I think GY is basically right.

I think we've already reached the point where comics and graphic novels are accepted by a large segment of "indy" and hipster types, but as with everything its easier for small presses to reach those people because they usually "work harder" to find cool new stuff.


But there's still a distribution bottleneck. Comic shops, while fun to hang out in, aren't that plentiful and people who aren't arleady into comics aren't likely to go there. They tend to focus on the superhero, horror, fantasy and sci-fi comics because they dovetail well with their other product offerings - Magic: The Gathering, collectible toys, MacFarlane toys, games, etc and don't devote a lot of room to the artsy or obscure black and white stuff.

Book chains, like Barnes & Noble, tend to shove all their graphic novels into the same section as the Dungeon Master's guides and, as far as I can tell, usually only carry the best selling DC/Marvel/Dark Horse stuff.

Libraries are beginning to carry more stuff. Hopefully that will only continue to expand.

Meanwhile, I'm told the book chains sell a lot of manga, especially to 14-year-old girls. Unfortunately, that audience doesn't seem to cross over.

Most of the non-superhero comics getting anything approaching widespread distribution are in what I guess you could call "adjacent genres" - crime, cloak & dagger, sci-fi, horror, fantasy adventure, etc. I guess its because there's an established group of customers at comic shops who all like superheros, or at least did as kids, and will therefore be good targets for those genres.

DC and Marvel superhero books were among the only things to survive the comics code upheaval of the late 1950s, but then they came to totally dominate the medium because nothing else could get wide distribution. Its really remarkable. No other medium I can think of is so totally dominated by one sub-genre. It's like if all of a sudden 95% of movies were about gangsters or every tv show were about people stuck on an island.

It's a bit like why the cheaper pilsners were the only beer in America for a long time. There used to be other beers, but those were the most popular and therefore the only companies big enough to survive prohibition.

Unfortunately, now that means that most people have no idea there is any kind of comic but superhero comics.

As with the beer, it's going to continue to take time for non superhero stuff to find a way to get to readers.


I usually order things from Marsimport.com or amazon.