Not just here in the United States but around the world. With Technology such as the Internet and such playing a huge role and Manga still a hugely popular industry. What are your predictions for the evolution of Comic Books in the near future?
What is the future of Comics?
- Thread starter Dead-Head-Ghost-2088
- Start date
As a consumer, I still prefer paper books for my graphic novels. I have trouble focusing on GNs on ereaders. What that means for the future, however, is well beyond me and I'm only one occasional consumer who's not in the target graphic for the bulk of the industry.
So, no insight, just an observation.
So, no insight, just an observation.
- Joined
- Oct 10, 2021
- Messages
- 374
- Reaction score
- 539
Print-on-demand, digital distribution, and web-toons have made it possible to indie publish. But the same problem with books; it's hard to get noticed among everyone else.
There are at least one AI tool out there specifically geared to create comics.
The opinion that comics are only for kids is eroding. The French/Belgian comics have always been diverse (but I guess only Tintin have reach far outside), while the US distribution seems to have been limited to Disney and superheroes during quite some time (a lot thanks to the Comic Code). So I think it will take a while until reading comics aimed at adults will become as common as say manga is in Japan.
So, I guess it will be chaotic for quite a while. But I think the market for comics will grow. However, at the same time, more actors will compete for it, and it will become more fragmented.
There are at least one AI tool out there specifically geared to create comics.
The opinion that comics are only for kids is eroding. The French/Belgian comics have always been diverse (but I guess only Tintin have reach far outside), while the US distribution seems to have been limited to Disney and superheroes during quite some time (a lot thanks to the Comic Code). So I think it will take a while until reading comics aimed at adults will become as common as say manga is in Japan.
So, I guess it will be chaotic for quite a while. But I think the market for comics will grow. However, at the same time, more actors will compete for it, and it will become more fragmented.
dpaterso
Also in our Discord and IRC chat channels
Staff member
Super Moderator
Moderator
Super Member
Registered
- Joined
- Feb 12, 2005
- Messages
- 18,806
- Reaction score
- 4,600
- Location
- Caledonia
- Website
- derekpaterson.net
I've been reading comics online for so long that it seems more natural to me now, sure I miss the joy of buying a bundle of comics and bringing them home to read, but I doubt if I'll go back to it, if only for the ease of clicking on stuff right when I want it, and not having to worry about where the heck I would have to store all these comics, I have no shelf space left and I hate throwing things out. I think they'll continue to be produced, but the online versions will become more and more popular until one day, who knows when, print runs just won't be profitable enough. Maybe they'll go to print on demand instead, switch on your printer and clip the pages together.
The few predictions I have will be that comic books will take more inspirations from Manga when it comes to say for example the physical. Paperback or hardcover copies with plenty of chapters in them. Floppies (not sure of the term for them) will be around. Though most definitely be outmatched by the novel-size books. As for the Digital, I believe that eventually, webcomics will play a bigger role. Don’t know much of what’s going on. Let me know just incase. Then there is also the possibility of there being a Criterion collection of comic books.
Sometimes I feel most comics were never really only for kids. Adults have always been a part of the market, and not just the nostaligia market nowadays.
Some series could have quite complicated plots, but were just light on nudity and graphic violence. Now several series I knew and read as a kid, have been 're-imagined' or 'updated' and they all became more adult with... more nudity and graphic violence.
Now it seems there is only the market for very young kids and the market for adults. With the comical series straddling both. In books YA has come forward as a strong category since the turn of the century, but it feels to me that in comics and BD's that category has shrunk instead.
- Joined
- Jul 5, 2012
- Messages
- 15,956
- Reaction score
- 29,657
- Location
- Massachusetts
- Website
- elizabethbonesteel.com
I thought the same thing back in the Watchmen days. It's an uphill battle.
If my kid's any indication, Webtoons is currently the big draw.
- Joined
- Oct 10, 2021
- Messages
- 374
- Reaction score
- 539
When talking about outside of the US market, the market were quite different. Besides the Belgian style comics, take Modesty Blaise from GB. I'm guessing that one didn't got the CCA approval in the US.
Some of the pre-code comics also survived outside the US. As I understand it, The Phantom for example pretty much became a Swedish comic.
At least in the US, there was some change in the distribution channels for comics, which put a big dent in the market. So it is harder for people not already into comics to get in contact with them. Which is why I guess lead to this.
Webtoons are after all readily available and sending links to were to read them are perfectly fine.
Then there are sites like Comixology, but I don't know how many that even knows about any of them.
So, I'm not surprised it currently being hard to reach new readers and expanding into new markets.
Last edited:
Hell yeah, I'm getting into webtoons myself recently.
As for western comics, I do read them from time to time online, and I'm engrossed by what I seek out (Thor vs Gorr the God-Butcher being a recent one). And there are bangers, some you wouldn't even expect. Batman vs Elmer Fudd is a comic I didn't know I need, but the way the Looney Tunes characters are tweaked to fit in the gothic Batman-verse while retaining their characteristics. And Elmer Fudd being a beast of a hunter with his actually-lethal shotgun fighting Batman is peak fiction.
The internet will make comics more accessible, because no way would I have gotten the physical copy where I am, and so long as comics evolve to compete with manga and webtoons by playing to their strengths, I can see myself still liking comics in the near-future.
For creators, Webtoons is not without issues.
- Joined
- Jul 5, 2012
- Messages
- 15,956
- Reaction score
- 29,657
- Location
- Massachusetts
- Website
- elizabethbonesteel.com
I agree. Webtoons. Some have already been big properties, made into Netflix shows, etc, like Sweet Home and All of Us Are Dead.
- Joined
- Oct 22, 2021
- Messages
- 83
- Reaction score
- 147
Webtoons also puts their higher performing comics into print versions. I’ve seen True Beauty and others for sale in the book section at Walmart, not sure what other retailers carry them.
I really wish they weren’t so problematic toward the creators. Does anyone know what other options there are for webcomic creators aside from getting their own website to post on, Comixology, or Tapas?
It's not uncommon to see crowd sourced publication on Webtoon titles. But I am not sure what outlets would carry these essentially self-published graphic novels/collections.
I don't know the payment side, but plenty of Webtoons have options to watch a clickbait ad (which presumably pays the artist a few pennies per view) or pay for coins (which also presumably pays the artist a few pennies per view). I can't draw, but I do enjoy reading a variety of Webtoon series.
For no-strings free hosting I’d recommend ComicFury. It’s a solid site with a good community and a good place to get started. Be aware though that free hosting is all they are; they’re not going to help get a book published or get an audience, aside from some basic webring-type stuff.
My comics collective SpiderForest also offers free hosting to accepted applicants (we take applications once a year), and a very supportive community of experienced webcomickers with a lot of opportunities for cross-promo. HiveWorks is a more commercial publisher-like option. They do a lot more with promo, do some publishing or publication support, and have an actually profitable advertising ring, I believe, though there’s definitely some tiers going on with which comics get how much support.
Also, all of those are great non-webtoons places to find good comics.
But honestly? Get your own site. Hosting is not that expensive. I’ve been doing webcomics since 2008 and in that time I’ve seen five major implosions of “free hosting” sites. At least two of those involved entire sites being nuked with no backups, meaning the entire audience was lost, any history, comments, and notes were lost, and for some of the younger and more naive creators who thought of their sites as free a free backup service, the actual COMIC ART was lost.
Compared to that hosting your own site is really, really cheap.
My comics collective SpiderForest also offers free hosting to accepted applicants (we take applications once a year), and a very supportive community of experienced webcomickers with a lot of opportunities for cross-promo. HiveWorks is a more commercial publisher-like option. They do a lot more with promo, do some publishing or publication support, and have an actually profitable advertising ring, I believe, though there’s definitely some tiers going on with which comics get how much support.
Also, all of those are great non-webtoons places to find good comics.
But honestly? Get your own site. Hosting is not that expensive. I’ve been doing webcomics since 2008 and in that time I’ve seen five major implosions of “free hosting” sites. At least two of those involved entire sites being nuked with no backups, meaning the entire audience was lost, any history, comments, and notes were lost, and for some of the younger and more naive creators who thought of their sites as free a free backup service, the actual COMIC ART was lost.
Compared to that hosting your own site is really, really cheap.