"Gimmicks and the state of the comics industry…"

[Al Nickerson]

"Gimmicks and the state of the comics industry…"

[Tetsu Deinonychus]

One gimmick I'm kind of sick of, is every comic having about 10 different variant covers for every issue (IDW loves this one). I know they've given up on "speculators" buying one of every cover, and it's more of a "pick your favourite" thing now, but it's not like any comic book store has them all and it just makes collecting back issues confusing.

One the other hand, one gimmick I always enjoy is the wraparound cover. I just think it looks more cool and dynamic to have more cover on the back instead of just an ad.

[Al Nickerson]

Yeah, in some ways, it does seem that comic book industry is like the 1990s all over again... variant covers, weird crossovers, world-ending events. Although, the latter probably never went away.

And, I do like wrap around covers.

I do like that there's more types of genre in comics nowadays. I do like that there's more creator-owned comics. But, it does still look like Marvel and DC flood the rakes with the same old same old junk.

[Tetsu Deinonychus]

Well, I like weird crossovers, and the "World-Ending Events" thing is cool in theory, but loses it's impact when it's done every year.

I like the greater variety and more creator owned books too.

I do like the classic Superhero characters, but I hate the stranglehold that the Superhero genre traditionally has on the American Comic Book industry. There's still kind of an attitude that Superhero is the "default" genre for the medium and that other comics are more "Niche", and I think DC and Marvel go through lengths to promote that image. But, it is gradually changing, and I'm glad about that.