Games are killing comics

[wraggster]

via gamesradar (http://www.gamesradar.com/gb/pc/game/news/article.jsp?sectionId=1006&articleId=20070227115326890032&releaseId=20060321112217531094)

Videogames are strangling the comics market, reckons long-time 2000AD artist Ian Gibson, as Judge Dredd's natural audience begins to overlook the ruthless enforcer's colourful antics in favour of the stronger appeal of PlayStation.

"The comics market, sadly, is dying," Gibson told the BBC News website, reasoning that "the PlayStation has taken over and comics can't compete". "Most comics I have come across haven't realised that they have lost the battle," explains Gibson, although he believes that comics do have an advantage over gaming, because "the PlayStation will never tell stories". We'll just assume he's never heard of such plot-strong videogames as Ico, Shadow of the Colossus and Half-Life 2.

Meanwhile, Marvel has revealed a stellar line-up of artists and authors for the upcoming Halo graphic novels. Promising more than just a single book from its deal with Halo developer Bungie, Marvel has enlisted big names (if you read comics) like Simon Bisley and French artist Moebius. Perhaps the way forward for comics is to embrace such crossovers?

[JKKDARK]

I don't buy comics :p

[Dickhead]

Well I only collect comics but I dont read them, But I would love the first issue of spiderman from 1963 in my collection. I think alot of people dont understand that comics can infact be very expensive and thanks to the Marvel US films, people have got into comics, yes computer games are taken sales away, but its not just comic books that have been effected. Infact some comic books have got story lines from video games. I am interested in both and I know a Graphic Artist who would infact say the same as me on this subject and one of main projects is comic book drawing..

[solid12345]

I think comics are failing is because of people like me who used to be into them but can't keep up with the million stories published every month.

I think one reason graphic novels are getting more popular is many are one-shots and don't have stories that continue on for 40 years.

[aries2k4]

I wouldn´t mind having Spidey #1 either. What´s it worth these days ~$20.000 USD?
Ya, I´d say a nice peice to any collection, lol
It is a shame that comics don´t do as well anymore. Gaming might be some of the problem, maybe people ain´t reading as much. Comics were a part of my growing up and lasted much longer. I miss the Frank Miller days and older spiderman stories.

[Basil Zero]

the comics are killing themselves, the amount of people buying comics has lowered because of the lack of any of the classic comics had(the charisma lol).

[gunntims0103]

YES! comics are being killed off by video games and its a great shame. Comics are classic, but video games that are based on the comics are only fun untill you beat it. It also gets less valuable the longer you hold on to the game, as most games do.

Comics go up in value the longer you have it (well, for the most part.) I would really like it if there were less games made on comic book heroes and such as i feel the comic books image are getting tarnished by video games based on them.

[robocelot]

What a load of toss.

If he thinks video games are killing comics then he's missing the blatant fact that *all* non-interactive forms of media (TV, movies, magazines, books, and comics included -- all of which are over 50 years old and very resistant to change) are all on the decline. Blaming video games for the decline in comic sales sounds more like sour grapes to me.

The main things killing comics these days are the artificial collectors market and lack of good storytelling in favor of entire books filled with splash pages of nicely drawn art with multiple gimmick covers. Quantity over quality, and the industry has been screwing itself over like this for over 15 years now. It's not as bad as it was back in the 90's but the damage has been done. the speculators have left to more lucrative collecting markets and the longtime readers were scared off by the speculators.

The other big deal, which the comics industry has it's collective head in the sand about is piracy: Scanning and illegal digital distribution of comics is on the rise, yet none of the big comic companies were fast enough or savvy enough to put out a quality low cost product that would compete with the pirated material.

[Adrenalin]

Sure , american comics are dying. they have been for ages. Now Manga (japanese comics) is a completely different story. Honestly i couldn't care less about american comics. they suck.

[Yobumtin]

I hope John from System of a Down does okay with his new company. :|

[F9zDark]

How can you blame video games for the death of comics? Japanese mangas are HUGELY popular and successful and Japan is also A HUGE gamer/game contribution country. Without Japan we probably wouldn't have any new gaming consoles and would still be putzing around with ancient Atari systems.

That paradox aside, I cannot imagine that games are contributing to the death of comics and if they are its only because games are more involving than a comic book.

Look back to the time when comics became popular and a widely used entertainment medium. When TVs were black and white and had 5 channels and the most entertainment a kid could get was to play Cowboys and Indians, make a shortwave radio from scratch or play around with a junior chemist's set.

Needless to say, we have a plethora of more entertaining pasttimes available to us now; it is no suprise to me that comics are falling by the way side in the US.

[Sp3ct0r]

Yay! Down with comics!! Up With Anime!!!

[Sp3ct0r]

and manga!

[Makaveli777]

How can he say videogames don't tell a story. Has he played and RPG before.

[steve-b]

If someone made comics where you picked the path the story took...like those old choose your own adventure books they would rock. Comics need to get with the times and go digital.

I'm thinking RPG without the G.

[Basil Zero]

I guess its from this article that the guy who made the civil war comics made his stupid comment, seriously, who cares if comics die, video games are THE new comics.