Ethan Van Sciver’s Cyberfrog 2: Rekt Planet surpasses $1 million

Ethan Van Sciver’s Indiegogo campaign for Cyberfrog 2: Rekt Planet surpassed a million dollars Tuesday evening. The campaign is currently at $1,014,653.

I backed the campaign on April 18.

I’ve come full circle when it comes to backing crowdfunded comics. First I was for it, then I was against it, and now I’m back for it. I’m not only pro-crowdfunding comics, but it’s also the only way I will buy floppy comics in the foreseeable future. Not that I have any skill in seeing into the future. 

I’m done with monthly comic books

Even before the pandemic hit and comic book shops were forced to close their doors, I was getting tired of the periodic style of comics. The lone comic book store here in Hagerstown is one of the worst comic book shops I’ve ever been to. Before it moved to its current location, the city condemned it and forced it to close

Because I didn’t want to spend money at my local comic book shop, I have to go out of town to buy comics. There are two shops I like to go to. One is about 30 minutes away in neighboring Pennsylvania. The other is about 30 minutes away east of Hagerstown in the city of Frederick. Whenever I find myself passing through either one of these two locations, I stop and buy the comics I wanted. 

I didn’t have a pull list at either store. I didn’t ever really know which one I would be visiting to get comics. This never presented a problem. There were only two titles I bought every issue of, Catwoman and Batman. These two books were never in short supply. Retailers always had more than enough of theses two titles to go around.

Then Batman 89 happened

 

Ethan Van Sciver's Cyberfrog 2: Rekt Planet surpasses $1 million

I never got a chance to pick up Batman 89 because, by the time I got around to visiting one of the two comic book shops I go to, it was completely sold out. It became a hot commodity because it introduced a new character, a serial killer called Punchline.

Batman 89 began selling on eBay at a huge markup. DC Comics reprinted it twice, but I never found any of the reprint issues. 

From now on, I’m just going to wait for the trade

I think it’s easier and cheaper to buy comics collected in hardcover or trade paperback on Amazon. Instead of traveling out of town to buy individual comics, I can just go to Amazon and get what I want. Plus, there are no advertisements. Collected comics present a much better reading experience than individual comic books. Unlike floppies, they look nice on a bookshelf too. 

In conclusion

I think floppy comics and the direct market will eventually just go away. The pandemic showed us the weaknesses in the comic book direct market. Relying on individual comic book shops that get books from a single distributor is antiquated. Skilled and talented creators who forgo a standard publisher and sell directly to customers through crowdsourcing will be able to flourish. 

Ethan Van Sciver is a prime example of that. 

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