Welcome to the Short Report. As some of you may know, I started The Short Report with an addendum to the hot button topic about piracy (though that wasn’t the original intent). But with that behind us, I’m jumping into the deep end. This was the intended first post: I’m going to discuss the upcoming adaptation of the monstrous phenomenon that is Twilight. I think I just want people to hate me.
Some of you may know that the Twilight series is being adapted into a comic. A Highly controversial decision here at the Multiversity Offices (David is TOTALLY Team Edward, and Burpee is on Team Jacob, which will be the topic of the next video podcast, if Matt doesn’t fire them…again). But the question is: how much of a good idea is this? The problem is that it might be a little more complex than you think.
First, as David pointed out to me, this is a boon to an industry whose audience is skewing older. Most comic book readers are in their mid twenties to thirties, and with the advent of the internet, comics are something that kids are not reading. Sure they love the movies, they buy the shirts, and they salivate over The Dark Knight, but how many of the people who LOVED The Dark Knight started picking up the Batman book? Probably not as many as you might think. In short, if the industry doesn’t react quickly in an even more quickly changing world, the whole medium may go the way of the Nokia N-Gage.
This is where Twilight comes in. What better way to attract younger readers (and even —gasp!–girls!) to go the comic shop than to adapt the hottest trend in the world right now? I can’t think of many things. Is it a cheap grab at money? I wouldn’t argue that. But is it fair to condemn this while buying up pointless Blackest Night tie-in #687?
No, I’m not belittling Blackest Night. But while Blackest Night is chin deep in continuity, something like Twilight can give people a clear and easy entry point into our chosen passion. I spoke with a Twilight fan soon after starting this article, and she did say she was open to checking out other books, depending on if they matched her interests. But that’s the rub, isn’t it?
Here is where it gets sticky. While I would LOVE to see thousands of new comic fans crowding comic shops hunting for the latest issue of Amazing Spider-Man, Chew, or The Walking Dead, would the Twilight-converted, nouveau comic reader actually go to the comic shop to read any more books? I’m not entirely convinced.
It’s currently the top selling pre-order on Amazon.com, but that’s worrisome in my eyes, because that tells me that people are just looking at the cover with the Twilight typeface, and frantically and rabidly buy it. It reminds me of when an Alias video game was released (think Jennifer Garner, not Jessica Jones), I had a friend, who, despite not being a gamer by any stretch of the imagination, bought the game. He was THAT big of a fan. Did he buy a system to play it on? No, he used his brother’s. Did he ever play another game? Doubtful.
Will those people who buy the Graphic Novel even bother going to the LCS to buy it? Will they even KNOW where the local comic shop is? Assuming they do go to the LCS, would the LCS even carry it? I’m not sure they would. I would hope they would to make as much money as possible. But you never know.
I touched upon this earlier, but how do you capitalize on the popularity of Twilight, post-Twilight? There aren’t many books I can think of off the top of my head that would appeal to your average Twilight reader. What books can you possibly recommend to someone who lives for romance, and supernatural romance at that? Sure, there’s the possibility of Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane, and POSSIBLY Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel (hey, Angel is even a character named Twilight now!) I think Marvel is on the right track, publishing a book like Girl Comics, which is not only something for girls to read, but everyone as well. Keep in mind it’s not comics necessarily FOR girls, but comics BY women in the industry. If girls find there are people with a voice like theirs in the industry, maybe they’ll want to check it out. But even so, that’s iffy at best.
It’s a really tough conundrum. While Twilight is a franchise of which I would never call myself a fan, and I wish I had never ever seen either of the movies, I’m actually kind of glad we’re getting the books. I’ll refer to Kevin Smith’s thoughts on the matter:
Now, I don’t entirely agree with everything Kevin says, he does make a point that we as the geeks shouldn’t judge them based on the fact they like something in which we have little to no interest. See if there’s a way to bring them into the fold and read more comics, whether it’s the Legion of Super-Heroes or Runaways or The Walking Dead. Because God knows we need more girls who are willing to hang out with those geeks on Wednesday afternoons.
Until next time, Cheers!
