Robert Scott, owner of Comickaze : Comics, Books and More, says the comics industry is now "publishing to Hollywood. They are publishing to get the attention of Hollywood and TV, and maybe video games, and less about the actual books themselves. I think Publishers Weekly just ran a story on Platinum Studios and their problems and these are guys that were created strictly to market to Hollywood but it doesn't seem to be working really well for them. Virgin Comics is also doing that." (But he notes that films like Sin City do inspire new readers.)
Ed Sherman, co-owner of Rising Sun Creations , says that the success of comic book movies doesn't help retailers like himself the way they should: "there are all these blockbuster movies but the best we get is 'based on a comic character' or 'based on a DC Comic. ' They've got millions of people out there [watching the movies] that they could advertise to and they really don't. They don't say go check out the Comic Book Locator service and find a comic book store near you to find even more cool stuff based on this movie. You never hear any of that. It just tells me one thing: that Marvel especially, and DC are jumping on the bandwagon too. I can see the future for them is just getting in the movie business. They are going to forget about the comics because Marvel probably made more money off of Iron Man than they probably made in five years of publishing comics. & I predict they are going to be one of the biggest studios ever and comics are already taking a back seat to their movies. That's why they are leaving us out in the cold and not pushing people into our comic book stores."
Hmmm. & So maybe the increased presence of Hollywood at Comic-Con is because big comics publishers are finding movies and gaming a far more lucrative way to use their intellectual properties.
Related Comic-Con Panels: Retail Relevance (Friday, 10am, Room 22); Virgin Comics (Thursday, 10:45am, Ballroom 20); Lionsgate/Marvel (Thursday, 4:15pm, Hall H)
