Historically, the best selling comics have operated in real time, or something close to it. But what about today? Marvel and DC don’t produce any real time comics, so what is selling? And what can we learn?

The biggest selling comics of 2006-2007

The biggest selling comics of 2006-2007, month after month, are Marvel’s Civil War and DC’s 52. What do they have in common? Real time elements (or the closest thing we can have within Marvel Time and DC’s equivalent).

Civil War is "politically charged," where superheroes reflect issues being fought out in the real world right now. ‘52’ is a comic that moves on one week for each week in the real world. And the fans love them. It’s not just hype fueling these: the sales remain strong month after month.

The biggest news at the time of writing (March 2007) is the ‘death’ of Captain America. It’s in all the real world newspapers. What's this? Characters get old and die and we
move on? Yes folks, it's the shadow of real time again and it’s getting people excited about comics.

The biggest selling comics of 2005-2006

Before Civil War, what were the biggest selling series? Marvel had ‘House of M’ and DC had ‘Infinite Crisis.’ What did they have in common? They both promised real and genuine changes and that affected all the other comics. What’s this you say? The fans wouldn’t like real time because they don’t want too much change? Sales figures say otherwise.

Mind you, I will agree that change for its own sake is bad. But these series, House of M and Infinite Crisis, had changes that naturally evolved from what went before. I didn’t read ‘Infinite Crisis’ but ‘House of M’ was particularly interesting form a real time standpoint. It starts with real world dates (such as 1979) and real names (such as Richard Nixon) and real issues (such as stem cell research). It then creates an alternate world that is frankly more realistic where superheroes are concerned. Politics is dominated by superpowered beings (as would happen in the real world). Spider-Man and Cyclops are married to their long time girlfriends and Steve Rogers is old. The scenario didn’t last (a sudden aging would not be realistic) but House of M did make one big permanent change: reducing the number of mutants from an unfeasible ‘several million’ to a relative handful. A world with millions of mutants simply would not be like the world we live in, but a couple of hundred? That’s a major step toward reality, folks.

Major changes, time moving on, continuity... that’s what sells.

The biggest selling comics of 2004 and before

Before 2005 there was a few years where no one series dominated. I don’t have enough experience to analyze the hundreds of individual ‘top ten’ comics to see which sold, how much was due to single issue hype, and how much was due to other causes. However, in general there are some well known trends:

When a character dies (or is married), that issue sells more. When a series seems to be going somewhere, so people have to buy to find “what happens next,” it sells more. When a series is relaunched with more contemporary themes (such as the Ultimates) it sells more. Some of the most successful and influential series ever (such as Dark Knight Returns and Watchmen) deal with the passage of time and how events would play out “in the real world.”

The message is clear. Where there are good sales there are usually shades of real time. Real time does not guarantee good sales, because it would be theoretically possible to write a real stinker set in real time, or a wonderful book where nothing changed, but on average, real time elements and good sales go together.

The case against: people like what is familiar

It should be noted that every change has its detractors: plenty of people hate Civil War, and when a character dies the fans naturally want him back. Just look at the Hal Jordan ‘debacle,’ though that may have more to do with the quality of writing than any blanket hatred of change. But overall, the sales figures speak for themselves.

Nostalgia, the opposite of change, also sells. But that’s hardly surprising while comics are not attracting new readers. The readership is aging and is naturally fond of the characters they liked years ago. But if comics want serious sales increases, they need to attract new readers. How would real time help? Let’s see:

Real Time makes it easier to grab new readers

Real Time comics are full of real time references. They give something for new readers to recognize and hold onto. Places and names and dates that are familiar and bring the heroes into the reader’s world.

On the other side of the coin, a real time line of comics would allow non-real time comics to blossom. There would be two parallel comic lines: the real time one for breathless realism, and the classic line for nostalgic escapism, now free from any pressure to change. The classic line would be free to focus on the classic heroes that are familiar from the movies and cartoons. New readers would pick up a comic and immediately feel at home, and only move on to real time when they were ready for something more.

In contrast, today’s comics have the worst of both worlds, and see designed to scare away new readers. The stories and characters are different from the movies, and require a steep learning curve. But they don’t have the real time references that would make that learning curve easy.

Real Time makes it easier to keep new readers

Once you have a new reader, how do you keep them? Stan Lee had the answer in the 1960s: the Marvel Universe! Have everything take place in the same universe, so readers can easily hop between books and find one they like. And be tempted to buy more just to keep up!

But without real time, the Marvel Universe cannot fulfill either function. Stories cannot take place in the same universe because it’s to big and unwieldy. Nobody can keep up with forty six years of continuity, especially when that continuity is constantly being rewritten to pretend it only took ten years. It’s a mess! Continuity has become a dirty word, and creative teams often ignore it. And because it’s a mess, new readers cannot jump between books without getting totally lost.

Real time keeps continuity fresh because it is always changing, but easy to follow because the history is fixed, and has major signposts (the years when it took place!) And the rapid pace of change means that no character will hang around doing the same kind of stuff for forty six years. They move on or they die. So real time makes the universe manageable for new readers.

Real Time discovers new markets

Real time means everything is constantly changing, so innovation is easy. Radical new ideas are easy when writers have real freedom.

Real Time makes it easier to keep old readers.

Comic readers usually “grow out of” comics and stop buying. Readers change. But if the characters grew up and matured at the same pace as their readers, why would anyone ever leave?

Conclusion

The conclusion is simple. Real Time is the way to get and keep readers, both in theory and in practice. You can’t argue with the sales figures.

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