The suggestion of Barry Allen, Superspeed CSI made me smile too. Ditto on teaming him up with Batman:

Also, Barry’s a really smart science guy, a forensic analyst, and that’s a skill the League could use. I think Batman has ended up doing most of the science and forensics by default, the last couple of years, and they draft Michael Holt for the rest. The JLA should have their own resident scientist, and the thought of a chipper, up-with-people guy like Barry chitchatting with Bruce over lab work is another scene that makes me smile.

It practically writes itself — Barry would take the position that Bruce’s demeanor isn’t scary, it’s unhealthy, and he would be compelled to try and cheer him up.

Oh, that's sharp!

Can you imagine both of them examining something in a JLA lab?

Barry: "Oh, I can't see this clearly and your busy with the electron microscope. Still got that miniature in your belt?"
Bruce: "Yes. I'll get it for you."
Barry: "No bother. Already got it."
Bruce (pauses to look at Barry using miniscope): "My belt is locked with a sixteen digit access code."
Barry: "Yep. Sure is."
Bruce: "... any two failures will cause it to detonate."
Barry: "Yep. True too." [keeps examining with scope]
Bruce: ".....You're not going to tell me what you did, are you?"
Barry (broad mischievous grin): "Fastest Man Alive, Bruce. Fastest Man Alive."

You have a great day. Thanks for the insightful blog!

Smallville's also made a lot of decisions that have driven away the male audience - focusing on the interminable Clark / Lana romance being the biggest one - turning the "only older women watch it" into a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy. Then again, I haven't watched the series since the Green Arrow episodes, largely because those barely touched on the regular cast (and seemed to feature Lois more than Lana, which is a definite trade-up in my eyes but from what I understand the core Smallville audience HATES Erica Durance's Lois).

Also: the increased availability of sports of TV has also meant that male viewers don't have to watch "regular" TV shows - I know, especially after upgrading to HD, that I'm more likely to watch an NHL or NBA playoff game than try to keep up with Lost or Smallville. That wasn't really an option in the days when you were lucky to have three live games per week.

From what I know, Teenage boys usually watch more movies than TV, and what they like on TV tends toward sophomoric humor moreso than dramatic action. I think they also tend to watch out of the "prime time" bracket where Smallville airs, instead watching a lot of stuff on cable channels like [adult swim] and Comedy Central. I'm sure one of the high school teachers that posts around here will chime in with something more concrete, too...

We have comic book stores here, but since they sell the expensive (to us) imported comics, they’re upper middle-class places. Most of them are very clean and orderly. Reputable persons wouldn’t feel bad venturing inside. But I don’t know how much of the negative stereotype of the American comic book store is real.

Rene, it varies a lot.

I actually have a pretty good local comic shop near to me. It is near a large university, which helps. However, there are more than a few that feel and look an awful lot like porn shops. They are dark and the customers are all middle-aged men. It is depressing.

On the surface, Smallville seems to adhere to what critics of the superhero genre consider a teenage male fantasy. It's funny that the audience isn't mostly composed by teenage males. Marvel and DC should seriously study it to understand what exactly is it that draws the 30-ish old females to the show.

I also wonder what the hell teenage males watch nowadays.

Marvel and DC became very popular here in Brazil because in the 80s and 90s they sold these slightly-larger-than-digest size comics that collected 4 issues of American comics. The price was very affordable, and the comics were sold in newsstands. They still are sold in newsstands, but now the format is closer to the American one, more expensive, but they still collect 3 American comics per issue.

Paying as much as you Americans do for 22-pages of story still feels crazy to me.

We have comic book stores here, but since they sell the expensive (to us) imported comics, they're upper middle-class places. Most of them are very clean and orderly. Reputable persons wouldn't feel bad venturing inside. But I don't know how much of the negative stereotype of the American comic book store is real.

Another way I can illustrate this is if we go back to when the Florida Marlins won the World Series and the fact that even though they were Champions, they still had problems drawing box office. The problem wasn’t the team, it was the Market. Contrast with Cubs, who still draw, in spite of themselves.

Red Ricky, I agree these posts are a lot of fun to read and write.

I think that you'd agree that the Marlins and Cubs are both outliers. The Cubs provide a uniquely customer experience at Wrigley that almost has an inverse correlation to the quality of the team. The Marlins play in a football stadium in a market that is (at best) fickle about pro sports. The demand curves for those individual products are, respectively, more and less inelastic than the market for baseball in general. The cause can at least partly be attributed to the quality of the product, which in this case is the fan experience.

In my opinion, they don’t have several new generations of fans because they haven’t courted them! And because they abandoned the traditional entry points. And now, even if they reopened them, the large entry price makes it a market barrier.

I totally agree, but that, sadly, is done. What I was suggesting is a way to court new fans when they are a bit older. The Big Two made a huge mistake not maintaining their news-stand businesses, but I doubt that can be undone. New comic fans have not been the traditional 8-12 year old boy in a long time. That is a challenge, but it also is an opportunity to grow into other genres and ways of telling super-hero stories.

I had a girlfriend that only liked the Buffy-verse stuff. Every week she would go to the store with me and ask if they got any new Buffy comics. No matter how hard we tried, we weren’t able to interest her in anything else. All she wanted was Buffy and Angel. That’s what she liked. She didn’t even stick with The Fray. It wasn’t Buffy. It wasn’t “who” she liked.

Sure, but at least she was there.

Before Buffy, who would have believed that the biggest comic going would be a female superhero? DC, Marvel and the retailers are all doing a pathetic job trying to capture those folks as they pass through. DC has probably a half-dozen female superheroes that are sort just sitting around waiting to get shoved into the proverbial refrigerator to drive up the body count in the next event. More than a few of them are little more than a visual and a name (Power Girl, anyone?). How about focus grouping the visual and name to a group of 16-25 year old female Buffy fans? Ask them to describe her: her secret identity, powers, arch-enemy ... the whole thing. Hire a decent creative team and ask them to run with it. Create a retailer promotion that encourages young women to sample. Maybe give the first issue away free to buyers of "Buffy" (different companies, I know).

You know ... do some marketing.

Going off of my friends who watch Smallville, it's young professionals and lapsed comics fans like my husband. The female demographic domination isn't clear until you go look at Smallville's exclusive fan community and how the merchandise tends to sell.

I'm glad Brazil still has newsstands. We need to get comics back onto more newsstands in the states. The closest you get are some bookstores that sell floppies in roughly the same section they carry the TPBs... frequently shelved next to genre fiction or the tabletop gaming stuff. I can see why they classify this way but it sorta proofs the aisle against non-geeks.

Well, two friends of mine that also are big Smallville fans are also in the late-20s and early-30s, and are gay.

This is very anedoctal, but I don't doubt it. I've read somewhere about this research on the demographics of people watching TV shows, and they're all older people. I don't think Smallville was one of the shows featured, though.

Here in Brazil, newstands still are the place you buy comics, and the hypothetical 30-old woman would only have to turn her head from the magazine section to the comics section.

I agree that getting the Buffy crowd to read other comics can be hard, but what about Smallville? The show already has most characters in common with the mainstream DC universe. Making the comic book characters closer in spirit to the versions in other media, so a portion of the Smallville fans can find a Clark Kent that is similar to the one from the show, sounds like a good idea.

DC tries to anticipate new equilibrium points every month by increasing or decreasing their supply.

Every product has its own demand curve that more, or less, elastic. A winning sports team has a more inelastic demand curve than a losing one.

The Market is what sets the demand curve. And it's fixed. And so is its elasticity, because its elasticity is equal to the slope of the Demand Curve. Changes in the quality of comics, authors, artists, paper stock etc. ...that will just translate into an increase in demand from point A to point B. It's still the same curve, we just moved within it, and along it, from one end to another. DC tries to new equilibrium points every month by increasing or decreasing their supply. In our particular case, a new supply curve appears. This new one, intersects the (same old) Demand Curve we had, at point B.

And thats it.

Another way I can illustrate this is if we go back to when the Florida Marlins won the World Series and the fact that even though they were Champions, they still had problems drawing box office. The problem wasn't the team, it was the Market. Contrast with Cubs, who still draw, in spite of themselves.

Marvel and DC have both done a nice job packaging their content in a variety of ways.

That's my point!!! They have only tinkered with the packaging!!! They need to look at the whole assembly line!!! From craddle to grave! That means, format, assembly, distribution, principal markets, secondary markets, international markets, etc.

In my opinion, they don't have several new generations of fans because they haven't courted them! And because they abandoned the traditional entry points. And now, even if they reopened them, the large entry price makes it a market barrier. Plus they don't want to make comics "returnable", i.e. they want to remain risk free.

Not saying that it is a solution in itself, but done properly it could at least get new people to sample
comics.

I don't disagree with you. In fact I enjoy reading and writing these posts. But I just wanted to say that, sometimes, cross-over clients, just don't work out.

I had a girlfriend that only liked the Buffy-verse stuff. Every week she would go to the store with me and ask if they got any new Buffy comics. No matter how hard we tried, we weren't able to interest her in anything else. All she wanted was Buffy and Angel. That's what she liked. She didn't even stick with The Fray. It wasn't Buffy. It wasn't "who" she liked.

I guess that the idea that I'm toying with here, is that comic book fans aren't made or manufactured or siphoned... Maybe they are born... but is possible that they are not born rich. So comics (in one form or another) need to be affordable. Plus you got to remember that your average customer doesn't just buy 1 comic; they buy 3 to 5 a week! And at today's prices, that's a $40 to $60 a month hobby!

It has nothing to do with the quality of comics, and everything to do with the Business’ Elasticity of Demand. It doesn’t matter how “perfect or awesome” a story is; as the overall price of comics (in general) increases, its consumer base will decrease.

Actually, it does have something to do with quality. Every product has its own demand curve that more, or less, elastic. Look at other forms of entertainment. A winning sports team has a more inelastic demand curve than a losing one. A beloved movie can support a price-y, extras laden DVD, while a less popular one cannot.

Neither DC, nor Marvel, appear willing to change how the market works and how they run their business. They want to stick with the status quo because it saves them money and places the burden of finding clients and selling comics, onto the retail stores. “It’s not them, it’s the ugly comicbook guy!”

Not sure that I fully agree with this. Marvel and DC have both done a nice job packaging their content in a variety of ways. There are the traditional floppies, the Trades, the Essentials/Showcases and the Absolute Editions. Looking at the numbers, the non-floppy market appears to be actually growing fairly robustly. The problem is in the periodical, direct sales business.

There’s been Star Wars comics, Indiana Jones, Ewoks, He-Man, Transformers, GI JOE, Star Trek, etc. The list goes on and on; but their impact as an increase in the consumer base does not equal the proverbial vaccine that will cure whatever ails the industry.

Not saying that it is a solution in itself, but done properly it could at least get new people to sample comics. Maybe they could run an ad on "Smallvile", or distribute a coupon at "The Dark Knight". A very low conversion rate on the audience grows the audience substantially.

The trick, of course, is keeping them.

For the most part, it is young people who sample new products. Gen Y consumers were not raised on comics, so they walk in with fewer pre-conceptions. The product would need to be able to compete effectively with video games and the Internet. I'm not sure if that is possible, but at least it would show some effort.

Red Ricky, any fan of new comics should get down on their knees and that God for those price increases.

Bwah-hahahahahahahahahhahaahahahahhaha!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm sorry. I didn't mean to disrespect you. It's just that you reminded me of the Mark Millar School of Economics! (The Laws of Supply & Demand work differently there!)

They have moved the threshold for a title to survive down a lot. Let’s say 60k was the break point in the mid-80s.

Not survive "a lot" ...but for a while. It has nothing to do with the quality of comics, and everything to do with the Business' Elasticity of Demand. It doesn't matter how "perfect or awesome" a story is; as the overall price of comics (in general) increases, its consumer base will decrease.

It's the Law.

Reboots, stunts, new characters, old characters, the quality of stories... all that is just a band-aid! The only thing it accomplishes is a redistribution of the current fanbase/consumer base. They are not creating new customers, they are stealing Paul's to pay Peter's.

This is what Greg was alluding to when he said that Wally's problem was that his "history takes place in an era where the superhero audience has never really turned over.

That means that a new generation of customers hasn't replaced the old one. And the reason is not quality, or universes, or characters. It's the Market.

Neither DC, nor Marvel, appear willing to change how the market works and how they run their business. They want to stick with the status quo because it saves them money and places the burden of finding clients and selling comics, onto the retail stores. "It's not them, it's the ugly comicbook guy!"

And well, let's just say that they are not the first U.S. Industry to do this; and die because of it. It's so common that there is even a term for it; I think it's called Market Myopia.

As far as customers crossing over from other entertainment mediums... well, I don't think that's the solution. There have always been Movie tie-ins, and toy tie-ins, and tv tie-ins; and they just attrack consumers who happen to like Comics. Which is like 1 in 500. You know, look at the history. There's been Star Wars comics, Indiana Jones, Ewoks, He-Man, Transformers, GI JOE, Star Trek, etc. The list goes on and on; but their impact as an increase in the consumer base does not equal the proverbial vaccine that will cure whatever ails the industry. Their impact has been more akin to taking a Vitamin. It will help, but it won't cure you, and you'll just pee it away in a day or two.

And finally,

This idea about having a few months where only a select few titles would be published, is just bad. Most retailers I know can't afford to be short on any given comic, let alone entire lines. But if you don't believe me, talk to your Comic Book Guy. Ask him if he was around during the Heroes World Era, and what was it like to only have a handful of Marvels.

Superman is a god again. Luthor is a pariah again (I think, I'm not sure). Wonder Woman is "Diana Prince". Hal is back, the GL Corps are back. Now Barry Allen is back. Ollie is Green Arrow. Supergirl is back.

Some of these things aren't necessarily bad. The DCU should have a Supergirl and a Green Lantern Corps back. Not sure about the others. Seems like a bad case of middle-age nostalgia.

Agree with your point, Dean, but the best selling Superman is All Star Superman, which is selling around 100,000 copies a month. 7,000,000 divided by 100,000 is seventy. 70 times, not 11.

Alan, I think that All-Star is a bad point of comparison.

For example, I had not bought a floppy comic from the direct market in 3-4 years prior to "All-Star Superman". It was the first thing in a long time that I felt like I couldn't wait for trade. It is safe to assume that I am not completely unique, since the bookstore market is fairly robust. What amazed me about being in a comic shop after a few years away was how little there was to buy. I really like superhero comics in general and DC in particular. However, I will try most anything, so I had complete runs of the big 80s Marvels (Claremont/Byrne "X-Men", Byrne "Fantastic Four" and Simonson "Thor") before I gave them to my kid brother. Also, I read most of the First Comics titles ('Nexus", "Badger" and "Grimjack"), the Comicos ("Mage" and "The Elementals") and Eclipse (I had a full run of "Miracleman" and "Airboy").

After college, I moved on to the Vertigo books, the Indie work by 80s titans (i.e. "Sin City", "From Hell") and more mature stuff like "Love and Rockets". The rise of Image and other interests pretty much ran me out of monthly comics. However, I followed "Sandman" and "Starman" in trade. It seemed like there should be stuff that I could read, but most of what I found were re-prints of some kind. I am enjoying "Transmetropolitan", but I know it is old. "Fables" and "Powers" are good, but I don't feel driven read the floppies. I am trying Kirkman's first "Invincible" trade this week. Of course, I love the Showcases.

Once Morrison wraps up "All-Star Superman", I won't have much reason to buy new comics off the rack. That is despite really, really wanting to. I cannot imagine what it is like for someone with less desire to connect to an on-going.

Stories for everybody. Characters for everybody. Fun for everybody.

Alas, anthologies don't seem to sell.