A new mainstream
A new mainstream |
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Page 17 of 23  Doom Patrol (1990). Strip art: Richard Case. Script: Grant Morrison. Cover art: Simon Bisley. A selfconsciously weird revamp of an early 1960s superhero team-up story, that took its surreal elements to the hilt. The Vertigo line was undoubtedly successful - but not that successful. Sales were never on the scale of Dark Knight or Watchmen, and media exposure was miniscule in comparison. Similarly, the predicted expansion of the graphic novel market never happened, and indeed, the early enthusiasm for the form shown by high-street bookshops evaporated very quickly. As the 1990s progressed, therefore, adult comics increasingly seemed like a false hope - at best, a cultish sideline. Marvel, very shrewdly in retrospect, saw which way the wind was blowing and decided not to compete with Vertigo. Instead, they concentrated on more traditional material, aimed at a teenage market. The focus would be on established characters rather than new ones, 'continuing comics' rather than graphic novels, and, above all, artist-led rather than writer-led titles. As a corollary, every effort would be made to appeal to the fans in the specialist shops (by way of gimmicks, collectable covers, and so on), while the casual reader in the bookshops would be virtually ignored. It was a 'back to basics' approach that certainly made commercial sense. There was another incentive for Marvel to take this path. In 1991, the company became a publicly owned corporation, and began trading on the New York Stock Exchange. What this meant was that there was now more pressure than ever to expand their market share, and to extend the market in general, in order to keep shareholders happy. As a result, there was a rush to launch new titles - not always with very much thought for quality. Many were unsuccessful, but the one or two really big hits more than made up for this.  Enigma (1993). Art: Duncan Fegredo. About 'an existential superhero, looking for meaning in a meaningless world' |