebus monthly at a loss in its latter days but he more than recouped his losses by selling the Cerebus collected volumes at the same time. I guess if you have such a backdrop of history, you will compensate for the future. That's what I call investment!