When leaving my second viewing of The Avengers, I heard a group behind me (and they were non-comic fans) come to a conclusion that they would head to our local comic shop and buy some Avengers comics. This had me thinking.
In the 80s and 90s, comics were all the rage. People would buy them left and right, for the stories and for collector value. But in the 90s and early 2000s, something changed. Nobody was buying them anymore. I only know a couple people who have the slightest inkling of what is currently going on in both the Marvel and DC Universes. But why? The movies, especially Batman and Spiderman, have been very popular and money making. There is no reason that after all these movies we still are viewed as a lower art form. I feel the winds of change with the man (more like GOD) known as Joss Whedon.
Believe or not, Joss Whedon is probably the only comic writer (maybe with the exception of Frank Miller) who is a household name. His Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Firefly, and Dr. Horrible are all very popular, and have regular viewers on Netflix. And the thing is, he's a comic book writer. He considers himself that. He knows that comic books aren't popular anymore, but he feels that he can change that, and he HAS been for the past 10 years. And it's taken him a while, but I think he's finally done it.
People WANT to know more about these characters when they leave the theater for The Avengers. They want to see the further adventures of Hawkeye, or Black Widow, or the Hulk. My MOM, for god's sake, wants to dig into my comic collection. The Avengers is pretty much a comic book put to a screen, and people want more of that. That mysterious figure, entranced with Death in the credits of the film? People want to know WHO that is! We all know who it is of course, but I think we are going to see a huge wave in comic sales in the coming months. What MARVEL and DC need to do is keep peoples attentions. Keep stuff like AvX and The Trinity War going. This is it. This is the biggest success we've had as an industry. Let's keep it that way.