The Modern Comic Industry Began in 1986
By Dan Brown I wouldn’t be doing my job as a graphic-novel columnist if I let 2026 pass without noting it was 40 years ago that the modern comics industry was born. I can guess what you’re thinking: “Wait a minute, Dan, don’t comic books have a history that stretches back until at least the 1930s, with some proto-comics appearing even in the late 1800s?” You’re right. You got me. But I’m not talking about the Golden Age or anything like that. I’m talking about what I call the modern era, the four decades following the publication of three landmark comics – a sequential troika that shapes our expectations of what comics will be in 2026. Readers with long memories remember a time before Frank Miller’s Dark Knight Returns, Art Spiegelman’s Maus, and Alan Moore’s Watchmen. And I can say with confidence that the industry hasn’t been the same since. The industry had been struggling in the 1970s. Some historians even credit a single title, Star Wars, for saving Marvel Comics on its own. Then, in the 1980s, events like Marvel’s Secret Wars and DC’s Crisis on Infinite Earths were helping shore up the Big Two Comics Houses. Alternative publishers such as Dark Horse Comics were still embryonic. Drawn and written by Miller, Dark Knight Returns ushered in a dark and gritty form of storytelling that can still be seen on the stands of comic stores today. Its bleak depiction of Gotham was so scary that readers were willing to look past Batman’s fascist tendencies in his bid to bring order to his hometown. Printed on slick paper, its vivid art still excites me 40 years later. Miller famously said in an interview with Rolling Stone at the time he wanted to produce a comic book that a businessman wouldn’t be ashamed to be seen reading on an airplane. Comics weren’t kids’ stuff anymore. Miller followed the miniseries with Batman: Year One, which re-told the character’s origin in a Gotham that existed in a strange, timeless setting. Maus, which Spiegelman wrapped in 1986, told the story of his father’s concentration-camp experiences in the form of a cartoon-animal tale. It demonstrated that comics were a serious medium and could be put to other uses apart from glorifying the exploits of superheroes. Watchmen, meanwhile, is ostensibly a murder mystery answering the question of “Who killed the Comedian?” but is so much more. Set in an alternate 1980s in which Richard Nixon is serving his fourth term, the backdrop is a Cold War about to turn hot. Among other issues, it grapples with the consequences of having a real-life Superman (in the form of Doctor Manhattan) striding the Earth like a giant. How would that make the average person feel? Out of the three, my favourite is likely Dark Knight Returns – it took an existing comic character and tried to square how he would operate in the real world. It is at once a satire of, and a tribute to, the Caped Crusader. Sequels to Dark Knight Returns and Watchmen have failed to live up to the books that spawned them, likely because they set such a high standard for sequential storytelling. Without those three comics, we wouldn’t have comics as they exist today. But who knows – there may be creators out there who are poised to re-shape comics again. It would be entirely cool for some smart artist or writer to revolutionize our thinking about the form once again. If you have any guesses on who that might be, or which comics are changing the industry right now, let me know in the comments! Dan Brown has covered pop culture for more than 33 years as a journalist and also moderates L.A. Mood’s monthly graphic-novel group.
Are Comics At A Turning Point?
By Dan Brown Two comics-related announcements jumped out at me last week. They are both about the current state of the industry. What to make of them? I honestly don’t know. At this point, I’ve got more questions than answers. So I’m going to lay the two statements out for you, along with some thoughts, in hopes some kind of meaning will emerge. The first was a speech delivered by DC Comics President Jim Lee to comic-store owners at New York Comic Con, in which he said the company will never use artificial intelligence, so long as he’s the boss. “DC Comics will not support AI-generated storytelling or artwork. Not now, not ever, as long as I am in charge,” he promised the crowd. “Because what we do and why we do it is rooted in our humanity. It's that fragile, beautiful connection between imagination and emotion that fuels our media, the stuff that makes our universe come alive. It's the imperfect mind, the creative risk, the hand-drawn gesture that no algorithm can replicate.” “And when I draw, I make mistakes, a lot of them. But that's the point. The smudge, the rough line, the hesitation. That's me in the work. That's my journey. That's what makes it come alive. It's the product of true effort, of inspiration, and perspiration. Fans know this. They sense this.” “They can feel when something was made with care, when it cost the artist time, energy, heart, and effort. People have an instinctive reaction to what feels authentic. We recoil from what feels fake. That's why human creativity matters. AI doesn't dream. It doesn't feel. It doesn't make art. It aggregates it. Our job as creators, as storytellers, and as publishers is to make people feel something real. That's why we create, and that's why we're still here." That’s about as passionate a defence of the human element in comics-making I’ve ever heard. And, cards on the table, I have no interest in reading comics or graphic novels that aren’t created by human hands. But what if that’s what the market wants? What if young fans, who don’t have the same sentimental connection to comics history that I and my peers share, demand AI comics? Doesn’t DC have an obligation to serve the needs of those readers? I ask because, for instance, there’s an entire segment of fandom that don’t want to read about characters like Batman – they want to be Batman, which they can do via online gaming. I’m not sure those fans care who (or what) is rendering their favourite characters. The second thing I noticed last week was a social-media post (I saw it on Facebook) from legendary comic writer Gail Simone, who has penned stories featuring heroes from Superman to Batgirl to Deadpool to her own creator-owned characters. “It's been a really weird time for comics, there's no question about that,” she wrote.“But I've spoken with the very biggest of wigs at three of the top five publishers in the last six weeks and they all said the same thing: Comic sales are up, a lot.” “One also said there is a definite trend towards specifically physical things, particularly a subset, newish physical things, that people want to purchase. The message seems to be that different formats and variants and specialty items are growing in sales in a big way, while digital sales remain flat. It is honestly the most excited I have seen these companies in years.” “This is going on through the pandemic and the election and inflation and tariffs and the distribution nightmare that retailers have to deal with. All those challenges, and comics are up and rising. I'm talking physical sales from U.S. publishers. In spite of all that stuff. And several companies have produced some genuine banging hits requiring multiple printings.” “Not everything is rosey, but I think that's pretty exciting. I know there are caveats but without strong sales, nothing else matters, nothing is fixable without people getting the books. There's a lot of people who wouldn't give up . . . creators, publishers, retailers, and I'm thankful because you guys, I love this artform more than just about anything. But it all starts with readers. SO THANK YOU, READERS!” Simone’s comments echo news coming out of the same gathering where Lee spoke, New York Comic Con. A report by Heidi MacDonald of Publishers Weekly quoted numbers showing sales are up by 27 per cent at many comic shops in the U.S. “despite looming threats from tariffs, recessions, book bans, and the turmoil generated by the Diamond Comic Distributors bankruptcy.” That all sounds like good news to me. And maybe an indication AI may not be as much of a threat as some think. Dan Brown has covered pop culture for more than 33 years as a journalist and also moderates L.A. Mood’s monthly graphic-novel group.
