Why don't creator-owned comic books have a fan base as big as superhero comics?

I'm sorry to disappoint you, but they do.

At the height of its popularity, Viz had a circulation of 1.2 million just in Britain. That's eight times as much as the figure for Spider-Man, the biggest seller in the US. Since then it has dropped to a mere 50,750 in 2014. That puts it in the same league as "Batman Eternal" and "Inhuman" and way above "New Avengers", "Death of Wolverine Weapon X Program", "Deadpool's Art of War", "Superior Iron Man", "Teen Titans", "Hulk" and a whole bunch more.

In 2014, "Mad Magazine" had a monthly sales figure of 139,648 which actually makes it more popular than Spider-Man. In its hey-day in the mid 70s, it was over 2 million copies a month. However, I don't know if its creator-owned so it may not be relevant to this discussion.

http://www.comichron.com/monthlycomicssales/2014/2014-11.html

What's really interesting if you look at yearly sales, number 2 is "Walking Dead", beating everyone but Spider-Man.

http://www.comichron.com/monthlycomicssales/2014.html

But, to be fair, you have to go to position 80 before you find another title that is not Marvel or DC (and it's the "Walking Dead" again!) and most of that is super-heroes so your question does have a fair point within it.

The answer, as with films, comes down to marketing and promotion.

Marvel and DC just spend more resources promoting their brands. The only one who's come close is McFarlane and Spawn although he has pushed it a lot less than he could've done. And, of course, that promotion builds year on year.

The additional problem with creator-owned comics is longevity. Take Dave Sims and "Cerebus the Aardvark". It went from 1977 to 2004, which is a hell of a time to continue a story. Eventually it imploded over some really stupid controversies over Sims' alleged beliefs. Prior to that was Robert Crumb's "Zap Comics" which started in 1968 but petered out after the mid 70s with issues coming out with 3-5 year gaps between them until the final issue "Zap" 16 was finally published in 2014 by Fantagraphics, 9 years after the previous issue. Because they are creator-owned, succession planning is very difficult for them. Some of them just don't want their work to continue without them.

This is not just a problem with comics. It's a problem with many activities A person sets up a brilliant little restaurant but because no one considered passing it on, it closes when they retire.

However, Stan Lee and Steve Ditko have long gone from Spider-Man but it just keeps going on and on and on .... And the same is true with Batman and Superman. However, they pay for this longevity with lack of continuity. Take a look at the liberties different writers have taken with the characters over the decades. Its amazing that they still hold together as recognisable brands.

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