The BID Poll Results, Part 2

Originally published December 11, 1992, in Comics Buyer’s Guide #995

And so we continue rolling with the first official But I Digress state-of-things-to-come poll.

For those who might be joining us for the first time, I’ll quickly recap: Moved by Time magazine’s survey of Americans and their anticipations for the next century, BID ran (admittedly, somewhat tongue-in-cheek) a survey for readers, using multiple choice questions to elicit opinions on things we will see as we waltz into the 21st Century.

We received 219 responses. Thus far, we’ve revealed that the plurality (and sometimes majority) of readers think that Marvel will be #1; that Image will fold; that the top-selling comic book does not yet exist; that Jim Rhodes will have died and been replaced as Iron Man (Barbie?!); that Mark Gruenwald will be editor-in-chief at Marvel; that Mike Carlin will hold similar rank at DC (ironic, when you realize that Mike was Mark’s assistant editor many moons ago); and that Rob Liefeld will be revealed to be the anti-Christ.

I present the selections with the total votes they each garnered and what percentage of the voting that pick represents. In many instances the percentage will total more than 100% since respondents could pick more than one. My endless comments appear after each question.

For completists, I’ll pick up the numbering from the previous column:

8) The following title(s) will probably be just about hitting the stands:

Youngblood #4 108 (49.32%)

An X-Men title that doesn’t yet exist 103 (47.03%)

Cerebus #300 68 (31.05%)

Ms. Mystic #8 36 (16.44%)

Tom DeFalco’s Two-Fisted Adventures #6 6 ( 2.74%)

What we have to wonder here is whether Rob’s inability to turn a monthly book out on anything less than lunar eclipse frequency prompted people to decide that he’s the anti-Christ—or whether it is, in fact, the nature of the anti-Christ to drive people nuts by turning a book out late. (In which case the comics industry is breeding ground for an army of anti-Christs, I should think.)

As for Tom DeFalco—well, it’s nice to know he’ll have something to keep him busy, what with him not being editor-in-chief anymore.

9) The standard Marvel comic book is 32 pages for $1.25. Ten years from now, should there still be Marvel comics, the standard one will be:

32 pages 99 (45.21%)

24 pages 53 (24.20%)

16 pages 38 (17.35%)

48 pages 20 (9.13%)

64 pages 3 (1.37%)

A disc 3 (1.37%)

There were seventeen other votes for various page lengths.

And will cost:

$2.50 80 (36.53%)

$3.95 40 (18.26%)

1500 Yen 16 (7.31%)

$1.75 12 (5.48%)

$2.95 4 (1.83%)

$4.95 4 (1.83%)

$5.00 4 (1.83%)

$2.00 4 (1.83%)

$10.00 3 (1.37%)

$1.00 2 (0.91%)

$1.25 2 (0.91%)

$1.50 2 (0.91%)

$3.75 2 (0.91%)

Single votes were also recorded for, among others, $3.25, $5.95, and $3.50.

So it would seem that the future Marvel package would be 32 pages for $2.50—a 100% increase over the next 10 years, and getting nothing in addition in terms of editorial matter—unless, of course, Marvel expands on the present 22 pages of story and art by cutting back on advertising revenue (yeah, right).

Make more, get the same. I guess it’s better than pay more, get less. And speaking of people who pay more:

10) If Warners ever unloads DC Comics, it will probably be bought by:

The Japanese 67 (30.59%)

Marvel 37 (16.89%)

Jim Shooter 24 (10.96%)

Disney 22 (10.05%)

Ross Perot 11 (5.02%)

Image 7 (3.20%)

Seduction of the Innocent 4 (1.83%)

Krause Publications 2 (0.91%)

Ted Turner 2 (0.91%)

Malibu 2 (0.91%)

Single votes were also recorded for, among others, Murphy Brown, Three X-Editors, Archie Comics, Dave Sim, Eastman and Laird, and Nabisco.

One reader remonstrated me for saying “The Japanese” rather than “A Japanese company.” I dunno—I think either way gets the point across.

Will DC be sold? It wouldn’t surprise me. And although some of the responses were gag possibilities, the top vote getters don’t seem like entirely unlikely purchasers to me.

Who knows? Maybe they’ll be bought by Ron Perlman, so that the former Beauty and the Beast star doesn’t have to deal with fans who keep asking, “I hear you bought Marvel comics.” Instead of saying, “No, you have me confused with Ron Perelman, he can reply, “No, you’re mistaken, I bought DC.”

11) The majority of comics will be produced by:

Writer/Artist teams 170 (77.63%)

Writer/Artists 42 (19.18%)

A thumping majority let it be known that they think that teamwork is the way to go. And of that majority, almost none of them withheld their names.

12) The majority of comics produced will feature:

Characters owned by the publisher and produced as straight work-for-hire (example, Marvel): 121 (55.25%)

Characters owned by the creator and published by someone else, wherein the publisher assumes most of the risk (example, Epic): 42 (19.18%)

Characters owned by the creator and published by someone else, wherein the publisher is essentially a hired hand (example, Image): 40 (18.26%)

Characters owned by the creator, published by the creator (example: Cerebus): 13 (5.94%)

So it would seem that a majority of the respondents believe that the status is going to remain fairly quo. That, combined with the notion that Marvel will be the #1 publisher, and that the majority of comics will be by teams, makes the futurescape of comics look very similar to the present.

All of which ties in with the notion that Image will fold up its tent.

There’s nothing like consistency of vision.

13) Check off all of the following which will actively be used as marketing gimmicks:

Trading/Holo cards 135 (61.64%)

Signed limited editions 134 (61.19%)

Pre-bagged comics 129 (58.90%)

Hologram covers 129 (58.90%)

Foil covers 121 (55.25%)

Multiple covers 114 (52.05%)

Talking covers 108 (49.32%)

Flexi-discs 97 (44.29%)

Scratch & Sniff 96 (43.84%)

Pop-up books 6 (2.74%)

Floppy disks 4 (1.83%)

Holograms 4 (1.83%)

Multiple endings, same story 3 (1.37%)

Virtual Reality 2 (0.91%)

#0 Origin issues 2 (0.91%)

Single votes were also received for, among others, covers but no pages, lower prices (oh, dream on), recycled comics, multiple editions of the same story, but with different artists (now there’s a thought), and—of all things—dinner with the artist.

That last idea could be dangerous, considering that dinner with some of the artists I’m acquainted with might not only prompt the lucky fan to stop buying the artist’s comic, but might in fact drive the fan out of comics collecting altogether.

As for the rest of it, it would appear that the majority of readers cannot envision a time when cards, bagged comics etc., have gone the way of the dinosaur. People seem resigned to these and various other gimcracks—with more to come.

Ask a DC rep about goldfish covers some time—

14) Check off all the following places that you think Seduction of the Innocent will be playing:

Street corners 92 (42.01%)

San Diego Comic-Con 76 (34.70%)

Chicago Comicon 71 (32.42%)

The Disney Channel 47 (21.46%)

Atlanta Fantasy Fr. 44 (20.09%)

Great Eastern Conventions 38 (17.35%)

Caesar’s Palace 36 (16.44%)

DragonCon 29 (13.24%)

Single votes were also received for Wonder Con (where they’ve actually played) and the Sci-Fi Channel.

Well, it looks like a considerable percentage of the fans are still hoping for a SDCC/SOTI reconciliation—although a larger number are anticipating Bill, Miguel, Chris, Al, and Steve playing on street corners, perhaps hoping to scrape together airfare to San Diego next year. Not a pretty picture.

Give while you can, folks. It’s a terrible thing to lose one’s mind.

15) The year 2002 will seem most like:

Space: 1999 64 (29.22%)

John Byrne’s 2112 39 (17.81%)

2000 AD 32 (14.61%)

Spider-Man 2099 24 (10.96%)

Jack Kirby’s 2001 23 (10.50%)

Single votes were also received for Blade Runner, Terminator, 1992, Max Headroom, and A Clockwork Orange. The fact of the matter is that the guy who said “1992” is probably the most correct. I’m curious as to whether those who voted for Space: 1999 do so in the belief that we’ll have moon colonies—or in the belief that we’re all going to turn into really bad actors.

16) In the year 2002, Spider-Man 2099 will be in:

The 3/$1 box 106 (48.40%)

2099 49 (22.37%)

2109 31 (14.16%)

2100 17 (7.76%)

2101 14 (6.39%)

2105 7 (3.20%)

Yeah, well, what do you know, anyway?

17) I think my comics will be worth more 10 years from now than they are now:

Agree 154 (70.32%)

Disagree 60 (27.40%)

18) I think the bottom is going to fall out of the collector’s market:

Agree 126 (57.53%)

Disagree 90 (41.10%)

I found questions #17 and #18 combined to be the most fascinating contrast. I would have bet money that whatever the majority held on the first question, they’d go the opposite way on the second. But instead the majority (although not the exact same majority) agreed with both.

What this would indicate is that although the majority of collectors believe that the bottom will fall out of the market, they are laboring under the belief that their comics will be immune—that whatever it is that crashes will not have the slightest impact on their own collections.

Several people who agreed with both statements went out of their way to explain the apparent discrepancy by stating that they collected only Golden and Silver Age comics, which they seemed to regard as the blue chip stocks of comics speculating. Buyers, it is assumed, will be demanding early issues of Action long after Supreme has lost any meaning other than being a popular dessert suffix.

Who knows? Maybe they’re right. They better hope they are—because otherwise there’s a very large speculators` market out there that is kidding itself to degrees previously undreamt of.

19) Ten years from now, the average reader will be buying comics:

To read the stories 130 (59.36%)

To look at the artwork 62 (28.31%)

For collectible value 50 (22.83%)

I had intended for people to check only one. Quite a few checked combinations, however. And someone else pointed out that saying “the average reader” tilted the question towards a reading response; the more correct phrasing would have been, “the average consumer.”

Ah well. It’s my first time. Be gentle.

20) But I Digress will be:

A fond memory 92 (42.01%)

Written by me 78 (35.62%)

Written by Shana 26 (11.87%)

Drawn by Todd McFarlane 13 (5.94%)

An unfond memory 6 (2.74%)

I tend to side with the folks who think it’ll be a fond memory, since I have great difficulty envisioning my doing this column 10 years hence. Then again, when I first started it two and a half years ago, I figured I’d go six months at the most. So I guess you never know.

Shana, in the meantime, buoyed by the positive response to her first column, and pleased at the 26 people who see her as taking over this thing, is working up more columns. With several years headstart she should be able to get quite a few ready to go.

And as for the wise guy who said he thought Shana was ghosting them for me now, why I oughta—

I am:

20-something 99 (45.21%)

30-something 69 (31.51%)

40-something 21 (9.59%)

Teen-something 21 (9.59%)

Over 40-Something 3 (1.37%)

Kid-Something 1 (0.46%)

Pretty good turnout for the under-30 crowd. Maybe it bodes well for the percentages of voting in this country at election times. A consciousness-raised, activist generation is certainly to be hoped for.

I buy comics for:

Combo of Story/Art 122 (55.71%)

Mostly for the story 76 (34.70%)

Investment value 44 (20.09%)

Because I’m a Marvel Zombie 11 (5.02%)

Mostly for the art 9 (4.11%)

Because they’re written by PAD 2 (0.91%)

Judging by these responses, I find it fascinating that most publications that revolve around the comics industry and the sales worthiness of comics are focusing on the artist, sometimes to the exclusion of the writer. Based on the way many comics are listed, with the beginning and endings issues of an artist’s tenure spelled out in detail—to the degree where one forgets that a writer was involved at all—it’s pretty clear that those listings are of little use to those 20 and up. And, of course, it’s the 20s and up who have all the money—not teenagers.

Tying in with the voting that comics will be produced by writer/artist teams, those who purchase comics for the combo of story and art seem to be sending a very definite message—one that, as a writer, I’m quite happy to hear.

And as for the two people who say they buy stuff because I write it: Bless you. The checks are in the mail.

I am:

A fan 163 (74.43%)

Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die. 40 (18.26%)

A professional in the comic industry 31 (14.16%)

The pirate king 8 (3.65%)

The president of Marvel 2 (0.91%)

The very model of a modern major general 2 (0.91%)

An editor at CBG 1 (0.46%)

Mark Gruenwald’s father 1 (0.46%)

A number of people checked both “fan” and “pro,” and in the majority of those instances they were people who ran comics shops. I guess they feel that, even though they’re in the business, they’re still fans at heart. Next time I’ll make a separate one for “work in a comics shop.”

You wouldn’t think that “Inigo Montoya” would be such a common name, would you?

Interestingly, neither of the people who said they were the president of Marvel were actually Terry Stewart. The individual who claimed to be an editor at CBG was not Don or Maggie Thompson. However, the fellow claiming to be Mark Gruenwald’s father was, in fact, Mark Gruenwald’s father. And, although there should be confidentiality in this balloting, I’ll go ahead and say that, yes, he voted for Mark as editor-in-chief of Marvel. Wasn’t that nice?

I thank you all for participating in this exercise of democratic silliness.

We’ll check back next century and see how we did.

And I realize only now that for the last “I am” question, I should have added as a possible response, “outta here.” Ah, the missed chances—

(Peter David, writer of stuff, was born September 23, 1956. That’s in response to the individual who ran an ad in the CBG personals column inquiring. If we ever find out why there was interest, we’ll let you all know.)