AW: Commercials/Disney Outdated?

[Cord Wiljes]

Rich wrote: 

> Firstly, I'm not so sure the problem is international in it's 
> scope, as, it appears that a variety Disney Comics are still readily 
> available in other countries (maybe to a lesser degree than in the 
> past, but still to a greater degree than in the USA).

Can any list member report from his or her country that the sales figures 
of Disney comics have *not* declined slowly but steadily? Here in Germany 
the print run of the "Micky Maus" has declined from 1.500.000 to 'only' 
500.000 currently.

> (...) the REAL problem is "EXPOSURE!"
> (...) However, if I go to a Comic Book store I'm extremely lucky if 
> I find back issues of WALT DISNEY COMICS & STORIES or UNCLE SCROOGE, etc.

Is a company actively *creating* a demand for its products - or just reacting 
and fulfilling an existing demand? Would people buy more Disney comics if they 
were readily available? Probably yes. But certainly not enough to justify 
the enormous costs of pushing them into the market. Let's make a thought 
experiment: We create a marketing campain for Disney comics in the league 
of Nintendo's "Pokemon". Would this result in a Disney comics craze among 
kids? Most probably not.

The strength and at the same time the handicap of Disney comics is their 
long tradition: They offer reliably good and clean entertainment. But at 
the same time they tend to become predictable and therefore do not catch 
interest. 

Fabio wrote:
> Well, I think the problem is the Company. They are outdated, 
> they insist with these sweet, dull, nonsense look for the 
> merchandising of his characters.

But then the comics are not created by Disney but by contractors like Egmont. 
And would they really start producing innovative stuff if let loose? Would 
this even be desirable? Would not the members of this group be the first to 
cry out if they should feel that their heroes could be damaged by any new 
kid on the block? "Donald Spawn" created by Todd McFarlane? "The Snotty Duck 
Returns" created by Frank Miller?

The most daring digressions from the Duck mainstream are produced in Italy, 
as far as I know. "PK" for example has some pretty wild stuff. But this does 
not seem to spread on to other countries.

In some way Disney comics are frozen in time. Let's make another thought
experiment: Take any comic from today's newsstand (Spider-Man, Superman, 
even The Simpsons) and move it back with a time machine to the Sixties. How 
would people back then react to this comic? I think they would be thrilled. 
They would not necessarily like it, but they would notice that it is very 
different from their comics. Now move back any current Disney  comic back 
to the Sixties. Would people even notice that it is different? Even Don Rosa 
(who IMO always kept a slightly subversive (in a good way!) Underground's 
style) would probably be taken as a contemporary comics creator.

Dean Rekich wrote:
> One reason I think it will be hard to get kids to read Disney
> comics is that it seems kids "grow up" somuch faster that they used
> to. For example, I have read that where as 20 or 30 years ago girls
> played with Barbie dolls until the ages of say 10 or 11, that today
> girls think they are too old for Barbie dolls after they are 5 or 6
> years old!  In that case perhaps it was acceptable in the 1950s for
> kids 10 to 12 to read comics about Donald and Mickey, but today kids
> that same age would look on reading Disney comics as something for
> "babies". 

You named the core of the problem here, I believe! Twenty years ago 
Neil Postman wrote the book "The Disappearance of Childhood". Postman 
describes how the concept of "childhood" is a cultural achievement 
created by the rise of literacy. And how it is steadily declining 
since the invention of the telegraph up to modern mass media. 
Children grow up faster today. Even small children have schedules 
like a manager. They dress like adults.

No child wants to be judged as "childish". The want to be taken seriously 
and try to act like they are older. And Disney comics are kids' stuff, 
of course. So once a child can read (at the age of seven) he could read 
Disney comics. But when all his classmates are already into "Dragonball Z" so
he will probably keep away from the Disney's.

Think about the childhood of Huey, Dewey and Louie as described by Barks 
and others: They freely run around the neighborhood. They try dangerous 
stunts. they talk to strangers. They play with their friends without 
any grown-ups watching. They get dirty.

Is this the life today's kids can identify with? Or is it a lifestyle 
which is now extinct?

Kriton wrote:
> I think that this is simply the usual difference between generations, 
> where parents tend to be critical of their children for daring to be 
> different. 

You are right that each new generation has its own style, needs and 
feeling. And the previous generation has mostly just a limited 
understanding for the new trends. But with some current trends 
like "Pokemon" I would not call it  "daring to be different". 
Many of these are medida hypes pushed into the children just to make 
money, without any real substance or content. But then of course there 
are also truly innovative new ideas which conquer new grounds - 
like "The Simpsons" did in the 90s.

To sum it up I must admit that the current discussion so far has rather 
strengthened my belief that Disney comics have nearly reached the status 
of "certified classics", which means:

+ they are generally accepted (= nobody feels that they threateed by them)
+ they are no longer of great commercial importance
+ they will be here to stay (= reprints will always be available)
+ children will shun them and prefer current forms of entertainment

This also means that some dozens of years into the future, once the 
generation which grew up with them is gone, Disney comics will probably 
share the fate of other comics classics (like Pogo), literary classics 
(like Jane Austen) or movie classics (like Fritz Lang):  A few people 
will still love and read/watch them, but for the general audience they 
will be lost.

It might sound a little bit sad, but then ... so is life. And I for my part 
am looking forward to the things to come. Which reminds me to look up 
this Spongebob Squarepants :-)

Cord