Is the Comic Book Movie/TV market too crowded?

[Parasondox]

It's 2016 and yep, the world, in some parts, is still shitty. This is why aliens will never come here.

2016 is the year of comic book movies and TV shows and I am going to feel fatigue soon aren't I? Has anyone every said too much of something is a good thing? Because comic book media isn't one of them.

This year we will be seeing *starts counting but then says fuck it*, a lot of comic book/superhero related media on the big screen, TV, and streaming services. A bucket load. Too damn many. This thought came up with the news about TITANS being stalled due to the script and the superhero market being too big.

http://www.comicbookmovie.com/fansites/GraphicCity/news/?a=129758

Do you think the bubble is about to burst for the genre?
Is there just too much going on?
Is the hype for the genre still being felt by you on a personal level?

Deadpool
Batman V Superman
Captain America Civil War
DareDevil
Luke Cage
The Flash
Legends of Tomorrow
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Arrow
Suicide Square
X-Men Apocalypse
Agent Carter
Dr Strange
Gambit (maybe)
The Walking Dead
Preacher
iZombie (that's a show right? Not something Apple just patented?)
...there is still more isn't there?

Fatigue incoming. God, Disney is going to milk Star Wars dry aren't they?

 

[Chris Mosher]

Well I think that Preacher had a good chance of not falling into that trap since its not really superhero related.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

It is as far as I'm concerned, but don't mind me, I dislike the genre in general.

 

[prowll]

Given how many police procedural shows are on, anything that makes them make SOMETHING ELSE is fine by me.

 

[PapaGreg096]

Eh not really Comic books in general tend to be diverse so I say no.

 

[TheVampwizimp_v1legacy]

There may one day be an overabundance of superhero stories (not to say comic books in general), and it may then no longer be fiscal to make giga-budget films anymore in the genre, but that day is not today, nor tomorrow.








And as to your precise question, that would be like asking if there are too many novels and short stories being adapted into film these days. Comics are nearly as diverse as any other form of literature.

 

[Kinokohatake]

Since the idea of comic books are broad enough for different genres to fall underneath them I would say no. You look at Sin City and it is nothing like Deadpool. And Winter Soldier is very different from Green Lantern. They all have different feels, different tropes, different surprises, and with the way the studios are going about them, they are able to cross over with each other. Most comic book films have been pretty high quality. Yes we may get an occasional Fant4stic or Catwoman, but GotG and nearly all other Marvel properties have been very good. If we want to look at squashing a market, why not something akin to Young Adult Books being turned into movies. It's always about the teenager being different from all the other teens, and in their dystopian world this magical snowflake will outwit the evil adults and make everyone so much happier with their teenness.

 

[Marter]

No. At least as far as movies are concerned. There are usually around 150 wide releases a year at the cinema. By my count, there are going to be 6-7 (7 if Gambit doesn't get delayed, which it honestly looks like it will; 6 if Gambit does get delayed) superhero movies coming out this year. That means only about 4-5% of the movies for the entire year - and that's not counting limited releases or VOD releases, of which you could realistically count another 250 movies - will be superhero movies.

Talk to me when we get to 10-15%.

That is just superhero movies, though. Comic books movies in general? You're probably not looking at more than a 1-2% raise, and since comic books/graphic novels can result in all sorts of movies - Blue is the Warmest Color was an adaptation of a graphic novel, for instance - it's not really fair to lump them in.

 

[Hawki]

Comics? No, that's not fair. It's like saying that there's too many novel adaptations - for instance, on your list, you can add Dark Matter alongside The Walking Dead. Both are based on comic books, but that's the only thing they have in common.

On the other hand, speaking personally, I do have superhero fatigue.

 

[Zontar]

It is as far as I'm concerned, but don't mind me, I dislike the genre in general.

It's not a genre though, it's a medium, just like books or animation. Hell even superheroes specifically have long stopped being a genre unto itself and bled so far into each individual story being a combination of genre that even superheroes themselves can't honestly be called a genre anymore either.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

It is as far as I'm concerned, but don't mind me, I dislike the genre in general.

It's not a genre though, it's a medium, just like books or animation. Hell even superheroes specifically have long stopped being a genre unto itself and bled so far into each individual story being a combination of genre that even superheroes themselves can't honestly be called a genre anymore either.

Oh they're a genre, structured around do-gooding and evil-doing, featuring super-powered individuals who try to enforce or oppose justice - violently, 99.99% of the time. You can subvert it or ridicule it, but it's very much a genre.

The only instance of genre-that-isn't-really-a-genre is film noir, which some academics have argued is actually a style (derived from elements of crime, horror and surrealism in the '40s).

You're confusing medium with its syntactic & semantic components. "Book" or "animation" are mediums. "Superhero" is an emblem of a narrative genre, which can appear in any number of mediums. "Superhero" is no more a medium than cowboy, soldier or detective.

 

[sneakypenguin]

The marvel market is too crowded. I know what I'm going to get with each movie. Some action some funny lines one or two "big reveals/omg look who it is for the next movie" Its candy yeah I love it but sometimes I want something different. I think thats why batman v superman looks more interesting than civil war to me.

 

[PapaGreg096]

It is as far as I'm concerned, but don't mind me, I dislike the genre in general.

It's not a genre though, it's a medium, just like books or animation. Hell even superheroes specifically have long stopped being a genre unto itself and bled so far into each individual story being a combination of genre that even superheroes themselves can't honestly be called a genre anymore either.

Oh they're a genre, structured around do-gooding and evil-doing, featuring super-powered individuals who try to enforce or oppose justice - violently, 99.99% of the time. You can subvert it or ridicule it, but it's very much a genre.

The only instance of genre-that-isn't-really-a-genre is film noir, which some academics have argued is actually a style (derived from elements of crime, horror and surrealism in the '40s).

You're confusing medium with its syntactic & semantic components. "Book" or "animation" are mediums. "Superhero" is an emblem of a narrative genre, which can appear in any number of mediums. "Superhero" is no more a medium than cowboy, soldier or detective.

There are a crap ton of Superhero stories that don't follow that trope hell the new Vision book is about an Android and his family trying to integrate into human society.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

It is as far as I'm concerned, but don't mind me, I dislike the genre in general.

It's not a genre though, it's a medium, just like books or animation. Hell even superheroes specifically have long stopped being a genre unto itself and bled so far into each individual story being a combination of genre that even superheroes themselves can't honestly be called a genre anymore either.

Oh they're a genre, structured around do-gooding and evil-doing, featuring super-powered individuals who try to enforce or oppose justice - violently, 99.99% of the time. You can subvert it or ridicule it, but it's very much a genre.

The only instance of genre-that-isn't-really-a-genre is film noir, which some academics have argued is actually a style (derived from elements of crime, horror and surrealism in the '40s).

You're confusing medium with its syntactic & semantic components. "Book" or "animation" are mediums. "Superhero" is an emblem of a narrative genre, which can appear in any number of mediums. "Superhero" is no more a medium than cowboy, soldier or detective.

There are a crap ton of Superhero stories that don't follow that trope hell the new Vision book is about an Android and his family trying to integrate into human society.

There are a "crap ton" of Westerns where the guy in the top hat doesn't tie the damsel to the train tracks, but they're still Westerns

 

[PapaGreg096]

It is as far as I'm concerned, but don't mind me, I dislike the genre in general.

It's not a genre though, it's a medium, just like books or animation. Hell even superheroes specifically have long stopped being a genre unto itself and bled so far into each individual story being a combination of genre that even superheroes themselves can't honestly be called a genre anymore either.

Oh they're a genre, structured around do-gooding and evil-doing, featuring super-powered individuals who try to enforce or oppose justice - violently, 99.99% of the time. You can subvert it or ridicule it, but it's very much a genre.

The only instance of genre-that-isn't-really-a-genre is film noir, which some academics have argued is actually a style (derived from elements of crime, horror and surrealism in the '40s).

You're confusing medium with its syntactic & semantic components. "Book" or "animation" are mediums. "Superhero" is an emblem of a narrative genre, which can appear in any number of mediums. "Superhero" is no more a medium than cowboy, soldier or detective.

There are a crap ton of Superhero stories that don't follow that trope hell the new Vision book is about an Android and his family trying to integrate into human society.

There are a "crap ton" of Westerns where the guy in the top hat doesn't tie the damsel to the train tracks, but they're still Westerns

No one isn't arguing that we are just saying the superhero genre tends to be more than good vs evil

 

[Hawki]

Johnny's in the right of it - superheroes are a genre, not a medium. A medium is the means by which an expression of art is generated, the genre is a categorization/descriptive of the art itself.

As for the Vision analogy, can't comment, but for instance, A Song of Ice and Fire subverts a lot of the fantasy tropes that began with (or were at least popularized by) Lord of the Rings. Yet it's still a work of fantasy itself.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

It is as far as I'm concerned, but don't mind me, I dislike the genre in general.

It's not a genre though, it's a medium, just like books or animation. Hell even superheroes specifically have long stopped being a genre unto itself and bled so far into each individual story being a combination of genre that even superheroes themselves can't honestly be called a genre anymore either.

Oh they're a genre, structured around do-gooding and evil-doing, featuring super-powered individuals who try to enforce or oppose justice - violently, 99.99% of the time. You can subvert it or ridicule it, but it's very much a genre.

The only instance of genre-that-isn't-really-a-genre is film noir, which some academics have argued is actually a style (derived from elements of crime, horror and surrealism in the '40s).

You're confusing medium with its syntactic & semantic components. "Book" or "animation" are mediums. "Superhero" is an emblem of a narrative genre, which can appear in any number of mediums. "Superhero" is no more a medium than cowboy, soldier or detective.

There are a crap ton of Superhero stories that don't follow that trope hell the new Vision book is about an Android and his family trying to integrate into human society.

There are a "crap ton" of Westerns where the guy in the top hat doesn't tie the damsel to the train tracks, but they're still Westerns

No one isn't arguing that we are just saying the superhero genre tends to be more than good vs evil

There can be more to it, but if there is any tendency to the superhero genre, it's the good vs. evil thing. And it's definitely a genre.

 

[WolfThomas]

No. I'll try not to wade into the genre debate above, but genre or not superhero films are getting diverse in content.

With some trimming Winter Solider could have been a James Bond or Jason Bourne spy thriller. Guardians of the Galaxy was clearly angling (before Disney got Star Wars) for the soft sci-fi Space Opera vibe. Jessica Jones is psychological crime based setting and Agent Carter is a more light-hearted period piece. Apparently the next Thor is parts buddy comedy with the Hulk.

We're breaking free of the mandatory Origin for Superhero, training/costume making and finally being hero for the last short third of early films, Spiderman, Fantastic Four, even Iron Man 1.

As for non-super hero comics like the Walking Dead, Preacher, iZombie, Lucifer etc. I don't see how they're any different than other adpations of films, books etc.

 

[Zontar]

And it's definitely a genre.

Does that mean James Bond and Star Wars are part of that genre as well? Because when you get right down to it, if you threw in some coloured spandex those movies would be more similar to each other then many superhero movies are.

Johnny's in the right of it - superheroes are a genre, not a medium. A medium is the means by which an expression of art is generated, the genre is a categorization/descriptive of the art itself.

The argument isn't that superheroes are a medium, it's that comic books are a medium. The argument regarding superheroes is that they are not a genre, and given how Marvel's movies and shows are ones that wouldn't be considered the same genre had they not been in the same setting and having the rare reference to each other, it seems a pretty clear cut case that superheroes have long moved from being a genre we don't even see anymore (Amazing Spiderman is literally the only traditional superhero movie of the past 10 years after all) and have evolved into being simple a story element like a secret agent or a soldier protagonist.

 

[PapaGreg096]

Johnny's in the right of it - superheroes are a genre, not a medium. A medium is the means by which an expression of art is generated, the genre is a categorization/descriptive of the art itself.

As for the Vision analogy, can't comment, but for instance, A Song of Ice and Fire subverts a lot of the fantasy tropes that began with (or were at least popularized by) Lord of the Rings. Yet it's still a work of fantasy itself.

Vision wasn't an analogy but an example, and again I was just saying superheroes are more than good vs evil