Why Comicbooks Are Dying out and Why They Shouldn't Be
Today, if you sit and watch the adverts on any television channel for more than 5 minutes, you'll almost certainly come across a trailer for a superhero movie, tv show or video game.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe is so insanely popular that their film "Endgame" was the first film to break $1 billion in the opening weekend.
With all the superhero mania around at the moment, you'd have thought that comicbooks would be more popular than ever. However, that isn't the case.
Comicbook vs Superhero sales
Although since the rise of superheroes on our big screens, the sales for the paper stories have been slowly rising, they're still nowhere near as popular as they used to be.
The 'Golden Age' of comicbooks is thought to be the 1940s, when characters such as Superman, and Captain America were first introduced to us.
Today, I want to look at why comicbooks aren't as popular as their on-screen adaptations, but I also want to talk about why this needs to change.
They're too expensive
The biggest reason why most superhero lovers don't spend a lot of time at their local comicbook shop is that the prices are simply too high.
The average comicbook in this country is round about £3, and that's just one single issue, and even that is usually filled up with adverts.
For a small selection of people, this is going to be a worthwhile purchase. However, for most, this is going to be very expensive, and when you have bills, and food to take care of, regularly buying £3 comicbooks is not something that's going to be within budget.
They're "for kids"
This one is actually quite odd. Because first of all, it's not true. But more importantly, it's very strange to think that somebody who will happily watch Endgame or Batman will turn their nose up at comicbooks.
Despite this, many people will still look at comicbooks as something that are only for children, and therefore not worth the time for most people.
They don't need to be expensive
Thanks to the internet, gone are the days when you would need to go into a physical shop and buy paper comicbooks. Thanks to websites such as 'comixology', you have access to an unlimited amount of comicbooks for less than £9 per month.
For the price of 3 paper comics, you can have an unlimited amount of digital comics.
And these are exactly the same books that you can get in the shops, the only difference is that it's on your phone, computer, or tablet.
If you are a paper lover (and to be honest, I don't blame you), a great way to get hold of comicbooks without breaking the bank is by using websites such as eBay.
Here, you can buy a random selection of 10 comicbooks for £10.
They're not just for kids
Despite what some people might think, comicbooks are not just for kids. They're just another form of story telling, just like books or films.
They have plots, characters, themes, and in some cases can go to some incredibly dark places. The story telling abilities that comicbook writers possess is at the same level as writers of regular books.
They take talent
The great thing about comicbooks is that they bring together two different art forms. Writing and drawing.
In order to create a good story, you will need to understand how to utilise the art form, and create storylines which readers will be able to get lost in, and create characters that the readers will be able to really care about.
To be able to draw well takes incredible talent. To be able to turn something from a picture in your mind into a picture on paper takes levels of skill that are far beyond myself.
Comicbooks are what happens when two worlds collide. The two art forms of drawing and writing are brought together to tell stories about god-like figures who are trying to handle their powers whilst at the same doing their best to live as morally as they possibly can.
For this reason, now that comicbook films are reaching record sales, it's about time their paper counterparts make a comeback too.
