World without Marvel and DC: Part 3

Next up, the fans of Marvel and DC.

Well, the good news is that a lot of the "completists" are going to achieve their dreams. I suppose that's something.

Then what?

Well, for one, they will have to decide what they want out of comics. Because if it's just the childhood nostalgia factor, they will find their options extremely limited. Ditto for those who are strictly interested in superhero shared universes. There will also be fewer superheroes in general, and they will not take up as much space in their retail comic shops as they used to. They are also going to be exposed to a lot of new material that will be introduced as retailers are forced to become even more diverse in order to stay in business.

So, some superhero fans will likely stay just plain superhero fans but with a much more limited market to meet their needs.

Some will branch out to different genres and find that they like them.

And a few, a very small few will find themselves creating their own comics to meet the demands that aren't being met. Much as the Auto-biographical comics and alternative comics were the product of a desire for diverse content that wasn't available in the market, so these fans will find themselves driven to try and create their own superhero comic materials.

The absolute bravest and best of these will create their own characters whole cloth, while others will try to use the characters that will fall by the wayside when the big two publishers property rights are settled, and will eventually become public domain (for example, I can't imagine that say, Prime, or B'wana Beast will likely be bought up). There will be a lot of "fan press comics" that will be distributed through a variety of medium (some print, but probably a lot more online) and will serve as a training ground for some of the next generation of comic creators.

A fan may not have the comfort food of regular Superman comics anymore, but it may make him hungry enough to create something of his own, and that I think could end up far more satisfying.

Next: The Creators