Beyond The Big Event Series
It's not all merry mutants over at Marvel, though, as Spider-Man and the Avengers both have very strong showings each month as well. Spider-Man will always sell well because he is an iconic character (not to mention the star of the highest grossing comic book movies to date). He may not get as many guest spots as Wolverine, but the core Spider-Man audience is solid. Brian Michael Bendis's "New Avengers" typically finds itself in the top 10 every month. This book re-launched the Avengers team after Bendis tore them apart (killing a few of them) in the "Avengers: Disassembled" arc. What made "New Avengers" such a surefire hit?
Well, it just so happens that Captain America and Iron Man felt that both Spider-Man and Wolverine would make excellent additions to the team. Bendis's writing and art by fan-favorite David Finch kept the book in the top 10, but the interplay between loner Spider-Man, the resident grizzled old man Wolverine, and the rest of the Avengers team brought in throngs of new readers. You can begin to see how Marvel moves their rooks around the board.
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On DC's side of the pond, it's all about the big three; Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman. Both Batman and Superman have a few monthly books each as well as a book they share (aptly title "Superman/Batman"). Issues of "Wonder Woman" can fair moderately well in the market, but the fans really want to see her interacting with the other members of the League. Speaking of the League, the recent re-launch of "Justice League of America" by Brad Meltzer and Ed Benes featuring Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman rebuilding the roster is one of DC's best selling books. Since DC depends on the big three so much, the phenomenon of their series titled "52" is all that more interesting.
Considering the way Marvel pitches its characters around, DC's decision to do what many thought impossible seems even bolder. After the conclusion of the big DC event "Infinite Crisis," all the DC books jumped one year ahead. The plan was to publish a book that came out every week for 52 weeks straight that chronicled the events of that missing year. Readers would immediately know the ultimate fate of many of the characters as they read all the "One Year Later" books, so what would keep them buying the weekly release? If that wasn't enough, "52" would not feature any of the Big Three - Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman.
So here we have a comic featuring second, third, and fourth-tier characters that comes out weekly featuring a story that, as far as the rest of the DC Comics are concerned, is old news. DC's "52" has not been the catastrophe that many guessed it would be. Instead the comic has posted good sales numbers each week, and as of this writing has never been late. In an industry where single issues of stories can run sometimes 12 months late (cough, "Ultimate Wolverine vs. Hulk," cough), that is saying something. It just goes to show that comic readers are interested in quality writing and interesting stories as much as star characters.
The business of comics is booming right now, and looks to be going nowhere but up. Comic books have crossed over into television, videogames, and quite nearly taken over the movie industry. In fact, it may be more difficult than you think to find a published comic that does not have a pending option out on it already (for more on that, check out the article on Soldiers of the Dead). As comics affect the rest of pop culture, they are, in turn, affected. The big events that both companies focus on are direct results of their core audience overlapping with the games, movies, and television demographics. All these industries are desperately trying to entertain us with bigger and more. Yes, it is an excellent time to be a comic book reader, unless you can't afford to also buy the games and the movie tickets.
Stay tuned for more entries in TwitchGuru's State of Comic Books series.
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