Is Voting With Your Wallet Hurting The Industry?

The old comic book adage is: If you don’t like it, don’t buy it. Few can argue the logic in that simple comment, but is it hurting the industry?

Recently Marvel went on a bit of a canceling streak, they canceled a mini series mid publication, reversed the decision to make Alpha Flight an ongoing and canceled a few mini’s before they started. This isn’t anything new, but its a growing trend as Marvel and DC keep raising the sales numbers a book needs to maintain publication. Again this is nothing new, but what is interesting is how fans are reacting to this.

With the new 52 some readers are skipping books they have read for years due to distaste for the relaunch. Marvel readers are dropping books as their price goes to $3.99 an issue, and there are the always relevant trade waiters. Some readers avoid tie ins with events because they are sick of them and forced integration. Some readers drop a book because they don’t like a creator or plot point. But are all these factors really just hurting the industry in the big picture?

Is voting with our wallets cutting series down before their time? I love Unwritten, but I only buy the trades, so if that series is canceled next week do I have the right to complain? If I avoided the Alpha Flight relaunch because it tied into Fear Itself, but loved Alpha Flight, can I complain about the book getting reduced to a mini series again? What if I wanted Destroyers as a trade? Of if Venom gets cancelled after this upcoming crossover with Hulk, X-23 and Ghost Rider for four #1 issues that I dont want to buy in one month.

I read Teen Titans for years but I decided against picking up the new series because of the removal of the team’s history, does DC see that and the actions of others like me as disinterest in the title itself or irritation over the direction they took the book? Sales matter to the publishers, they drive what they can produce, some titles they know they can charge more, for others they need to support the team. But readers tend to vote with their wallets regardless, and how publishers see these drops in sales always amounts to the same thing. Loss of interest in the franchise.

The same can be asked if readers stop buying a book because a writer they dislike is on it or an artist who’s style isn’t their thing. We can never be sure that the publishers will see it as dislike in a new creator, odds are they see it as a lack of interest.

Look at the creative merry go round that is starting to happen in the new 52. I know someone who was buying Superman solely for George Perez‘s involvement. They didn’t care for Dan Jurgens’ previous run and are dropping the book. Will more readers follow and will DC see this as a lack of faith and shuffle the teams around again? And if that happens will more readers drop the book because of random creative shuffles that they feel is hurting the flow of the books?

DC has a habit to cancel trades when they see a lack of interest. Manhunter, Rebels, Suicide Squad and more all had collections cancelled due to lack of interest. What is the point in waiting for the trade of a series if it never gets collected? Then you have to hunt down the back issues for a series that many shops didn’t order because it didn’t sell enough. Suddenly you have lost out on what may have been a new favorite title of storyline.

Readers will drop a book for numerous reasons, an artist they dislike, a change in continuity, a bad arc, or just for simple financial reasons. But we always tend to raise up in arms against publishers when they cancel books. “How dare they cancel Rebels! I loved that series in trades!” But there is the problem, we waited for the trade on a low selling series. DC even canceled the last collection of that book because of lack on interest in initial orders. Money talks and when we with hold it for some mundane reasons we are actually hurting the industry.

We cannot afford to wait on some titles any more, if we want an Alpha Flight, Shade, Dr. Doom or any other niche charter book we need to support them. Marvel is even cutting down on Deadpool books, you know there is something up. The new 52 have allowed DC some breathing room to try new books, but it cannot last forever. How long can Resurrection Man last the second time around?

So give a storyline a try, push some books you love that you know are not burning up the charts on the message boards and to your fellow customers at the shop. Heck but the issues digitally, it seems like every book for every company is going digital. We don’t know how helpful digital sales are to keeping titles afloat, but with the ever growing digital market there is bound to be some benefits to the smaller titles.

There are a ton of books out there that deserve a chance, there are some great stories worth your time and some creators who could use the support for their work. Think about that when you plan what to wait on and what to buy. There will always be a collection of the new Batman story, but how often will you get t read a Huntress mini series in this day and age?