With Kickstarter up and going, some webcomickers are using it
to finance their pet projects, figuring that they there is all of that money
flowing around, they may as well as get in on it. However, as usual, some ideas
are just attracting the money more than others. Before you feel bitter about
how poorly your imaginative comic is doing compared to that lame mainstream
vanilla comic, you may want to ask yourself if your idea really is that
marketable.
A lot of the problem here is that some ideas just aren’t as
marketable as others, or need to be marketed a specific way. A mainstream book
may seem a little on the vanilla side, but they are popular for a reason: They
simply appeal to more people. I can understand someone like Spider-man
relatively easily; he’s an honorable man who gets dumped on a lot. On the other
hand, something like Johnny the Homicidal Manic I need to be in the right mood.
Now, I’m not saying either is better, just saying that one is easy to sell and
the other is going to be one heck of a sale. That’s something that needs to be
considered.
In general, the darker, or lighter, the material the harder
it is to sell. In essence, the more I need to adapt to the comic’s environment
the less likely I am to buy it, much less look at it. This means that the
reason mainstream comics are easier to sell is that people relate easier to
regular heroes. Darker material is an obvious hard sell because the mental
adaptation is downright difficult; you need to be willing to go into the darker
recesses of your mind and have fun there. The same applies to lighter stuff, to
a degree, as even a casual reader needs to make a mental note to look for the
good stuff. In short, that’s why it basically goes dark
Also keep in mind that what may be funny to you may not be
funny to someone else. This is probably one of the biggest problem with some
ideas; the writer and illustrator love the idea, but the reason for it is
because they are too close to the idea. In other words, the idea has been
fleshed out and everything, but it is still too close to them, and thus the
idea is going to fall flat to anyone else. Just expand on it a little and add
something others can grab, and the idea may just catch on.
Lastly, there are those that just don’t get it. They come up
with an idea, but it just feels wrong for so many reasons to readers that they
are turned off by the idea. Fans can tell the difference between a real story
and a fake one like sharks and ketchup, so if you have no respect or even love
for comics, don’t bother.
In short, you need to put your soul, your passion, into
whatever you are doing for it to sell. Have fun, and make something that you
can be proud of, and your idea will sell. Come tall or don’t come at all.
