I think part of the problem might be the fact that there isn't much perceived value in a 20-page comic book - at least, not as much as in a Middle Grade or Young Adult novel.
Up until recently, Archie Comics had been charging $3.99 per digital issue (including back issues of current series). While I was willing to fork over $3.99 for each issue of Vixens, even I was relieved when the prices dropped. $0.99 makes each issue a much better value - pretty much on par with an episode of the show, which contains approximately twice the story and costs $1.99 to buy digitally on Amazon.
However, consider this. Buying season 1 at once brings the per-episode cost down to $1.54. Buying season 2 at once brings the per episode cost down to $0.91. Yet Archie Comics is charging $19.99 for trade paperbacks, which contain (I believe) six issues. So you can get six 20-page stories or 22 40-minute episodes for the same price. The trades are a worse value than the single issues at this point!
There's a 280-page Riverdale prequel novel coming out on December 26. It's $5.99 digitally and $9.99 in paperback form. Either way, it's a much better value than any of the comics (around 2.14 or 3.57 cents per page versus 4.95 cents per page for a comic or *shudder* 16.66 cents per page for a trade).
Also, there seems to be not much crossover appeal between the show and the comics. When I was at the Riverdale reddit, the only interest, comics-wise, was in the Riverdale comics, which are in continuity with the show but less "bonkers". The massive success of Riverdale isn't translating into interest in more comedic iterations of the characters. There really isn't that sense of fan interaction that viewers of the show have. The show is successful in large part because it was engineered for the current Internet generation. With the comics, prospective readers are expected to pay up, read a 20-page partial story (or, in the case of Riverdale, two 10-page stories), and then wait a month or two to see what happens next; that's it.
What I think might be most successful, on the publishing side, is to do novels instead of comics. Maybe have the artists do covers and a few interior illustrations, but otherwise have the writers tell the stories. It doesn't have to be strictly like the comics or the show; just write stories that today's audience would be willing to buy. Do a 100-page novella and sell it for $2.99. Let different writers work on them and keep churning them out. Set up a print-on-demand option for those that really want it. I'm guessing they'd sell better than any single issue or trade collection of the comics.
Up until recently, Archie Comics had been charging $3.99 per digital issue (including back issues of current series). While I was willing to fork over $3.99 for each issue of Vixens, even I was relieved when the prices dropped. $0.99 makes each issue a much better value - pretty much on par with an episode of the show, which contains approximately twice the story and costs $1.99 to buy digitally on Amazon.
However, consider this. Buying season 1 at once brings the per-episode cost down to $1.54. Buying season 2 at once brings the per episode cost down to $0.91. Yet Archie Comics is charging $19.99 for trade paperbacks, which contain (I believe) six issues. So you can get six 20-page stories or 22 40-minute episodes for the same price. The trades are a worse value than the single issues at this point!
There's a 280-page Riverdale prequel novel coming out on December 26. It's $5.99 digitally and $9.99 in paperback form. Either way, it's a much better value than any of the comics (around 2.14 or 3.57 cents per page versus 4.95 cents per page for a comic or *shudder* 16.66 cents per page for a trade).
Also, there seems to be not much crossover appeal between the show and the comics. When I was at the Riverdale reddit, the only interest, comics-wise, was in the Riverdale comics, which are in continuity with the show but less "bonkers". The massive success of Riverdale isn't translating into interest in more comedic iterations of the characters. There really isn't that sense of fan interaction that viewers of the show have. The show is successful in large part because it was engineered for the current Internet generation. With the comics, prospective readers are expected to pay up, read a 20-page partial story (or, in the case of Riverdale, two 10-page stories), and then wait a month or two to see what happens next; that's it.
What I think might be most successful, on the publishing side, is to do novels instead of comics. Maybe have the artists do covers and a few interior illustrations, but otherwise have the writers tell the stories. It doesn't have to be strictly like the comics or the show; just write stories that today's audience would be willing to buy. Do a 100-page novella and sell it for $2.99. Let different writers work on them and keep churning them out. Set up a print-on-demand option for those that really want it. I'm guessing they'd sell better than any single issue or trade collection of the comics.
