Are comic books dead?

[monkspider]

Now I haven't read comics for years, but it seems like they have been slowly vanishing over the years. The last time I was big into comics was when Image comics had just emerged and was the big thing everyone was talking about (I recall Magic the Gathering: Ice Age had just come out too). I remember there used to be about a dozen comic book stores in Wichita, now there is only one. Also, A lot of supermarkets that used to have a comic book rack no longer do.
So my question for anyone in the know is this: Are comic books on their last legs?

[RGBVideo]

Hmm... maybe internet comics have taken their place?
(example/commercial: www.elftor.com )

EDIT: Took, taken. My Engrish skills need some practice, still.

[Dinner]

The late time I bought a comic book was around 1992 and it was for the start of Marvel's Wolverine comic book series. I still have my issue of Wolverine #1 (the last issue I bought) and I have a complete set of X-men 182-223 but most of the rest I've getten rid of over the years.

Back in the early 90's the future of comics looked bright but now they srunken back down to the purient adolecent boy interest that they've always been. They'll always have a market but like base ball cards they will never be the huge collecter's item they once where.

[loinburger]

If the comic book industry relied on my patronage, then it would have died out over a decade ago.

I had a friend in college who was into comics, and according to him they're still going fine. There's more competition from Japanese comics than previously, and a lot of American comics have withered out (Superman, f'rinstance, where first they killed him, then they brought back three or four new Supermans, then they changed his costume and powers so that he's even more homoerotic; also X-men, where apparently they reached their level of superhero and villain saturation, after which the series sort of gave up the ghost), so the market's not very stagnant and is currently missing a fair number of the old-school comics.

Again, this is mostly hearsay, since I only follow the industry by proxy.

[Kyle]

Not at all, in fact, creatively they are the best they've been since the 80's. Marvel is again putting out books that are worth reading. The afformentioned X-men, for example, have once again become a must read under Grant Morrison's care. And sales have been increasing again over the past year or two.

[Edan]

I mostly read comics in the mid 80s, from independent publishers like Epic and such. I also briefly read some of the Star Trek Comics. I was never much of a super-hero reader though, and when the comic series I did read died out (or I lost interest) I never bothered to find anything to replace them with, especially as I've never really liked superhero comics.

I did pick up a bunch of reprints of the old EC comics a few years back - those were just too hard to resist.

I imagine comics are doing poorly in terms of sales, though, particularily with computer/video games/the internet/etc to spend their money/time on.

[Dinner]

I did follow the AD&D comic books for a while but that series died out after only five or six issues (this was in the very early nineties).

[Sarxis]

Originally posted by Tuomerehu
Hmm... maybe internet comics have taken their place?

I think cynicism has taken their place. And Grand Theft Auto.

[DinoDoc]

Considering that they have developed several sucessful games around them and more are on the way, along with an actual bump in the creative side of things to with solid sales I'd have to say no.

[monkspider]

Originally posted by Edan
I did pick up a bunch of reprints of the old EC comics a few years back - those were just too hard to resist.

I love EC! They are my favorite comics ever. I am lucky enough to own a rather sizable portion of the "EC Library". A collection of bound, hardback volumes made some years ago.

[Jon Miller]

Are you refering to the nonfunny type. Never read those. I do have some Calvin and Hobbs as well as Garfield and Hagar the Horrible (I got the Hagar's first, very long ago, than I got the garfields, than I got the Calvina nd Hobbs (this last was 5-7 years ago, I think I should complete my set))

Jon Miller

[aaglo]

Comics...
/me wipes a tear from the corner of his eye...

I have lots of marvel comics - some rarities from the 80's included.

I haven't noticed anything like Monkspider mentioned. There are still those old comic stores I went to.

[Seeker]

It depends on what you are talking about, Marvel has definetly gone through a creative and artistic slump that lost me.

[Traianvs]

I don't know much about American comics (X-men, superman, batman etc)
but out here there's still a lot of activity in the comic books industry, it's just that superhero comics in the exact meaning of a hero with capabilities to fly etc are less popular here!

We have though, lost a great comic, "Nero" that was stopped the 31st of december

[catullus]

I just finished "DK2: The Dark Knight Strikes Again". Impressive. Life imitates art, it seems.
Late 80's I spent a lot on comic books, these days almost nothing, although I still buy simple comic magazines. Maybe I've become older. There are a couple of special stores for comics around here, but they seem to live mostly of games (board and computer) and SF books these days.

C.