It’s not hard to spot a superhero-related project out in the world. They’ve dominated the box office, a hot property for television, and the best thing right now for streaming. Although it has lessened in frequency, it’s still difficult to completely avoid it. What IS hard though, is to find a superhero-related project that is original. It’s that way because everything that is seen comes from a comic book. Comic books have laid the groundwork and have done a good portion of the job before a production team comes on board. Films and shows have gotten inspiration from these books and have been successful in adapting the source material. However, the films haven’t done that great of a job in paying it back. The films are the ones that get all the greatness while the books are forgotten at the most or diluted at the least. These books are the foundation of the MCU, The Boys, Invincible, and the upcoming DCU but little has been done to respect that. At a time when the non-comic book projects are dominating, the actual books are falling. These projects need to do more to promote, respect, and shine a light on what sets the foundation.
Now, some attempts have been made, the episodes for The Boys are named after issues of the graphic novels. In some of the promotional material, The Boys used some of the art and covers of the graphic novels. Animated movies do a great job of adapting the stories that inspired them. Even go so far as using the same dialogue and imagery to the point a viewer could pick up the graphic novel and then go stride for stride with the animated film. One of the most brilliant methods was the technique DC used. There was a time when DC would put the comic books and graphic novels, that inspired or were similar to the film on screen once the trailer for it was over. The special features for the animated movies did a much better job of discussing the books. Films and most of the talent around don’t come close. There needs to be more emphasis.
It will be smart for the studios to lean toward this type of marketing because of the surge of new fans. Of course, the dedicated, loyal, passionate fans will know which comic books that inspired the movies, down to the smallest detail of a scene that pays homage to a particular comic book. There is no need to promote to them because odds are they have already read and own that storyline. But the films and projects have brought in so many new fans, that are fascinated by these worlds, it needs to be capitalized on that much more. It needs to be more utilized. This opens up the potential for a large amount of new clientele to indulge themselves in more storylines that exist in the books. These new fans are already chasing the brand. They’re already familiar with the characters, familiar with the world, and already know a portion of the story. Why not capitalize on that momentum by promoting the source material as well? The comic books allow fans to know much more about the characters and stories that are being portrayed in the film. It brings them in because the foundation is already recognizable but the different paths that comic book writers take these characters could lead new fans to areas that they were unaware of. These ‘new’ stories for the new wave of fans will show how some characters were much different from how they are portrayed in the films. It could reveal the larger in scale, original stories that inspired the films. Show them how much more packed the stories in the comic books are with lore and setup. It may be a few years between movies, series, and characters to come up again. Comic books could be a great filler. In that time, a new fan could explore iterations and other storylines that haven’t been portrayed. That could make them want different things in movies, it’s a win-win situation. At a time when the actual printed comic books are struggling, their film and series counterparts are thriving. To make both sides successful, marketing should lean on the audience it has.
How could marketing work? There are a few ways. There could be short prologues before the movie starts. In this prologue, the director and actor could talk to some of the writing team behind the comic books that inspired the movie at least. Even better would be to talk to a doctorate, respected writer in the business and get their perspective on the character and world. At the end of the that, suggest some comic books or put an emphasis on the one that inspired the movie. There could also be a video on the company’s YouTube channel where the director and actors talk to the comic writers. This way, it could allow more time with the writers to discuss, break down, lecture about, and promote the material. More ways to do this are with streaming services. Disney+ has expanded the MCU, Max is an option for DC, and Prime Video continues to grow The Boys universe and has given Invincible a platform to grow as well. There could be shows on these streaming sites where a host brings in creative talent behind the comic books. Do it regularly so the spotlight is constantly on the books. Since post-credits are hot things, put a few recommended comic books just before the stinger. They could bring in the talent behind the comic books and put them on red carpet events and give them a chance to talk about and promote some stories. For any fans that are still fans of Blu-Rays, put in a pamphlet on a few recommended comic books inside the case. In one of the special features, have it talk about the stories that inspired the film or just talk about the comic books in general. Marketing departments have many avenues and get creative with them. It’s all about capitalizing on something that is already established.
Now, these marketing departments could spend resources to get comic books are promoted by using the power of the films, but it will still depend on the individual. The safe bet is that they will ignore all that and stick with the films. However, there could be some good apples in the bunch, and actually get inspired to get some of the books. If that happens, the marketing and reliance on the movie’s momentum paid off. The comic books and the teams behind them did a lot of the heavy lifting for the films. Without the comic books, it’s more than fair to say the movies wouldn’t be here. The movies need to pay it all back.
