How to make comics more accessible to new readers

I'm going out on a limb here and saying everyone's gone out and bought a comic book, right? Right. For young kids they're a great intro to reading and the characters are good strong moral role models. But as an adult or teenager it's daunting.

Let's look at the average adult or teen who has gone to see a movie, let's say, The Amazing Spider-man, and has come out thinking -

"Fuck yes, that was awesome, I need more Spider-man in my life."
- Random Movie-Goer. 

Just for the record, I'm not a big Spidey fan. No idea why, but to me he's just... meh.

But I digress, so this person comes out of the cinema thinking mentioned thoughts and decides to go pick up a Spiderman comic. He or she picks up Ultimate Comics: Spider-man because he or she heard somewhere that all the current Marvel movies were more or less based on this line of books. Then, he or she get's it home and opens it and reads all about... Miles Morales? Huh? He or she flips through at a frantic pace, maybe this is just a joke, surely Peter Parker is going to pop out of the loo or whatever and put his tights on, right? Wrong.

See he or she has picked up something in the Ultimate Universe. Peter Parker isn't Spider-man in that universe. Miles is. I mean, sure, Peter Parker WAS Spidey in the Ultimate Universe. But not anymore. I'm all for somebody taking over the mantle for a little bit, ala Jean-Paul Valley subbing for Bruce Wayne in the Knightfall Saga (more on that later). But we're currently talking about two realities. One where Peter Parker is alive and Spider-man and another where Peter Parker has been killed off and Miles Morales is Spider-man.

Now when it's spelled out like that, it's kinda simple. Two worlds, two Spideys. But to a new-comer, and I'm speaking from experience here, it's a major mind-fuck. A mind-fuck that will make new readers sigh and think,
"This is too hard, I give up."

Step 1 - One world. Or "universe" or whatever. Just have one. There's no need for two. Or three. Or infinite. Just one.

Imagine how easy it would be for Random Movie-Goer (known as RMG henceforth) to walk out of the movie, go to the comic store and see the Spider-man section and think,
 "Ok, Spider-man, Peter Parker, here it is."
Easy. No stopping and thinking,
 "Wait... who's this black kid wearing Spidey's kit? And what the fuck does Ultimate mean?"

New reader.

Next week RMG is going to go watch The Dark Knight Rises. Again, he or she walks out thinking he or she wants more Batman in his life. He or she goes back to their local comic book store and looks and sees a range of Batman books - Year One, Long Halloween, Knightfall, No Man's Land, Hush, etc. He or she thinks,
"Great, loads of books, clearly I'll start with Year One. But then what?"

Origin books, like Year One, they sort of have the right idea. They define the starting point. Like Back to the Future Part One.

But where to next? What's Batman's Part Two? Two Towers? Empire Strikes Back?

There isn't one. Not really. Which makes it really confusing when you pick up The Long Halloween, which is set "early" in Batman's career, and Batman and The Joker already seem to have history.

Look at the greatest movie trilogies.
Star Wars - A New Hope -> The Empire Strikes Back -> Return of the Jedi.
The Godfather - Part One -> Part Two -> Part Three
Lord of the Rings - Fellowship of the Ring -> Two Towers -> Return of the King
Back to the Future - Part One -> Part Two -> Part Three

They all have a continuity. You need to watch The Godfather Part One to understand why the characters are who they are in Part Two and onwards into Part Three.

Why can't comic characters take that model? Take Year One as a starting point, Part One. Then let's make The Long Halloween Part Three. All we need is a Part Two to tie the two together. Something about The Joker poisoning Gotham's reservoir and an intro to whatever other characters are introduced in The Long Halloween. We would then have this series -
Year One -> "Part Two" -> The Long Halloween -> Dark Victory.

Step 2 - Continuity. Streamline it. Make all the books a biography of each character. Obviously it would take a lot of work to do. For now, give everything a blurb or something stating when in Batman's career the story takes place. For example, "'Part Two' takes place between the events of Year One and The Long Halloween." While eventually tying up all the loose ends through graphic novels or regular release comics. 

How easy would it be for RMG to walk into a comic store, look at what is essentially Batman's biography and think,
"Right, I can go back and check out his history and start from the beginning or I can just jump on here."

Easy. Now you've got another new reader.

The Avengers is officially the third highest grossing film of all time. US$1.3 BILLION. That's not a bunch of nerds going to see it over and over... well... some of it is. But it's also a series of good movies building up to the crescendo. The team up. I think we can all agree here that it was fucking epic. We know now that Marvel aren't going to make another Avengers until they complete their "Phase 2" of movies, too. At that time, the same thing will probably happen with Avengers 2, because it's been so long in the making. The anticipation will be so high it's torturous. And the marketing. Oh, how the marketing will make it that much worse!

Why not do that with comics?

I mean, does there really need to be a monthly team up of The Avengers or The Justice League? Sure, there's comic events every year, a range of them in fact and most of them are awesome. The Night of Owls rocked my shit. But is it really bringing in more readers? Also, less to the point, but is having a monthly book of these team ups KEEPING readers?

No and maybe not.

Why not scrap the team up books until something big enough happens that requires it?

Firstly, it would generate the same sort of tortuous anticipation amongst current readers. Secondly, add some marketing in there (maybe cinema advertising before comic-based movies?) you could turn it into an event. A real event. Something that RMG's are going to talk about. Example -
RMG 1: "Apparently there's a Justice League book coming out."
RMG 2: "Justice League?"
RMG 1: "Yeah, you know, Batman, Superman, The Flash, Wonder Woman and such? They're teaming up, haven't you seen the ads?"
RMG 2: "That sounds awesome!"

Create buzz, have the books make a statement. Make it so non-readers can't not be curious.

Step 3 - Scrub monthly team up books and turn them into big events. Not necessarily annually either, once every 2, 3 even as much as 5 years. Build to it. Look to the Marvel movies as the perfect example. It will build up anticipation and generate new readers. And for the love of christ -

ADVERTISE ON THE MAINSTREAM!

And that's how you make comics more accessible to new readers.

Step 1 - Only have one universe.
Step 2 - Build each character's life like a biography.
Step 3 - Make the team ups massive events.
Step 4 - Advertise on the mainstream.

They finally got it right.

I saw the trailer for the new Superman flick from the brains of the lads who brainstormed The Dark Knight Trilogy and directed by the kid who made 300. It's nothing short of awesome.

The real deal should be released next week with The Dark Knight Rises. Can't wait.

'Til next time!