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October 19, 2012 6:55 am This doesn't address the underlying problem: the dominance of corporation-owned franchises, with endless and necessarily repetitive stories that can have a beginning but not an end. The future of the industry is very difficult. People who are already fans want it that way, and those are the books that sell: Batman, X-men, Spiderman... Ultimately, any resolution is impossible in those books, because the franchises need to go on, and therefore a more or less immutable status-quo must be maintained. Since under those conditions it's very difficult to maintain the readers' interest, corporations need to resort to constant stunts to keep people coming back: crossover events, relaunching series... The impossibility of any resolution is bad enough, but those stunts decrease even more the creative quality of the stories produced. People who are already fans want it that way, though. They keep buying the same old franchises, with stories endlessly regurgitated and no resolution or real change, while ignoring creator-owned series that can actually tell a proper story, with a beginning, middle and end. However, it's very difficult to explain to potential new readers that they need to spend a lot of money to keep up with the franchises, under those circumstances. The context is already difficult, with increasing competition for the entertainment budget. While the best part of the talent and energy of the comic industry is directed to the creative dead end of superhero franchises it will be even more difficult to compete with other forms of entertainment. But the situation is unlikely to change, since the existing fan base, shrinking as it is, keeps voting with their wallets for it to continue as it is.

October 10, 2012 1:05 pm Regarding piracy, I agree that there are many people who are hypocrites, and defend piracy using any argument they can think of, not because they truly believe in those arguments, but because they don't want to spend any money and piracy is just too convenient. Eventually, they convince themselves that they believe in it because that way they can take the stuff without paying and still feel good about themselves. That's hypocrisy. However, saying piracy=stealing is not very helpful to understand the issue, because there's a difference there. If I steal from you, I take something from you and afterwards I have that something and you don't have it any more. With piracy, I copy something from you and afterwards I have it and you also have it. You just haven't got paid for my copy. I'm not saying piracy is not wrong, but it's not the same as our traditional idea of stealing. Whatever you think about it, piracy is here to stay, and companies and creators should think about how to live in the new digital environment, instead of pretending that they can go on like they did when there was no internet. Business models will have to change, or at least new ones will come up and coexist with the older ones. Look for example at Kickstarter: its surprising success proves that there are many people willing to pay for something they think it's worth it, particularly when they are made to feel like they are part of the project. Maybe that's one way to go that should be explored more often, or maybe some new ideas will come up. The fact is that piracy has changed the way many people experience entertainment: 1) Some people will go on the old fashioned way, only accessing content they have paid for. 2) Other people just will never pay if they can get it for free: that certainly hurts creators, but like it or not, we have to understand that piracy can't be stopped. As long as the internet exists, there will be piracy. The more draconian the measures used to fight it the more you will alienate your potential customers, and people will still find the way. As long as digital information can be exchanged (as long as the internet exists) there will be piracy. 3) Other people won't pay now, but they may do so in the future. Maybe poor teenagers or students, that don't have the money (because this is not a cheap hobby): perhaps they pirate now, and become fans of stuff that they would never be exposed to without piracy. Some of them will spend money in the future, when they have more income. This actually helps creators, because they will get some customers that would have never been exposed to this stuff otherwise. 4) Other people (perhaps most people) will access more entertainment content than they pay for. Why do they pay for some of it? Many still believe that they should support their favorite creators, even if they are getting some of their stuff for free. Others just prefer a physical format. The thing is that they are accessing much more entertainment media that they can afford, but they are still spending their money on some of it. Maybe they are spending about the same amount they used to. They are just accessing more content, some of it pirated. In the end, from a practical point of view, what counts for the creator is the total amount people spend. If you are spending less because of piracy than you would otherwise, then you are hurting the creators of the stuff you love. However, it's better for the creator if you pay 1 and read 10 than if you pay 0 and read 0.

October 10, 2012 12:29 pm DRM is completely crazy. You punish your paying customers while the pirates get the quality stuff, and of course it doesn't stop piracy in any way, since there are always people who can break the protection and distribute the stuff. Think about it: you pay and you can only enjoy the content you've paid for in the platforms they choose, using the programs they choose, you can't lend it to a friend, the company that sold it to you goes bankrupt and you lose everything you bought, you die and you can't even leave your books to your family or to a friend who will appreciate them... It's the same thing with Kindle books, of course. At least Amazon seems like a more solid company than ComiXology, and it doesn't seem like it's going to go bankrupt anytime soon. But who knows? Things may change a lot in 5 or 10 years. The point is that you are still at their mercy. They can even get into your devices and take away the books you have bought, like they did several times with stuff they discovered they did not have rights to sell. Of course, the protection of Kindle books is so easy to break that anyone can do it easily, so you can at least keep your own copy of the stuff you bought. I don't know if you can do the same with ComiXology comics.

September 17, 2012 5:38 pm You mean he was a secondary actor in his own death? Man, that's a harsh epitaph! Oh, well, maybe the next time he dies will be better.

September 17, 2012 2:45 pm This was a good article, even though I basically disagree with the thesis. It made me think. Still, in spite of some characters who haven't been resurrected after a few years, the fact remain that death in mainstream superhero comics is a joke. When it happens, you know they'll bring him back from death as soon as it's convenient for them, as soon as they think they can use that return to make more money. Change, in general, is a joke. And since storytelling most powerful tool is conflict, and the way that conflict changes the characters... well, I have to say that from a storytelling point of view this industry is bankrupt. It's endless fan-fiction. It's "Please, let me read another tale with whatever superhero so that I can recapture the magic". I can still enjoy it for what it is, but it's not really going anywhere. Having said that, I appreciate Ifanboy's tone of optimism, this "let's enjoy comics". Sometimes it seems that many fans are always bitching, and why keep wasting your time and money, if you dislike it? If you no longer enjoy mainstream superheroes why don't you try manga or independent comics, where at least you can have a proper story. And, if you enjoy mainstream superheroes, by all means, keep enjoying them.

September 12, 2012 3:28 pm [quote]a series of novellas about a superhero or team that came out once every quarter [/quote] Oh, man, that would be really fun. I love reading prose as much as comics, so I would totally try this out.

June 16, 2012 1:38 pm Yep, action is fundamental in a superhero comic, but character development and the relationships between characters are even more important for me. This title provides both.

June 15, 2012 8:30 pm OK, this wasn't as emotionally intense as the first arc, but it was fun. I just loved the page where Damian announces his intention to best the other Robins. Look at their expressions, especially Tim's. It's almost manga-style, and it really cracked me up: http://cdn.ifanboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Batman-and-Robin_10_Panel.jpeg

June 6, 2012 3:16 pm And remember: that really happened. Grant Morrison dixit.

June 6, 2012 3:15 pm Jim won a contest to be Batman for a day? How great is that? Boy, I love those silver age stories: they are just so irresistibly campy.