Manga, Sequential Art's Messiah
Over on ICv2's "Talk Back" forum, retailer
John Robinson
of Graham Crackers Comics wrote a piece entitled "Long Live the
Pamphlet." Part of Robinson's argument is that pundits shouldn't
draw hasty conclusions based on the spectacular sales of
Shonen Jump.
And he's right:
Shonen Jump is only one example, so it
would be premature to decide that from now on all sequential art must
be packaged in thick anthology formats. After all, there are
other manga anthologies out there,
one which
supposedly has newsstand distribution like
Shonen Jump, but
I doubt
Super Manga Blast and
Raijin Comics are seeing
the sales that
Shonen Jump is.
So why do I (and others) get so excited about
Shonen Jump?
Well, I've laid out
some
of my reasons before, but--at the risk of branding myself a manga
apologist--I'll try to explain in a little more detail why I think big
anthologies provide a promising possibility (not a definite answer) for
comics.
Reason Number One:
Value. Robinson complains
that "over the last 21 years in business, the one constant I can always
count on is that anthologies will suck wind in sales figures over a
very short time." As he argues, "People don't want 64 pages or 100 page
of comic material that only contains about 22 pages that they care
about." The problem, however, is that Robinson is still thinking
too small: 64- or 100-page comics are nothing. The twelfth
issue of
Shonen Jump had 350 pages of material for only $4.95.
That's value.
Reason Number Two:
Newsstands. Because of
the higher page count and price-point, big comic anthologies could be
sold on magazine racks. Robinson only seems to be concerned with
how anthologies have typically sold in the Direct Market in the past,
but I think we need to look at other markets as well. After all,
I doubt
Shonen Jump is seeing much of its sales inside the
Direct Market (a suspicion confirmed each month by
ICv2's numbers),
yet it seems to be doing all right.
Reason Number Three:
Durability. Somewhat
related to the newsstand point. I've seen comics (individual
floppies) in bookstores and drugstores, but they're always horribly
beat up. Often times, I don't even think anyone's read the
pamphlets; I think the floppies are just so flimsy that they slide down
or flop over in the rack. Thicker anthologies like
Shonen
Jump stand up well on their own and fare better with everyday
wear-and-tear. Heck, my floppies seem to crease if I look at them
wrong; but I can toss around an issue of
Shonen Jump and it
still looks like it's in pristine condition.
Reason Number Four:
Subscriptions. With
durable product, it can be shipped through the mail with the
expectation that it will arrive in reasonable shape. Viz's
subscription service for
Shonen Jump was top-notch, and the
magazines always arrived (1) shrink-wrapped (2) before they hit the
newsstands. Plus, the subscription rates were incredible bargains
on an already great deal: The regular subscription rate is half
the newsstand price, and the "special charter rate" was even cheaper
than that (67% off cover). Make it cheap and easy to sign up for
subscriptions, and I'd be sending my nieces and nephews Marvel and DC
anthologies along with their
Shonen Jump subscriptions.
Reason Number Five:
Extras. You say it's not
fair that
Shonen Jump boosts circulation with extras like
CD-ROM games and free gaming cards? Well, why play fair?
Especially for books aimed at younger readers, put in plenty of free
extras so they feel like they're getting something special.
Reason Number Six:
Content. But aside from
the bonuses, you've got to make sure that the core content is
strong. I don't know if this necessarily means it has to be new
content, although I think that would definitely help, but it should be
related thematically. I think this is one reason why
Shonen
Jump succeeds where other anthologies fail: It focuses on
series appealing to (and about) young boys.
Raijin Comics,
on the other hand, has series that are too disparate in tone. The
cutesy romance and animal stories of
Bow Wow Wata are probably
not going to appeal to the same audience that enjoys a more mature political manga
like
First President of Japan. I think DC and Marvel
could easily put together anthologies that would appeal to well-defined
audiences. Simply collapse the various Bat-books and Superman
titles into their own anthologies; the same thing could be done over at
Marvel with the growing number of Spider-Man and X-Men titles. Or
put "pockets" of a publishing line together--like the Vertigo or ABC
lines. Or organize anthologies by creator. Heaven knows
some creators generate enough material to put out their own anthologies
every month: Brian Michael Bendis; Geoff Johns; Chuck
Austen. (This would also have the added benefit of quarantining
certain authors from the rest of a company's titles.)
I'm not saying that everything should be moved over to a big anthology
format. I think that would be just as short-sighted as leaving
everything in the same old 32-page pamphlet form that's been around
forever. But I do think
Shonen Jump's impressive sales
via bookstores, newsstands, and subscriptions should give American comic
publishers
something to think about.
