Comics evolves thru time. A lot comes as a reflection or reaction to the culture it is in. We went to from the 4-color unbelievable (to the 60′s) to the culturally relevant (70′s, with Moore and Miller), to sweeping opera (80′s, Crisis, etc.), to the big breast era (90′s and Image, thankfully mostly gone), to the post 9/11 comics.

Post 9/11 are a real mix. They tend towards realistic stories of fantastic characters. (ie. Evil might actually win sometimes.) They are also geared to those with attention deficit, meaning fast paced, loud and sometimes in your face. Some characters suffer under this, since character development takes a back seat to the action. (X-Teen angst is so yesterday.)

Dreamland Chronicles is not fast paced. It has great character development (although Alexander could use a lot more). The story builds tensions, slowly, but it does build. I like it because of the great graphics and interesting writing. That being said, I can see why the online readership is 70% female. It is not made for today’s males. I view this as a good thing, since it is needed, but it leaves one in a niche market comic wise.

So what to do? Marketing is perception. I don’t know if the troops can get marshall’ed to get all viral about it, but the more buzz about the release, the more likely someone will pick it up and buy it. Word of mouth to the comic shops, by what ever direction, can get the initial orders. Whether they keep on ordering is up to the sales figures. In the end, it is unfortunately all about the money.

While I agree there are female readers like Kym who are fans of comics…it’s not the norm.

Please remember…Dreamland was originally a comic book series (with 3 issues hitting comic shops back about 2003-2004)

The numbers really weren’t that good. THe REVIEWS were great. Those who bought it liked it. But retailers just didn’t get it.

So I put it online.

Then I found my readership.

Do you know that about 70% of my readers are girls?

Whether girls go to comic shops or not…is almost irrelevant to my dilemma.
If the retailers don’t BUY the comic…the girls who GO to the shops won’t see it.

So I’m still stuck catering to the male retailers as well.
Still…
You won’t see “T&A” on the cover.

But as James suggested…you may see more pretty gals than cute teddy bears on the cover.

In fact…the second issue has a mermaid on the cover.

I’m trying to keep the covers relevant to the issue. So whoever makes an appearance in that issue may very well be on the cover.

No disrespect to 70% of my readership (Females)…
I’ll always make sure and keep you all happy (though I have no idea what I did to be blessed by your readership)…
But trying to get those comic retailers to order the comics…we DO have to keep in mind what appeals to them.

Ok, so I kicked the soapbox a little bit.

Which also means you’ll have about another two years of web based pages done at the end of the that? You’re going to be a busy guy, Scott!

So, I assume Volume 3 of the graphic novel format will include the covers for the IDW comics as well? Should be fun.

Hmmmm. Does IDW offer subcriptions by mail? Just a thought to avoid missing an issue.