You see a ton of discourse on how quality of entertainment in the corporate era has declined, but always left out is the influence market monopolization has had on this. Matt Stolller recently wrote a good article about this you might want to read https://mattstoller.substack.com/p/can-a-writers-strike-save-hollywood.
Basically entertainment sucks because of how consolidated it's all become. These companies make money by owning IPs, distribution networks and production. When all this is in the hands of very few companies there no longer is an incentive to produce quality content. Couple this with an increasingly predatory executive culture where royalties are no longer paid to creators or writers (hence the current strike), and you really have removed all incentives for quality at all levels. The only solution would be to somehow break all this up.
The Direct Market in comics began in the early 1970s in response to the declining market for comic books on newsstands. Jim Shooter claims that he resisted the direct market, but it was Shooter who brought Marvel Comics into that market with Dazzler #1 (1981).
Secret Wars and Secret Wars II were his fault as well. Shooter made the first SW happen exclusively to sell toys. He was quite open about this. The second SW was even worse: the story was even sillier and it took over even more books. This is the origin of all the company-wide crossovers/events that comics fans love to complain about but still buy.
But the money rolled in. So much so that a shark like Ron Perelman could buy Marvel in the late 80's-- which is when the prices on the books really started to jump.
These days, comics don't sell more because they cost too much. But they cost too much because the bottom fell out of the market int the speculator crash, and that happened, in part, because of decisions made by Shooter.
Shooter also drove Gerber, Wolfman, Colan, Byrne, Moench, and Roy Thomas away from Marvel, which is another reason quality had begun to decline at Marvel by the late 80's.
I was a comic reader in the 90s. I bought my first issue of Grant Morrison's JLA #1 (which revitalized the franchise and gave DC a huge hit) in 1996 at the grocery store. I bought my first issue of All-Star Superman in 2005 at a bookstore! DC and Marvel were selling individual issues of comics on newsstands until the mid-2010's.
Individual issues of comics did not cost nearly 5 dollars by the end of the 1990s. Most of them cost $2.95.
Great article David!
You see a ton of discourse on how quality of entertainment in the corporate era has declined, but always left out is the influence market monopolization has had on this. Matt Stolller recently wrote a good article about this you might want to read https://mattstoller.substack.com/p/can-a-writers-strike-save-hollywood.
Basically entertainment sucks because of how consolidated it's all become. These companies make money by owning IPs, distribution networks and production. When all this is in the hands of very few companies there no longer is an incentive to produce quality content. Couple this with an increasingly predatory executive culture where royalties are no longer paid to creators or writers (hence the current strike), and you really have removed all incentives for quality at all levels. The only solution would be to somehow break all this up.
"Again, very little here originates after 1997. The MCU is primarily adapting comic stories from the 1960s through the 1980s."
Just off of the top of my head:
Captain America: Civil War adapts the comic arc of the same name. Post 1997.
Winter Soldier is based on Ed Brubaker's reintroduction of Bucky in the Cap comics. Post 1997.
The first Captain America movie is essentially his origin, which predates the 1960s.
The first two Iron Man movies adapt material from the 60s-80s, but the 3rd adapts the Extremis story arc, which is post 1997.
Thor: Ragnarok is based in part on the Planet Hulk story. Post 1997.
The MCU Avengers as a whole are inspired more by the Ultimates universe than anything else. Post 1997.
Age of Ultron adapts the Ultron Unlimited story. Post 97.
The Guardians of the Galaxy movies are based on the characters that appeared in the "Cosmic Marvel" stories of the early 2000s. Post 1997.
The Black Panther movies feature characters and interpretations of characters from Black Panther Vol 3 (1998-2003).
Infinity War and Endgame are based on Jim Starlin's Infinity Gauntlet (1991).
The Direct Market in comics began in the early 1970s in response to the declining market for comic books on newsstands. Jim Shooter claims that he resisted the direct market, but it was Shooter who brought Marvel Comics into that market with Dazzler #1 (1981).
Secret Wars and Secret Wars II were his fault as well. Shooter made the first SW happen exclusively to sell toys. He was quite open about this. The second SW was even worse: the story was even sillier and it took over even more books. This is the origin of all the company-wide crossovers/events that comics fans love to complain about but still buy.
But the money rolled in. So much so that a shark like Ron Perelman could buy Marvel in the late 80's-- which is when the prices on the books really started to jump.
These days, comics don't sell more because they cost too much. But they cost too much because the bottom fell out of the market int the speculator crash, and that happened, in part, because of decisions made by Shooter.
Shooter also drove Gerber, Wolfman, Colan, Byrne, Moench, and Roy Thomas away from Marvel, which is another reason quality had begun to decline at Marvel by the late 80's.
I was a comic reader in the 90s. I bought my first issue of Grant Morrison's JLA #1 (which revitalized the franchise and gave DC a huge hit) in 1996 at the grocery store. I bought my first issue of All-Star Superman in 2005 at a bookstore! DC and Marvel were selling individual issues of comics on newsstands until the mid-2010's.
Individual issues of comics did not cost nearly 5 dollars by the end of the 1990s. Most of them cost $2.95.
Love you dude. Great article.