A Numbers Game

I worry these days for the direct market, especially for the survival of independent comics. Because when I do the math, it doesn't add up.



Follow me here, in my admitedly poorly-thought-out argument:



(I may be mistaken in some of my assumptions, but I think I'm close; and I'm rounding-off to make the math easier.)



The are approximately 3000 Diamond accounts (though probably not all of these are actual comic stores).



I've also heard it said (I forget where, but I've heard it more than once) that the magic circulation number for a black-and-white, standard-sized, self-published comic is 3000 copies; that is, if the comic sells over 3000, a decent-enough profit is realized that the creator(s) can continue the comic.



That would mean that each comic store would need to purchase, on average, 1 copy of a title for it to survive. Which doesn't seem to be that unobtainable; the problem is that there are just too many items in each issue of Previews for any store to buy one of everything on the chance that it might sell.



But wait, it gets worse. Because in truth, only about 10% of the comic stores order with any sort of significance past the premier publishers. This means that each of these stores would have to purchase an average of 10 copies of each of these titles for them to survive, which is even more unlikely.



Now I'm not some sort of polyanna who thinks that all comics deserve to survive; this is a marketplace after all, and bad comics (or those that just aren't wanted) should die off, so that their place in the comics ecosystem can be taken over by comics more likely to survive. But in the current market, the odds of anything surviving are just brutal, and perfectly good comics wither and die.



There are other markets of course, such as the emerging bookstore market. But that's a much harder market to break into than the direct market, especially for an indy creator.



I really have no solutions here, or much of a point for that matter. I'm just making an observation, and welcome your observations on this topic as well.

Ryan Sook Rules

I've always liked Ryan Sook's art, but by the look of this preview of the new Zatanna mini he's taking his mad skills up to the next level. Great looking stuff. In fact, it looks so good in black and white, I think I might prefer it if they don't color it in.



(From DC's Seven Soldiers mini-site, found via Thought Balloons.)

Quick Manga GN Reviews

Eerie Queerie! vol. 1

by Shuri Shiozu

Mitsuo is a typical high school boy with an a typical 'gift': he can communicate with the spirits of the restless dead, and said spirits are able to possess his body and use it to communicate with the living. Of course, seeing that he's in high school, he ends up most often being possessed by the spirits of departed high school girls who use his person to confess their unrequited love for hunky boys. Thus the set-up for this bishonen manga, with the typical pretty boys who may or may not be gay but certainly have strong friendships and act the way that girls apparently want boys to act. Eerie Queerie! seems to be a cut above the typical though, in that it has a central plot that could allow the stories to be interesting beyond standard bishonen clichés. Shiozu's art is dynamic, though accasionally to the detriment of clear storytelling. There are two back-up stories by Shiozu in this first volume, one of which--wherein a high school girl worries that her twin brother may be gay like their father--is actually a rather strong offering.

Rating: 2.5 (of 5)




Ai Yori Aoshi, vol. 3

by Kou Fumizuki

In the previous volume, Fumizuki set up the status quo for the continuing series, and nothing much changes here. Taeko is still clumsy, Tina is still Brash, Aoi is still the dutiful traditional Japanese woman, and Kaoru is still, well, boring. In fact, both Kaoru and Aoi are so boring that you kind o fget the feeling that they belong together. One direction to take the series would be for Aoi to gradually wake up to the fact that a modern woman doesn't need to be constantly wanting to pelase her man--that she can have her own life. But instead Fumizuki appears to be going the opposite way, with the infinitely more interesting Tina admiting that she secretly wishes sometimes that she could be more like the boring Aoi! Gagh! So why do I continue to read this series? Simply put, Fumizuki's artwork is incredible. Especially his setting shots, background and architecture, which really succeed in giving the stories a feeling of happening in a real space. If only the love story weren't so dull.

Rating: 2.5 (of 5)




DearS, vol. 1

by Peach-Pit

Aliens have come to Earth (actually, just to Japan), they're now living among us, and they look like freakish Michael Turner women (i.e. all legs and chest) with big eyes and small mouthes! That is, unless they're being drawn in a crude six-year-old style. Our main character here is (of course) a llonely high school boy, who has one of these alien females show up one day, kiss him and move in. But she cannot speak Japanese, and appears to be a bit addled, spending most of the time in skimpy clothing and contorting her body into odd positions so as to show off the maximum amount of flesh. I made it about halfway through this volume before giving up; there are too many other things to read to spend any more time on this poorly-drawn, insulting comic. But given the amount of totally gratuitous fan service, including a busty teacher who has a tendency to strip down to her underwear for no reason, I imagine that it will be quite popular.

Rating: 1 (of 5)