Ep. 72: The Incredible Shrinking Medium

OK, obnoxious title aside, this is another roundtable talk Dwight and I had about the size of the comic book buying audience.  The nickname was birthed out of a few discussions we had over the course of a week and when we got together, we just turned the recorder on and continued.

Of course, it's not literally shrinking (is it?).  But the idea being younger readers and just plain old new readers are needed to breathe some life into "this thing of ours".  The median age for the average person reading comics keeps going up and getting more decrepit—and that ain't good!  In order for things to stay interesting and relevant, we need new eyeballs and fresh ideas. Not the same gimmicks and events.

What can the publishers do?  What can fans do?  What can anyone do to address the problem?  This subject has, of course, been discussed in other places, by people more informed than we are, but we thought we'd weigh in on it too.  You won't find any real answers here (whaaat?), but it sure as hell was fun to chat about!

**For this episode, we played a snippet of The Red Hot Chili Peppers' "My Friends"—because that's what you are (smile).

Click here to download the show.

Comments

[Mike]

This is cool. I was thinking about this recently. In fact, I saw like a 9-minute video of a guy talking about the same thing recently. He was like, "There are not enough new creators *or* readers coming into this indudtry to support it for the future. Period." And I agree. It'll be interesting to see what you all have to say about the topic.

Stay cool, y'all. Much respect! ^_^

[Inazuma Tiger]

Wow! A new President and a new SiDebar episode?!!!

This is a great day, man!

Can it get any better?!

[Adolfo]

Great show guys. I always look forward to new episodes. I'm glad you are talking about this topic.

I am someone who would one day like to get into the field of creating and publishing my own comics. As much as I let friends borrow my trades and graphic novels, very few of them actually buy any themselves.

Comic Books are the most liberating and expressive visual art form. The possibilities are virtually unlimited. It makes me sad and anxious that more people are not reading them.

I agree, some of it may be laziness and the kids trash stigma. Most of it is just plain ignorance. I find myself explaining to people a heavily abridged history of comics. From the political cartoons of the late 1800's through the Wertham controversy, the Marvel revolution, to the underground cartoonist of the early 70s and the films in recent years.

Podcasts like Sidebar are the reason why I feel empowered and inspired to do something about it myself. There are distribution and marketing problems to overcome, but the industry will never die as long as people have something to say.

Thank you for what you do.
A loyal listener.

[William Jamison]

Over the past couple of years comics have progress in to an entertainment with the fusion of movies, video games, etc in order for the readership to grow it starts with both the readers and creators coming to understand each other. To clarify I am an artist and independent creator and comics geek for years, the reason I have slow down in my reading of comics was that the publishers are not bringig anything new in terms of story and the art for me is too repetitive.

Everyone comes with the same formula and approach to how comics should look. Many people feel that Marvel,DC ,and Image is the look to pattern when they create their books I like to see different ideas and styles keep me amazed.

Love the show continue progress
William Jamison
a.k.a Afromation

[Tripleiron]

Yo, you guys were on point in your assessement of why the medium is dwindling. I especially like your suggestions of putting the comics back in areas where kids migrate. It got me thinking and discussing it with my friends. We would all like to see comics and sequential art come back. I actually liked the return to the classic good v.s. evil format, but that's cause I'm an old head. That's why I started collecting again. Saw an Avengers featuring Count Nefaria a few years ago and I was back in the game. I think kids want something different though. All these shows on tv have the kids figured out, comic creators need to look at that more. If America didn't demonize the industry back in the day it would be thriving like Manga is in Japan.

My boy just put me on to your site and podcast recently. Definitely will be a regular listener. Fans of Fantasy, Scifi and pop culture need to hear interviews like these. And you're brothers too!! It's such an inspiration, especially since I am getting back into my art. Thanks fellas. Great Job.

[eric orchard]

Awesome show guys!
So frustrating! I kept wanting to jump in and so "No way!You're so wrong!" or "Right on, you are so right!"

My thoughts are that superheroes have to be delegated to genre within a medium and not represent the whole medium.

I'd like to hear you guys talk about web comics more.

Graphic novels are the way to go.

And kid's have the patience to read Harry Potter or Twilight. Comics could really use something like that.

And the big irony is that comics are really being produced with a mass appeal for the first time ever and there's no one to read them. Argh!

You guys are awesome! Thanks for this entertaining, relavent conversation.