Troubles

I keep thinking about the comic industry for some reason recently, might be all the comic creators I have on twitter, or the slew of comic book based films coming out or that niggling little itch I always have to draw some of the bloody things but I'm thinking comics and what's wrong with them (or more specifically the American comic industry.)

The more I think about it the more I can see a list of things that all feed into each other:

1. Too many superhero books.
2. Too much emphasis on continuity and pandering to older readers.
3. Always chasing a new fad without examining it in full (holofoil and variant covers, digital comics etc.)
4. The fans themselves encouraging a lack of diversity.
5. Not enough risk taking by the major publishers.
6. Public perception of comics, what they are and what they expect from them.
7. Too many armchair critics being given more credence than they're worth.

What can be done about them? I may have some ideas and they're mostly personal and from what is an admittedly ever-growing, outsider perspective. If I was you I'd probably presume that this blog is a lead-up to a more detailed discussion of some of them though ;)