Posted in: Comics | Tagged: 2021, happy new year

Happy New Year! A Drunken Post From A Future State Of 2021

Happy New Year! It is almost 2 am where I am typing in Lockdown London, and I appear to be drunk. Well, certainly rather merry. It seems that it takes a lot less these days. Consider this, America, a missive from the future, from 2021, to tell you what awaits you in mere hours. I spent this New Year's Eve at home, watching fireworks at the vicarage, raised a glass or seven to Jools Holland and the newly-vaccinated Tom Jones and for some reason got persuaded by my BC bosses to post any and every thought while in this tipsy state.

So what news will come? Well, with vaccines rolling out, it is only a matter of days before we have headlines complaining that some people have been vaccinated before others. While all would agree that healthcare workers need priority to get vaccinated when you picture nurses, doctors and staff dealing with coronavirus patients, it's a different picture for ancillary staff. Expect a different attitude when it is revealed that opticians got vaccines before care home residents. Or, as I have been told, those working for cosmetic surgeons delivering botox injections. In order to get the many vaccinated at speed, there will be many such stories – try not to lose sight of the fact that it is a miracle that we have so many vaccines approved for use already. Arguing over who gets the jab first only happens because there are jabs available, which is brilliant.

Comic books will be going through big changes in 2021. You may have noticed that Bleeding Cool has been upping its coverage of middle grade and YA original graphic novels – I have a great interview with that I need to transcribe this weekend. Expect announcements of mature readers graphic novels to start to catch up, even if they will have publication dates of 2024 and onwards. The literary children of Dav Pilkey and Raina Telgemeir will be going to college and will be discovering comic book shops for the first time too, and should be vaccinated by the time school starts too.

DC Comics will continue to go through the most ructions, a further reduction of the editorial staff, a reduction in titles, outsourcing some editorial and publication to Random House as Marvel does with IDW, and a shift towards anthologies, and digital serialisation of print graphic novels. This is the publishing model that may appeal to the audience mentioned above – for the more traditional direct market, Future State and DC Infinite may be the last spin of the wheel for the Old DC Comics. Much will depend on it.

Mark Millar and Robert Kirkman may have led the way developing himself as IP that he was then able to sell to Netflix, look to Scott Snyder, Donny Cates, James Tynion IV to push in that direction, and maybe get attention from Prime Video, Hulu or others as a result. The bigger branded comic book publishers have all been bought up by studios; it may be the creator profiles and portfolios are the ones that are left. You can't buy Marvel, but you could buy Ram V or Al Ewing. Hell, Neal Adams and Continuity Comics may be worth a second look, and probably a bargain compared to Valiant. And some creatives jettisoned by DC Comics may find the necessary push to transform themselves into self facilitating media nodes of comic book creation. Or do something else entirely.

The return of comic book conventions may be a nervous time for attendees, publishers, studios, creators and vendors. It could be that the first returning shows will have an audience and attendance closer to the shows of the seventies or eighties – which some will enjoy. But by the end of 2021, expect a resurgence, some very geeky facemasks indeed and no one being offended by the use of Purell.

The industry has managed to survive remarkably given the circumstances, and only a few comic book stores and even fewer publishers have closed due to pandemic. The unemployment, reduced income and increased taxes that will likely be a result will put less money in more pockets, and there may be a longer effect than is currently being experienced when the state – and charitable – intervention starts to pull away. Amazon will save some and doom others.

Brexit will be a thing for all sorts of geeky stuff, but comics should escape much of it courtesy of being printed material which attracts no customs duty or sales tax. If it crashes pound sterling any further, expect US publishers to raid British creatives further as we'll all be a bargain. And with page rates dropping all over the place, we'll be a cheap option.

But despite it all, I remain optimistic. There's potential; there's stuff, there are people doing things, reading things, making things – and wanting to show everyone. Comics will never die when someone can hold a pen against paper. Night all. See you when you have all followed me into 2021…

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