Gerry Conway - Off the Record Interview Musings

I watched the DVD "Off the Record with Gerry Conway" the day I received it in the mail. Rather than review the DVD, I'm just going to tell people to purchase the 3 1/2 sit-down talk with one of the most prolific (and enjoyable) Marvel and D.C. Comics writers of the 1970's and 1980's. Click the link to OffTheRecordDVD.com to make a purchase.

By the way - head over to TwoMorrows.com and purchase a great back issue of Alter Ego magazine that features a very in-depth career retrospective with Gerry Conway.

Repeating what is found on the DVD would be a boring review. I'll just mention the two things that really stood out in my mind after the initial viewing. Gerry Conway made two very serious points:

1.) Comic books have become a niche and the pop culture love of superheroes has moved to the movie industry,

2.) The era of the larger than like comic book creator is long over.

I recently checked the November sales figures for comic books. After the huge boom in sales from the first few D.C. Rebirth and Star Wars books, sales are way, way down. The top book, Batman, is sold a little over 100,000 copies and most Marvel and D.C. books are selling 40,000 - 60,000 or so.

Not too many people other there buying comic books. Millions upon millions of people are watching the movies. The great wonder of superheroes still connects with fans of all ages all over the world -- but in a different medium.


And it is pretty difficult to be a "larger than life" comic book creator when no one knows who you are because no one is buying your books. A great many actors, actresses, and directors are pretty larger than life thanks to their cinematic success.

Comic books won't be going away any time soon. The crazy prices and the release of tons of books to a small number of buyers does keep money rolling in. More money, however, is going to role in from movies, TV shows, video games, and merchandise for years to come.

Sad to say -- the comic book industry is now more of a story development project for entertainment properties. Is this good or bad? Gerry Conway mentions Harlan Ellison in his interview. Ellison once said all movie set in the future are positive even when the futuristic world is a bleak one. Ellison said something to the effect of "Don;t worry about how bad the future is. Be happy it is still there."