Ecocomics Recession Watch: Hellboy Edition

Hellboy: The Storm #1 by Mike Mignola and Duncan Fegredo, Dark Horse Comics (2010)

The economic downturn is, by far, the most dangerous evil in all of comics. It can hit in the most surprising of ways. It can hit people and places you never thought possible.

For example, here we see how bad credit has forced Hellboy to travel around with his newly acquired magic sword in nothing more upscale than a crummy rental car. Pretty modest for the King of Britain.

(Hellboy also says he quit drinking to avoid making bad decisions. But we know he just can't afford another bottle).

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Ecocomics Recession Watch: Amazing Unemployed Spider-Man Edition

"Brother, Can You Spare a Crime?" in Amazing Spider-Man #628
by Mark Waid, Tom Peyer and Todd Nauck and Lee Weeks, Marvel Comics (2010)

When we last left Peter Parker, he was fired from his job at city hall. Now, we catch a glimpse of the unemployed life, as Peter experiences difficulty keeping the roof over his head. As he mentions, there was a time when he could just secure a freelance job taking photos for The Daily Bugle. But in the midst of this recession, it seems that such gigs are harder to obtain than usual. Not to mention The DB was recently destroyed!

One minor nitpick here: I don't know where he pulled the "one million other New Yorkers" statistic. As of March 2010, there were about 400,000 unemployed living in NYC. Statewide, the number of unemployed residents was about 831,800. Granted, if Peter was talking about the entire state (which I doubt), then his estimate of one million would have been closer. Even still, rounding up by over 150,000 is a big deal.

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Hate You Forever

The National Bureau of Economic Research may say that the Great Recession officially ended in the middle of 2009, but we all know the labor market still has a long way to go. The market for supervillains, in particular, has been insecure for years. Indeed, many up-and-coming individuals just dripping with malice and cruelty, as qualified as they may be, are having trouble securing positions in name-brand villain societies.

Good news for them: Dr. King Oblivion, PhD has written a book dedicated to those considering a career in supervillainy. It's called Hate You Forever: How to Channel Your Rage Into Effective Supervillainy. Here is a description:

Looking for a way out of the rat race? Tired of your ho-hum workaday life? Have an inexplicable love of turning human beings into inanimate objects? Then professional supervillainy, with tips from the experienced veterans at the International Society of Supervillains, might just be for you!

This guide is your personal look inside the tricks of the evil trade, from defining your nefarious goals, acquiring your treacherous credentials and creating your evil persona to building your army of henchmen, selecting your equipment and base of operations and carrying out your dastardly master plans. So get those laughing lungs ready, recruit, and do some bad out there!

The book even contains a section on financial planning--something supervillains definitely need to be aware of if they are to succeed in the current economic climate.

HT: DaveExMachina

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Lessons Learned from the Bennett Bailout

Earlier, we posted an in-depth discussion of the Marvel Universe's Bennett Bailout. To refresh your memory: former construction tycoon, current newspaper owner, and just ludicrously wealthy entrepreneur Dexter Bennett had somehow managed to persuade the United States federal government to award The DB, perhaps New York City's most prominent newspaper, a financial bailout.

Now that the bailout debacle is behind us (or so I think), it is important to look back and reflect on the lessons learned.

1) The public is fickle and easily swayed, but largely against bailouts.

Amazing Spider-Man #613 by Mark Waid and Paul Azaceta

Unlike the real world, the economy can be used to spread fear and paranoia in comic books. Not only that--it can be done by a supervillain.

Where's the actual public on this? Well in March 2009, a CBS News poll reported that 53% of the public were against giving more bailout to financial institutions, up from 44% only three months prior. I haven't seen any more recent polls about the bailouts, but it isn't a stretch to assume people have grown more disillusioned over the past year. A reaction such as the one in New York City is sudden, yet not really shocking (pun intended).

However, the overwhelmingly harsh response from NYC is interesting here. For one thing, citizens seem to be confusing Dexter Bennett for a Wall Street guy and seem to be conflating financial institutions and banks with news organizations. It's one thing to be hesitant in providing more money to institutions that individuals believe were the primary source of the recession, but it's quite another to be upset with the The DB. It actually seems like the citizens are rallying not so much against Wall Street, but against all rich people in general.

Of course, it's probably that New Yorkers are upset to see their taxpayer money wasted frivolously on organizations that they don't believe need to be bailed out. But then their problem isn't exactly with Dexter Bennett, but with the Federal Government and its policies.

2) The public is largely uninformed about, well, everything.

It's a sad day when people think that Spider-Man (who incidentally did not reveal his identity and is opposed to the Superhuman Registration Act of 2006) actually cuts a federal salary from the Avengers and pays no taxes on it. First of all, we know that Tony Stark pays a significant amount of taxes. Second, how would that even work? Would the Avengers hand him a check endorsed over to "Spider-Man," which he would then take and deposit into a Spider-Man bank account? And unless people actually think that Spider-Man is some sort of alien with no alter ego, he does pay taxes as Peter Parker.

3) Placing trust in Wall Street will only lead to destruction.

Amazing Spider-Man #614 by Mark Waid and Paul Azaceta

These are important life lessons. How many times have supervillains led the public against its superheroes using the prospect of a bleak political or economic future? I've said it before and I'll say it again. The best way to fight villainy is to educate citizens, especially in matters of the economy.

Oh yeah, and don't trust Wall Street.

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Ecocomic Recession Watch: Spider-Man Edition

Although on real-Earth, GDP might be growing faster than we expected, we are not out of the woods yet. Conversely, the Marvel Universe seems particularly bleak. Superheroes and supervillains alike are struggling to make ends meet. Heroes that aren't endowed with billions of dollars and who might not have solid public support are having trouble funding their weekly adventures. This puts a huge constraint on the amount of crime they could fight. Meanwhile, the ones who deviate from traditional tactics, take advantage of new technologies, and perform cheap stunts in order to propel their popularity are finding unexpected sources of income. Here are some economic indicators from Marvel's New York City (once again, we don't have real indicators like unemployment rates or GDP growth, but we do have anecdotal evidence of how the economy is affecting the daily tasks of heroes, villains, and operations of certain businesses) :

1) Villains are now liveblogging their fights.

Amazing Spider-Man #608 by Marc Guggenheim, Marco Checchetto, Luke Ross and Rick Magyar (2009)

Say what you will about the fickle nature of humanity, but one thing they consistently show interest in is a good performance. Watching real superheroes fight supervillains online, where they are safely insulated from any real harm, is the ultimate reality show. And Screwball here, despite her unfortunate name, seems to be aware of that. 18 million subscribers to her website? Imagine her advertising revenue (although if this is the case, it's curious that she isn't wearing any company logos or patches during her duel with Spider-Man in this issue).

We've discussed many times before how smaller villains need to rely on tactics like these to compete in the marketplace against the well-established elite (and it's not just in the case of villainy). Here's an interesting thought, though--it seems that, particularly in NYC, there has been a resurgence of b-list villains that come equipped with highly original, if not completely ludicrous schemes. Could it be that these villains have started to marginalize the older ones, who more or less rely on the same, traditional techniques? Is this, as Jason Todd had previously described, the iPod taking over the Walkman?

2) Spider-Man is considering using his "brand" to make some extra cash.

Of course, Spidey is just joking about patenting the Spidey-tracers. Or is he? On the one hand, you need to provide proper identification to have a patent. Also, I guess if you want to receive some form of payment for selling Spidey-tracers, you're going to have to need a name on your check. Fortunately, the Marvel Universe has just the mechanism to get around this: Spider-Man could reveal his identity and register with the government through the Superhuman Registration Act of 2006.

My sense is that if Spider-Man really wants to put his name towards making some money, this would be his only option. He obviously can't patent as Peter Parker--he needs the "Spidey" branding. He might have been able to hand off the tracers for mass production to, say, Tony Stark, who would then cut him a share of the profits under-the-table. Of course, Stark Industries is no more, Tony lost his mind (literally), Norman Osborn is running things, and Spider-Man is running low on friends he can trust in high places. But that's even more of an incentive to keep the secret identity. Oh, what to do?

3) The newspaper industry continues to fall more than ever

We have a more detailed post on the economics of the newspaper industry here. The point is the print industry is steadily declining. Part of the recent decline has to due with a reduction in advertising revenue, which has to do with the recession. But a major factor is the overwhelming public reliance on electronic media and technology. As far as I see, the DB is still holding true to its paper roots. But if it doesn't start taking advantage of new media soon, all the Spider-Man photos in the world won't be able to silence its death knell.

Dare I say that the folks at The DB take a lesson from Screwball? Here they are complaining about her liveblog and not one of them mentions perhaps adopting a similar strategy. That combined with Peter Parker's miraculous photography (how does he take all those Spider-Man pictures?) and the company has a chance of bouncing back.

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Ecocomic Recession Watch: Ultimate Armor Wars Edition

Ultimate Armor Wars #1 by Warren Ellis and Steve Kurth (2009)

Let it be known that you can always count on comic books to show you just how much worse life can get. While real-Earth is suffering from a global recession, the Ultimate Marvel Earth is dealing with the after effects of a large-scale attack by Magneto causing the complete destruction of Manhattan and the death of millions of people in addition to an economic collapse. I kid you not, things are so bad that Tony Stark is down to his last hundred million dollars. Stark Industries is all but gone. What ever is Tony going to do for money in this dark and dreadful age?

The answer may shock you...

That's right. The situation is so dire that Tony Stark has resorted to podcasting his thoughts (which in this book are mostly amusing drunken ramblings) in order to make a little extra cash.

It's actually pretty brilliant. I'd pay for them all.

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The Broker and Gotham City Crime

Streets of Gotham #4 by Paul Dini and Dustin Nguyen (2009)

Earlier, we had written about an interesting character that writer Paul Dini had created. A new, shadowy figure lurking around the streets of Gotham. Someone so sinister and cunning that he easily ranks among the most dangerous of Batman's rogues gallery.

I, of course, am referring to The Broker.

As a refresher, The Broker is an independent real estate agent that caters exclusively to supervillains and criminals. Whenever the Joker needs a new amusement park or abandoned toy store, he calls up The Broker. Whenever Two Face needs a new Double Mint Gum factory, he gives The Broker a ring. Whenever Clayface needs a new...um...where does Clayface take residence anyway? The point is that The Broker is the go-to guy for villain hideouts and lairs.

With the latest issue of Streets of Gotham, Dini and Nguyen develop a rich and elaborate back story for Gotham's new entrepreneur. We learn a good deal about the character's day-to-day operations, his history, and his motivations. And we get a pretty decent sense of the economics of the whole thing as well. Here are a few things that we have learned to expand upon our previous study of The Broker (and crime in Gotham):

First thing is sort of an obvious one: Gotham City has a lot of poor people and the recession isn't exactly helping. More importantly, however, is that in light of all the small businesses suspending operations and families being displaced from their homes, there are lots of abandoned buildings throughout the city. Because of this, it actually seems that The Broker's business is relatively recession-proof. In fact, the economic downturn is actually helping him with his venture. The number of supervillains doesn't exactly drop during a recession--it actually might be increasing. Further, these villains are only going to increase their number of financially-motivated crimes. As such, they're gonna needs hideouts, especially those new villains who need to make names for themselves (i.e. BoneBlaster).

One minor nitpick, however: I don't think "Bruce Wayne" is giving money to keep the "fat cats" happy. We've seen that Hush's deviously charitable plan was to donate funds each month to seeminly poor businesses and organizations that could use the money to stay open, such as the Monarch Card and Novelty Company. Sure, this isn't equivalent to investing money in organizations that help the poor, but I'd hardly call them fat cats.

Second thing we've learned: The Broker is a total badass. This is important since one of my suspicions in the previous entry was that The Broker would have to charge extremely high fees to his clients to compensate for any risks associated with his occupational hazards. That is, the guy is working with major supervillains here and he operates notably outside of the law. He risks being sought out by the police for the illegal trading of abandoned property, he risks being sought out by Batman for information on the villains he sells to (which actually does happen in the issue), and he risks being low-balled and harmed by the very villains with whom he is dealing. As such, he needs to charge a higher price for his time, energy and variable costs. Of course, the problem with that is once you start charging really high prices, it gives the villains even more of an incentive not to pay. The risk factor thus increases.

The good news is that The Broker makes it work in two ways. One is that he seems to have already built a significant reputation, which makes use of the economic concept of signaling. The other, more important quality is being a badass. Look at what happened when The Great White Shark (yep, a real villain) tried to skip out on paying a commission and a finder's fee. The Shark's henchmen get shot in the head by one of The Broker's snipers, forcing the Shark to pay up or...wait for it...sleep with the fishes.

By the way, just to give you an idea of how high these prices are, after the incident above with The Shark, The Broker ended up receiving a finder's fee of $3 million. It is extremely tough to persuade villains to pay you $3 million for simply finding a boat. The Shark actually had to go through the trouble himself to dispose of the yacht's previous owner. All The Broker did, literally, was find him the place. For that, he charges $3 million. The only way this plan could work consistently enough such that he could continue to maintain his business would be if he was an extreme badass. More badass than you or I could imagine, and more badass than is depicted in this comic. By the way, for more on badass, see Mark's post on the effect of bad-assity on the success of comic superheroes.

The third piece of information we learn involves a bit of Gotham City history. Ever wonder just why there are so many abandoned amusement parks throughout the city? I mean, it seems like every day The Joker or The Scarecrow gets a new one to play with. Turns out, there's a reason!

Apparently, right around World War I and then subsequently during the Great Depression, Gotham was a bleak and dark place plagued by rampant crime and depression. Indeed, it doesn't seem all that different now, does it? However, the one form of escapism that proved even more effective than drugs and alcohol was amusement parks. An early string of amusement entrepreneurs started a chain of successful parks, which eventually bred more competition and led to the creation of even more parks for cheaper admissions fees. According to Dini, "By the mid fifties, Gotham boasted no less than three zoos, five amusement parks, and I don't know how many wax museums and reptile farms." People came in droves and used the amusement industry to essentially drown their sorrows. This continued to be the case for the next several decades as the industry continued to expand.

At some point, however, it looks like there was another economic downturn which had led to massive factory closures and unemployment. As a result, people were no longer able to afford coming to amusement parks and began turning more to crime. One by one, these parks closed down.

Dini does not really go into the specifics as to the cause of these factories being closed, so I cannot really elaborate further (unless I missed something). Suffice it to say that this is where the abandoned factories, toy shops, amusement parks, wax museums, and all the other popular villainous hideouts come from. Likewise, this is where the source of The Broker's income also comes from.

So now we know a little more about The Broker and Gotham City history. Although in this context The Broker's operations make more sense, I am still a little bit skeptical on how he manages to sustain them. My intuition is that the villains most likely and most in need of his services would be the low-grade, up-and-coming ones. These are the guys that likely don't know Gotham well enough to find a hideout on their own, need one desperately (especially in times of recession), and don't exactly have time to waste on seeking out abandoned reptile museums. On the other hand, the big-time villains like Joker and Two-Face seem to already have the means to find these lairs easily. They have henchmen who they already pay to do things just like this. They've been around for a while and know both the layout of the city and common police patrol routes. Finally, it is much easier to conduct business with the small guys than the big guys.

At the same time, your smaller villains don't have the means to pay The Broker his extremely high fees. Indeed, if he dealt more with small-time villains, I imagine there would be less risk and his fees would be lower. Still, I doubt he would be making enough money to keep this business going without the big-time villains.

Furthermore, if he is dealing with enough big-timers such that he is able to keep his venture running, I can't imagine that any amount of badass short of being Batman himself would be enough to be able to handle it for so long. As shrewd and keen-witted a businessman as he is, my sense is that The Broker would eventually fall.

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Ecocomic Recession Watch: Spider-Man Edition (Again)

In this week's Amazing Spider-Man, Mark Waid peppers the issue with discussions of the economic downturn and its effects on the people in Peter Parker's life. First, Peter tries to visit Harry Osborn, only to be told...

The Amazing Spider-Man #601 by Mark Waid and Mario Alberti (2009)

Next, we have Peter visiting The DB. Except things are not really going so well in the newspaper industry either (which we covered here)...

And finally...


Now, the reader is aware that the first panel is not exactly true. Actually, Harry's move involved a recent confrontation with his father, Norman Osborn, aka the Green Goblin. Even still, something I was always curious about was whether the recession had an impact on moving or trucking companies. Harry is just one example of the many individuals who had been forced to abandon their houses or apartments for more modest accommodations. If there is a surge in moving, would this also be accompanies by an accretion in profits for moving companies? On the other hand, businesses have been cutting on the costs for transportation of materials, which would abate trucking profits. Anybody know of any data on the utilization of movers?

The fact that Glory Grant and Betty Brant now have to room together is also reflective of the state of the economy. Here are two articles on people being forced to find roommates to contribute towards living expenses during the recession. In fact, a spokeswoman for Craigslist had mentioned in March that roommate listings on the website had increased by 65% over the last year. Listings increased 75% in Las Vegas alone.

By the way, does anybody know how I might be able to use Google Maps to discover an individual's new address? That seems like a pretty powerful feature that bellhop is referring to.

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Superhero Cosmetics

Last week, we asked readers to submit their suggestions of recession proof industries in comic books. Congratulations to our winner, Will, who proposed that cosmetic surgeons, especially for superheroes:

Many heroes don't have healing factors or invulnerability, but are not hideously scarred, missing teeth, suffering from signs of poor setting of bone, etc. Clearly, off panel, they are spending a great deal of time (and money) getting cosmetic surgery or dentistry done to keep things looking good. [...] The booming cosmetic surgery business will also explain why heroes look so different book to book. Adding to all of this, in recessions, crime normally goes up, meaning more fights and more need for cosmetic surgery for both heroes and villains.

The particularly fascinating thing about this answer is the distinction between comic book universes and real Earth. That is, on real Earth dips in the economy tend to diminish utilization of cosmetic services. In fact, according to a New York Times article in December 2008, the American Society of Plastic Surgeons reported that 62% of surgeons responded that they had performed fewer procedures in the first half of the year compared with the same time in 2007. In addition, the Mentor Corporation--an implant manufacturer--reported that the number of implants sold had decreased 5% in the three months leading up to September 26th from the same time the previous year. Finally, the American Academy of Cosmetic Surgery's Economic Impact Survey revealed that approximately 80% of cosmetic surgery practices in the United States were impacted by the recession and that surgeons reported a 50% drop in patients in the third quarter of 2008.

Another reason this is interesting is that although people are tightening their belts during times of economic troubles, there is reason to believe that the "vanity" business can usually be fairly successful. Intuitively, an argument can be made that if people are losing jobs and becoming more insecure, they might want to indulge in services that enhance their appearances and thus boost their self-esteem. If this phenomenon is occurring in the United States, the evidence suggests that it does not seem to be offsetting the reduction in spending on plastic surgery accompanied with the downturn.

In comic books, however, this does not have to be the case. Indeed, humans would cut their use of cosmetic and luxurious services just as they do in real life, but evidence through the books seem to suggest otherwise for the metahuman population. Anybody who has consistently read a comic book must have at one point thought, "I wonder how this guy gets beat up so many times only to look unblemished the next issue." Will proposes that the answer is lots and lots of cosmetic surgery.

This is not an unreasonable theory. After all, not all superheroes have billions of dollars in assets and a trained combat medic for a Butler. Not all mutants have a healing factor or quick access to the Beast for support. Even if they did have access to medical personnel, I doubt that Alfred is also trained in combat cosmetics. And despite his astonishing wealth of medical knowledge and his ability to invent a time machine notwithstanding, I have a feeling that the Beast doesn't know the first thing about an abdominoplasty.

It can be argued that the superhero/supervillain utilization of cosmetics is not enough to offset the decrease in use by regular humans. After all, a 50% drop in patients in the third quarter of 2008 is quite a bit. However, the metahuman population is constantly expanding and most of them do not have their own titles. Secondly, as Will pointed out, recessions tend to be associated with an increase in specific types of crimes, including robbery and burglary (which is something we have discussed here). If superheroes are on the rise and if the recession is drawing out more criminals, then it is certainly conceivable that the increase in utilization by these superheroes is enough to deem the industry "recession-proof."

And it better be. No one likes an ugly superhero.

Again, thank you very much for your comments, everyone. Will, please e-mail us at ecocomics dot blog at gmail dot com with your address and top 5 choices of graphic novels/comic books under $20.

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Question for Readers: What Are The Recession Proof Industries In Comic Books?

((The person who comments with the best answer to this question will win a prize, which will be a comic book of his or her choice for under $20, assuming it is available at my local shop. Please note, we will not ship internationally).

The recession has affected many aspects of the American economy, causing spending to drop and industry to shrivel. But as always, some businesses have shown their resiliency and great resistance to the economic downturn. As always, the movie industry is still relatively flourishing despite the economy. Alcohol is still being purchased despite raised taxes and overall higher prices. Waste management still thrives because people want their garbage removed in a timely manner. To a degree, these industries seem to be recession proof.

But the fictional world of a comic book changes America's economic landscape. Industries that would thrive in reality could falter easily in a comic's fictional world. But surely some industries in the comic book world must have the same level of recession-proof security that some real ones do.

Here are my pick's for recession proof industries in the comic book world:

1) Purple pants manufacturers. The Hulk will always need them. And for the Hulk, 1 pair equals 1 use. He is a market unto himself.


2) The construction/repair industry. We've already gone over this one.

3) Spandex manufacturers. Who would have thought it would be such an important resource? Especially after break-dancing starting to lose momentum. But it seems like spandex clothing is very popular in comic books despite the high possibility of chafing.

4) Indestructible shield polish makers. Has Captain America's shield ever not been shiny? Even after being slammed in dirt and covered in vampire blood?

5) Clothing designers of easy to open white button-down shirts. Superman rips one of those up roughly every five seconds.

6) Jet airplane insignia painters. Every hero team needs a means of transportation and every means of transportation needs to have the team's logo plastered all over it. The average airplane painter could make an entire career out of painting "X"s, "A"s, "4"s, "JLA"s, and "S.H.I.E.L.D"s on all manner of flying vehicles. And since these vehicles are always getting blown up you never have to worry about repeat customers.

7) Superhero/supervillain massage and chiropractor. Do you have any idea the cramps you can get from being stretched in all directions by Plastic Man? And being hit with an optic blast will at the very least disturb the alignment of your spine.

8) Silk Cuts. John Constantine's personal brand of tobacco will never go out of business.

But of course the vigorous demands of the comic book economy means that there may be many more "recession-proof" fields I haven't thought of. Any more ideas are of course welcome.

Note: This is actually a post by Mark that is posted under Shadowbanker's name.

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Ecocomic Recession Watch: Spider Man Edition

The Amazing Spider Man #600 by Dan Slott and John Romita Jr. (2009)

Peter Parker is having more difficulty putting food on the table these days than usual. Especially as the newspaper industry is struggling during the recession, The Front Line is having more trouble paying its freelancer writers and photographers. Peter is in such debt, in fact, coupled with the loss of his roommate in a recent storyline, that he is at risk of missing Aunt May's rehearsal dinner and other major events in his personal life. Mind you, this is not anything new. But what's new is that he's missing it for his day job and not his crime fighting endeavors as Spider-Man. After all, as he notes, "web fluid doesn't grow on trees."

Meanwhile, J. Jonah Jameson is having troubles of his own as he struggles to infuse some funds into the stalled New York State economy, while trying to fend off an attack by Doctor Octopus and be circumspect about the state budget (despite the fact that he appropriated a significant amount of it towards an anti-Spider-Man task force).

It actually surprises me that the Governor has not called them in already. Is he unaware of this impending attack that is being broadcast on all television and radio stations, as well as over the internet? But yes, Jameson, the National Guard does eat up state funds as well as federal funds. In fact, in 2008, New York State funded about $43.2 million on its National Guard. I would say that's a lot of money to be spent when you could just call in Spider-Man. Another alternative is to call in New York's state defense force, the New York Guard, which are comprised primarily of volunteers. Of course, this might lead to concerns regarding whether there would be enough forces to take on Doctor Octopus and whether these volunteers have the appropriate incentives to perform adequately.

So what's Jameson's grand money-making plan? In typical fashion, it's misguided and irresponsible...

Can anyone actually explain the logic of this to me? How would girls in bikinis help the NYS economy? The reporter suggests that fashion retailers might start purchasing, but really? That's it? This is not rhetorical. I'm actually asking the readers for help in understanding Jameson's new plan!

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Ecocomic Recession Watch: Streets of Gotham Edition

Streets of Gotham #2 by Paul Dini and Dustin Nguyen (2009)

Hush, posing as Bruce Wayne, conceives of a devious (and quite unique) plan, using the economic recession as a justification (more later on this). He claims that the private sector is the most effective way to combat the crisis.

I never knew Bruce Wayne as a rabble-rouser, but do you think this will provoke the Obama administration and stir some contention in Washington? Certainly folks like Paul Krugman and Brad Delong should come out and speak against Bruce Wayne.

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Ecocomic Recession Watch: Dr. Doom Edition

iFanboy links to a video of Victor Von Doom performing stand-up comedy.



Is it possible that the recession has hit Dr. Doom so hard that he is now forced to wield his other talents and seek alternate sources of income? I could have sworn that supervillainy was lucrative enough for him. After all, he is part of a cabal with Norman Osbourn. If he was having this much financial trouble, you would think that Osbourn could loan him some cash. Or maybe he could ease up on spending all his resources taking trips to the moon to hang out with Dracula, as he did recently in Captain Britain and MI:13.

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Ecocomic Recession Watch: Captain America Edition

"The Other Steve Rogers" explains how it felt living during the Great Depression vs. living in the modern recession. Note the attention to detail in the artwork, particularly all the "foreclosure" and "for sale" signs as he walks down the street.

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Ultimate Spider-Man and the Newspaper Industry: Could the Bugle Have Survived?

Over in the Ultimate Marvel universe, where J. Jonah Jameson is not the mayor of New York City, some former Daily Bugle employees are musing over the loss of their newspaper and the effect that the recession had on the newspaper industry.

Of course, the recession is not the primary reason for the Bugle being shut down. Instead it was Ultimatum: a "massive tidal wave [that] crashed down on the island of Manhattan, killing millions of people in the blink of an eye." With a large chunk of New York City now completely obliterated, including the Bugle building itself, it is quite difficult for Jameson and his crew to remain in business.

Supernatural disasters aside (boy, I bet Jameson wishes he had taken out a Supernatural Disaster Insurance policy), Jameson acknowledges that the recession would have forced the Bugle to close shop anyway. And he's probably right--the newspaper industry is not doing too well in the face of the latest crisis.

Take a look at the following graph from the Newspaper Association of America (NAA), which depicts quarterly newspaper print ad sales (via Techcrunch).



Indeed, ad expenditures have been on a fairly steady decline since 2006, and took yet another sharp turn in the final quarter of 2008 and the first quarter of 2009.

These numbers do not look good. According to the NAA, total print advertising expenditures fell from about $8.4 billion in Q1 of 2008 to approximately $5.9 billion in Q1 of 2009. This represents a 29.7% decline in print revenues.

And this is just print. Online sales fell by an unprecedented 13.4% in Q1 of 2009, dropping from about $804 million to about $696 million. Total print and online newspaper ad expenditures fell from about $9.2 billion to about $6.6 billion--a 28.3% decline.

It is no wonder that Jameson and the Daily Bugle staff were worried. Many newspapers have been forced to either shut down production or institute massive cuts and layoffs due to the lost revenues and diminished readership. In February, the San Francisco Chronicle announced that it was cutting a significant amount of jobs following a 7% decline in circulation in the 6 months leading up to September 2008. Denver's Rocky Mountain News also was forced to close.

In April, the New York Times company announced an 18.6% revenue loss to $609 million from $747.9 million and a debt of $1.3 billion. The Tribune Company (Chicago), the Los Angeles Times, and the Baltimore Sun all filed for bankruptcy in December of 2008.

Would there have been much hope for the Bugle if Ultimatum never had occurred? Likely not. Although the Bugle had a website, it seems as though the company used much of its operating costs on print production. As far as I am aware, the Bugle, in particular, seemed wary of establishing a prominent online presence, considering itself to be a traditional newspaper. In addition, with Jameson at the helm, rather than focusing on expanding to new media and acquiring new sources of revenue, the Bugle frequently relied on cheap journalism and scare tactics (particularly involving Spider-Man) to earn a buck. This only works so much in the face of a recession.

Sure enough, however, the Bugle could have tried several things. They could have converted to a "web-first" organization, pouring more resources into online media rather than print. Compared to last year, there was about a 7% drop in newspaper circulation, while web site viewership increased about 10.5% in Q1. Although ad revenues are dropping even online, they were pretty strong in 2006, while print ad revenues were declining. The Bugle could have taken advantage of some creative forms of advertising, including deals with mobile phone companies, social media companies (Facebook, Twitter), etc. Perhaps, as Jameson is realizing now, they might have even sold more newspapers if he were to cease portraying Spider-Man as a menace. People like reading about heroes.

I open the floor to the readers. Is there anything the Daily Bugle could have done to keep in business? What measures could it have taken to help its survival?

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"Fighting Crime Doesn't Pay"

This is a glimpse at what will happen if we do not take the appropriate measures to alleviate economic conditions. No one is safe.

Not from the Ecocomic Recession.

HT: Robot6.

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The Recession, Crime and Superhero Incentives

We've spoken before about the link between poverty, economics and crime. Consider the panel above, suggesting that rampant unemployment in Liberty Hill has contributed to the surge in violent crime and death. Well, it looks like there is more real-Earth evidence that links harsh economic times to crime. Specifically:

Emerging research from sociologists, journalists, trade journals, and law enforcement suggest that certain types of crime are rising and began rising in early 2009/late 2008 when the pains of the recession first began being felt. This has led some analysts to investigate a link between the two, theorizing that the anxiety, suffering, and loss of the financial meltdown has made criminals more likely to commit crimes.

Of course, the majority of these crimes are not violent crimes (as suggested in Ink), but rather crimes associated with a financial gain or incentive. According to USA Today, robberies and burglaries are on the rise and have been increasing 39% and 32% in 2009. Vehicle theft has been increasing 40%, drugs and prostitution have been linked to an increase in foreclosures, and domestic violence against women has surged since 2009. In addition, there has been a rise in insurance fraud and identity theft. Nationwide's 2009 survey demonstrated that 10% of the respondents had missed payments due to identity theft.

In fact, violent crime seems to be the only type of crime that is decreasing (at least in certain areas). According to Freakonomics, murder in New York has fallen compared to last year by 21%. Rapes are down by nearly as much.

Add to this the fact that police departments across the country are feeling the economic squeeze. McClatchy reports "Declining sales and property taxes are forcing law enforcement agencies across the country to postpone buying equipment, cut recruitment classes, freeze overtime and redeploy staff to save money." So the police officers that are still on staff end up having less of an incentive to effectively fight crime, as depicted in the following panel.


What are the implications of this recession for the major comic book universes? Well, one thing that I had not considered until recently is that mutants, aliens living on Earth, and all metahumans in general might be increasingly tempted to use their powers and abilities for evil rather than good. The recession could actually breed more supervillains, albeit ones likely interested in holding people hostage for ransom and robbing banks. If you're someone with the power of invisibility and you have just lost your dead-end job, have barely enough money to sustain an even meager living in New York, and are struggling with the difficulties and prejudices involved of being a mutant, you might consider walking into a bank and taking some cash. Consider Alan Moore's depiction of the Joker's origin in The Killing Joke. Here, the Joker was just an ordinary man, struggling with a career change and trying to make it as a comedian. Down on his luck and deprived of the funds to support his family, he agrees to be part of a heist against a chemical plant. He has a run in with the Batman and we know the rest. And he wasn't even superhuman!


So what can be done about the recession, crime, and supervillain problem? It seems to me that a crucial measure would be to encourage those on-the-fence metas to take up a life of heroism rather than villainy. This means offering monetary incentives and rewards for fighting crime. We've seen the likes of this scheme before with such organizations as the Thunderbolts, which employs "former" supervillains as employees of the government to catch unregistered, unlicensed superheroes. But we also see it here with the Tattooed Man, a former Green Lantern villain who has now apparently reformed and is enjoying a perks of being a superhero, being an official member of the Justice League of America, and who is apparently receiving money for his work.


I did not quite catch in this issue how the Tattooed Man is receiving a "payday," but I assume it is something similar to Booster Gold during 52, who received endorsement deals from companies and made some advertising revenues. Essentially, he promoted himself as a flying billboard. Indeed, the point is that the Tattooed Man now has an incentive to be a superhero. That means he is not causing trouble for the Justice League. It also means that he is helping to foil bank robberies, murders, heists, evil dark deities' schemes to take over the planet and force human beings into submissive obedience, and pretty much the whole gamut of comic book crimes.

Governments should do everything in their power to offer some sort of payment for these metahumans. This can even go beyond an actual paycheck, but include additional on-the-job benefits. As the Tattooed Man noted, he receives many extra perks for holding an official Justice League club card. It's just like being in a labor union. I am sure that the Tattooed Man now has health benefits, a pension plan, job security, influence on union policy, and discounts at all major alien technology outlets. These are the sorts of benefits that could deter wayward metas from a life of broken bones and exorbitant medical costs on account of being pounded by Superman. That in addition to reducing the potential supervillain population and helping the United States government alleviate its steadily augmenting crime problem.

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Should Comic Books Incorporate Real World Economics?

We've discussed how the economic recession has been affecting characters and lifestyles in different comic book universes. Evidence of the recession's impact is prevalent both in DC and Marvel. Batman's absence since Grant Morrison's Batman RIP storyline has left Wayne Enterprises in a bit of a rough spot (though I'm not sure that Bruce really had anything to do with keeping company afloat aside from acting as a figurehead--maybe this is actually important to encourage investors in the company). Elsewhere, Tony Stark's recent "failure' during Marvel's Secret Invasion has led to the dismantling of S.H.I.E.L.D, the creation of a new homeland security organization, H.A.M.M.E.R., and the government freezing all of Tony assets at Stark Industries (including the Iron Man armor).

As this NY Daily News article points out, however, there is considerable debate among comic fans, creators, and even academics as to whether such a focus on the economy is good for readers. On the one hand, here is Dan Dido, executive editor at DC Comics:

I don't see how it doesn't work into our storytelling if not only our readers are feeling it, but our creators are feeling it

True that the readers might feel more attached the story if it reflected real world circumstances that they could connect with. But consider the comments of Mark White, Professor at the College of Staten Island:

Comic books are a way for people to get away from the real world. They don't want to be reminded of wars or tragedies or economic catastrophes.

This raises an interesting point as well. Although comic books have incorporated real-world since their inception (World War II, the Cold War, nuclear waste, the Red Scare, etc.), they have always been the medium to consistently portray characters that are "larger-than-life" and are able to overcome these obstacles with minimal attrition.

I would love to get some reader opinions on this. Should the comic book medium continue to evoke these harsh realities through their stories or should their primary purpose be to help the public escape these realities?

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Ecocomic Recession Watch: Bad Dog Edition

The global ecocomic recession has spread so far that its effects are even starting to be felt in the already marginalized Image Comics world. Conditions there are so bleak that small business owners cannot even succeed in a werewolf's behind. There should really be an employer subsidy to aid these firms working in such harsh environments.

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