Johanna Draper-Carlson reported on her site last week that three Webcomic publishers — Keenspot, Comic Genesis and Blatant Comics –Â that had previously participated in Free Comic Book Day had their submissions rejected for 2008. She also spoke to Keenspot co-owner Chris Cosby about the rejection:
Some critics have questioned whether webcomic samplers should be part of FCBD. The day was created to drive new customers into comic shops to purchase material, and some feel that promoting free online comics is counter-productive to that goal. How do you respond to those critics?
I don’t think they’re looking at the big picture. The promotion wasn’t a one-way street, it was CROSS-promotional. Carrying our titles may’ve been entirely optional to retailers, but even the ones who didn’t carry us benefited from our participation in the event.
Just the online comics I specifically represent have over 3 million monthly readers online. According to Alexa Traffic Rankings, ComicGenesis.com alone is the 2,113th most popular website in the United States, ranked even higher than DC Comics’ website dccomics.com (#4,442) and catching up quickly to marvel.com (#1,811) for U.S. traffic. And it’s miles ahead of DC’s webcomics initiative ZudaComics.com (#31,949).
January 3rd, 2008 at 5:19 pm
You do know that FCBD was created basically to cross-promote Marvel-themed movies, right? Those behind the annual event basically claim that it’s created to draw in new consumers to comic shops. However, more comics are sold in book chains like Barnes and Noble and Borders. And most of those titles are of Japanese origin.
And there’s a handful of web-based comics that also brings an audience, as Keenspot, Comic Genesis, and Blatant Comics, among others. But since they’re not found in comic shops, they don’t matter to the organizers of Free Comic Book Day.
Another problem with FCBD is that the event doesn’t really bring in NEW customers. Most of those that know about the day are already aware of comic shops. Preaching to the choir as you will. Since some titles are aimed towards kids, wouldn’t it at least make sense to promote the day on outlets kids actually watch, like Nickelodeon or Cartoon Network?
Just guessing . . . is Marvel’s contribution to FCBD . . . an Iron Man book?
I would like to see Free Comic Book Day as something akin to a Comic Book Appreciation Day, not limited to just comic book shops, and an interactive date where comics could be introduced (or reintroduced) to audiences both in the real world and the internet.
Until we reach that point, it’ll still be seen as a promotional tool for Iron Man.