One Audience Is Not Enough!
By Dennis Wilson

Imagine what would happen is all the movie studios announced that from now on, only movies starring Leonardo DiCaprio will be made. Picture the reaction if all the major publishing houses published only romance novels. What if the only thing on television was pro-wrestling? Nobody would stand for it, right? So why is ninety percent of the American comics industry dominated by super-heroes?

Now, I love super-heroes and I never want to give them up, but they are not what started me reading comics in the first place. As a child, I first picked up "kiddie comics" like Richie Rich and Casper and "graduated" to Superman and Batman as my vocabulary improved. Kid-friendly comics are a dying breed in America. Even DC's line of kid-oriented comics, like Scooby Doo and Looney Tunes seem more targeted at nostalgic twentysomethings than kids who were not even born since the last time Scooby and Shaggy rode the Mystery Machine in an original cartoon.

It does not have to be this way. Sailor Moon is a top seller among pre-teen girls. When was the last time Marvel and DC targeted that demographic group? When did the stereotypical, twenty-three year old white virgin fanboy become the only group worth considering in a market report?

You can blame Wizard for promoting such a sophomoric attitude. You can blame publishers like Image for promoting artists who lack a basic understanding of female anatomy (here's a hint: breasts should not double as personal floatation devices). Wherever you want to pin it, the American comics industry is suffering from extreme myopia. Kid stories are not even the only genres missing from the comics medium. Westerns are rare, and the few western limited series that pop up look just like masked urban vigilantes transplanted back in time. There has not been a successful ongoing western series since Jonah Hex was turned into a cheesy Mad Max rip off in the early eighties.

There are a few horror titles out there, but Vertigo's glory days are long behind it. Real science fiction, without super-heroes, is rare and even they are dominated by Star Trek and Star Wars tie-ins. Original science fiction series are practically dead. Fantasy and sword-and-sorcery comics are forgotten, unless they too can be tied to the spandex and cape crowd.

It gets worse. War comics are nonexistent. Who discharged Sergeant Rock? Same for romance comics. The reason most women and girls think that that comic books are sexist and juvenile is because no one in America is producing comics that they would like.

Even a good old-fashioned monster eats the city story would be a welcome change.

Comic books are a medium, not a genre. Super-heroes are a genre, but there is absolutely no reason why they have to dominate this medium. A type of story that can be told on television or in the movies, can be done in comics as well. Either way, it's all words and pictures.

The American comics industry is in a slump. Sales are down across the board. The truth is, to survive, this industry needs to target the broadest possible audience it can. The fanboy cannot hold it up alone forever. We need young kids to be the fanboys and fangirls of the future.

Redoubt is Copyright © 1999-2000, Ramsey Rusef. All articles contained inside are Copyright by their original authors. All characters and comic books reviewed in Redoubt are Copyright and Trademarked by their respective owners.