Tucker Stone has a column up on Comixology in which he argues that comics should get rid of the mature reader labels. He hopes this will allow for better stories:
Opening up the door of storytelling to allow for anything, be it violence and sex or just the simple rejection of any and all continuity, might even help the writers themselves—it’s this columnist’s firm opinion that the Punisher, a character who had seen a fleeting popularity in the 90’s that dwindled into nothing, has really only been well-utilized as any sort of interesting narrative character when Garth Ennis came along and rejected just about everything that had come before short of the concept, followed that up by taking his stories out of the regular Marvel universe, and then amped up the violence in his own twisted way. The argument isn’t that allowing writers to embrace their own personal understandings of “mature” storytelling would somehow make all comic books better—the argument is that there’s really no reason to put some forgotten stricture on the morality of the stories they’re telling. It just doesn’t apply anymore—it’s a fake predicament, erected against a concern that’s no longer valid. Meanwhile, the sales for these things are pathetic—and that’s after a summer where the most financially successful movies (from a global standpoint!) were about costumed super-heroes. If nothing else, it’s high time to change things up. When something is broken, and it’s limping its way around with nothing more then a straggling group of aging fans who can’t find anyone who wants to join them, the solution isn’t to just keep going in the same direction you’ve been going in at the same incremental pace. The solution isn’t necessarily that you make everything into The Boys and Lost Girls, either—but that’s a potential consequence of freedom that has a hell of a lot more craziness to it than the stagnancy of decelerating failure. That kind of freedom—to tell stories with these characters that allow for anything—is the same kind of freedom that produced comics like Doom Patrol and All-Star Superman, comics like Batman Year 100 and The Ultimates. It’s the freedom to take the character and do absolutely anything with it, because the character can’t break. Right now, comics have to come up with something and crazy is just about the only thing that’s left to try. Boring sure as hell isn’t working.
I agree with the general argument; mainstream comics are seriously screwed up, and they need to do something drastic if they’re ever going to be (A) broadly popular or (B) not incredibly crappy. And, certainly, at this stage, trying something — anything — seems better than the same old same old.
But I’m really not convinced this would be especially helpful. In the first place, as someone with a small child who adores Spider-Man, Batman, et. al, I feel like it would actually be nice to have a somewhat clearer system of labeling content. Some Batman comics really aren’t appropriate for five year olds; some are. A G or PG rating system would be helpful — especially for people who aren’t quite as tuned into comics as I am (God bless them.) And it’s true, as Tucker says, that kids aren’t necessarily going to be as attracted to the Vertigo line since the marquee characters aren’t there…but still and all, and despite the best efforts of the industry, comics qua comics remain quite attractive to kids, parents tend to see comics as kid friendly, and…yeah, from a pure marketing standpoint, I don’t think it’s a bad idea to tell people what kind of thing they’re purchasing.
As far as improving the quality — again, I don’t know. As Bill Randall points out, censorship doesn’t usually limit creativity in a straightforward manner; in fact it can be an opportunity for artists to innovate and get their point across in less direct, more creative ways. Certainly, mature content and continuity don’t need to be linked — the all-ages Jeff Parker books I’ve been on about are out of continuity — much to their benefit.
I do think Tucker’s article points in some interesting directions. For instance, he notes that “mature” comics tends to mean violence, not sex. I think he’s definitely on to something there; there really is a major marketing lacunae in mainstream comics where R-rated, sexual material should be. There are actual porn comics aplenty, and there are all sorts of alt-underground comics with explicit sexual content. But there isn’t really the sort of exploitation-cinema equivalent of mainstream action fare marketed around bare breasts and general salaciousness. (Sin City is something of an exception here…though I don’t remember even that ever quite hitting R territory. (Update: Matthew Brady in comments points out that there is some R-rated nudity in Sin City.)) Especially given the mostly male audience, the relative lack of sex in comics seems fairly bizarre, and is, I think, linked to fears about mature content. Certainly, it seems like if you wanted to reach out to a broader audience, one way to go would be to sex things up.
Basically, it comes down to the fact that the mainstream at the moment is devoted to telling mature stories with, for the most part, kids’ characters. The result is weird and distasteful and makes expansion beyond a very select group all but impossible. The stupidity and inconsistency around mature warning labels that Tucker points out is, I think, a symptom of this problem, but it’s not really the cause, and as such it’s hard to see how getting rid of them is going to solve anything.
Are superhero comics really in such dire straits? I know that the old format stapled monthly mags don’t sell to anyone but the usual comics store hanger-arounders, but the shelf space for “graphic novels” in bookstores and libraries is definitely on the increase (admittedly dwarfed by manga, but still). While you would think that the big movies would have even more effect, I think they are increasing sales of trades (and there may even be some spillover of the popularity from manga. Of course they would capitalize even more if the product was better, but I think this is actually even more unlikely than you or Tucker suggest, because the comics companies are actually doing reasonably well. I may be wrong about this, with no actual statistical evidence…but I’m in the bookstore on a weekly basis, with plenty of people hanging around reading (and maybe even buying) trades of crappy superhero comics. Even good ones are being bought at an increased pace (the Watchmen film trailer is sparking lots of Watchmen buying…even before the movie arrives).
Let me provide some data in response to Eric’s comments.
As a stockholder in Marvel, I actually read their earning statements every year and happen to have the most recent one sitting on my desk next to my recently purchased copy of Nana Vol 3.
Publishing sales rose 17% in 2007 to about 125 million dollars, with over half of the increase coming from Civil War and Dark Tower trade paperbacks. I recall that the increase from 2005 to 2006 was also significant.
While the report doesn’t provide an exact breakdown of books sold, it does imply that much of the sales growth was due to increased volume of trade paperbacks. It also says about 70% of publishing revenue is earned from sales to the Direct Market aka comic book stores.
Assuming DC sales are similar, don’t hold your breath on either company making big creative changes anytime soon. From the bottom line perspective, things have never been better.
Yeah, I knew the big two weren’t failing. It does seem, though, that they’re in a situation which ultimately isn’t sustainable. Where do there new readers come from? Can they expand into new markets? What happens when the vogue for super-hero movies ends, as it almost certainly will?
They’ve got all of their eggs in one basket, basically. I just don’t think that that’s going to work out for them long term — even if they seem to be doing well enough in the near term.
I hope Tucker weighs in; I talked to him a little about this and he had some pretty interesting things to say….
Oh, and it’s fun to be chatting with you guys about comics again on a semi-regular basis. It’s been a while….
I'll throw this out too: Are mainstream comics solely composed of superhero books? When we talk about the mainstream, shouldn't we also include the translated manga, the comics based on licensed properties (Star Wars, Buffy, Transformers), the Vertigo line, Paradox Press, and other books (Asterix, Concrete, Tintin, Bone, Sin City) that as a group appear to be selling well enough to have a continuous presence in places like Barnes & Noble and Border's?
If we add these to the mix, the mainstream seems diversified, with a significant percentage of books appealing to more than just one narrow audience.
Sin City is very much an R rated work for violence. I don't know if you've read every book in the series, but the castration scene in That Yellow Bastard makes me wince every time I read it.
Sin City is definitely R-rated for violence…but I don’t think it ever goes beyond PG-13 for sexual content. If you’re willing to castrate and dismember, seems like you’d be willing to show bare breasts. The fact that you can’t probably has something to do with bookstore distribution rules — though explicit manga (like Nana) are usually just shrink-wrapped…
Mainstream usually means, somewhat contradictorily as you point out, the big two. I don’t think you can really use Asterix, Tin Tin, or translated manga to talk about the health of American comics. The other titles you mention all seem like directions DC and Marvel should definitely go if they could get their acts together. They really don’t seem to be able to, though, which makes me wonder about their long term prospects.
Sin City definitely has its share of bare breasts; remember little Nancy Callahan in That Yellow Bastard? She grew up; she filled out. Sure, Jessica Alba didn’t show anything in the movie version of that scene, but she was naked in the book. There are probably other bits of nudity, but that’s the one that springs to mind.
I’m trying to think of other comics that use sex in any sort of R-rated fashion. For Vertigo, there’s a good deal of nudity and sex in 100 Bullets, but that series definitely leans more toward violence. Y the Last Man has its share of sex (even the male variety, on at least one occasion). Army@Love has a bunch, and it kind of even falls into the sex comedy category. There might be others, like Young Liars or Scalped, but I haven’t read those (which I do hope to remedy for Scalped one of these days). Oh, and also Loveless, I think.
As for non-Vertigo, maybe Blankets? That’s probably more PG-13. The only other thing I can think of that seems like a sex comedy is Chynna Clugston’s Blue Monday, but while there’s plenty of language and innuendo in that series, I don’t think there’s much in the way of actual sex or nudity. So yeah, where’s the American Pie of comics?
You got me on Sin City then; I haven’t read the whole thing by any means.
I’m not thinking just American Pie, but also…I don’t know, things like women in prison movies or rape revenge movies or even cheerleader movies– basic sexploitation.
It’s not that comics with bare breasts would necessarily be great art or anything. But you start to have different narrative goals when the exploitation focus shifts from violence to sex, and as a result you can end up with different kinds of stories. Which seems like it might be a good thing for comics.
There's plenty of graphic sexual content in American comics beyond the occasional bare breast. Quickly looking at my bookshelf, I see Fables, Jonah Hex, Preacher, Sandman, Transmetropolitan, Y: The Last Man, Sandman, Concrete, Alias, Wanted, Box Office Poison, Next Men, Sin City, Powers, Boulevard of Broken Dreams, Watchman, Supreme Power, and League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. I think if translated faithfully to the big screen, all would earn an R rating on sexual content alone. I'm sure there are more.
Most are available at Barnes & Noble, many published by DC, some by Marvel, and none are shrink wrapped. Granted many of these titles are also extremely violent, but to imply American publishers and retailers are prudish towards graphic nudity and sex in comics just doesn't ring true.
It should also be noted that the manga market (in Japan at least) has plenty of exactly the sort of things you mention, Noah. It’s probably because it’s a healthy market, providing content for readers of all ages. I guess that’s the hope, that the US market will grow to the point that there’s something for everybody, whether you’re looking for literary complexity or simply an enjoyable story.
I think you’re the first blogger who ever advocated more women-in-prison exploitation comics.
God bless you, sir.