< Back | Home

Junior mechanical engineering major Brian Auer reads a ´Superman´ comic at Lytle´s Comics and games in College Station Monday afternoon. (Photo by Sharon Aeschbach/The Battalion)

A revival of comic proportions

Box-office success and aging demographic lead to revival of comic books

By: Robert Saucedo

Posted: 3/2/04

Janet Van Dyne lies in bed, moaning with pleasure, surrounded by scattered clothes and wine bottles. As she quiets down, Henry Pym, a man no more than half an inch tall, crawls out from under the sheets. Pym remarks: "All right, Jan. Your turn."

This racy scene may sound like something from a bizarre pornographic film, but in fact it is a page out of the October 2003 issue of Marvel Comics' "The Avengers," featuring the Astonishing Ant-Man and his partner-in-love - as well as in justice - The Wasp.

It is no longer uncommon to flip through a random comic book and discover all sorts of "R-rated" behavior. With the maturity levels growing along with the average reader's age, it's no surprise that most comic books are seemingly targeted towards an older college audience.

Sidra Roberts, a senior chemical engineering major, started reading Archie comics when she was only 5 years old. Today, her tastes run the gauntlet, including everything from science-fiction comics, superhero comics, to even children's comics. Roberts visits her favorite comic bookstore in Houston weekly to pick up the newest issues of the comic books she reads.

"I like having something to look forward to every month," Roberts said. "It's like a good TV show, except it's monthly or bimonthly."

Roberts said although more people are coming back to comic books for a pastime, things are not completely smooth for the comic book market. She said comic book publishers should start targeting younger audiences if they want to survive.

"If we do not get children into the market, the market is going to eventually cave in on itself and die," Roberts said. "Hopefully the industry will continue to grow and diversify. It used to be that the industry had all sorts of comics: horror comics, western comics, superhero comics and romance comics. You're starting to see delineation again. We're going back from the straight superhero comics that dominated for a while and are starting to see new things."

Mike Colbert, a Class of 2001 journalism major, has been reading comic books for at least 18 years.

"My dad was in Tokyo for a while, and he collected a bunch of comic books and sent me some," Colbert said. "I read them all."

He said the recent trend of mature comics is only natural.

"If you think about it, you realize children don't have as much money as college students," Colbert said. "They don't have as much control of their money."

One thing Colbert said he does not agree with is the use of classic superheros in adult situations.

"They're supposed to be superheros," Colbert said. "They're not supposed do stuff like use their powers to have sex. But I guess sex does sell."

Marvel Comics, the publishing house behind such superhero mainstays as "Spider-Man," "X-Men" and "The Incredible Hulk," has lately chosen to pursue controversial ideas and stories and in the past few years has not shied away from publishing different titles that evoke different reactions. According to marvelcomics.com, these titles include the recently collected miniseries "Truth," in which several black World War II soldiers are experimented on with a super-soldier serum that would eventually be used to turn a more "suitable" white man into Captain America.

Always willing to push the boundaries of the mainstream market, Marvel can arguably be called today's most successful comic book publisher. With several blockbuster movies, hit video games, action figures and other paraphernalia under its utility belt, Marvel has created a vast merchandising empire for itself, and this is all from a company that was bankrupt five years ago.

Aside from its aging demographic, Marvel's success in recent years is largely due to its recent brush with success in the movie industry. Yahoo movies reports that the comic chain's zenith, "Spiderman," has one of the highest overall box office collections - more than $403 million - in history. Yahoo movies also reports that following closely behind everybody's favorite mutant, is the second installment of the popular X-men series, "X2: X-Men United," with overall collections of nearly $215 million.

The ticket sales of films based on Marvel Comics have not been ignored. Today, many film studios are actively developing as many comic book-related properties as they can. There are currently more than a dozen comic book films in active development, including director Kevin Smith's take on "The Green Hornet" and Robert Rodriguez's adaptation of Frank Miller's gritty crime comic, "Sin City."

Even though superhero movies are raking in cash at the box office, Josefina Morales, owner of the local Lytle's Comics & Games, hasn't noticed an increase in sales.

"I get most of the same people in all the time," Morales said. "I've noticed a lot of the same people who come in will try new stuff because it's being made into a movie to see what it's like."

Colbert believes an increase in comic book-based movies doesn't necessarily spell doom for future adaptations.

"Sure, the possibility exists, but there are a lots of goods stories that fans enjoy and that moviegoers would enjoy if brought to the movies," Colbert said. "There are comic book fans around - not nearly as much as there were 20 years, but we are not a dying breed."

Colbert believes the recent boom in the popularity of superheros in the media is much deserved.

"It's been a long time coming," Colbert said. "Comics were just destined to get better recognition. The stories are a lot deeper then people realize. I don't think they will ever die out completely."