Comic book industry’s newest hero: technology
Friday, July 25th, 2008It’s a familiar story or, at least, it should be to comic book fans. Misunderstood outcast with a dual nature becomes the central figure that can change the world: Batman and Bruce Wayne, Spiderman and Peter Parker. Sometimes these heroes come up against someone they initially think is a villain. Later, it’s unveiled that the bad guy is actually someone they are friends with: Two-face and Harvey Dent, the second Green Goblin and Harry Osborne. So riddle me this, true believers: What is it that can save the comic book industry from ever decreasing sales, slow losses in readership numbers, and increase a profit margin being whittled away by the rising costs of print production and distribution? Answer: the very thing they saw as the problem, technology.
The comic industry has recently come around to a few solutions. The two biggest names in American comics, DC and Marvel, are testing the waters in different arenas to help rejuvenate profits. DC comics has recently announced it is working with Sony Online Entertainment, (SOE), to create the first massively multiplayer online role playing game, (MMORPG), based upon the DC Comics universe. Marvel has taken the controversial step of creating online subscriptions which give readers the ability to access hundreds of titles for about the cost of one comic book. Add to this all the success of super hero movies like The Dark Knight, Spiderman, and Iron Man, and it looks like the comic industry isn’t going down without a fight.
The DC Universe Online MMORPG venture is receiving a lot of interest. “The rich, storied world of DC Comics has never been available to players like this before,” said John Smedley, president of SOE. “For the first time, gamers can actually open the door and step into the vast world of DC Comics and choose their own fate. Who wouldn’t want to infiltrate Batman’s cave or fly over Metropolis as you speed toward a mission to help Superman?” Players will be able to create their own super heroes, acquire side-kicks, and battle in cities like Gotham City and Metropolis.
The true innovation is the idea of Halo-esque style action and less traditional turn based action like other MMORPGs. As Jim Lee, DC comics artists and avid gamer explained to USA Today, “It’s chaotic, but it’s organized and it’s very, very dynamic. It’s fun because you can throw people into billboards and the billboards explode and then you can take the water towers and smash them with that. To me, that is kind of how superheroes fight. It’s not like they stand there and trade blows. The cities are their playgrounds and they demolish them.” As a final touch, story arcs from the comic books will be carried into the game, although whether it will be after the comics are released or before is still up in the air.
Marvel Comics is trying to utilize the web to solve the problem of accessibility and profit margins. Gas prices are affecting the cost of shipping as well as production of hard copy versions of comic books. Publishing content on the web gets rid of a lot of overhead costs. The success of online web comics like Home Star Runner, Dominic Deegan, and Order of the Stick prove that a dedicated readership via the web can be profitable.
While collectors argue that such a move is the death knell of printed comic books, others see it as a strategic effort by Marvel to use the internet to reach a more tech savvy generation of readers. Inroads made to create brand loyalty is a smart move, even if you have to make a deal with the perceived devil. Although the titles that are offered are not the most recent, Marvel appears to have made a serious effort to offer a wide variety of back issues up to January of 2008 for some titles. The slight lag in pushing content to the web may be Marvel’s way of working with comic book retailers across the country, so as not to jeopardize established business partners.
The business that cannot incorporate change into its business model is doomed to failure. Batman was never too keen on Superman’s vigilante style. Spiderman always came to loggerheads with Professor X’s theory of mutant powers. But in the end, when the fists started to fly, (along with buses and water towers), even those with slight disagreements had to grudgingly admit that there was a time and place for each other’s style. In the war between print and electronic publications, the business world is able to make out a silhouette standing tall among the dust and ashes. The comic industry has found a new way to fight potential obsolescence and it’s never looked stronger. As Stan Lee would say, “Excelsior!”
By Alicen Hogan
