Comic books were born when color printing was cutting-edge technology and the corner newsstand was where most people went for their news, their gossip and their media. For almost 100 years, comic fans walked, drove or took the subway on a weekly pilgrimage to the nearest spinner rack.
But times, and buying habits, changed. Legendary music retailer Tower Records filed for bankruptcy in 2004. Blockbuster Video followed in 2010. It’s no coincidence that big chains with hundreds of stores fell as music and movies went digital, and streaming services like Netflix and Spotify took over.
In 2017, at the peak of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s popularity, Marvel’s comic publishing arm was reportedly cancelling around 30 titles because those series couldn’t reach the “break-even” threshold of about 20,000 copies sold per issue.
Trying to understand how and why Marvel’s comics business was struggling was the spark that led to Sideswipe’s idea of what a “comic book” could be in the age of social media.
Today, digital content creation and social media give new life to the age-old art of storytelling in sequential art, and new ways to make reading comics even better.
That’s the mission of Sideswipe Comics.