1970's

By the time the 1970’s were in full swing, Marvel had taken the number one spot from DC and was widening that lead. The major cancellation of DC books that came to be called The DC Implosion hurt the publisher both in terms of money and readership. Unfortunately the quality of the books Marvel was releasing was dropping. Very little supervision of the talent meant that just about anything was getting printed and the company was not making very much money even with the new lead. As much as editorial interference is grumbled about these days, the editors do serve a purpose and the absence of editorial control was obvious in some of the Marvel titles.

Meanwhile, Jack Kirby left Marvel for DC where he created what would become The Fourth World. At the time, DC was not all that happy with the titles Mister Miracle, The New Gods and The Forever People or the sales generated by them. Part of the problem was the way DC and comic companies in general determined the sales of a book. There was a severe delay in understanding how well a book was selling. Companies had to wait a few months until the returns came in so they could tell how many actually sold from the print run. By the time DC realized the three titles were selling reasonably well they were starting the process of canceling the books and none of the three made it past 25 issues. Interestingly, integrated into the DC universe and revived in the 80’s, the New Gods characters are now a major part of DC and the New 52.

Looking back, the largest event of the 70’s was the creation of the direct market in the middle part of the decade. Previously, comics were distributed through the main periodical distribution system run by a few companies to newsstands, drugstores and candy shops. There was a small subscription system but the bulk of comics sold were from the newsstand type locations. These retailers could return unsold comics for credit (just the ripped off covers were returned and the rest was supposed to be discarded) towards the next purchase. It was this new distribution system that helped encourage the growth of specialty shops, which offered several benefits to the customer. Speed of service was improved since the direct shops got the books quicker which was very popular with readers. The condition of the books was also generally better than what was found on the newsstands or in subscription copies. The retailers liked it because they made more profit on the books in exchange for not being able to return them. They could also continue to sell comics as back issues and keep money coming in.

The problem with the direct market was that it was only created as a temporary substitute for the failing newsstand system. There was no plan for what would follow the direct system, just that there would need to be a replacement eventually. Foolishly, the publishers put all their eggs into this particular basket and by the 1990’s sharp increases in the number of stores closing and sales of books dropping had severe ramifications. The creation of the specialty shops had stunted the potential for growth with new readers shying away from or not having access to these locations. The industry today is down to one primary distributor (Diamond) where there were once many. Bookstores and digital comics also take a chunk out of the direct market and this ‘temporary solution’ is starting to show the nearly four decades worth of cracks.

The list of new characters in the 70’s is really something to see. Some of the first appearances of major characters known today were; the John Stewart Green Lantern, Power Girl (boob window optional at this point), Adam Warlock, Luke Cage and the most important’ bad characters of all, The Wonder Twins! However the character to debut and have the longest lasting impact from the 70’s has to be Wolverine. Created by Len Wein and Herb Trimpe, Mr. “I’m the best there is at what I do, but what I do isn’t very nice.” (Wolverine) has made a lasting mark on the comics industry and not all for the best. However, it wasn’t until Chris Claremont started writing Wolverine that the character developed true depth and feeling not to mention the hints of a ridiculously messed up back story. Wolverine also became the inspiration for a whole new crop of dark and gritty anti-heroes. Wolvie is now in every Marvel book printed and probably a few DC ones as well. OK, not really, but there are months where it sure seems like it.