Comic Vault

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Evidence of Increased Sales in Other Fields

By observing how minority representation in other fields has affected their sales, one can see that comic book sales will experience the same rise. McDonald's has been advertising to minorities as well as Caucasian households. Sales rose 1.5 percent as diversity in advertising increased, and the company has seen an increase in positive views by minority families. Toyota motor company has seen an increase in sales due to minority representation. When worried about Hybrid sales, Toyota aired an advertisement involving a young black couple who become convinced that the Hybrid is the car for them. After the advertisement, Hybrid sales nearly doubled. This is a trend that is true with most products. By showing your target audience using that product or being within that product, a company will sell more to their target. By representing minorities, these companies easily increased sales, so in theory, comic books will experience a rise in sales as well.

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Downsides of Minority Rpresentation

While more minority representation is good, there would be some potential costs of minority representation. In some cases, the character just will not sell. There have been several character redesigns that simply have not been well perceived. This was the case with the early version of the African American Green Lantern Jon Stewart. Created in the 1970′s, Stewart was supposed to pave the way for more minority representation, but he ended up being a huge disappointment. He became a walking stereotype, and for this reason was criticized and forgotten, until another redesign came in the early 2000′s. The problem with a failed redesign is that it usually results in poor sales for the company, and some people feeling disappointed about the character. After experiencing a failed change within a character, the comic book company may take a while to move forward with minority representation, creating a setback for the movement. One small slip could actually end up turning a new reader away from comic books. 

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How Storylines Could be Affected.

With the introduction of more characters, new storylines, or story-archs would be created to explain the timeline of events. Not only would this increase sales for the publisher, but fans would also have new comics to read. Fans say that one main reason they support minority representation, aside from equality, is so they could have more stories to read and enjoy. The support of more characters is sometimes seen just so the community can get a glance at alternate universes, or at the death of one hero and the birth of another. Sometimes these minority characters let us see how differently the character develops from the original version, as seen with Miles Morales, Gwen Stacy, and John Stewart. All of these characters differ from the original, but they also have remarkable sales. This further shows the benefits of minority representation in comic books.

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A Growing Community Through Representation

The comic book community is already a huge community. Groups of people united by something we all love. Most people feel a certain attachment to a character. Through minority representation in comic books, more people may feel welcome in the community, thus causing the numbers to grow. With exposure, comes the chance for more outreach. By finding a character they can identify with, minorities who previously felt unrepresented, will now be able to take part in an ever-growing community. Friends that will last a lifetime will be made, and some people may need a friend, and thanks to comics, they may find one. Many conventions show off the diversity in the community, and more is to come so long as comic book publishers continue to appeal to multiple audiences, and not just the white males. This growing group of fans will also feel as if the company image has improved.

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Benefits Of Minority Representation

Many readers of comic books only look at the negatives of altering characters. There are many positives to these changes, mainly for the company, but the audience can enjoy them too. For a comic book publisher, such as marvel, by adding more minority characters to their list of characters, they can increase sales. Minorities who identify with that character will purchase these new comics as will others. This results in easy profits for the comic company. Marvel has already felt the positive impact of minority changes thanks to a relatively new series called “Spider-Gwen”. This has been one of their most successful series involving a female lead. Many are looking forward to the reveal of the “All New All Different Avengers” cast, which will be revealed on free comic book day in an issue which will be free to the public. This is a move by marvel to try and get people attached to a new comic book featuring these diverse characters, which is a smart move by marvel.