Obviously, I'm on an Island...
Here’s something that I’ve noticed in the last couple of years (though I’ve really always known it)…I’m kind of weird. Not weird in a creepy kind of way (I hope) or in an overly self-important/self-indulgent “woah look how weird I am” Wayne Coyne kind of way (I really hope), but in a “wow I really see the world differently” and a “wow, my taste is stuff is really not in line with the masses” kind of way.
Things Taking Up Way Too Much Oxegyn
For a long time I’ve been lamenting the state of things at DC Comics, specifically the fact that it seems like the majority of their line of titles consists of Batman, Batman related, or Batman adjacent books. Then today while on my lunch break I came across this video from Comics by Perch which referenced this article by ICv2 on the top comic sales (in the US) for December 2021. The article includes two charts — Top 50 Comic Books by Units and Top 50 Comic Books by Dollars. Looking at the Top 20 of the Units chart five of the titles are from DC, 14 from Marvel Comics, and one from BOOM! Studios. All five of the DC books are Batman or Bat-related titles. In fact, there is only one, ONE non-Bat book (and for the record, I am considering Justice League Incarnate Bat-adjacent) in the entire Top 50 for DC and that is Wonder Woman Historia: The Amazons #1 which came in at # 40. 40!!!
So, what does this tell us? For one thing, it highlights the fact that DC is apparently only capable of having success with one of their major characters anymore. How sad is that? The other thing the list shows is the nearly obnoxious dominance of Marvel in the comics marketplace. I didn’t do the math, but it is clear that the house that Stan and Jack built is the dominant publisher in the business (of monthly titles at least). Another eye opening piece of information is that there are only four publishers represented, the aforementioned DC, Marvel, and BOOM!, plus Image Comics.
But Batman and Marvel aren’t the only things taking up the oxygen in the comics room. Manga. Manga is massive and while it lives in a different realm than standard American comics, it is a huge topic in comic studies and librarianship. In fact, there is a library organization that has a comics and graphic novels committee and a large portion of their programming offerings of the last few years has been focused on manga. On top of that, the library system that I work for seems to buy more manga titles than any other type of comic or graphic novel (with the possible exception of stuff by Dav Pilkey because that guy outsells EVERYONE). Now I totally understand the rationale of these purchases and program offerings if that is what people are asking for but there is so much more out there and it kills me that so many great books get overlooked for not being Batman or not being Marvel or not being manga or not being artsy enough (see comic studies in academia for an abundance of examples of “good” graphic novels).
And This Should Go Without Saying But…
Stop banning books already!
One Band, 5 Songs
This week the podcast covered the career of punk legends Dag Nasty!!!!
I’m Done, Stick a Fork in Me
I’m not sure how often I’ll be doing this in the next few months (this semester is already kicking my ass and we’re only two weeks in plus I’m not sure how much I actually have to say) so…