Read on Twitter
Comics fandom, where you can present facts and no one will listen, a thread. In a Facebook group I'm in, someone asked, do you agree with Alan Moore that comics should aim more towards children?
Naturally, this leads to two separate conversations, one actually addressing the question and one bashing Alan Moore. Let's talk about that second one first.
I've had the good opportunity this year to talk to a lot of people who have worked with Alan or personally know Alan, and they all say the same thing: that he's warm, full of humor and cheer, and incredibly tongue-in-cheek or sarcastic. They all vouch for him.
Here's Zander Cannon, timestamped, talking about Alan Moore and how he's "as nice as can be", just among others.
But fans, man. I dunno. You can pull the names out of people who have vouched for him who actually know him, and you'll still get "Alan Moore is bitter and angry" and "What a tool". These fans actually think they can pass judgment on someone over the people who actually know him.
And for what? His opinion on comics as an industry? His opinion of superhero movies being too dominant? Hell, I think superhero movies are too dominant AND I LOVE THEM. These guys act like Alan Moore personally went to their house and ripped up their comic book collection.
My favorite thing about talking about Alan Moore on the internet, he says completely sarcastically, is fans who will assume they're fit to judge him as a human being even when you present actual evidence from people who know him *that they're wrong*.
As for the sales...
As for the sales...
....so someone says that comics sales are clearly better-selling to adults and have been for a long time. I ask if he has hard numbers and he links me to a Comichron link of monthly sales figures. Anyone who looks at this knows what the problem is.
Monthly sales figures track single issues in a given month on the preorder level at the direct market. They don't track the mass market or the sell-through. I mention Dogman and how it's a massive seller, and he says Dogman is nowhere on the monthly list.
Well, yeah, Dogman doesn't come out monthly. It comes out in book form in the mass market. So I link to this article: https://www.diversetechgeek.com/2019-bookstore-graphic-novel-sales/?fbclid=IwAR2JpMWw7oPEtaTUFK9kWM00N_izEB3bB0zwkCstLFowg342X-i_ILvRpbQ and he says, what if I add up all the sales of a series' issues throughout a year? I don't know what that's supposed to prove...
I then link to this https://www.comicsbeat.com/bookscan-2019-analysis/ which clearly states that 18 of the top 20 GNs in 2019 were for kids, and the first superhero comic doesn't show up till #36 (it's Watchmen).
And the guy just goes "BS, it's well known that adult comics sell more."
And the guy just goes "BS, it's well known that adult comics sell more."
No facts, no numbers, nothing. This guy is SO insistent that what he perceives to be the comics industry - the monthly issue direct market model - IS the comics industry, and BS on everything that counters that.
It's frustrating. Why even bother doing research?
It's frustrating. Why even bother doing research?
Additionally, I love that on the same thread, someone called Alan Moore "irrelevant"and then in the same thread we all see that Watchmen was, once again, the bestselling GN in all of comics. Watchmen alone made up 1/4 of DC's sales.
I'm sorry for ranting like this on Twitter, but honestly - if you say kids don't read comics and I pull out numbers to say you're wrong -- don't you want me to be right?? Don't you want to be wrong in this scenario? Think about what we're arguing about.
/rant
/rant
