Before we get started on COMICS 2013 properly, here are three look-backs for last year that are worth your time:
- ICv2 runs down the top ten comics business stories of 2012, ranked according to impact. I have to admit, I think the re-emergence of creators’ rights as a rallying call – particularly paired with both the return of Image Comics as a sales- and critical- force to be reckoned with and the debut of Monkeybrain (as well as Thrillbent and other digital initiatives from formerly print creators) – was the biggest story of the year, but I’ve been wrong before.
- Brian Hibbs of San Francisco’s Comix Experience lists his best-selling comic books and trades/graphic novels of 2012. Likely not representative of the rest of the Direct Market (How many other DM stores have books outselling single issues at 55% to 40%?), but well worth a look nonetheless. Man, look at Saga dominate that single issue list.
- Tom Spurgeon brought in the new year with a list of 50 Comics Positives for 2012. While I admit my tendency for being negative, Spurgeon reminds us all that things aren’t necessarily as bad as they seem with the wit and common sense you’d expect from him. “I don’t believe in positivity for positivity’s sake,” he explained. “We live in a world dominated by consumption impulses that feed on that kind of thing like sharks on chum, and I think there’s an additional danger of losing what exactly makes something positive or good beyond its desire to be seen that way if you don’t routinely face the challenge of engaging the negative and less than laudatory. But I do think it’s helpful every now and then to remind yourself of the good things that are going on, and comics has plenty of those.”
So, 2013, yes? Let’s see what happens in the next year.
