Cast your mind back to those thrilling days of yesteryear, when real print magazines stoked the passion of comic fans for the latest titles and the hottest creators, providing a venue for publishers to tout their wares and collectors to scope out their next big score.
That’s the vision that publisher Adam (Atom!) Freeman and editor Joseph Keatinge have in mind for Comics: The Magazine, a publication that began as the successor to Chip Zdarsky’s ZCN, but quickly turned into its own new project. CTM formally launched as a monthly earlier this year and is already seeing uptake beyond what they had planned for.
“We were able to get preorders of 100,000 on issue one and 80,000 on issue two,” said Freeman. “We ended up having to expand the first issue because we had so much good stuff.” Issue three is on press, slated for release in early April.
Freeman and Keatinge introduced the publication with a preview issue at New York Comic Con and Baltimore Comic Con last fall before swinging into full production. Unlike many other recent comics startup ventures, they did not go the crowdfunding route, hoping that advertising and distribution revenues would cover the costs. It seems like the bet has paid off.
Catering to a new generation with an old format. “There’s a new generation coming into comic book stores as well as an established generation that’s looking for something that discusses comics in an inviting, fun and interesting way,” said Keatinge.
Based on his industry-facing work with Prana Direct Market Solutions, Freeman says the data supports the anecdotal reports of surging business at retail. “Right now, the stores are killing it, up 20-30 percent over last year, and publishers are creating content that is surging them into the stores en masse. 87 percent of those people are making decisions about what comics to buy in the shop, so we want to be in print, in the stores.”
Freeman says one big driver is that Gen Z consumers are much more interested in physical, printed material than the uber-digital Millennials. “These are kids who grew up with Dog Boy, Raina, Wimpy Kid and manga,” he said. “Now they’re starting to have jobs and incomes, and they’re coming into comic stores looking for material that matches their evolving interests.”
For the love of comics. Keatinge says Comics: The Magazine is meant to stoke that pure love of comics, with features that showcase titles on the racks the month the magazine comes out, plus behind the scenes info, creator interviews and other fan-friendly stuff.
“We don’t favor any one kind of comics over another,” said Keatinge. “We have a certain lean into superhero comics right now, because that’s what bringing people in, but I’d be more than happy to feature, say, the Hernandez brothers. I’d love to have Image books, crowdfunded books and self-published work. As long as it’s comics, I don’t care.”
…and, of course, collecting. Freeman recognizes that even though the 21st century path into comics that these fans have taken may not include the same collector mentality that fueled the hobby in decades’ past, there will always be some interest in what’s hot.
“We have always seen cycles of speculation in our business and that’s not going to change generationally,” said Freeman. “But it’s based on people’s desire for new content, new creators, digging deeper into the creators they’ve discovered. We want to feed that and help them discover the next thing to get them excited.”
He said that Comics: The Magazine will offer some content for those fans, including trending titles charts, secondary market data provided by ShortBox, and features on popular creators, balanced with material that celebrates the art and story on its own terms.
CTM even features classified ads and serialized original comics, like the revival of Chew currently running.
Backwards to a glorious future. If all that sounds like a throwback to the days of Comics Buyers Guide, Wizard and Amazing Heroes, well, that’s the idea. Freeman says the loss of Diamond’s Previews catalog left a void for promotion of current books, but there was room for more than just a catalog.
“Yes, it has a late-80s, early 90s feel to it,” said Freeman, “but if you ask publishers like DC, the last time they saw sales numbers like they have today, you’d have to go back to those days.”
He said a fan-facing publication like CTM complements the industry-centric journalism from outlets like ICv2 and popular news sites, while giving publishers an outlet for marketing and PR that actually reaches fans at the point of purchase. Both he and Keatinge emphasized that while they are seeking sponsors and partners, CTM is editorially independent and not a pay-to-play outlet, nor does it have undisclosed relationships with publishers or other media outlets.
The death and life of comics journalism. There’s been much hand-wringing, a lot of it by me, about the hostile media climate for all journalism right now, including comics (see “What Killed Comics Journalism?“), driven largely by the way tech monopolies are siphoning eyeballs to AI summaries and proprietary platforms.
Freeman and company have found a neat way around the problem by cutting digital media out altogether. It’s a riskier, higher-cost approach dependent on things like paper, printing and physical distribution, but clearly it’s an idea that has met the moment.
To the extent this fires up new fans, drives sales, keeps the retail registers ringing, and gives publishers a better way to reach consumers, Comics: The Magazine feels like a win-win.
The opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial staff of ICv2.com.
Rob Salkowitz (Bluesky @robsalk) is the author of Comic-Con and the Business of Pop Culture, a two-time Eisner Award nominee, and a proud longtime contributor to Eisner-nominated ICv2.
Source: ICv2
