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Everything Archie => All About Archie => Topic started by: Alexandra Cabot on April 01, 2017, 11:03:09 PM

Title: Marvel says forced diversity ruined sales. Maybe Archie should pay attention?
Post by: Alexandra Cabot on April 01, 2017, 11:03:09 PM
Hey, it's your queen again.  Thought I would share an interesting article I read:

http://archive.is/hxoHn (http://archive.is/hxoHn)

Here's a quote from Marvel's top brass:

Quote
Suggesting the answer to the question of why people's tastes suddenly changed was better answered by Direct Market retailers, Gabriel told ICv2 that "What we heard was that people didn't want any more diversity. They didn't want female characters out there. That's what we heard, whether we believe that or not.  I don't know that that's really true, but that's what we saw in sales."

Gabriel described what was no longer viable as "things that we had been doing successfully for the past three years..."

"We saw the sales of any character that was diverse, any character that was new, our female characters, anything that was not a core Marvel character, people were turning their nose up against," he explained. " That was difficult for us because we had a lot of fresh, new, exciting ideas that we were trying to get out and nothing new really worked."

He seems kind of mad and is looking for a scapegoat, so he goes back to the tried and true defense of left leaning individuals when they fail of,  "It was those pesky bigots fault!"  So no I don't think comic book fans hate female characters, it's more like they didn't want to read a story about Thor being changed to into a Jewish feminist or Ironman becoming a 15 year old African American girl from the projects who is better at creating robot armor than Tony Stark is (created by Brian "I Wish I Was Black" Michael Bendis).

So what should Archie Comics learn from this development I ask, fellow archiefans?

Well, maybe they shouldn't let their IP be degraded by letting a goofy TV show change the race of characters like Josie and Melody from Josie and the Pussycats to meet a diversity quota when said group already had diversity (technically more than in Riverdale actually)?  Or how about making Veronica latina and then hiring the most white passing latina you could find anyways?  Maybe stuff like that is actually retarded like anyone with a brain would surmise?

Hey, and maybe comic book fans don't read comics to have middle aged liberals bark at them about political correctness like they are listening to NPR?  Like let's see combinging a gay military character with a pro-gun-control storyline, because you know LGBT in the military hate guns so much (I hear they shoot the enemy with rainbows!).  That totally makes sense for a gay military hero character like Kevin to push the heterosexual liberal non-solider writer's views about guns into his storylines!   Maybe not all LGBT are a mind hive or something?

Third point was a mistake both Marvel and Archie Comics made.  Hiring Erica Henderson to draw for you because Tumblr SJWs recommended her highly, despite the fact she's only capable of making doodles like this:

(https://www.archiefans.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F1.bp.blogspot.com%2F-CGPOCpPtrBk%2FVg61UImSJZI%2FAAAAAAAAYoo%2F1C6l2dIl1Rc%2Fs1600%2Ftumblr_inline_ntlpcgozoA1r9n07i_1280.png&hash=c9edc91c9824ba3c46554b2a2dcf9cf71c04bb10)

Food for thought, fellow archiefans!
Title: Re: Marvel says forced diversity ruined sales. Maybe Archie should pay attention?
Post by: Ronnie on April 02, 2017, 04:32:20 AM
Kevin Keller was hatched for one reason and one reason only. To cater to the LGBT-ABCD crowd. And has the personality of a stale bagel to boot. How's that working out for sales? Oh, right.  :crazy2:

Erica Henderson doesn't draw. she scribbles. Doodling is being polite.  :buck2:


I don't mind diversity. Just don't shove it up my rear 24/7. That's why we got Trump.  ;D



Oh, the SJW's: Screw them.  :idiot2:
Title: Re: Marvel says forced diversity ruined sales. Maybe Archie should pay attention?
Post by: Vegan Jughead on April 02, 2017, 06:04:03 AM
Congrats on the one jillionth post about why Archie is "failing".  Meanwhile, they continue to exist.  One day you'll be right.  I just know it.  LOL
Title: Re: Marvel says forced diversity ruined sales. Maybe Archie should pay attention?
Post by: irishmoxie on April 02, 2017, 09:38:05 AM
The reason Marvel isn't successful with race and sex changing is because they keep the same old storylines (targeted at male readers) but have a female protagonist and sometimes cute art which attracts the female readers. It's incongruous. If they want to attract women to read their comics they need more slice of life, humor, romance, and school life.
Title: Re: Marvel says forced diversity ruined sales. Maybe Archie should pay attention?
Post by: Alexandra Cabot on April 02, 2017, 11:17:59 AM
Quote from: Vegan Jughead on April 02, 2017, 06:04:03 AM
Congrats on the one jillionth post about why Archie is "failing".  Meanwhile, they continue to exist.  One day you'll be right.  I just know it.  LOL

I'm right today, because everything I post are the words of truth sent straight from a Goddess to your eyes via the miracle of the internet.  BTW, did you know one of the reasons people don't like to be around vegans is because their unhealthy diet gives them horrible gas?   ;D   Food for thought, internet friend! 
Title: Re: Marvel says forced diversity ruined sales. Maybe Archie should pay attention?
Post by: Alexandra Cabot on April 02, 2017, 12:01:58 PM
Quote from: irishmoxie on April 02, 2017, 09:38:05 AM
The reason Marvel isn't successful with race and sex changing is because they keep the same old storylines (targeted at male readers) but have a female protagonist and sometimes cute art which attracts the female readers. It's incongruous. If they want to attract women to read their comics they need more slice of life, humor, romance, and school life.

An insightful observation!  But it doesn't examine the modus opeerandi of the SJW "creator".  SJWs that enter creative industries have two goals:

1.  Not to make things people want to consume, but things they should consume, because who knows better than the consumer than someone with a politically charged sense of moral superiority?  Who needs the law of demand?  Karl Marx didn't, and that should be good for businesses as well!  What could go wrong?

2.  To colonize "problematic" things.  In this case, said problematic thing is the super hero genre.  Once colonized, said thing loses that pesky problematic content that was the very reason people enjoyed it in the first place.  So good bye original fanbase, and hello, not the groups shamelessly pandered to, but 17 other SJWs praising you on Twitter who don't actually buy said product.  Thus a product, non-problematic super hero comics, something that appeals to absolutely no consumer is created.  Huzzah for Marxism!  You've saved a struggling industry by destroying it!
Title: Re: Marvel says forced diversity ruined sales. Maybe Archie should pay attention?
Post by: Mr.Lodge on April 03, 2017, 01:08:55 AM
Quote from: Alexandra Cabot on April 01, 2017, 11:03:09 PM
Third point was a mistake both Marvel and Archie Comics made.  Hiring Erica Henderson to draw for you because Tumblr SJWs recommended her highly, despite the fact she's only capable of making doodles like this:

(https://www.archiefans.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F1.bp.blogspot.com%2F-CGPOCpPtrBk%2FVg61UImSJZI%2FAAAAAAAAYoo%2F1C6l2dIl1Rc%2Fs1600%2Ftumblr_inline_ntlpcgozoA1r9n07i_1280.png&hash=c9edc91c9824ba3c46554b2a2dcf9cf71c04bb10)

Food for thought, fellow archiefans!


This is actually one of her better scratchings, doodles, whatever.....
Title: Re: Marvel says forced diversity ruined sales. Maybe Archie should pay attention?
Post by: DeCarlo Rules on April 03, 2017, 09:13:59 AM
Quote from: irishmoxie on April 02, 2017, 09:38:05 AM
The reason Marvel isn't successful with race and sex changing is because they keep the same old storylines (targeted at male readers) but have a female protagonist and sometimes cute art which attracts the female readers. It's incongruous. If they want to attract women to read their comics they need more slice of life, humor, romance, and school life.

It's an interesting theory, to which the counter-argument would be "show me the money". I take your point that it's not possible for consumers to purchase a comic book which doesn't exist, but if we posit the existence of such a comic book as you describe, that doesn't prove the actual existence of a consumer base large enough to support it. This is where you need to prove the theoretical audience is an actual audience. I'm not doubting the existence of girls who like the kind of things you describe, only the intersection of the set of those girls with a large enough set of consumers willing to spend money to follow a comic book series. Clearly such a market used to exist at one time (the existence of all those back issues of romance comics certainly proves it), but what comics have they been reading since they stopped publishing romance comic books?

An example would certainly be helpful, so if you can point at a specific successful comic book which fits your description that has a stable consumer base and an established history of publication, then you've proved the existence of the actual audience. It's harder for me to accept the premise that a potential audience of non-comic book consumers spontaneously turns into an actual audience of comic book consumers if the product merely exists. No disrespect intended -- maybe I'm just not looking in the right direction. Love & Rockets ? Maybe, but I'm not sure as far as how the audience demographics break down on that particular title.

I guess the thing that's most puzzling to me about what you just wrote is that the classic type of Archie comic book (unless I'm misreading you) seems to fit your description, yet that consumer base seems to have been slowly evaporating over the last three or four decades. Or somehow the format or distribution is not connecting with the potential audience wanting that type of comic. But I can certainly empathize with the general feeling here of "Why aren't there more comics of the kind _I_ like being published (i.e. "good" comics)? As individual readers, we feel stymied by the economic realities of what is popular (and what isn't) in the marketplace as it exists now, because it limits the number and type of comics that we'd like to be able to buy.

I mean, there's a theoretical diversity of the potential audience that comprises the marketplace, and then there's the actual audience that comprises the marketplace, which doesn't seem as diverse in point of fact, at least to me. Comic book publishers just want to make money. They don't care whose money they're taking, whether the consumer is male, female, gay, straight, or a member of some ethnic minority. It doesn't matter WHOSE money they get, as long as they get it, so it's to their advantage to try to exploit every niche market they can. The natural laws of economics would dictate that to the degree that there is some diversity of the potential consumers, those consumers should fill a void if it exists.
Title: Re: Marvel says forced diversity ruined sales. Maybe Archie should pay attention?
Post by: Alexandra Cabot on April 03, 2017, 12:42:55 PM
Quote from: DeCarlo Rules on April 03, 2017, 09:13:59 AM
Quote from: irishmoxie on April 02, 2017, 09:38:05 AM
The reason Marvel isn't successful with race and sex changing is because they keep the same old storylines (targeted at male readers) but have a female protagonist and sometimes cute art which attracts the female readers. It's incongruous. If they want to attract women to read their comics they need more slice of life, humor, romance, and school life.

It's an interesting theory, to which the counter-argument would be "show me the money". I take your point that it's not possible for consumers to purchase a comic book which doesn't exist, but if we posit the existence of such a comic book as you describe, that doesn't prove the actual existence of a consumer base large enough to support it. This is where you need to prove the theoretical audience is an actual audience. I'm not doubting the existence of girls who like the kind of things you describe, only the intersection of the set of those girls with a large enough set of consumers willing to spend money to follow a comic book series. Clearly such a market used to exist at one time (the existence of all those back issues of romance comics certainly proves it), but what comics have they been reading since they stopped publishing romance comic books?

An example would certainly be helpful, so if you can point at a specific successful comic book which fits your description that has a stable consumer base and an established history of publication, then you've proved the existence of the actual audience. It's harder for me to accept the premise that a potential audience of non-comic book consumers spontaneously turns into an actual audience of comic book consumers if the product merely exists. No disrespect intended -- maybe I'm just not looking in the right direction. Love & Rockets ? Maybe, but I'm not sure as far as how the audience demographics break down on that particular title.

I guess the thing that's most puzzling to me about what you just wrote is that the classic type of Archie comic book (unless I'm misreading you) seems to fit your description, yet that consumer base seems to have been slowly evaporating over the last three or four decades. Or somehow the format or distribution is not connecting with the potential audience wanting that type of comic. But I can certainly empathize with the general feeling here of "Why aren't there more comics of the kind _I_ like being published (i.e. "good" comics)? As individual readers, we feel stymied by the economic realities of what is popular (and what isn't) in the marketplace as it exists now, because it limits the number and type of comics that we'd like to be able to buy.

I mean, there's a theoretical diversity of the potential audience that comprises the marketplace, and then there's the actual audience that comprises the marketplace, which doesn't seem as diverse in point of fact, at least to me. Comic book publishers just want to make money. They don't care whose money they're taking, whether the consumer is male, female, gay, straight, or a member of some ethnic minority. It doesn't matter WHOSE money they get, as long as they get it, so it's to their advantage to try to exploit every niche market they can. The natural laws of economics would dictate that to the degree that there is some diversity of the potential consumers, those consumers should fill a void if it exists.

Of course she's referring to real comic examples:

1.  Archie Comics, which consolidated the girls' comics market and was at one point massive, and was seemingly only destroyed recently.

2.  Shoujo manga.  Still plenty of it sold.

Come on, Decarlo Rules.  Good grief.

Another thing about why girls' don't want these products is because they're sold in the direct market comic book stores.  Not exactly a girly space.  Some people here may go into them, but it's a place dominated by super hero genre comics and male consumers.  Yes, there may be some other kinds of comics in there, and people go into play their card games, but you get the point.

Let's compare to say Barnes and Noble with their pile of shoujo manga.  A lot more female consumers in there, and it's also a store not dominated by one market segment or genre.  You can also go in there and sip some coffee while you look at your purchase.  It's a place more inviting to Generic Sally consumer than your average Heroes Dungeon direct market comic book store.

I don't really know if this dynamic can be changed or should be changed, but it's one that exists.  It's also kind of detrimental to comic sales.  Just compare sales now to the 90's when you could buy comics in other places.

Quote
I mean, there's a theoretical diversity of the potential audience that comprises the marketplace, and then there's the actual audience that comprises the marketplace, which doesn't seem as diverse in point of fact, at least to me. Comic book publishers just want to make money. They don't care whose money they're taking, whether the consumer is male, female, gay, straight, or a member of some ethnic minority. It doesn't matter WHOSE money they get, as long as they get it, so it's to their advantage to try to exploit every niche market they can. The natural laws of economics would dictate that to the degree that there is some diversity of the potential consumers, those consumers should fill a void if it exists.

You're ignoring the fact that a lot of that minority pandering is politically fueled as opposed to market fueled.  If Marvel thinks Muslims are going to start buying Ms. Marvel comics in high numbers, they're nuts I think.  The point is it's more about pushing progressive agendas regarding inclusion and is part of the reason why consumers rejected some of that stuff. 

Some people who create those books view their selves as Sesame Street for the comic book market, that their job is to teach readers how to be more liberal, but most people are already smart enough to not need some writer or artist trying to teach them things they already know.  Books or products with that goal are also designed with the majority, hetero, white, etc. people. in mind, because someone who is gay for example doesn't need to read Kevin Keller to realize gay people can be squeaky clean boring role models so they stop being homophobes.  So obviously the product doesn't even end up appealing to them either.  It's a melt down of the creative process brought on by creators being too self aware of their own work.  Postmodernism has in a big way destroyed entertainment.
Title: Re: Marvel says forced diversity ruined sales. Maybe Archie should pay attention?
Post by: DeCarlo Rules on April 03, 2017, 12:50:44 PM
Some further thoughts related to the comic book marketplace, the audience, or potential audience, for comics as a medium in general, and the diversity of that audience occur to me. These are very basic assumptions that readers of comics never seem to consider or question. Why is the audience of comic book consumers less diverse than the audience of consumers for movies, television, video games, or novels? The comic book industry is dependent on motivated readers. People who have decided for whatever reason that "I WANT to read comics." Reading comics is no longer a casual experience as it once was many decades ago when it could still be called a mass medium. It can't be strictly about the limits of content that the current comic market is offering. That doesn't explain why millions of people would spend their disposable entertainment budget money on seeing a Batman movie or playing a Batman video game, but less than 1% of those same people are willing to spend $3 or $4 for fifteen or twenty minutes worth of entertainment reading a Batman comic book. How does someone go from never having ever read a comic book to one day reading a comic book, and then reading more comic books, until it becomes a desire and then a habit? What makes someone decide that the money spent on a comic is a good return on their entertainment dollar, and therefore worthwhile? There are social factors as well those related to an individual's personal life history, and I would submit those factors are one of the biggest things limiting the diversity of the comics audience. A long time ago almost every kid in America was likely to have read some kind of comic at some time in his or her childhood, but that hasn't been the case for years. If they're not familiarized with the medium at a young age, a person is less likely to ever acquire the habit. Just a few of the things rambling through my mind here.
Title: Re: Marvel says forced diversity ruined sales. Maybe Archie should pay attention?
Post by: Mr.Lodge on April 03, 2017, 02:44:31 PM
If all publishers care about is money, how many issues at what price should an issue sell to make doing it worthwhile? Is there such a thing as a 'loss leader' in comics to suit an agenda or cater to a niche? ???
Title: Re: Marvel says forced diversity ruined sales. Maybe Archie should pay attention?
Post by: JonInIowaCity on April 03, 2017, 06:26:40 PM
My Marvel consumption has reduced because of the nonstop events. I mean, look at all of the pointless Secret Wars crossover tiles. Or the pointless IVX crossover books.


I like Miles Morales and Ms Marvel and the Champions and Sam Wilson/Cap and others, but don't get them because they're expensive. Just like I stopped getting all of the digests and Black Circle books from Archie. It has nothing to do with diversity and more to do with $4-5 comics and a limited budget.
Title: Re: Marvel says forced diversity ruined sales. Maybe Archie should pay attention?
Post by: Alexandra Cabot on April 03, 2017, 09:57:24 PM
Quote from: Mr.Lodge on April 03, 2017, 02:44:31 PM
If all publishers care about is money, how many issues at what price should an issue sell to make doing it worthwhile? Is there such a thing as a 'loss leader' in comics to suit an agenda or cater to a niche? ???

SJWs aren't concerned about making money.  That's what is so maddening about it I think.  They don't adhere to the "customer is always right" philosophy.
Title: Re: Marvel says forced diversity ruined sales. Maybe Archie should pay attention?
Post by: Alexandra Cabot on April 04, 2017, 08:44:18 PM
Quote from: DeCarlo Rules on April 03, 2017, 12:50:44 PM
Some further thoughts related to the comic book marketplace, the audience, or potential audience, for comics as a medium in general, and the diversity of that audience occur to me. These are very basic assumptions that readers of comics never seem to consider or question. Why is the audience of comic book consumers less diverse than the audience of consumers for movies, television, video games, or novels? The comic book industry is dependent on motivated readers. People who have decided for whatever reason that "I WANT to read comics." Reading comics is no longer a casual experience as it once was many decades ago when it could still be called a mass medium. It can't be strictly about the limits of content that the current comic market is offering. That doesn't explain why millions of people would spend their disposable entertainment budget money on seeing a Batman movie or playing a Batman video game, but less than 1% of those same people are willing to spend $3 or $4 for fifteen or twenty minutes worth of entertainment reading a Batman comic book. How does someone go from never having ever read a comic book to one day reading a comic book, and then reading more comic books, until it becomes a desire and then a habit? What makes someone decide that the money spent on a comic is a good return on their entertainment dollar, and therefore worthwhile? There are social factors as well those related to an individual's personal life history, and I would submit those factors are one of the biggest things limiting the diversity of the comics audience. A long time ago almost every kid in America was likely to have read some kind of comic at some time in his or her childhood, but that hasn't been the case for years. If they're not familiarized with the medium at a young age, a person is less likely to ever acquire the habit. Just a few of the things rambling through my mind here.

1.  The question of "what happened to to comics market" is answered in my response to you, the one you chose not to respond to after getting an alert in your notices (I wonder why that was  :) ).

2.  You're suggesting that comics have a diversity problem with no data at all.  As far as I know the only numbers people are somewhat cognizant of is male vs. female sales.  I've never heard anything else about race, etc.

3.  Marvel tripled down on "diversity," and it completely eroded their sales.

4.  Assuming minorities want to read token super hero comics is a stretch.  Maybe they just like Batman because they like Batman and don't actually want to read Black Batman?  Notice how most of the people making these kinds of creative decisions are white people.
Title: Re: Marvel says forced diversity ruined sales. Maybe Archie should pay attention?
Post by: DeCarlo Rules on April 05, 2017, 01:34:57 AM
Quote from: Mr.Lodge on April 03, 2017, 02:44:31 PM
If all publishers care about is money, how many issues at what price should an issue sell to make doing it worthwhile? Is there such a thing as a 'loss leader' in comics to suit an agenda or cater to a niche? ???

Sure there are. They are temporary things, because you can't just bleed money forever.

FCBD comic = loss leader.  $1/50c/25c comics = loss leaders. These are all comics published which have "negative profit" in the most direct sense. They hope to entice new readers, and the profit will come later.

There are other titles which larger publishers can afford to publish near break-even profit margins only for reasons of trying to bring in new readers (DC and Marvel kids' titles, for example) or something like Vertigo titles where the single issues don't make much money, but that will be offset later by sales of trade collections. Larger publishers can afford to carry a few titles with short-term losses if the strategy helps achieve some longer-term goals, only because they publish so many titles. Ultimately though, this strategy of 'seeding' can only be maintained if there's a perception that the publisher is accomplishing something in the longer term -- otherwise, it's perceived as flushing money down the toilet.
Title: Re: Marvel says forced diversity ruined sales. Maybe Archie should pay attention?
Post by: oscarpuhe on April 05, 2017, 06:42:59 AM
If you look at it, it is not supposed to be a super hero.
Title: Re: Marvel says forced diversity ruined sales. Maybe Archie should pay attention?
Post by: Mr.Lodge on April 05, 2017, 04:22:05 PM
If anyone cares.........

http://www.mediaite.com/online/marvel-vp-backpeddles-diversity-claims-after-withering-criticism-online/
Title: Re: Marvel says forced diversity ruined sales. Maybe Archie should pay attention?
Post by: Alexandra Cabot on April 05, 2017, 08:18:58 PM
Quote from: DeCarlo Rules on April 05, 2017, 01:34:57 AM
Quote from: Mr.Lodge on April 03, 2017, 02:44:31 PM
If all publishers care about is money, how many issues at what price should an issue sell to make doing it worthwhile? Is there such a thing as a 'loss leader' in comics to suit an agenda or cater to a niche? ???

Sure there are. They are temporary things, because you can't just bleed money forever.

FCBD comic = loss leader.  $1/50c/25c comics = loss leaders. These are all comics published which have "negative profit" in the most direct sense. They hope to entice new readers, and the profit will come later.

There are other titles which larger publishers can afford to publish near break-even profit margins only for reasons of trying to bring in new readers (DC and Marvel kids' titles, for example) or something like Vertigo titles where the single issues don't make much money, but that will be offset later by sales of trade collections. Larger publishers can afford to carry a few titles with short-term losses if the strategy helps achieve some longer-term goals, only because they publish so many titles. Ultimately though, this strategy of 'seeding' can only be maintained if there's a perception that the publisher is accomplishing something in the longer term -- otherwise, it's perceived as flushing money down the toilet.

Second time you're ignoring me in my own thread, I guess because I proved your pretentious blathering wrong with my counter points.   ;D   Don't worry, maybe someday you'll type a paragraph so long on this forum that you'll be correct just from the sheer word count.  I can't guarantee anyone will actually read it though (like they don't now).
Title: Re: Marvel says forced diversity ruined sales. Maybe Archie should pay attention?
Post by: Alexandra Cabot on April 05, 2017, 08:25:27 PM
Quote from: Mr.Lodge on April 05, 2017, 04:22:05 PM
If anyone cares.........

http://www.mediaite.com/online/marvel-vp-backpeddles-diversity-claims-after-withering-criticism-online/ (http://www.mediaite.com/online/marvel-vp-backpeddles-diversity-claims-after-withering-criticism-online/)

Yeah, I saw that.  That's why I posted the archive from before the backpedaling.  Obviously speaking the truth anymore is less important than going out of business apparently.  Companies need to grow a back bone and tell people like the Mary Sue to go pound sand.  Like I said before, these people are concerned with agendas, not a healthy comic book industry.  Many of them don't even consume the products they complain about.
Title: Re: Marvel says forced diversity ruined sales. Maybe Archie should pay attention?
Post by: DeCarlo Rules on April 06, 2017, 05:51:14 AM
Quote from: Alexandra Cabot on April 05, 2017, 08:18:58 PM
Second time you're ignoring me in my own thread, I guess because I proved your pretentious blathering wrong with my counter points.   ;D   Don't worry, maybe someday you'll type a paragraph so long on this forum that you'll be correct just from the sheer word count.  I can't guarantee anyone will actually read it though (like they don't now).

It's pretty simple. My comments were in reply to irishmoxie and Mr. Lodge. I could respond to your comments if I felt like it, but I don't feel like it's worth my time. Statements like the above prove my point. You're spoiling for a fight. Sorry, not interested. Since my "blathering" (which I might point out no one's forcing you to read -- it's funny you don't take your own advice) annoys you, I thought I'd accommodate you by sparing you the reply. Is that short enough and to the point for you? Nice work there -- you damn me for posting replies and not posting replies in the same breath. Not that it matters as long as you can damn me for something, right? Y'know, it's just a crazy idea, but you could try behaving like an adult.
Title: Re: Marvel says forced diversity ruined sales. Maybe Archie should pay attention?
Post by: Alexandra Cabot on April 06, 2017, 02:34:05 PM
Quote from: DeCarlo Rules on April 06, 2017, 05:51:14 AM
Quote from: Alexandra Cabot on April 05, 2017, 08:18:58 PM
Second time you're ignoring me in my own thread, I guess because I proved your pretentious blathering wrong with my counter points.   ;D   Don't worry, maybe someday you'll type a paragraph so long on this forum that you'll be correct just from the sheer word count.  I can't guarantee anyone will actually read it though (like they don't now).

It's pretty simple. My comments were in reply to irishmoxie and Mr. Lodge. I could respond to your comments if I felt like it, but I don't feel like it's worth my time. Statements like the above prove my point. You're spoiling for a fight. Sorry, not interested. Since my "blathering" (which I might point out no one's forcing you to read -- it's funny you don't take your own advice) annoys you, I thought I'd accommodate you by sparing you the reply. Is that short enough and to the point for you? Nice work there -- you damn me for posting replies and not posting replies in the same breath. Not that it matters as long as you can damn me for something, right? Y'know, it's just a crazy idea, but you could try behaving like an adult.

I am behaving like an adult (who doesn't put up with your crap).  You're the one not being a man apparently since you're so afraid of me.   ;D

You don't feel like it's "worth your time" because you have no counter-point to anything I said, because despite your pretentiousness, you are a very weak debater with poorly constructed arguments not really based on anything.  Anytime I've seen you respond to someone retorting said sprawling paragraphs, it's been very poorly.  You obviously enjoy being long winded, but don't like being challenged.

My previous posts didn't include flames, they were just counter-points.  I'm fine with doing logical debate.  I don't think you have the toolbox to do that and succeed, but I'm fine with you attempting it and us doing debate in a completely civil manner. 

However, you're still butt hurt about the Trump discussion where you attacked me first because you had no retort to what I said and didn't want to address my arguments.  Then you got it back twice as hard.  So you thought it would be cute to come into this thread and do the passive aggressive routine of not responding to my replies deconstructing your arguments by quoting other people instead with more blather that you assumed would go unchallenged this time.

You may be used to people here not telling you go fly a kite with your sprawling, pretentious paragraphs (they tell me they think you're obnoxious in private as I said before), but if you want to do that in threads I start don't play the passive aggressive routine against me like a middle school girl and act more like a man.  I'm not going to put up with your crap here.  So just keep that in mind.   ;)
Title: Re: Marvel says forced diversity ruined sales. Maybe Archie should pay attention?
Post by: Alexandra Cabot on April 07, 2017, 11:52:35 PM
Just going to bump my thread to to the top so I can get more store points.   ;D
Title: Re: Marvel says forced diversity ruined sales. Maybe Archie should pay attention?
Post by: DeCarlo Rules on April 08, 2017, 06:29:29 AM
Forum rules refresher course:

1. Anyone can post (if they feel like it).

2. Anyone can choose not to post.

3. Anyone can read the posts they feel like reading, and ignore the ones they don't.

4. Anyone can reply (if they feel like it).

5. Anyone can choose not to reply.

6. If someone's posts contain rude comments and you'd rather not read them, you can go to your profile page and add that member's name to the "ignore" list.

7. No one owns anything here. It's a public forum.

8. The world does not revolve around "Alexandra Cabot", regardless of what she may think, or what advertising slogans she buys in the store saying that she's "better than you".

9. Tantrums will be ignored.

10. Time & energy are finite commodities,  so don't waste them doing anything you don't really want to do, like dealing with obsessives who just can't get over themselves. Wouldn't you rather be doing something fun? Of course you would -- but be careful not to confuse that with enabling someone else's sick sense of fun. Life's too short.

11. If you really don't know what you're getting into, don't mess with it. Just leave it alone.
    11a.  If your own house is made out of glass, it's not nice to throw rocks.
    11b.  If given a choice beween passive and agressive, stick with passive.

12.  :)Archie Comics are COMICAL comics! :)
Title: Re: Marvel says forced diversity ruined sales. Maybe Archie should pay attention?
Post by: Alexandra Cabot on April 08, 2017, 01:03:14 PM
Quote from: DeCarlo Rules on April 08, 2017, 06:29:29 AM
Forum rules refresher course:

1. Anyone can post (if they feel like it).

2. Anyone can choose not to post.

3. Anyone can read the posts they feel like reading, and ignore the ones they don't.

4. Anyone can reply (if they feel like it).

5. Anyone can choose not to reply.

6. If someone's posts contain rude comments and you'd rather not read them, you can go to your profile page and add that member's name to the "ignore" list.

7. No one owns anything here. It's a public forum.

8. The world does not revolve around "Alexandra Cabot", regardless of what she may think, or what advertising slogans she buys in the store saying that she's "better than you".

9. Tantrums will be ignored.

10. Time & energy are finite commodities,  so don't waste them doing anything you don't really want to do, like dealing with obsessives who just can't get over themselves. Wouldn't you rather be doing something fun? Of course you would -- but be careful not to confuse that with enabling someone else's sick sense of fun. Life's too short.

11. If you really don't know what you're getting into, don't mess with it. Just leave it alone.
    11a.  If your own house is made out of glass, it's not nice to throw rocks.
    11b.  If given a choice beween passive and agressive, stick with passive.

12.  :) Archie Comics are COMICAL comics! :)

You really are completely and utterly witless, aren't you?     ;D   But please, stay this butt hurt while simultaneously never responding to me when I prove your never ending paragraphs of blather wrong with my own retorts that actually use logic.  I think that's the perfect dynamic.  You still get to be a pretentious bore, and I always get to be right.   ;D

QuoteForum rules refresher course:

You'll never be on the staff of this (or any other) website, because people would know better with your pretentious attitude.

Quote7. No one owns anything here. It's a public forum.

I own the intellectual property of my own posts.  If you don't believe me, talk to my lawyer.  Also if you want to reclaim your manhood, maybe don't quiver in fear of a woman who gets her point across better than you do.  Again, don't do this in one of my threads again, kay?  Thanks!

Quote8. The world does not revolve around "Alexandra Cabot", regardless of what she may think, or what advertising slogans she buys in the store saying that she's "better than you".

If you're the one who changed my user title you are referring to, which I only had for a few days before it was changed again by someone, I hope you know this means war.  However, much like President Trump, I won't tell you when or how or when I'm going to retaliate.

Quote10. Time & energy are finite commodities,  so don't waste them doing anything you don't really want to do, like dealing with obsessives who just can't get over themselves. Wouldn't you rather be doing something fun? Of course you would -- but be careful not to confuse that with enabling someone else's sick sense of fun. Life's too short.

"Obssessives who can't get over themselves."  Don't be so harsh on yourself.  XD  Don't worry, maybe you can lecture Fernando Ruiz for 3,000 words in 3 paragraphs about the comic industry again from your position of a total nobody to regain your snobby sense of superiority here.

Quote11b.  If given a choice beween passive and agressive, stick with passive.

Truly spoken like a man with no cojones.   ;D
Title: Re: Marvel says forced diversity ruined sales. Maybe Archie should pay attention?
Post by: Vegan Jughead on April 08, 2017, 02:06:39 PM
Alexandra, calling people witless may be funny to you but all you seem to do is stir up crap.  Is it really THAT fun for you?  If so, I guess carry on, but I'll never understand why bashing people on an Archie Comics Forum is so entertaining to you.  It's bizarre.  I think you're the only one who finds it funny.  I can see why you might get some perverse satisfaction from it for five minutes but to keep doing it over and over makes me question your sanity. 
Title: Re: Marvel says forced diversity ruined sales. Maybe Archie should pay attention?
Post by: Alexandra Cabot on April 08, 2017, 02:25:06 PM
Quote from: Vegan Jughead on April 08, 2017, 02:06:39 PM
Alexandra, calling people witless may be funny to you but all you seem to do is stir up crap.  Is it really THAT fun for you?  If so, I guess carry on, but I'll never understand why bashing people on an Archie Comics Forum is so entertaining to you.  It's bizarre.  I think you're the only one who finds it funny.  I can see why you might get some perverse satisfaction from it for five minutes but to keep doing it over and over makes me question your sanity.

Hey, do you remember your first post in this thread?:

Quote from: Vegan Jughead on April 02, 2017, 06:04:03 AM
Congrats on the one jillionth post about why Archie is "failing".  Meanwhile, they continue to exist.  One day you'll be right.  I just know it.  LOL

Wow, you're on such a high road, Vegan Jughead, and aren't just salty from previous interactions or my opinions and aren't trying to interject yourself opportunistically.  Don't worry, I'm not concerned, because I don't consider vegans to be people much like the animals I eat.   ;D

Here's a picture of a juicy steak:

(https://www.archiefans.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fgastroinsider.com%2Fmedia%2F1321%2Fa233f3d6_steak.jpeg&hash=9ab61fe56b2452d287e9e02c51eb3b04a11e436c)

Doesn't that look delicious?   :P   Yum yum!
Title: Re: Marvel says forced diversity ruined sales. Maybe Archie should pay attention?
Post by: Vegan Jughead on April 09, 2017, 06:25:35 AM
Wow, showing a vegan steak and saying, "doesn't that look delicious?" is SO original.  You're seriously wounding me.  Please stop.  I can't take it. 


At least your normal rants are unique to you.  Stick with those.  Better than this sad retread. 
Title: Re: Marvel says forced diversity ruined sales. Maybe Archie should pay attention?
Post by: Alexandra Cabot on April 09, 2017, 12:41:47 PM
Quote from: Vegan Jughead on April 09, 2017, 06:25:35 AM
Wow, showing a vegan steak and saying, "doesn't that look delicious?" is SO original.  You're seriously wounding me.  Please stop.  I can't take it. 


At least your normal rants are unique to you.  Stick with those.  Better than this sad retread.

Here's another oldie but goodie:

(https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/71/56/fb/7156fb9d963092ee4a7761067a9f0225.jpg)

Seems like it's true since you put vegan in your name, huh?   ;D ;D ;D
Title: Re: Marvel says forced diversity ruined sales. Maybe Archie should pay attention?
Post by: Cosmo on April 09, 2017, 02:09:24 PM
Sigh and poor Alexandra keeps mistaking rudeness as humor. I wonder why her karma just keeps going negative. Perhaps she just needs to find a board dedicated to herself. Seems she is quickly wearing out her welcome here.

Why not try being a little more considerate and you might fit in a bit better. Worth a try.

Title: Re: Marvel says forced diversity ruined sales. Maybe Archie should pay attention?
Post by: Alexandra Cabot on April 09, 2017, 02:26:12 PM
Quote from: Cosmo on April 09, 2017, 02:09:24 PM
Sigh and poor Alexandra keeps mistaking rudeness as humor. I wonder why her karma just keeps going negative.

Because you keep logging in every hour to send out new smites, you serial smite stalker sockpupppet?

Second, never call me poor.  That's a lie.  I'm very rich.  Also you're the one with negative karma right now.  Maybe you have no place to speak perchance? 

Listen, I know you're jealous I'm the Queen of Archiefans, and you'll never obtain that level here, but logging in every hour in your sockpuppet to send out smites isn't going to change that.  You only have 14 posts (maybe 10,000 under DeCarlo Rules' account, but 14 in this one) and at least half of them are crying about other members.  Maybe do something with yourself instead.  You could donate your brain to science for example so scientists can have a better understanding of how stupid obsessive people think.   ;D   Think it over, kay?   ;)
Title: Re: Marvel says forced diversity ruined sales. Maybe Archie should pay attention?
Post by: Shuester on April 19, 2017, 06:31:39 AM

To bring this back to the main topic...

Quote from: DeCarlo Rules on April 03, 2017, 12:50:44 PM
Some further thoughts related to the comic book marketplace, the audience, or potential audience, for comics as a medium in general, and the diversity of that audience occur to me. These are very basic assumptions that readers of comics never seem to consider or question. Why is the audience of comic book consumers less diverse than the audience of consumers for movies, television, video games, or novels? The comic book industry is dependent on motivated readers. People who have decided for whatever reason that "I WANT to read comics." Reading comics is no longer a casual experience as it once was many decades ago when it could still be called a mass medium. It can't be strictly about the limits of content that the current comic market is offering. That doesn't explain why millions of people would spend their disposable entertainment budget money on seeing a Batman movie or playing a Batman video game, but less than 1% of those same people are willing to spend $3 or $4 for fifteen or twenty minutes worth of entertainment reading a Batman comic book. How does someone go from never having ever read a comic book to one day reading a comic book, and then reading more comic books, until it becomes a desire and then a habit? What makes someone decide that the money spent on a comic is a good return on their entertainment dollar, and therefore worthwhile? There are social factors as well those related to an individual's personal life history, and I would submit those factors are one of the biggest things limiting the diversity of the comics audience. A long time ago almost every kid in America was likely to have read some kind of comic at some time in his or her childhood, but that hasn't been the case for years. If they're not familiarized with the medium at a young age, a person is less likely to ever acquire the habit. Just a few of the things rambling through my mind here.


1. In the past few years, I tried a couple of times to read superhero comics. I picked up some DC and Marvel issues on Free Comic Book Day, just to try them out. But I couldn't get into the stories. Some of them were continuations of previous issues that I hadn't read, and some of them were just not that interesting. Either way, none of them compelled me to continue. Even without that experience, I probably wouldn't have been able to get into superhero comics, though. They all have overarching storylines, and readers need to be familiar with the characters and events of the previous comic in order to fully enjoy the current one. I think that this is a part of the reason that comic sales, in general, are on a downturn. New fans, who may want to get into comics after watching the latest Batman movie, won't be interested if they can't understand what is going on when they begin with Issue #49.


2. I wouldn't say that comics are unknown to kids nowadays, but it is probably true that they are no longer the primary consumers of comic books. Even newspaper cartoons aren't read by kids- there are less of them appearing, the quality seems to be lower than it used to be, and they aren't really targeted at kids. Archie seems to have realized this, and is trying to adapt by aiming for a teen/young adult demographic with "Riverdale" and New Archie, while also trying to keep the kids and older fans with Classic Archie. So far, the TV show (which I started to watch, and surprisingly am enjoying) has been attracting attention from the right demographics. If the comics continue being published regularly, hopefully they will too.
Title: Re: Marvel says forced diversity ruined sales. Maybe Archie should pay attention?
Post by: DeCarlo Rules on April 19, 2017, 08:10:18 AM
Quote from: Shuester on April 19, 2017, 06:31:39 AM

1. In the past few years, I tried a couple of times to read superhero comics. I picked up some DC and Marvel issues on Free Comic Book Day, just to try them out. But I couldn't get into the stories. Some of them were continuations of previous issues that I hadn't read, and some of them were just not that interesting. Either way, none of them compelled me to continue. Even without that experience, I probably wouldn't have been able to get into superhero comics, though. They all have overarching storylines, and readers need to be familiar with the characters and events of the previous comic in order to fully enjoy the current one. I think that this is a part of the reason that comic sales, in general, are on a downturn. New fans, who may want to get into comics after watching the latest Batman movie, won't be interested if they can't understand what is going on when they begin with Issue #49.


2. I wouldn't say that comics are unknown to kids nowadays, but it is probably true that they are no longer the primary consumers of comic books. Even newspaper cartoons aren't read by kids- there are less of them appearing, the quality seems to be lower than it used to be, and they aren't really targeted at kids. Archie seems to have realized this, and is trying to adapt by aiming for a teen/young adult demographic with "Riverdale" and New Archie, while also trying to keep the kids and older fans with Classic Archie. So far, the TV show (which I started to watch, and surprisingly am enjoying) has been attracting attention from the right demographics. If the comics continue being published regularly, hopefully they will too.

But how do those observations relate to selling Archie Comics in comic book stores?  YOU don't like superhero comics, which is fine, but do you realistically think that someday the main consumer base in comic book stores will be anything else but? The entire existence of a retail store dedicated to selling comic books is built around three things: the monthly floppy comic book format, collecting, and superheroes. Those three things are intimately intertwined with the very existence of comic book stores. At least in the US and Canada. Most people just aren't going to be motivated to drive to a special store to buy something like a comic, unless they are already committed, in a very focused way, to it as a hobby. For some reason the superhero fans/readers/collector as a group just seem more motivated than readers of other genres. Or at least they are by far the most numerous of the motivated consumers.
Title: Re: Marvel says forced diversity ruined sales. Maybe Archie should pay attention?
Post by: Shuester on April 19, 2017, 10:47:23 AM
Quote from: DeCarlo Rules on April 19, 2017, 08:10:18 AM

But how do those observations relate to selling Archie Comics in comic book stores?  YOU don't like superhero comics, which is fine, but do you realistically think that someday the main consumer base in comic book stores will be anything else but? The entire existence of a retail store dedicated to selling comic books is built around three things: the monthly floppy comic book format, collecting, and superheroes. Those three things are intimately intertwined with the very existence of comic book stores. At least in the US and Canada. Most people just aren't going to be motivated to drive to a special store to buy something like a comic, unless they are already committed, in a very focused way, to it as a hobby. For some reason the superhero fans/readers/collector as a group just seem more motivated than readers of other genres. Or at least they are by far the most numerous of the motivated consumers.


My point was mostly that there may be a downward trend in comics as a whole- not just Archie comics, but comics in general- because of two of the things I discussed above. New readers (like myself in terms of superhero comics) get discouraged and don't make a habit of reading comics when they can't understand the story because they missed the first dozen issues. And comics are no longer popular with kids the way they once were. I'm not saying these are the only reasons comics aren't being sold at the high numbers of the past, but I do think these are two big reasons.


I realize that a multi-issue storyline, and mature comics, and superhero comics in general, are all part of what makes people enjoy comics in the first place. I'm not saying these aspects should go away, especially if they have committed fanbases. I was just stating my observations, as someone who wants comics as a whole to continue being successful (though I only read Archie comics.)
Title: Re: Marvel says forced diversity ruined sales. Maybe Archie should pay attention?
Post by: irishmoxie on April 19, 2017, 05:05:53 PM
I hope non superhero stories keep getting published. I think there are a lot of girls out there who are hungry for slice of life type comics or even Image/Saga type stories. I've tried reading superhero stories but none have hooked me yet. I'll read DC Super girls or whatever it's called if it's free but it's not the first thing I reach for or look forward to each month. I like that there's a variety of stories in comics nowadays. To reach girls, EMET has been doing well with posting webcomics on Tumblr. EMET has also had a few successful Kickstarters.
Title: Re: Marvel says forced diversity ruined sales. Maybe Archie should pay attention?
Post by: DeCarlo Rules on April 20, 2017, 04:47:32 AM
Quote from: irishmoxie on April 19, 2017, 05:05:53 PM
I hope non superhero stories keep getting published. I think there are a lot of girls out there who are hungry for slice of life type comics or even Image/Saga type stories. I've tried reading superhero stories but none have hooked me yet. I'll read DC Super girls or whatever it's called if it's free but it's not the first thing I reach for or look forward to each month. I like that there's a variety of stories in comics nowadays. To reach girls, EMET has been doing well with posting webcomics on Tumblr. EMET has also had a few successful Kickstarters.

What I'm trying to get at is that there's an inescapable tyranny of numbers in effect when it comes to the ordering of titles by comics retailers, because once ordered and paid for (before he resells those comics to his retail customers), the comics a retailer orders belong to him -- he's stuck with them if he can't sell them. There are hundreds of titles in every monthly order catalog from Diamond Comics Distribution, so most retailers (unless they have a large chain of stores, or one very large store located in a major metropolitan area) can't afford to order even ONE copy of each and every title offered. Variety is a good thing for a store, but there are realistic limits to that variety based on the retailer's financial resources (he pays for all his comics before he's even sold a single one), so his ordering patterns are dictated by an informed knowledge of his customer base's buying patterns, and some speculation on his part. For the most part, he's got to be careful and not take too many risks that might cause him to wind up with a lot of unsold comics at the end of the week or month, because the more time that goes by, the less likely he is to sell those comics.

This is where the domination of the superhero genre is coming into play, because that's a large part of what's informing his ordering decisions. He knows he can sell certain titles, and other titles/publishers/genres are much more of a gamble, so he's got to be somewhat conservative, or he may wind up out of business. He just can't afford to have a lot of slow-moving (or totally unsellable) stock in his store, and he's got to service his most regular and biggest-spending customers first, and worry about the people who might buy only a few titles or genres that are less popular afterwards. If, at the end of any given month, a retailer adds up all of his bills spent for new product from Diamond Comics, and compares that figure against all the money taken in at the register that month, and checks his inventory to see what product he was invoiced for that month that remains unsold, then the money he spent on purchasing those unsold comics has to be subtracted from whatever profit he made on the comics he was invoiced for that month that he DID sell. But of course the remainder doesn't equal the profit he actually made that month until he then subtracts his overhead costs for employees, monthly rent or mortgage, utilities like heat/air conditioning and electricity, phone and internet bills, etc.

Kickstarters and webcomics are fine, but that only relates to print comic books that your retailer orders far down the line (if at all).
Title: Re: Marvel says forced diversity ruined sales. Maybe Archie should pay attention?
Post by: irishmoxie on April 20, 2017, 11:37:01 PM
Quote from: DeCarlo Rules on April 20, 2017, 04:47:32 AM
Quote from: irishmoxie on April 19, 2017, 05:05:53 PM
I hope non superhero stories keep getting published. I think there are a lot of girls out there who are hungry for slice of life type comics or even Image/Saga type stories. I've tried reading superhero stories but none have hooked me yet. I'll read DC Super girls or whatever it's called if it's free but it's not the first thing I reach for or look forward to each month. I like that there's a variety of stories in comics nowadays. To reach girls, EMET has been doing well with posting webcomics on Tumblr. EMET has also had a few successful Kickstarters.

What I'm trying to get at is that there's an inescapable tyranny of numbers in effect when it comes to the ordering of titles by comics retailers, because once ordered and paid for (before he resells those comics to his retail customers), the comics a retailer orders belong to him -- he's stuck with them if he can't sell them. There are hundreds of titles in every monthly order catalog from Diamond Comics Distribution, so most retailers (unless they have a large chain of stores, or one very large store located in a major metropolitan area) can't afford to order even ONE copy of each and every title offered. Variety is a good thing for a store, but there are realistic limits to that variety based on the retailer's financial resources (he pays for all his comics before he's even sold a single one), so his ordering patterns are dictated by an informed knowledge of his customer base's buying patterns, and some speculation on his part. For the most part, he's got to be careful and not take too many risks that might cause him to wind up with a lot of unsold comics at the end of the week or month, because the more time that goes by, the less likely he is to sell those comics.

This is where the domination of the superhero genre is coming into play, because that's a large part of what's informing his ordering decisions. He knows he can sell certain titles, and other titles/publishers/genres are much more of a gamble, so he's got to be somewhat conservative, or he may wind up out of business. He just can't afford to have a lot of slow-moving (or totally unsellable) stock in his store, and he's got to service his most regular and biggest-spending customers first, and worry about the people who might buy only a few titles or genres that are less popular afterwards. If, at the end of any given month, a retailer adds up all of his bills spent for new product from Diamond Comics, and compares that figure against all the money taken in at the register that month, and checks his inventory to see what product he was invoiced for that month that remains unsold, then the money he spent on purchasing those unsold comics has to be subtracted from whatever profit he made on the comics he was invoiced for that month that he DID sell. But of course the remainder doesn't equal the profit he actually made that month until he then subtracts his overhead costs for employees, monthly rent or mortgage, utilities like heat/air conditioning and electricity, phone and internet bills, etc.

Kickstarters and webcomics are fine, but that only relates to print comic books that your retailer orders far down the line (if at all).


Makes me miss my comic book shop in Missouri which was run by a female. It had all the superhero stuff but also girlie, animal, and tons of kids comics. She actually made most of her money from selling figurines. And had tons of leftover Archie variants (guess she made the wrong bet on those) that she always tried to sell me. I discovered EMET comics there before seeing it on social media.


Female comics will probably never be the mainstay in comic shops and that's fine. I only hope to see more of these comics in places where girls like to be i.e. bookstores like Barnes and Noble, Kindle, tumblr, etc. Hopefully they will start generating more of a profit.
Title: Re: Marvel says forced diversity ruined sales. Maybe Archie should pay attention?
Post by: DeCarlo Rules on April 21, 2017, 12:17:43 AM
Quote from: irishmoxie on April 20, 2017, 11:37:01 PM

Makes me miss my comic book shop in Missouri which was run by a female. It had all the superhero stuff but also girlie, animal, and tons of kids comics. She actually made most of her money from selling figurines. And had tons of leftover Archie variants (guess she made the wrong bet on those) that she always tried to sell me. I discovered EMET comics there before seeing it on social media.


Female comics will probably never be the mainstay in comic shops and that's fine. I only hope to see more of these comics in places where girls like to be i.e. bookstores like Barnes and Noble, Kindle, tumblr, etc. Hopefully they will start generating more of a profit.

And of course the one thing I failed to mention in that equation that involves a retailer's purchasing decisions are that these are choices that the retailer makes, based on many factors such as what kind of comics the retailer likes or doesn't -- any comics retailer is also a comics reader, as well, so they are mentally picking and choosing not only the comics that will allow them to remain profitable and stay in business, but also they tend to want to promote and see succeed the kinds of genres and titles that they themselves enjoy as readers.

While it's unlikely that a retailer is going to be so influenced by their own personal tastes that they're going to ignore the obvious consumer demand or lack of demand when making their ordering choices, they can choose to actively promote less-popular (or newer) titles that appeal to them personally, and that's where the retailers' tastes in comics are going to affect which titles they choose to stock and make available to their customers. It's the kind of thing that can be done by eye-catching displays, in-store promo posters, and word-of-mouth recommendations at the register. Many stores have a little display of "store picks" or "staff picks".

It's an unusual type of retail business because it isn't like selling widgets where it's all accounting and what sells or doesn't -- where there's a gray area of "Will it sell, or won't it?", the retailer is prejudiced by their own sense of what makes for "good comics" according to their own personal definition. It could also be a source of frustration or disappointment for retailers when their own personal choices of "good comics" are not embraced by the store's clientele -- along with the more real and painful financial loss of money invested in non-returnable stock which fails to sell. The latter idea is also applicable to other levels of the comic marketplace -- what publishers, editors, or distributors like and think are good comics are not always successful. Steve Geppi, CEO of Diamond Comics, is a fan of classic Archie comics, but he can't get retailers or consumers in the direct market to purchase the comics he likes as opposed to the comics they really want.

To the degree that comic shop consumers have more than one comic shop to choose from among those that are within reasonable traveling distance to shop at, any individual store tends to attract those consumers whose tastes agree with the retailer's, but consumers are also realistically limited by the location of stores to which they have convenient access, and they're limited by their own budgetary constraints in picking and choosing which comics to buy, so they choose to purchase the comics most important to them that they can afford. If their comics budget is less constrained, they can often afford to be more eclectic in their choice of what to buy.