NickGuy
Earthboy Jacobus

Also Iron West and Creature Tech and everything else by Doug TenNapel.

NickGuy
Lone Ranger (idk if that counts though, since i think dynamite entertainment is part of DC)

It isn't, it grew under DDP (which in return grew under Image originally). But I don't think a book on a license can be really called "indie".

yeah, thats whyi said idk if it counts. also, half the shit at idw and dark horse is under liscense, so...*shrug*

A comic has to sell 2000 copies...

It's difficult to sell 2000 measley copies of a comic book in a country the size of the USA...

Do we all realize how pathetic that sounds (for the US comics industry)?

mlai
size of the USA...

Yeah but how many are comic nerds or interested in reading comics today? And specifically YOUR comic type? And what percent of that fanbase even buys comics instead of downloading scans off rapidshare or megaupload? And out of that small percentage of a percents percentage how are they going to know your comic even exists?

...actually how many comic reading people are there today? And considering 1 out of 4 people never even read..

...actually how many comic reading people are there today? And considering 1 out of 4 people never even read..

Yeah and that's why there are comics, for ppl who don't read books!

Comics are supposed to be read by kids who stuff them into their back pockets. I think everyone has forgotten that, from the creators down to the readership.

Creators think they must create these literary masterpieces with tons of narrative layers and walls of text, and the comic must cost $4.00-5.00. Readers think all comics should be Watchmen or Sandman, or alternative/ avant garde, or whatever... and we all complain about how juvenile this and that are...

In the end, who cares about any of that? No one's buying these "masterpieces."

I think it would be easier to get people to read comics than books (as there's less text to go through) if comics had a better opinion... and if the ones with good content would be easier available.

The best selling marvel/dc titles hit up to 200k through the direct market. Spiderman currently does something around 60-80k (not sure exactly). On the other hand Gears of War #1 did 450k in sales, out of which 10% (if I remember the number correctly) sold through comic book stores. I'm assuming the rest went through gaming stores, perhaps was bundled with the game. No wonder Wildstorm jumped on gaming licenses like crazy.

I read somewhere that only 3% of manga sells through comics stores. The remaining 97% goes through bookstores and online stores. Now, it's a little different audience obviously, but looking at the gears of war, it might be easier to push stuff OUTSIDE of the direct market. Forget comic shops, 9 out of 10 people visiting there won't even look at your book unless it's marvel/dc (and many of them would sneer at you for shoving something they don't care about even if it was marvel/dc but not their fav character/group). That remaining 1 person either doesn't know of indie books, spends too much cash on other comics already or doesn't want to buy another untested title that might get cancelled after the second issue.

Well, as it seems, soon you'll either be breaking into direct market with Image... or not. Depending on your work there are different routes. Photocopied and stapled minicomics, webcomics, print on demand, "boutique publishing" graphic novels (top shelf, adhouse etc.), digital download etc.

To be honest? at this point the idea of having my book in a comic store lost its shine to me. It'd either have to be a graphic novel that probably doesn't sell fast enough to give me any money for the first year (OR the second one too), or it'd be a miniseries, meaning I'd have to chop my comics into pieces and offer them in a format that I don't like. Speaking of Image. Do you know how many projects they take from submissions from total newcomers? Pherhaps one or two a year... and some years, none. Most of what they publish comes from established creators who either sent them a submission and got accepted, or Image guys themselves asked if they have anything in works. At my current artistic level there's no way I could pass the selection so I'm not going to try squeeze my art and writing into 22 pagers :)

I still want to get to a point where I can live from my work though.

mlai
No one's buying these "masterpieces."

They make them because they become 'immortalized' in a way. 'Really action packed comic with 30 something male characters with no nonsense personalities plus that one big breasted babe #234' gets hype about for 3 months after its release then we forget about it, Watchmen came out in 1987 and it's still being printed and talked about. Same with sandman. The author's are forever hailed as the innovation of the comic genre while that other guy is writing 'big breasted girl vs. dinosaurs with many nipple shots and flimsy outfits' while feeling himself up(I'm sure alan moore did too, but innovatively ;) )

mlai
Comics are supposed to be read by kids who stuff them into their back pockets. I think everyone has forgotten that, from the creators down to the readership.

Creators think they must create these literary masterpieces with tons of narrative layers and walls of text, and the comic must cost $4.00-5.00. Readers think all comics should be Watchmen or Sandman, or alternative/ avant garde, or whatever... and we all complain about how juvenile this and that are...

In the end, who cares about any of that? No one's buying these "masterpieces."

You say that comics are "supposed" to be a certain way, but the thing I love about comics is everything you said they shouldn't be. I LOVE avant garde masterpieces. I'm not a kid, and I don't stuff my comics into my back pocket. I treat them with a lot of care.
I'm not saying all comics should be this way, but there's certainly no rule saying they shouldn't be. Comics have come a long way from "only kids read them and they're all about superheroes".

megan_rose
You say that comics are "supposed" to be a certain way

I think Mlai's point was more that when comics were only like that (the way he describes), then the industry was doing really well...?

Those more junky comics and practices created and sustained the (formally) big comic industry.

--------------------
But I agree with you, I like the more arty things. I don't think that part of the industry is dying either. I see a lot of great graphic novels from all over the world in bookshops. Maybe comic shops aren't that relevant anymore, but neither are record shops. Things change. :)

The print pamphlet comics industry has sort of screwed itself by focusing one what works at the moment, vs. ensuring a prosperous future-- as a result, we're seeing stuff start to crumble. Not really a huge surprise.

By pretty much catering only to the the direct market (where the big sales were coming from, and where there was less risk because of zero returns), comics have only put themselves in front of people who already read comics. Ask a random kid where to get the latest issue of Batman, (s)he probably has no idea. You can't sell a product to a new customer without putting the product in front of them. Period. This is why shelving space in supermarkets is such a hot commodity-- Unfortunately some time around the mid to late 90s mainstream comics decided to bow out of that race, and focus only on the DM.

You're saying, "But this is really effecting the indies... indies are only here BECAUSE of the direct market." Correct. But the direct market is here because comic shops started opening up AFTER comics successfully sold for decades on the news rack. So yeah, the direct market did open up the doors for a lot of indies and self pubs, but that direct market was supported by the news rack end of things, which, barely exists today.

So now we find ourselves today with raised thresholds-- it seems to appear that Diamond is, in a way, cutting its losses. Heck, even if other distributors step and and pick up some of these smaller books, I don't think they'll be that successful since the reason that Diamond is trying to cut them back is that they're just not selling. If a product is failing in any other industry, you know, people aren't exactly lining up to take over that product.

Frankly I think the appeal of the indy book is outside of Wendsday folk anyway, and will probably find more success via the web (go fig!) internet/convention sales-- but ultimately to gain more appeal as a collected book (aka trade aka graphic novel) in a book store.

Excellent points Matchee :) Well said!

the superhero comic industry is in trouble. the sad part is, they are in such denial about it. seriously. read wizard. wizard paints this rosy as all hell picture, they try to make comics seem like such a glamorous business, even as sales of batman and superman and all that shit go down the toilet.

NickGuy
the superhero comic industry is in trouble. the sad part is, they are in such denial about it. seriously. read wizard. wizard paints this rosy as all hell picture, they try to make comics seem like such a glamorous business, even as sales of batman and superman and all that shit go down the toilet.

Wizard has gone down the toilet. It got REALLY bad for a while (when they were trying to be fanboy Version of Maxim), then it seemed like they were trying to clean up their act, but the fact remains that they're just a big promotional tool for the top publishers who pay for the big adverts. Nothing more. In the old days, they were pretty rad, but also back then, they were the only resource for that kind of information. Now, not so much.

As far as the pubs go, I think they dug them selves in a hole, and a lot of them think the best way out is to just keep digging.

Incidentally, the WB layoffs hit DC today. Including editor Bob Schrek. I think the landscape of comics will be going through some major changes over the next decade. As much as I am concerned about this, I'm also very curious as to where things are going.

megan_rose
And as far as manga thriving, they aren't, so much. Tokyopop reached the top of its parabola, and is now declining. Perhaps because people figured out the stories were all the same, except the characters had different hair. They picked up more titles than people were interested in reading.

But Tokyopop is crap. Everything they do can be done better by another company - they just tried to breed a culture here, and it annoyed the piss out of me personally while they carried on with their horrible mistranslations and unresponsiveness. They'd like to say they're the best at what they do, but they really aren't.

(I will agree there's way too much random manga being brought over here. Who has the time to read all that stuff? There's literally tons of same-looking Japanese comics now by artists who obviously can't draw, so they copy whoever they liked growing up, and have 8 volumes of absolutely nothing happening.)

I almost exclusively read graphic novels because of manga. (I'm picky, as with everything, but what I like, I REALLY like.) I like buying my comics in bulk, basically. I don't own any recent American comics (besides some ANIMANIACS and the like, which I got for free and coverless yeaaars ago), but if I ever bought any (I have suggestions) I'd buy them in the bulk forms I've been seeing lately on Borders shelves next to manga.

I just can't adhere to the general style of comics over here (so...boring by comparison, those Marvel types, despite being in color and about awesome super powers), and over all these years nothing has changed about them besides levels of polish. So it looks like the industry isn't trying to make new fans, old fans are getting old and will eventually no longer exist, and everything is getting more expensive. Yes, depressing all around.

(I don't want this to be a totally irrelevant tirade, but seriously... I flipped through a few pages of Bat-Manga and found those more interesting visually than most of the American comics. I so want to be a fan of them, but I can't get past aesthetics sometimes.)

(Oh, but I do love stuff like what lies within the pages of Comic Book Tattoo, Flight... I'd like to see more of that thrive here.)

mattchee
This is why shelving space in supermarkets is such a hot commodity-- Unfortunately some time around the mid to late 90s mainstream comics decided to bow out of that race, and focus only on the DM.

Umm, if I remember well (I read that awhile ago so I might be wrong here) but the newsstand distribution started to crap out somewhere around 70s, thus the direct market being created before it all went to hell. Also, currently newsstands (supermarkets, gas stations etc.) prefer to put magazines. Why? Cause they cost more, thus bring more profit. I think at this point only archie comics is on newsstands (and perhaps some cartoon-related stuff put out by dc?).

mattchee
So now we find ourselves today with raised thresholds-- it seems to appear that Diamond is, in a way, cutting its losses. Heck, even if other distributors step and and pick up some of these smaller books, I don't think they'll be that successful since the reason that Diamond is trying to cut them back is that they're just not selling. If a product is failing in any other industry, you know, people aren't exactly lining up to take over that product.

I think it's more along the way of cutting off the less profitable things. Kind of like newsstands cut out most of comics as not profitable enough to them.

A full page ad in Previews costs 2000$ or 1200$ if b&w (might have changed as I'm using old numbers). You also pay for phone service if you need to talk to anyone at the company (I think up to few hundred $, can't find the site where that was mentioned) AND you ship the books to Diamond at your own cost. All they have to do is take the store orders, package them and ship them out together with everything else they're shipping out on that day. But hey, that requires workers. Maybe that's the whole idea? Cut anything that sells less but still takes time to deal with and then fire some workers who were freed that way. Just a theory that popped into my brain.

mattchee
Incidentally, the WB layoffs hit DC today. Including editor Bob Schrek.

well, fuck. there goes ASBAR and any future DC projects Miller had in mind. Schreck was his buddy there.

Aurora Borealis

mattchee
This is why shelving space in supermarkets is such a hot commodity-- Unfortunately some time around the mid to late 90s mainstream comics decided to bow out of that race, and focus only on the DM.

Umm, if I remember well (I read that awhile ago so I might be wrong here) but the newsstand distribution started to crap out somewhere around 70s, thus the direct market being created before it all went to hell. Also, currently newsstands (supermarkets, gas stations etc.) prefer to put magazines. Why? Cause they cost more, thus bring more profit. I think at this point only archie comics is on newsstands (and perhaps some cartoon-related stuff put out by dc?).

Yeah, the direct market did start up in the 70's, once specialty shops started popping up. I don't know how much it was about waning newsstand sales as it was about capitalizing on an opportunity for non-returnable distribution. Just an assumption.

But what I was speaking about was that over the following two decades after the DM was introduced, there was a shift in where publisher's attentions where. I was still getting comics at 7-11 off of spinner racks in 1990, by 2000 it was basically book stores or comic shops. If you'll remember the 1990s, it was a pretty critical time as far as the DM/distro goes. The speculation boom caused a lot of new comic shops to open (and lots of "card stores" to shift gears as the baseball card speculation boom receded), and then the whole debacle where Marvel took over Hero's World Distro to do their own exclusive distro (eventually causing them to go bankrupt). The latter of which resulted in everyone else signing exclusives with Diamond (including Marvel, once the HWD thing collapsed), making Diamond the only real DM distributor in the biz. Plus, in the 1990s, a lot of both Marvel and DC comics for-went the Code, which basically meant, the comics were only for DM distribution.

In any case, what I was getting at, was the 1990s were the point where the real shift took place, not the 1970s. And yes, at this point I agree with you that it was not a conscious direct decision by the pubs to say "Hey we don't want to do the newsstand anymore" but more like, they were putting all their effort and incentives into the DM sales, causing the newsstand sales to wane-- and like you said: Given the shelf space, would you rather hold a 6 dollar magazine that has selling potential, or a (at the time) $1.50 comic book that isn't selling so well since all the kids go to the comic/card shop for that sort of thing. You're right. ITs a no brainer. So stores stopped carrying them altogether.

There's probably also a reaction from the newsstand distributors looking at comics publishers decision to focus on the Direct Market as well.

I think if the pubs made an effort (or had in the past) to actively go after newsstand sales, they could keep their product in there. I mean, a spinner rack has a small footprint and can hold (guessing) about 32 titles in the amount of space that probably holds 8-12 max magazines (if we're talking the portion of a magazine rack that takes up the same footprint area). So its economical in that sense. Not to mention that comics are $4 now, so there's that much more profit involved.

But now its getting a bit off topic....

A full page ad in Previews costs 2000$ or 1200$ if b&w (might have changed as I'm using old numbers). You also pay for phone service if you need to talk to anyone at the company (I think up to few hundred $, can't find the site where that was mentioned) AND you ship the books to Diamond at your own cost. All they have to do is take the store orders, package them and ship them out together with everything else they're shipping out on that day. But hey, that requires workers. Maybe that's the whole idea? Cut anything that sells less but still takes time to deal with and then fire some workers who were freed that way. Just a theory that popped into my brain.

I've done some further reading on the matter, and that's pretty much exactly what's going on. They say it costs more to keep and distribute the the low selling books, so they want to cut them out and either cut the workers, or set them on something that has a higher wage to profits ratio. They're no dummies-- I'm sure big two sales are taking a hit, and they can't afford to be doing any favors for people who's books aren't making them any money.

The bummer part is that since it IS a monopolistic system, there's nowhere for the little guys to go. Sure there are little distributors out there, but, like I said before: If you're a shop owner, who's trying to make a dime like everyone else, are you going to order from the catalog that has comics with proven sales records, or the one that has all the folks that have sales records that that didn't qualify for for the other. Another no-brainer.

Most folks who are doing independent or self published comics in earnest, have to be pretty realistic about the fact that they're not going to be making bags of money. In fact, probably not any money. They're doing it because they want to get their story in front of people and/or larger prospective publishers (or people shopping for IPs, merch, etc). I don't think that DM distro has much to offer to folks like that, folks like us, other than a lot of expense to be part of an old fashioned system. Thats why so many of us the web is such a great option... Sure we don't make any money, but we don't really put out a lot of money either.

ITs a changing world out there...

Ok, hold the presses! I went to ka-blam site today to recalculate stuff (since I'm pretty bad at keeping my numbers straight and so on) and I saw THIS at the top of the page.

Breaking News!! Ka-Blam to Launch Direct Market Comics Distribution System!

Also, there's an interview with Haven Distribution at newsarama .

mattchee
Yeah, the direct market did start up in the 70's, once specialty shops started popping up. I don't know how much it was about waning newsstand sales as it was about capitalizing on an opportunity for non-returnable distribution. Just an assumption.

Could've been both. I'm pretty sure 70s sales looked absolutely awful compared to 60s or to the so-called golden age.

mattchee
But what I was speaking about was that over the following two decades after the DM was introduced, there was a shift in where publisher's attentions where. I was still getting comics at 7-11 off of spinner racks in 1990, by 2000 it was basically book stores or comic shops. If you'll remember the 1990s, it was a pretty critical time as far as the DM/distro goes.

Well, I don't as I live at the other end of the world :D But I am quite interested in the history of comics so I know what you're talking about. :)

mattchee
Not to mention that comics are $4 now, so there's that much more profit involved.

I see what you mean. But it'd be nearly impossible to re-introduce let's say Marvel or DC to the "rack" again due to the convoluted continuity. Newsstand distribution was rather spotty, so comics were written in such fashion that anyone could pick up any issue and be up to speed on the happenings. Sure, it took AGES to wade through all the badly written exposition (badly written in most cases anyway) but hey, you bought that one book and you didn't have to follow up.

Interesting digression: I don't recall any comics from the entire history (up to 80s I think) that would have wordless panels. There was always a word balloon (or a few), thought balloon, caption or AT LEAST a sound effect. Just a random fact.

Currently, with the writing for the trade, decompressed storytelling, storyarcs, crossovers, events, tie-ins etc. a store would have to offer an entire rack of titles. Maybe they don't want to touch these because of that too (which ties into catering for the DM I guess). I think (from what I heard) that basically only Archie, Sonic, Cartoon Network etc. are on the racks these days now, and they all (or most of them) are all-ages and keep their stories wrapped in one issue.

mattchee
But now its getting a bit off topic....

Yes it is :D

mattchee
I've done some further reading on the matter, and that's pretty much exactly what's going on. They say it costs more to keep and distribute the the low selling books, so they want to cut them out and either cut the workers, or set them on something that has a higher wage to profits ratio. They're no dummies-- I'm sure big two sales are taking a hit, and they can't afford to be doing any favors for people who's books aren't making them any money.

Yeah, further cuts might happen. I just found out that the most fucked in this case are actually mid-size publishers that are not "brokered" (like Marvel/DC/Darkhorse/Image) but are simply exclusive to Diamond. Anything that the small guys can't push through Diamond? They can push somewhere else (for example Tarot Witch of the Black Rose is sold through Haven and it sells well enough to sustain two creators). But what does IDW do with a title that would sell 1500 copies only? They can't take it anywhere (and I'm pretty sure IDW is on the exclusive list for monthlies, could be wrong though).

mattchee
The bummer part is that since it IS a monopolistic system, there's nowhere for the little guys to go. Sure there are little distributors out there, but, like I said before: If you're a shop owner, who's trying to make a dime like everyone else, are you going to order from the catalog that has comics with proven sales records, or the one that has all the folks that have sales records that that didn't qualify for for the other. Another no-brainer.

And this ties into what I just said. there are actually stores that'll take self-published non-DM books. Things like minicomics and totally indie selfpublished books that are sold by the creator only through con/online sales, but you have to approach them directly. We'll see how Haven performs. The way I see it, lots of titles that do have readers will disappear from Diamond and most likely reappear at Haven, thus making a lot of people begging their comics stores to deal with Haven too. This might be good for them, and if they don't drop the ball on that, they might actually rise in the market? At least I'm hoping so.

mattchee
Most folks who are doing independent or self published comics in earnest, have to be pretty realistic about the fact that they're not going to be making bags of money. In fact, probably not any money. They're doing it because they want to get their story in front of people and/or larger prospective publishers (or people shopping for IPs, merch, etc). I don't think that DM distro has much to offer to folks like that, folks like us, other than a lot of expense to be part of an old fashioned system. Thats why so many of us the web is such a great option... Sure we don't make any money, but we don't really put out a lot of money either.

Yeah, while personally I'd LOVE to live from comics myself, I'm aware it'll be hard. So I try to stick to one rule of "at least do not lose money" :)

mattchee
ITs a changing world out there...

Indeed.

Aurora Borealis
I see what you mean. But it'd be nearly impossible to re-introduce let's say Marvel or DC to the "rack" again due to the convoluted continuity. Newsstand distribution was rather spotty, so comics were written in such fashion that anyone could pick up any issue and be up to speed on the happenings. Sure, it took AGES to wade through all the badly written exposition (badly written in most cases anyway) but hey, you bought that one book and you didn't have to follow up.

Interesting digression: I don't recall any comics from the entire history (up to 80s I think) that would have wordless panels. There was always a word balloon (or a few), thought balloon, caption or AT LEAST a sound effect. Just a random fact.

Currently, with the writing for the trade, decompressed storytelling, storyarcs, crossovers, events, tie-ins etc. a store would have to offer an entire rack of titles. Maybe they don't want to touch these because of that too (which ties into catering for the DM I guess). I think (from what I heard) that basically only Archie, Sonic, Cartoon Network etc. are on the racks these days now, and they all (or most of them) are all-ages and keep their stories wrapped in one issue.

and thats another problem with comics nowadays. they are so wrapped up in context that there is no content. theres no "jumping on" point in either of the respective universes. DC keeps fucking around with its stupid "multi-verse" bullshit, while marvel has been pretty much Bendis/Millar land for the last 8 years. seriously, I couldnt even begin to pick up secret invasion if i didnt know about civil war, or house of m, or avengers dissasembled, or whatever fucking lame-ass "event" started all this.

comics need to become more accessible, because right now, they ARENT.

Aurora Borealis
Yeah, while personally I'd LOVE to live from comics myself, I'm aware it'll be hard. So I try to stick to one rule of "at least do not lose money" :)

My rule as well, man. My rule as well.

Mushroomcomix
That's true but they wont stop marketing to fanboys because fanboys are where their money comes from. If they have a formula that works in these times than why would they change it up at the worst possible time to take risks like that.

I disagree with this point.
1: If Marvel and DC are losing readership and therefore money they do not have a system that is working in these times.

Further more I'd like to address the issue of "these times"
Its clear that the economy has turned sour and people are pinching their pennies.
But its in economic times like these that the economy fundamentally changes and the people who adapt or change first are the ones who write the next chapter in the world economy.
All business are sitting at a frightening threshold of possibilities. Like or not the same old same old isn't going to get any one through these though times and business that accept risk responsibly, and embrace customer demands and provide the product that will convince people to spend will emerge the victor.
Comics are facing that threshold as are all printed mediums.
They can either continue to push the same tired story lines or develop something new, and unheard of. And that doesn't mean they have to create a new character, they can use existing characters.
Lets take "Batman RIP" for example, ( possible Spoiler ahead ) what if Batman stays dead? Bruce Wayne never returns from the grave but the story of the Identity of Batman continues. This would be new ground for the printed comic which never seemed to good at keeping its dead heroes dead for long. The simple act of Batman becoming a mantle for someone to uphold can create new and fascinating story lines for writers to explore. It may be enough to freshen the Batman story and increase readership.

Comics will have adapt to these changing times to survive. And I for one am convinced that it will take a balancing act of breaking from pandering to the fanboys, while not completely forgetting about the hardcore fans either to accomplish this.

I'd like to think of the comic world as being in a post-apocalyptic era. The Golden age and the Silver age have come and gone. We all roam in a governless land, almost anarchically and unstructured. There seems to be no set approach, no clear roads paved and the old roads seem to lead to nowhere. Few little towns have sprouted. There isn't much right now on these desolate, unhabited lands. But you get to inhabit it and build it, grow it however you want, whatever you want. And perhaps one day, many others will come to know what you have built.


SO, now that I think we all agree that the current institutionalized mainstream system of comic industry is fucked.

So the question is WHAT NOW?

What can you, me and the rest of the folks on DD do to achieve our dreams as comic artists?

Any ideas?

threeeyeswurm
SO, now that I think we all agree that the current institutionalized mainstream system of comic industry is fucked.

So the question is WHAT NOW?

What can you, me and the rest of the folks on DD do to achieve our dreams as comic artists?

Any ideas?

I'm personally aiming at print on demand. And at learning to draw fast (and be more persistent with less "downtime" between drawing sessions) so I can tell all the stories that I need to tell.

Lol'd at this:


Small publishers are like...the virtualboy or something.

Skullbie
Small publishers are like...the virtualboy or something.

Small publishers are like board games. Like Scrabble.

Skullbie
Lol'd at this:


Small publishers are like...the virtualboy or something.

I'd think of the Wii more as either IMAGE or Dark Horse, personally.
Tokyopop seems more like a Manga publishing company (pretty sure they don't publish actual comic books, do they?)

Ryuthehedgewolf

Skullbie
Lol'd at this:


Small publishers are like...the virtualboy or something.

I'd think of the Wii more as either IMAGE or Dark Horse, personally.
Tokyopop seems more like a Manga publishing company (pretty sure they don't publish actual comic books, do they?)

You're missing the point. Tokyopop, like Wii, is hitting a different, broader demographic rather than the comic book fanboys (hardcore gamers) and is cheaper.
Also, manga = comics.

Aurora Borealis

Ryuthehedgewolf

Skullbie
Lol'd at this:


Small publishers are like...the virtualboy or something.

I'd think of the Wii more as either IMAGE or Dark Horse, personally.
Tokyopop seems more like a Manga publishing company (pretty sure they don't publish actual comic books, do they?)

You're missing the point. Tokyopop, like Wii, is hitting a different, broader demographic rather than the comic book fanboys (hardcore gamers) and is cheaper.
Also, manga = comics.

Yeah, but they mainly do graphic novels, rather than individual issues, which i think is what he was getting at.