Cashing in on comics

 
It’s no secret that comic books are now mainstream. That sort of crucial insight is not why you’ve clicked onto this page. With every other comic book series being optioned for a film, some even before the second issue hits the shelves and clothing available with obscure comic book characters - “Who’s that on your t-shirt?” “Dunno, looks cool though…” – everyone seems to be jumping on the comic book bandwagon. Even Virgin Trains has decided to up its cool quotient with its latest advertising campaign.



Costing £6.3m, the posters show calm and relaxed Virgin Trains’ passengers looking out of the window at a zombie attack on the motorway below. Yes, that’s right, a zombie attack. Not sure if it’s implying that anybody who drives cars is more likely to succumb to an undead assault or that reaching Birmingham in less than 90 minutes is a sure-fire way to survive the apocalypse but it’s certainly bringing comic book content to the masses in a unique way.

Virgin Trains sales and marketing director Sarah Copley says of the new campaign: “The time is right for us to be truly brave in championing Virgin Trains as the liberating way to travel. This campaign will make consumers think carefully about their travel choices particularly where long distance car and domestic air journeys are concerned, with the advantages of Virgin Trains being made clear in an eye catching and hard hitting way.”

Fair enough but what’s next? “Carlsberg don’t create superheroes but they’d probably be the best…” or “A Mars a day helps you save the world”.

Rubbish made-up slogans aside, I’m undecided if this direction is a good thing or not for comics. It creates a new audience that may not have enjoyed the medium before and who may bring some new voices or ideas to the comic book world. Or perhaps it’s cheapening it.

Do advertising agencies care about a medium they are using for a campaign? Maybe, maybe not. Perhaps they shouldn’t. Or perhaps the onus lies with comic book creators? No, they’re not responsible for this sort of campaign but if they’re selling rights to the movie at a second’s notice then the medium is cheapened already and the damage is done. Of course, a writer refusing to sign over the rights to a works doesn’t mean a damn thing, take the example of Alan Moore, he refused to sign over Watchmen and V for Vendetta, but they still got made. Publishers perhaps? As much as they want to entertain, they are businesses at the end of the day and are looking to make money, if they don’t do that they can’t produce comics anymore.

Who else does that leave? Us, the readers? Should we be condoning our beloved comics being used in this way? What can we do? Boycott them? Not look at advertisements featuring comic illustrations? Perhaps we have to grin and bear it while continuing to enjoy our medium, while telling ourselves that we enjoy it on a whole other level to everyone else.