Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: the must see movie of the moment, and quite possibly the best movie ever based of and independently produced, non-superhero comic book series.
"Huhbuhduwha?!?!? There are comic books that aren't manga that aren't about superheroes?!!??!?" Yes, and they're becoming more and more popular.
The fact is, the way Marvel and DC are set up, they cater to a very small but devoted fanbase that is stagnant because the comics they read are. With very few exceptions, most comic book storylines in recent years have been formulaic and uncreative (Batman RIP being one of the rare, good examples, One More Day being one of the less rare yet terrible examples). Marvel and DC rarely try anything new to attract new readers because they're afraid of losing the one's they've got. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but if you try to find something new and groundbreaking from the superhero giants, you most likely won't get it. As someone who grew up with the Spiderman and Batman animated TV shows, this saddens me deeply. However, this is a unique and exciting time for comic lovers.
"Wait, what?!? That sounds TERRIBLE for comic-lovers!!"
Actually it's not, because Marvel and DC have an audience that is roughly 3% of their potential audience (cannot get exact figure sorry). Because they're audience has dwindled so low, there is an incredible power vacuum in the field of comic books and graphic novels. Whoever can attract the raw power of the untapped 97% of potential comic book readers will rule the industry. The overwhelming success of manga in the U.S. proves this. But the West has an answer to the power of manga: independently produced, creator controlled comic books, or "indie comics".
The success of the Canadian indie graphic novel series Scott Pilgrim is the precursor to great creator revolution looming on the horizon. Personally, I'm looking forward to great new stories and incredible, dynamic characters. And I have this guy to thank for it:
To avoid arguing about my opinion on the Scott Pilgrim movie, I will concentrate on some other issues I see with this.
ReplyDeleteScott Pilgrim is hardly a precursor to non-super-hero comics made and widely distributed in the United States. There have been many such as Y: The Last Man, The Children of Men, and the diturbing comic: The Crossed. Many in this non-superhero genre of comics are coming from Vertigo, which is part of DC comics.
Also i cannot help but question your 3 and 97% statistics, how are "potential comic readers" determined and where did you find these numbers
Here's the article I got some of my figures from. My own post may be unintentionally derivative of this, and for that I apologize.
ReplyDeletehttp://vividstuff.blogspot.com/2008/12/article-3-score-one-for-idiocy-aka.html
Sorry, forgot the html code on that link. Here is the article.
ReplyDelete