I don't doubt anything you post (ever), but I am wondering, is there any proof that these readers who jump on board for a 'first' issue actually stick around for a while?

I don't know what the turnover of readership was in the 70s as I wasn't there. But in the 80s, I did know of people who had been reading comics for a while. Same in the 90s and beyond. It wasn't uncommon to have a chat with someone in, say, 1999 - and hear them talk about the late 70s or early 80s comics they'd been reading. They seemed to stick around.

I'd like to know if the ones buying 'first' issues today are actually short-term folk or on the path to becoming Wednesday warriors.

Again, the bulk of the readers in the past were causal readers, who started on comics between 6-8 years old and were out by high school , creating a massive turnover (which incidentally was why publishers could recycle stories/story ideas every few years because they were new to the new crop of readers). It was only the outliers who became hardcore readers and stuck around (becoming what we call Wednesday Warriors these days), and when you go to the direct market as opposed to newwstands, they begin to only sell to the outliers who remained and not the casual audience and sales number declined accordingly, because they were also not bringing in new readers to replace neither the casual readers who left nor the hardcore readers who left by attrition (death, aging out, changing financial circumstances, loss of interest, or whatever) so content appealing only to Wednesday Warriors is exactly what went wrong with the industry, not something they should be striving for. Targeting the outliers is how comics went form being a mass market product to a niche product, and now they are reaping what they had sewn all those years of targeting the Wednesday Warrior crowd.

-M

And I am very much a "if you are going to affect real change, you have to start from a place of reality, because if you don't any attempts to change you make will be meaningless because they are starting from a point of fantasy not reality and won't address what actually needs to be changed," so hypotheticals are all well and good, but are mostly flights of fancy not anything that can help achieve needed changes.

I enjoy them (almost) as much as the next person, but at the end of the day, they are a distraction from the problem and escapist in nature, so I will almost always try to redirect them towards the real issues facing the industry.

-M

I read a web page last night about "War of the Realms".

"Road to War of the Realms" is in 44 different comics.

"The World at War" is in 35 different comics.

"Reclaim The Realms" is in 19 different comics.

"Midgard's Last Stand" is in 6 different comics.

"War of the Realms Aftermath" is in 54 different comics!

Buying every issue at full price would have cost near to £630 here in Britain!

To have bought 1984's Secret Wars in its entirety (12 issues) would have cost £5.70.

Now, I know prices rise. I get that. Milk costs more than it did in 1984. Same with petrol, beer, bread, furniture, etc. I know the £1 I was given as a kid would have bought two US comics (40p each) and probably a chocolate bar too. I know that in 2019, £1 will barely get me a can of Coca-Cola. So I do get that. I don't want to compare apples with oranges. It's a futile exercise. I would never compare, say, beer today with beer from 1984.

But to a certain extent, comparisons can be made. A completist wishing to buy all of the "War of the Realms" stories, from build up to conclusion would have to buy 158 comics.

Of course, no-one has to buy everything. I bought the Onslaught issues of X-Men back in the day without buying tie-in issues for Punisher, Spider-Man, etc. I don't want to exaggerate, 158 comics is necessary only for the most ardent completist.

I think it's silly, though. And I don't like how events can take over and intrude upon regular books. "The World at War" portion of "War of the Realms" was featured in Venom #13-15. So if you're a Venom reader, you better either like it/lump it - or just skip those three issues. That aside, I don't like the idea of regular books being at the whims of events. If I was a writer on those books, I'd be frustrated. And I think some writers have been. I can't swear to it, but I'm sure John Byrne mentioned something about an event intruding on his regular book. I could be wrong, though, it might have been someone other than JB. I don't want to put words in his mouth, so to speak. Someone said it, though.

Secret Wars had an aftermath and consequences. I first read the issues in reprints 4 or more years after the event. I don't know how much those reprints cost. But pricing aside, unlike Secret Wars II, it was a self-contained maxi-series.

I'm engaging in futility here, I know. I may as well stand face-to-face with a shark in the oceans and tell it off. But I think events intruding on regular books is rude. For the readers of the regular books and those working on them. If I was writing, say, an Iron Fist book, I'd be pissed off if I suddenly had to accommodate "War Of The Crisis Armageddon Multiverse Realms" for several issues.

Less is more. Take the price issue out of the equation. Does any event need lots of issues and countless tie-in issues? Put aside the business realities that mrp and others post about (and they are important to a discussion), but from a purely creative level, what's the point?

As I said in another topic, I feel that these events are also preventing "cross-pollination", whereby supervillains show up to fight superheroes who aren't their regular adversaries. This is something I liked back in the day when you might see Joker show up in a Superman comic or Electro in a Captain America story.

What chance has, say, Scorpion got of showing up in a Wolverine book? Or Juggernaut showing up in a Ms. Marvel book? With all these events to fit in, and the tie-in mentality, we have little chance of that happening. After all, Scorpion may well be tied up in "Armageddon Crisis Of The Multiverse Spideys" for 12 months, no chance of him unsurprisingly showing up in a Daredevil or Ms. Marvel book.

To a certain extent, earth-shattering events being included in regular titles makes sense. But putting aside the $$$, it's the amount I have an issue with. Someone I know made a conscious decision not to follow "War of the Realms" for the same reasons I won't. Too much!

And it's all superfluous. I did read a Spidey tie-in to "Secret Empire", but other than the fact "Secret Empire" was emblazoned on the front cover, it had little to do with that. Marvel wants to have its cake and eat it.

And, yes, they do know that there will be some completists who will want every tie-in. Now, that's between the buyer and their wallet. No-one is forced to buy anything. I do get that.