Are weekly comics doomed?

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starscape
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Re: Are weekly comics doomed?

Post by starscape »

I just thought at the end of the cartoon, it could say 'a Beano production' (with logo) for the cartoon. Easy enough and able to get around adverts.

For visibility, I meant more than just the Beano. Been loads of discussion around that. Skate shops, video game shops, Big Issue sellers etc etc etc. None came through. Must be an answer but I dunno what it is.
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Kid Robson
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Re: Are weekly comics doomed?

Post by Kid Robson »

Lew Stringer wrote:You might like The Drunken Bakers and Hen Cabin then, or several other Viz strips that, as I said, don't always contain 'swearing and vulgarity'.
My point being, of course, that although some strips may not, they sit alongside those that do. When I said I prefer periodicals that don't contain swearing or vulgarity, I didn't just mean from cover to cover.
Lew Stringer wrote:
Kid Robson wrote:You got a notebook, Lew, in which you've recorded everything I've said?
No, just a long memory. Or are people at fault for doing that now? :roll:
Wasn't faultin', merely askin'.

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Re: Are weekly comics doomed?

Post by Bigwords »

Raven wrote:I think the UK Simpsons comics are aimed at a completely different readership: ... [edit] ... just children, the traditional UK comic audience who get things from supermarkets and newsagents.
The supermarkets and newsagents aren't doing even a halfway competent job of shelving things sensibly. I would be completely and utterly shocked if someone said they only bought titles (comic or otherwise) from supermarkets. They simply aren't capable of properly focusing on titles when they are dealing with so much other product, and without dedicated stands - such as newspapers receive - the sales will always be disappointing from such locations.
Raven wrote:The Star Wars/Clone Wars comic was also down another 26.9%. Doctor Who Adventures was down another 23.2%. This is a continuing trend, every six months on it gets worse.
Maybe it is time, then, to consider placing comics in different businesses. How about Waterstones? Indie bookshops? Whatever handful of music shops we have left (Viz used to do a roaring trade in Virgin Records)... I'm sure that there are a multitude of untapped locations which would - if they were given the chance - bring a new audience. Maybe the short-term solution is exclusives - a special edition with the company name attached, and given away with each purchase. Clarks shoes would be a perfect location for this. Every sale of childrens' shoes brings with it a free comic. It is a simple enough idea, and wouldn't cost so very much, and (importantly) it is something which has a track record of working.
colcool007 wrote:And although unlikely, it could allow them to take advantage of their extensive back catalogue as I am sure that one or two titles could be updated and used again.
Timing plays a lot in the use of certain characters, and when I whine and complain about expectations not being met by British companies, the back catalogues are the prime source of my frustration. When Tarzan came out, there should have been a Morgyn The Mighty hardback collection available. When Titanic was doing massive business, someone should have begun thinking about The Shipwrecked School. None of this should be a revelation. US companies have been doing these unofficial tie-ins for decades, and doing them well. I hurts my head to think of how many opportunities have passed by, and how much revenue has been lost to companies because nobody put two and two together.

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Re: Are weekly comics doomed?

Post by Kid Robson »

Strange that I'm still receiving anonymous comments on my blog concerning the topic on this forum - obviously from a member, too. I reproduce it here to demonstrate the childishness of the person concerned.


Anonymous has left a new comment on your post. "A POOH IN THE CORNER OF THE HOUSE - (OR SOMETHING ...":

Another button pushed:

"You got a notebook, Lew, in which you've recorded everything I've said?"

And after the warning too, tsk, tsk.

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Re: Are weekly comics doomed?

Post by colcool007 »

colcool007 wrote:Anything that happens elsewhere in internet-land, we are not bothered about it on here unless someone deliberately brings that unpleasantness over.
Kid, I mentioned this back on page 12 of this thread. Is there any value added to reprinting anonymous emails on what purports to be a thread about weekly comics being doomed?
I started to say something sensible but my parents took over my brain!

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Re: Are weekly comics doomed?

Post by Lew Stringer »

Kid Robson wrote:Strange that I'm still receiving anonymous comments on my blog concerning the topic on this forum - obviously from a member, too. I reproduce it here to demonstrate the childishness of the person concerned.


Anonymous has left a new comment on your post. "A POOH IN THE CORNER OF THE HOUSE - (OR SOMETHING ...":

Another button pushed:

"You got a notebook, Lew, in which you've recorded everything I've said?"

And after the warning too, tsk, tsk.
Well just for the record I didn't send it, and I've no idea who did. And Phoenix has told you he's not guilty either, so you'll just have to work through a process of elimination or stick to topic.
Bigwords wrote: Maybe it is time, then, to consider placing comics in different businesses. How about Waterstones? Indie bookshops? Whatever handful of music shops we have left (Viz used to do a roaring trade in Virgin Records)... I'm sure that there are a multitude of untapped locations which would - if they were given the chance - bring a new audience.
This has been discussed here and on other blogs/forums before. I've suggested getting comics into places like Game (or is that finished now?) and toyshops; places where kids actually enter with enthusiasm, rather than a supermarket which must seem a relatively boring place for them. That said, my nearest Tesco has the comics right next to the toys, and DVDs are around the corner, so it's a start.

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Re: Are weekly comics doomed?

Post by Bigwords »

Lew Stringer wrote:
Bigwords wrote:Maybe it is time, then, to consider placing comics in different businesses. How about Waterstones? Indie bookshops? Whatever handful of music shops we have left (Viz used to do a roaring trade in Virgin Records)... I'm sure that there are a multitude of untapped locations which would - if they were given the chance - bring a new audience.
This has been discussed here and on other blogs/forums before.
No harm in bringing it up again. :) If anything, it proves that I am not alone in thinking the availability of titles is constricted by location.
Lew Stringer wrote:I've suggested getting comics into places like Game (or is that finished now?) and toyshops; places where kids actually enter with enthusiasm, rather than a supermarket which must seem a relatively boring place for them. That said, my nearest Tesco has the comics right next to the toys, and DVDs are around the corner, so it's a start.
Game is still around. It picked up a number of the Gamestation shops a while ago, so I suppose that it is doing well (you never can tell these days), and it is still - or was a few months ago - hawking gaming books in special stands. Perfect position near the tills, and comics really would fit in with those that shop there.

Your Tesco is not the norm. If I keep ragging on them, I have the distinct feeling that my continued use of supermarkets might be hampered... :D

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Re: Are weekly comics doomed?

Post by Kid Robson »

Lew Stringer wrote:Well just for the record I didn't send it, and I've no idea who did. And Phoenix has told you he's not guilty either, so you'll just have to work through a process of elimination or stick to topic.
I wasn't for a second suggesting that you had, Lew. What puzzles me 'though, is how someone would know that I received an (unfair) warning for a humorous remark to Andy, unless they were told by someone in a position to know. The only alternative I can think is not one I'd like to consider. And as the comment was from a forum member in response to your comment (even 'though it was sent to my blog), it is (kind of) still on-topic. (I'd expect a little flexibility on a topic I introduced.)

Kid Robson
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Re: Are weekly comics doomed?

Post by Kid Robson »

colcool007 wrote:
colcool007 wrote:Anything that happens elsewhere in internet-land, we are not bothered about it on here unless someone deliberately brings that unpleasantness over.
Kid, I mentioned this back on page 12 of this thread. Is there any value added to reprinting anonymous emails on what purports to be a thread about weekly comics being doomed?
I didn't see that response as far as I recall, but the point is surely that a member of this forum is bringing that unpleasantness over to my blog in an attempt to harass me. (Threats have been implied in previous messages by the same person.) As it's clearly a forum member, other members have surely got a right to know what kind of obsessive nutter they've got in their midst? And that's not an insult, that's a fact.

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Re: Are weekly comics doomed?

Post by colcool007 »

Kid Robson wrote:
colcool007 wrote:
colcool007 wrote:Anything that happens elsewhere in internet-land, we are not bothered about it on here unless someone deliberately brings that unpleasantness over.
Kid, I mentioned this back on page 12 of this thread. Is there any value added to reprinting anonymous emails on what purports to be a thread about weekly comics being doomed?
I didn't see that response as far as I recall, but the point is surely that a member of this forum is bringing that unpleasantness over to my blog in an attempt to harass me. (Threats have been implied in previous messages by the same person.) As it's clearly a forum member, other members have surely got a right to know what kind of obsessive nutter they've got in their midst? And that's not an insult, that's a fact.
So that gives you the right to bring it all back over here? I am not sure that by spreading the noxious fumes of trolling on your blog makes it any better. However, in case it has passed many people's notice, we are an OPEN forum and this can be read by people not logged in. So to say it's a nutter in our midst is a tad misleading. I suggest you find the IP of your anonymous poster and then bring it to the notice of the relevant mods/ISP.
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Re: Are weekly comics doomed?

Post by Kid Robson »

colcool007 wrote:It's a false analogy as 1p in 1973 bought you a fair whack of sweets, whereas 50p today and you are lucky to get one. You seem to forget that spending power per pound diminishes over time and it is why I could get 4 Commandos in 1975 for 20p, whereas today it would cost me £8.

You are presenting a case based on your presumption that a 50p rise in 2013 is a bigger rise than 1p back in 1973 and it is just not being backed up with anything more than vague supposition on your part.

And as to hostility, I am concerned that you feel that way about Andy. Perhaps you could counsel us as to where we are being hostile towards you?
Kid Robson wrote:It's not a false analogy, Col, 'though it's a far from perfect one (the nature of analogies, alas). However, it does its job in illustrating that your own use of statistics was very far from presenting a full and entirely accurate picture. And I can buy a Mars Bar in Farmfoods for 49p. (Used to be 39p 'til around last year.) Could never buy one for 1p or 2p at any time in my life. And I would hardly say that 1p ever bought a 'fair whack of sweets' in 1973. Even penny caramels went up to 2p, did they not?

As for hostility, I just seem to be detecting an increased aggressiveness in the tone of some of the posting. Much in line with what the anonymous commenter was suggesting on my blog. Jump back a bit - I added them to an earlier post. However, if you're telling me there's no animosity on your or Andy's part (as there isn't on mine), then I'm quite happy to accept that.
colcool007 wrote:In 1973, we still had penny bags of sweets. Even up to 1979, we still had them in our local newsagent.
Well, never having been a purchaser of bags of penny sweets, I must've missed them.
colcool007 wrote:I stil don't get how your analogy is not a false one as in 1973, I remember my dad's outrage when petrol hit 50p a gallon, but when petrol went from gallons to litres, he was blase about each change in price as I have done so since beginning to drive. And how my analogy is false as all I did was present facts to demonstrate that your statement about the price rise was false throws me.
That's your take on things, Col. The price rise was unusual, in that it had been ages since any obviously comparable price hike had taken place. And I don't believe you have demonstrated what you claim. Things are so different now that it's practically impossible to make any direct comparisons with anything. Mars Bars are smaller and have thinner chocolate, The Beano now has twice the pages, is in full-colour and doesn't sell as many. Today, I can buy four Mars Bars from Farmfoods for £2 and get change. Less than The Beano. Back in 1973, four Mars Bars would have cost 8p, which was more than The Beano cost, but it was a different Beano. Unless we know the relative costs of production on a 1973 Beano and a 2013 Beano and make adjustments for different formats, sizes, paper used, etc., any comparison between prices is an inexact science.

However, in my estimation, parents buying a Beano for their kids which suddenly cost 50p more with no noticeable compensation in size or strips included, would have considered it a far greater leap than other rises which, percentage-wise, may have been greater, but wouldn't have seemed such a huge jump at the time. That's because, in former days, The Beano was regarded as everyone as being cheap, which it isn't regarded as today. (And that's an important distinction.) Also, with former rises, there was usually some compensating factor along with the increase, unlike the recent one. In that way, because of the way a 50p rise would have been perceived, it was unprecedented - certainly in the impression it would have created.
colcool007 wrote:I am blase about comic price hikes as I will either buy or not buy the comic based on content, not on price.
Nice to be so well-paid that price isn't an obstacle.
colcool007 wrote:Regarding hostility, if you think that a reasoned debate is hostile, then there is little I can do to convince you otherwise. Andy and I are here to just keep it all ticking over and enjoy discussing comics. We are not here to make friends, but we are not here to make enemies either. For both of us, a great night on here means that we learn something new about the comics we enjoy.
Reasoned debate I can deal with and my views are certainly up for discussion, so it wasn't the points you were trying to make that I found hostile, but the tone in which you made some of them. Of all my observations, it seemed to be the most minor ones that garnered a disproportionate degree of attention from you and Andy. Almost as if you were both determined to rubbish my views at any cost.
colcool007 wrote:Anything that happens elsewhere in internet-land, we are not bothered about it on here unless someone deliberately brings that unpleasantness over.
I addressed this in my previous response so I'll not repeat myserlf.

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Re: Are weekly comics doomed?

Post by Kid Robson »

colcool007 wrote:So that gives you the right to bring it all back over here? I am not sure that by spreading the noxious fumes of trolling on your blog makes it any better. However, in case it has passed many people's notice, we are an OPEN forum and this can be read by people not logged in. So to say it's a nutter in our midst is a tad misleading. I suggest you find the IP of your anonymous poster and then bring it to the notice of the relevant mods/ISP.
The noxious fumes are emanating from your forum, Col, whether you think it's a member or not. I thought you'd have been concerned with that. And perhaps you can tell me how someone would know I'd had an unwarranted warning from you in defence of your buddy Andy over a completely innocuous remark? It would have to be someone connected to the forum in some capacity. One thing I know, it's definitely one of two people - and I'm in the process of fine-tuning my sights. Anyway, as you don't seem to be concerned that one forum member is the object of attempted harassment by another, I'll resort to deleting unread all anonymous comments to my blog and thus spare him the contempt that all decent members must feel for such a sorry individual.

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Re: Are weekly comics doomed?

Post by Phoenix »

Kid Robson wrote:You got a notebook, Lew, in which you've recorded everything I've said?
Kid Robson wrote:Wasn't faultin', merely askin'.
Kid Robson wrote:Strange that I'm still receiving anonymous comments on my blog concerning the topic on this forum - obviously from a member, too. I reproduce it here to demonstrate the childishness of the person concerned.


Anonymous has left a new comment on your post. "A POOH IN THE CORNER OF THE HOUSE - (OR SOMETHING ...":

Another button pushed:

"You got a notebook, Lew, in which you've recorded everything I've said?"

And after the warning too, tsk, tsk.
Do you never give up? Your question to Lew Stringer is utterly pointless, unless wanting to challenge him, goad him, annoy him, is the point. And can you seriously imagine anybody writing down everything anybody says or writes, especially not your increasingly-rambling writings? In the light of the intention of your question to Lew, to then say you were only askin' is apparently intended to disarm any suspicions that any forum members might be beginning to harbour, but is, by its very nature, a deception. When you then produce yet another of these mythical, or self-penned, Anonymous messages from your blog, which is clearly aimed at Lew, it would be extremely naive of you to think that we can't see right through your self-centred machinations. Having a go at me is one thing, Kid, but to attack as genuine an individual as Lew seems to be is little more than an act of cowardice. In its own way, it's worse than your out-of-control attacks on AndyB, and that's saying something.

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Re: Are weekly comics doomed?

Post by Lew Stringer »

Kid Robson wrote:It's not a false analogy, Col, 'though it's a far from perfect one (the nature of analogies, alas). However, it does its job in illustrating that your own use of statistics was very far from presenting a full and entirely accurate picture. And I can buy a Mars Bar in Farmfoods for 49p. (Used to be 39p 'til around last year.) Could never buy one for 1p or 2p at any time in my life. And I would hardly say that 1p ever bought a 'fair whack of sweets' in 1973. Even penny caramels went up to 2p, did they not?
Regarding the comments earlier that The Beano could be cheaper if it used newsprint and had less full colour. It occurs to me that the 48 interior pages of Viz are on newsprint and in black and white or spot colour. And it costs £3.30, quite a bit more than The Beano's £2.

So even if losing full colour would be something kids would welcome (which I doubt), it doesn't look as though it'd reduce the cover price. I think we have to accept that a comic is not going to go back to the days of being the same price as a bar of chocolate simply because sales have fallen so far from their 1950s peak. And there's little point in blaming content when the majority of children are too busy playing on their X boxes or surfing the net to look at a comic. They can't be put off by something they've never seen or have no interest in.

£2 is a good price for The Beano, considering all other comics cost more. I've seen parents spend a hell of a lot more than that every day on scratch cards, cigarettes and lottery tickets.

I think 2000AD has the right idea, keeping the weekly going which then provides material for book collections which have a longer shelf life. It worked for European comics for decades, and The DFC tried it too. The publisher Cinebooks seems to be holding their own in the UK, with numerous books published translating European comics. Perhaps the future lies in nice softback Beano albums in that same Asterix/Tintin/Lucky Luke format, collecting the weekly strips after a few years?
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Re: Are weekly comics doomed?

Post by Lew Stringer »

Kid Robson wrote:The noxious fumes are emanating from your forum, Col, whether you think it's a member or not.
You cant blame the forum for the reactions elsewhere of one person who's reading your posts here. As Col said, it's an open forum. Anyone with access to the Internet can read what we post here, not just members. And those anonymous messages you've had seem to be in reaction to your posts from what you've shown us.
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