Here’s the main part of my thesis prospectus, which will give you an idea of why I haven’t been posting that much as of recent:
On the surface, comic books appear to be no more than printed publications telling visual stories of super-powered individuals struggling to defeat evil and promote the cause of justice. However, this description belies multifaceted nature as comic books as an economic product: Comics, on their own, are indeed simply another form of disposable entertainment available to the leisure-seeking consumer. But this is not the end of the story: not only do comics serve as disposable entertainment commodities, but there also exists the well-publicized phenomenon of consumers purchasing comic books based on their expected future value. What’s more, as the recent acquisition of Marvel by Disney can attest, these functions are growing increasingly supplanted by the idea that comic books are valuable primarily for the intellectual properties created within. It’s clear to see, then, that comic books are much more complicated entities than one would originally perceive. Thus, the central question of my thesis is, broadly stated: What are comic books as an economic product?
Of course, before one even begins to pick apart the question, it will be necessary to wrestle down the definition of what comic books “are” for the purposes discussing the economic product. For now, when I refer to comics as a “product,” I will be referring to a single narrative arc of a story told using the printed comics medium, be it contained in a single issue or spread out in multiple issues. This definition also encompasses longer books that are both collections of serial issues and those that are written in the graphic novel format. This definition will work at present, though it is not set in stone.
At their core, comic books are printed publications combing words and pictures, usually to tell a narrative story, that come out monthly and are consumed mainly by a dedicated base of fans. While primarily superhero oriented, comics also extend into such genres as science fiction, horror, fantasy, and even romance, and cater to a wide range of demographic groups. In short, comics are an entertainment product, albeit a niche one. The idea of comics as entertainment commodities will be filtered through the lens of the entertainment industry, and much of my analysis will be concerned primarily with fitting comics into the corresponding economic models of “entertainment as a commodity” that have already been created for such products as television, movies, books, and magazines. I want to look at the reasons why people (such as myself) still consume comic books when other, “better” substitutes are out there (of course, Market Segmentation can explain some of this, but why that market segmentation happened is still a question worth examining). This idea could be used as a jumping off point for a topic I spoke about in my paper last semester—specifically, the idea that comic books are a product around which fans create a distinct “culture.”
Comic books also serve a second value in the economic realm: as investments in the form of collectables. It is impossible to talk about comics as a product without talking about how the first issue of Superman was sold for such and such price to a collector. However, far from being a small part of the industry, the idea that back issues will retain and increase their value is central to both the growth of both direct market distribution, which drove the shift towards the distribution of comics through the comic book shops, and the speculation boom of the 90’s, the popping of which threatened to (and did) put numerous comic book companies out of business. I will probably examine comic books as collectables through frameworks developed to explain collectability, with the unique considerations of comic books as collectables taken into account—that is, if there is anything particularly unique about comics as collectables, as opposed to such recent popular collectables such as Beanie Babies, sports cards, action figures and the like.
More importantly than being relegated disposable entertainment or investment vehicles, however, the licensing out of comics characters into more profitable formats, such as movies, television, and toys, is an even bigger industry than the publishing aspect of comics itself: In 2006, Marvel’s publishing produced $108.5 million, while licensing and toys delivered $243.3 million. Indeed, in my paper last semester, I asserted that comics are in the “creativity business.” However, to phrase things in a more economic manner: many of the most popular intellectual properties today are created within the pages of comic books themselves, and, as such, we can see comic books as a type of “capital” with which intellectual properties are created and nurtured. This idea of comics as intellectual property capital is far and away the most interesting thing I will probably talk about, as it’s entirely new territory; I want to figure out how intellectual property capital is similar or different any other type of capital (physical or human), what drives the demand for intellectual property capital, and, most interestingly what about comic books make them particularly suited to this function. This last question can be examined in some detail, and will allow me to utilize comic theory, a topic which I personally find interesting and would like to examine further.
This task of outlining the multiple economic roles of comic books and the resultant creation of an analytical framework will occupy most of my effort in at least this first phase of thesis research. However, creation of a framework would be pointless without something more concrete with which to ground it—i.e., I don’t want this examination to be an empty intellectual exercise. Thus, I think it prudent to attempt to use this framework to explain the changes present in the development of the American comic book industry over the 20th and 21st century. I will seek to explain that these changes happen in the industry because different economic roles become more prominent as the production of comics meets the demonstrated demand for comics in each economic role, and these demands are derived from other factors, such as technology and cultural shifts, that influence why people want comic books at a given point in time. This “economic history” will allow me to both ground the theoretical nature of the framework and allow me to test its validity. It will also allow me to assess different creative changes in comic books—whether the “cinematic” nature of comics has increased or decreased as a result of differing economic roles, whether companies resort to sales-boosting “events”, whether characters remain static or change, etc. can all be explained utilizing this economic theory.
Depending on how my research grows, I could comment on the growth of the digital medium of comic books, the effect of foreign competition, especially Japanese manga, on American comics, predictions about the future of the industry, the changing role of the comic book creator, or even the way the changing nature of the comic book affects the entertainment industry in general.
