And you know why that is? Movies. They aren’t killing the comic industry, they’re making it grow! That are SO many people out there that watch a comic movie and then decide to go read the comic or comics that it’s based off of. Or they plan to see the movie so they read the comic, or the comics that it’s based off of before seeing it, to get some background info. I know of over a dozen people personally, that do that, myself included. I never read a single Spawn comic until after I watched the movie, got interested, and started reading the comics. I never read Watchmen until pictures and info started coming out about the movie and everyone was talking about it, so i decided to go buy the comic to see what it was all about. My 6-year old nephew never even knew Spider-Man was a comic until a couple years when I mentioned it to him (He LOVES the movies and various cartoons), and so I bought him a shitload of them and now he collects them and is heavily into the various series’.

Even a quick little research project in google will show that comic sales are not going down and are instead rising and are FAR from being dead.

I disagree that comics are doing quite well. It might depend on your location though. In my area, there used quite a few comic stores but many of them withered away slowly. I mean, why would any kid want to read a comic book when they can play a video game or watch a movie/cartoon? But these days kids aren’t even the ones that buy comics anymore, it’s become an audience of middle aged men. One reason for them doing so badly is the ridiculous prices they charge. it’s no longer cheap casual reading. What kid can afford to spend 3.99+tax for a comic book? And when you do buy it, it’s just a flimsy pamphlet with 3-4 pages of ads. A kid can go buy himself a used ps2 game for that 2-3 comic books, and that game could last him for days to weeks.

That being said, I would much rather read a comic than watch that comic’s movie adaptation. For one, far too many times are the original creator left out of the process and the reigns of creative freedom drive WAY too far from the printed material. This can be good at times, but not so much in the last few years.

Art. Other than Sin City and one or two others, every comic themed movie has looked the same. Sure, different takes on camera angles, lighting, computer generated arts, etcetera, but when I open up a comic book (Hellboy; Troll Witch and other Stories) there is a definite art style.

Direction. When you’re not attempting to appeal to a mass crowd, you can take a greater number of chances with your market. I still read comics that are far bloodier than what would ever be allowed on screen. Then again, I doubt the comics in question have as large a reader base than the movie would have viewers, so that may be a mute point.

I’m sure there are numerous reasons why I enjoy comics over movies, but at the moment, I am growing lazy via strawberry milkshake and curly fries.

that’s a simple question with a simple answer. Far fewer people read/buy comic books than watch movies. Comic book shops are dropping like flies, because few people shop in them. In ten years, I don’t even know if comic book stores would still even exist but movie theaters i’m certain will still be alive.

Looks good, may search some sites for pages to understand the story. As always good finds, Doug, good finds.

Devil’s Due Publishing just released the Hack/Slash Omnibus a few weeks ago which collects some of the early comic miniseries. I highly recommend hitting your local comic book store and picking it up.

-Marc