| 
  • If you are citizen of an European Union member nation, you may not use this service unless you are at least 16 years old.

  • You already know Dokkio is an AI-powered assistant to organize & manage your digital files & messages. Very soon, Dokkio will support Outlook as well as One Drive. Check it out today!

View
 

Political Economy

Page history last edited by Ronald Briones Alexy 11 years, 11 months ago

Political Economy

 

Mark Rogers, Author of "Political Economy: Manipulating Demand and "The Death of Superman,"  declares that profit is the primary motive of those that produce media. Rogers introduces the reader to the tenous relationship between the artists and the profit driven business in which art has to be profitable. Furthermore, to the chagrin of the artist, he claims that any company which produces any sort of media has the foremost a responsibility to it's shareholders.  Rogers introduces the comic books scholar to the Political Economy approach to studying the history of comic books; that the politics of profit are imperative in analyzing the history of the comic book medium; this study for profit is what Rogers calls Political Economy. Rogers claims that the study of Political Economy is in part based on the political structures which affect profitability-- as in particular conglomerate corporations which affect the politics of  licensing rights, as well as the efficiency of distributive companies. Rogers, analyzes the political systems under which the distributive markerts of comic books have operated before and after the political system of Gerald Ford.

 

Underlying Assumptions

 

His primary assumption is that comics are profit driven and points towards Marvel's acquisition by Disney and DC Comics' merger with Time-Warner. The comic book medium, though a medium which has been historically open to counter-cultural expression or, disallusionment with the distopia of society, is not exempt from being a profit driven medium.  The top producers of the medium (DC and Marvel) have been acquired by Time Warner and DC, respectively.  Essentially, Comic Book companies fit within the conglomerate company because of their profitablity. 

 

Licenses

 

When buying Marvel, "Robert Iger, Disney's Chief Executive, made clear that Marvel's value was in its character licenses, saying, "This treasure trove of over  5,000 characters offers Disney the ability to do what we do best (147)."With Disney's History, arguably what Disney does best is market for profit. With Disney's acquisition of Marvel, and Time Warner's acquisition of DC Comics, the licensing rights of a comic brand's characters hold the potential for many dividends in profits and that is why Rogers argues that the characters, with their origination in the comic book artist and medium, are valuable characters to the conglomerates.

 

Opportunities to employ these lisensed characters have been maximized. Historically, Superman, Batman, and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are only a few of the examples of brands that have employed their lisences to produce products such as movies, t-shirts, trading cards, lunch boxes, etc,.. Therefore, the justification from companies to acquire the character's rights.

 

Distribution

 

Rogers' explains there existed a Fordian economic model, focused on mass consumption under which the comic book economy formerly operated. The comic book distribution economy transitioned into the Post-Fordian economic model which  maximizes its niche market for profit.  Innovations in the distribution of comic book distribution began  in the 1970's, when Seuling formed Seagate distribution and was able to buy comic books directly from DC Comics, specifying which titles he wanted to buy. Seagate Distribution sold the comic books to newstands.  By specializing the orders, this began the transition away from the Fordian economic model and began to grow stronger niche markets. Newstands employed Seuling's innovation to disribute the comics they wanted to sell (which was less focused on mass consumption and more focused on the particular tastes of the consumer to drive profits).  By catering to the audiences taste, the comic book genre which formerly yielded a very low profit margin, improved its efficiency and profits rose through the industry after Gerald Ford's presidency.

 

Production

 

According to Rogers, the production model of comic books is divided among that is Industrialists Vs. Artisans-- that is Artists for Hire Vs. Independent Artists, respectively.

 

Industrialist artists have their history grounded in the beginning of the comic book industry, where one artist draws, another colors, another writes; and so it goes down the assembly line. Artisans, however, are different in that one single artist draws, writes, inks, and optionally colors (although Artisans tend to produce their work in black and white or very few colors. The reasons could be: an artistic choice, to reduce costs of distribution, or less workload in the production of the comic).  So, Artisan produced comics take longer to produce. The history of Artisan produced comic distribution is intertwined with the Fordian economy; because the comic industry became more niche market driven after Ford, with less of a pressure on newstands to order a huge mass number of comics, artisan branded comics had less barriers to access newstands. Thus, these comic books accessed Newstands and comic book stores because the carriers  ordered the amount of comic books necessary/wanted in their stores.

 

 

Superman no. 75

 

The Death of Superman comic issue, symbolizes the end of an era-- the end of the comic book speculation bubble that burst in the mid 90's. Before the issue's release, the comic book industry was privy to expanding it's market to commodity speculators looking for the next big comic.  When Superman no. 75 was released it was overdistributed and overproduced. Collectors bought many issues, hoping that in the future they would be valuable, but there was overabundace of the comic on the market, so, the comics were worthless to the collectors. The attempt by the comic industry to expand with gimmicks and different covers, and to attract new fans with different packages of the same issue, finally burst with the release of The Death of Superman. The comic book industry learned that flashy packages weren't what place value into the comic; it was the scarcity of the comics that produced it's value.

 

The example of Superman is another way the economy of the comic books industry affects the industry and the pervading subsequent idologies of distributors.

 

 

 

References

 

1. Critical Approaches to Comics. Political Economy. Mark Rogers, 145-155

Comments (0)

You don't have permission to comment on this page.