I Dig Comics Too

Back in 2009, Miguel Cima released a 20 minute documentary called Dig Comics, talking about how comics used to be well-read by the American population and aren't as big a deal any more. You can check out the piece here...His goal, as he states at the end of the film, is to continue trying to persuade more people to read comics. Clearly, the man loves the medium.

Which leads to his current project: a Kickstarter to fund an expanded full-feature version of the movie. Here's his pitch...Again, Cima clearly shows his love of the medium.

Will Cima's efforts save comics in America? Not by themselves. As easy as it is to pin comics' fall from grace all on the shoulders of Frederic Wertham, he wasn't the sole instigator, and the multiple causes took place over a period of decades. You can't turn that around overnight.

Which isn't to say that Cima's efforts are futile or in vain!

There's an old adage in marketing that you need to get your message to a person three times before they'll really even notice it. And while Man of Steel and Iron Man 3 and all the comics-related movies are great, they're not actually promoting comics at all. None of them say anything along the lines of, "If you want to read more adventures of Wolverine, check out your local comics retailer" or anything like that. (And why should they? We know from before Marvel was bought by Disney that they were making far more money licensing t-shirts and notebooks than they were selling comics.)

Now we can talk to the existing comics audience super-easily. And we do. The problem is that that audience doesn't need the message -- they're already buying comics! (In many cases, probably more than they can even afford!) And while Cima's movie will likely be seen by a large number of that crowd already buying comics, it will likely get seen by a number of folks who don't buy comics as well! And those are the types of people we, collectively, need to target. Cima's trying through his Kickstarter; I try with more individualized efforts. But the effects of all our efforts are cumulative. We get one person here, one there, another from over yonder... It might take a while, but the more people we get reading comics, the more types of comics will be made, and the more likely are favorites make enough money to avoid cancellation!

Really, don't we all dig comics?

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