As I was reading the Comic Book Resources (CBR is how I will refer to it from now on. Permanently.) I found myself really thinking about the comic book reading public, especially those that haunt the web. What will they buy?
It's nice to have readers, no doubt, but this isn't a "literary work" likely to be found in a library, so buyers are far more important. The best kind of buyers, of course, are the ones that buy your work as a gift for others, thus helping to spread your name. This still leaves us with that question, though...what will they buy?
The CBR forums are packed with threads about Marvel and DC, but aside from occasional comments on the Idies (Usagi Yojimbo Appreciation, for instance) the "New Posts" button rarely turns up anything for the small presses. And since I hope to eventually market my book through Image, I need to know what the general audience is reading. Or, more precisely, willing to buy.
Using the mainstream fiction industry, I guess the best analogy is as follows:
Do I want to slowly write an intelligent (hopefully) thought-provoking story that might not make a lot of money or get noticed by anyone but a small circle of readers? Or should I just take a 30 day leave of absence from work and write a moronic masturbation fantasy marketed at the least intelligent sector of society that will likely be a NYT best-seller?
It's not an easy decision, let me tell you.
