The Japanese Manga Industry Revisited

Just how big is the Japanese comics (or manga) industry? An authoritative answer is given to us in this 1998 online article by Go Tchiei:

"There are a great number of magazines in Japan devoted exclusively to manga but it is difficult to give an exact accounting of their number given that it is not at all uncommon for smaller publishing houses to bring out one new magazine after another under different titles. The core of the manga publishing industry consists of some 13 weekly manga magazines published by the major publishers alone, along with 10 biweeklies, and approximately twenty influential monthlies. At any given time there are at least ten magazines which boast over one million copies of each issue. At most there is one non-manga magazine in Japan which can claim a readership of over one million.

Yearly sales of manga throughout the 1990's have been in the neighborhood of 600 billion yen, including 350 billion in magazine sales and 250 billion in paperbacks. These figures do not include sales of manga appearing in general magazines and newspapers. The total sales of published material in Japan (including magazines and books but excluding newspapers) is two trillion five-hundred billion yen, of which maga sales account for nearly one quarter. Given a total Japanese population of 120 million, we can calculate that the average Japanese spends approximately 2,000 yen per year on manga in one form or another.

The three largest publishing houses producing manga are Kodansha, Shogakkan, Shueisha. In addition there are some ten odd publishing firms which come in at a close second, including Akita Shoten, Futabasha, Shonen Gahosa, Hakusensha, Nihon Bungeisha, and Kobunsha. This is not even to mention the countless other small-scale publishing firms. The larger publishers mentioned above also publish magazines and books in areas outside of manga.

It is estimated that there are around 3,000 professional manga artists in Japan. All of these individuals have published at least one volume of manga, but most of them make their living as assistants to famous manga artists or have some other supplementary source of income. Only 300 of these, or ten percent of the total, are able to make an above-average living from manga alone. In addition, there are also a great number of amateur manga artists who produce small magazines intended for private circulation, called dojinshi." (Source: A History of Manga: The Rise of Japanese Manga by Go Tchiei, www.dnp.co.jp/museum/nmp/nmpi/articles/manga/manga1).

It is claimed that at its peak in 1995, Japanese manga publications comprised about 40% of Japan's total publishing industry. Since then, like all other print publications, its numbers began to decline but not as significant as one would like to believe. In an article appearing in the online version of the "Japan Times", it is reported that as of 2003, manga publications comprise 20 to 27% percent of Japan's total publishing industry. This percentage is still a huge number.

"For manga publishers, however, recent years have been anything but rosy. Earnings on the 281 comic magazines published last year fell by 3.1 percent--the seventh year-on year drop. Meanwhile, comic paperbacks eked out a 0.1 percent gain. In other words, the industry, particularly its magazine sector, has been sliding downhill since its 1995 peak. The best-selling manga magazine, Shonen Jump, once moved more than 6 million copies per issue. That total is now down to 3.2 million.

Even mags with popular series are feeling the pinch. Kodansha's Shukan Morning (Weekly Morning), a weekly mainly targeted at adult men, runs 'Vagabond", Takehiko Inoue's manga about legendary swordsman Miyamoto Musashi. The 15 paperback volumes have sold 30 million copies. The magazine has a new hit in Shuho Sato's "Black Jack ni Yoroshiku (Say Hello to Black Jack), "a realistic medical manga (the subject of one recent story: pancreatic cancer), whose four paperback volumes have passed the 4 million sales mark. The magazine itself, however, reamins stuck at 700,000 copies per issue. (Source: "Comic Culture is Serious Business by Mark Schilling, The Japan TImes, www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.p15?fl20030323a1.htm)

What could have brought about this downhill decline? For one thing, the Japanese economic recession of the late 1990s has affected the spending power of manga readers as the depression extended itself beyond 2003. It is only recently that a gradual economic turnabout has occurred and that it remains to be seen if the Japanese manga will surge back to its former peak sales and maybe beyond.

In the same aforequoted Japan Times article, Schilling notes the rise of used or previously read manga discount shops as seriously cutting into the sales of manga, and of most manga publishers' stubborn and proud insistence of selling their books with no discounts. Schilling once again:

"This state of affairs does not please Weekly Morning's aggressive new editor, Yasuo Kihara, who places much of the blame on the Book-Off chain and its imitators. "The number of manga readers hasn't declined," Kihara explains. "But they aren't buying as many magazines as they used to because places like Book-Offs have made paperbacks so cheap." (Source: Comics Culture is Serious Business by Mark Schilling, Ibid.)

In other words, instead of following the "Vagabond" story as it appears in the latest issued of Weekly Morning, fans wait until a used 'Vagabond" paperback appears on a Book-Off shelf. Though they may be getting a bargain, Kihara points out that "the publisher and manga artist earn nothing from the sale because Book-Off is not obligated to pay royalties."

The solution, he says, is regulatory reform aimed at making the used-bookstores cough up. "If talented artists can't make any money from manga, they will go to other industries," he explains.

Kihara is already seeing this hollowing out. Although Weekly Morning's two semi-annual manga contests still draw large numbers of beginners, "few artists today can sell more than a million copies of their paperbacks," he says. Weekly Morning is lucky to have two big sellers like Inoue and Sato but, Kihara adds, 'We would like to have three or four."

The view from the sales trenches is different. Masuzo Furukawa, the president of Mandarake--a chain of 20 stores specializing in Japanese pop culture phenomena, both old and new, sees the root of the problem in the troglodytic mentality of Japan's publishing industry. "Their way of thinking belongs in Meiji and Edo times", he complains. Instead of adapting to new conditions--recession era consumers with more entertainment options but less money to spend--publishers still force bookstores to sell their new comics at list price, with no discounts allowed.

"If we allow this stupid system, we could price more flexibly," Furukawa says. "But the present situation can't last--change has to come."

And how does Furukawa challenge this "traditional" hierarchal system? The article goes on to state that Furukawa sought technology's help, particularly the internet's, by putting up a very successful online store (www.mandarake.co.jp/english) where he sells his company's approximately 1.2 million inventory of mostly hentai (pervert) manga to both domestic and overseas buyers. Moreover, Furukawa conducts live auctions of rare manga which attract bidders from all over the world.

It is thus clear that an economic recession and the onslaught of media demassification has not seriously affected the Japanese manga industry. As previously discussed in this blog (See "Why are printed comics successful in Japan" blog entry), part of the reason is the culture of literacy prevalent and nurtured in Japan. Yet, this partly answers only the consumption end of the Japanese manga industry. What about the production end?

Writing, drawing, printing, distributing, marketing and licensing billions of copies of print manga on a weekly basis is such a phenomenal feat that one cannot just oversimplify and ascribe the creative force or motivation behind all this to "selfless devotion to art" or for "monetary considerations". As previously mentioned in Go Tchiei's article, a large percentage of creative manga people do not earn a decent living through manga work alone.

One must therefore consider some other cause that fuel manga's creative drive to produce billions upon billions of printed comicbooks. And considering that comics production is essentially a labor-intensive activity involving human dynamics and relationships, we tend to look at the cultural and social infrastructure surrounding the corporate culture of Japan. What then is this corporate culture that drives the Japanese to produce an overwhelming amount of goods, most of which are possessed of superior quality and value?

B. Bruce-Briggs, a member of the Hudson Institute senior research staff and a longtime student of Japan, reports on Japanese corporate culture in this 1982 Reader's Digest article condensed from FORTUNE Magazine, the article entitled "Why We Can't Imitate the Japanese", though several years old, still finds some relevance when it tells us that the general culture of Japan is still traditionally HIERARCHICAL, or based on a system of grades of status, or of authority ranked one above the other, to wit:

"Japanese social organization is based on hierarchy--old over young, male over female, senior over junior, wellborn over base. Everyone knows his place in the system, so it is unnecessary to kick people or shout at them.

Early in the morning, Tokyo sanitation men carefully polish their tiny Isuzu garbage trucks. Imagine the response of American garbage men to such a management directive--it would burn this page.

Under such a system, decision making by consensus is easy--few people would hold-out against the group, and certainly not against the boss. Similarly, the superior is open to suggestions from underlings, because innovations are not levers to pry him from his assured place. The heralded openness of Japanese executives to their subordinates does not reflect intimacy but dominance.

Japanese workers come in the door properly trained by family, schools, the entire society. To be sure, the system is full of what we call reinforcement. That is the purpose of company songs and the social and recreation programs that keep workers in a directed mass.

Under such a system, decision-making by consensus is easy--few people would hold out against the group, and certainly not against the boss. Similarly, the superior is open to suggestions from underlings, because innovations are not levers to pry him form his assured place. The heralded openness of Japanese executives to their subordinates does not reflect intimacy but dominance.

The Japanese system was not adopted as policy by Japanese managers or willingly elected by Japanese workers. It has been imposed upon them all. And privately, even from high executives, complaints can be heard. Public opinion polls and the large socialist vote indicate that workers have deep discontents. Do you think they like to work so hard? Do you think they enjoy singing company songs? Do you think the kamikaze pilots wnated to splatter their guts on the decks of American ships?

Learned commentaries on Japanese culture emphasize dominant values of on (obligation) and giri (duty)--values promoted from above. From below, however, the most relevant is gaman--patience, putting up with it." (Source: "Why its difficult to Imitate the Japanese" by B. Bruce-Briggs, Reader's Digest, December, 1982 issue).

From the foregoing, we are thus faced with the portrait of a country run essentially by obedient and efficient drones. Ever wonder why those manga copies are so intimidatingly thick? Why the art is so detailed? The production values high? Why most of these manga do not give credit to the numerous production and art assistants helping the main writer and artist behind the scenes?

The answer is the hierarchical, near feudal, Japanese corporate system. Because of this system, there is no ego or individualistic pride of creators in the comics work. Every art assistant's contribution is for the betterment of the main writer or artist. The assistant remains unknown and he is expected to be happy with it. He or she must adopt to the main writer or artist's style and maintain the latter's original vision. All contributions are for the main writer or artist's benefit.

Applied to the Philippine (and even American) situation, can we honestly imitate the Japanese comics industry by having the same hierarchical social structure run by oligarchies? Apparently not. Filipinos have had the same intense social and historical experience with the Spaniards but with the coming of the Americans in the early 20th century and of Filipinos' indoctrination to American style democracy and individual freedom, willingly going back to a hierarchical and oligarchic set-up would be difficult. Although in recent times attempts were being made towards that direction by the Marcos dictatorship and by the current political crisis plaguing the country.

"To imitate the Japanese, we would need a labor force disciplined by a social hierarchy controlled by an oligarchy. Among the traditional techniques of human-resources management in Japan was the granting of full authority to samurai to rectify on the spot, by the sword, any rebellious behavior by peasants and merchants. Another method was the imposition of collective corrections for individual errors--a superlative stimulus to community cohesion. This regime endowed Japan with a population marvelously tuned for modern economic organization. But that would take us a thousand years, as it did Japan, and could not help next year's balance of payments." (Source: "Why we can't Imitate the Japanese", Ibid)

Comics production is labor intensive. It is supported by one of the most stringest labor laws in the entire world slanted to favor the laborer; at least in Philippine law, that is. Most comics artists and writers weaned on the American democratic way of life, are fiercely egotistical and individualistic. They demand high payment. Production assistants do not stay long and do not often emulate the lead writer or artist's style. Their names need to be acknowledged over all others. There is no sense of duty, obligation, or of patience. The fast buck is often the norm. There is no willingness to share what was learned. Everything stops when every one of them dies with nothing passed to the next generation.

True, most Filipino comics creators are "creative", but they are also fiercely individualistic as well (for all the wrong reasons). Not enough budding comics creators with huge egos are willing to make temporary "sacrifices" for a higher goal. They all think that "art" and ONLY art, specifically THEIR respective styles of art, can save the world. No wonder the comics industry the Philippines today is so infantile, imitative, and chaotic. Must we become obedient drones as well like the Japanese to jumpstart our near catatonic Philippine comics industry?

Meanwhile in Japan where the economic recession is almost over, manga creators are poised to recoup lost ground. Will they regain their former 40% publishing output status? To recall, such a hierarchical and oligarchic society breeds a boiler plate situation of repressed and disgruntled workers silently keeping their resentments to themselves. Such repression (as discussed elsewhere in this blog) is one of the reasons why manga is so successful in Japan, for manga serves as an outlet of expression for such a repressed class. It is a national pastime and escape with such diverse and rich categories.

Recent developments in Japan however, indicate that the dominant oligarchy steeped in tradition is being challenged by Japanese Prime Minister Koizumi. Challenging the repressive status quo and of the overall hierarchical structure of society is brewing. Today's generation of Japanese are more outspoken and open-minded. If this trend develops, one could only speculate if this could affect the growth of Japanese manga.

If more freedom of expression is granted and psychological/societal repression is lessened, then it just may be possible that manga readership could dwindle. Indeed, why pour all your fantasies and daydreams in a printed comicbook when you can now do something about it in real life because of the freedoms now acknowledged to you by society?

When the Philippines broke free of a dictator's yoke in 1986, there was a flowering of individual freedoms and empowerment felt by almost every Filipino. This collective yet, temporary euphoria caused an orgasmic surge of media growth. More television sets were purchased, more airtime to Filipino musicians given on the radio, more cable tv stations were set up, more imported publications entered the market, more local newspapers, magazines, and and yes, more komiks titles by the Roceses were published.

But this euphoric surge of komiks readership peaked only a few years until it began to dip in 1991 until by the late 1990s they were no more; inundated by the new surge of diverse and alternative media such as pirated dvds, romance pocketbooks, the internet, ipods, and mobile phones, which media better serviced the Filipino public's freedom and hunger for diverse and better information and entertainment. Could the same thing happen to the Japanese manga industry if the same wave of liberalization continues to rise?

What comics can learn from Reader's Digest

As of May, 2004, Reader's Digest (RD) has been printing 12.4 million copies in the U.S. and is read by 44 million people. Globally, it has a print run of 21 million copies and read in different foreign languages by 100 million readers. RD's revenue from global circulation constitutes 50% of its total trade volume. (Source: Wikipedia)

The Digest's accomplishment of maintaining its million copy circulation for almost a century despite a commensurate and progressive decline in its foreign and local circulation, is a lesson to be valued by print publishers (especially comics publishers) plagued by today's ongoing phenomenon of media demassification.

Since it began in February 5,1922, the Digest's basic format and overall content has not changed. RD's late publisher and founder, Dewitt Wallace, started printing approximately 5,000 copies of RD in his home's basement while recuperating from war injuries. His objective was to include in one issue of his general interest magazine, one article for each day of the month, making sure that each article is of enduring value and interest; its tenor largely pro-American, conservative, and upbeat. Its target marget as a general interest wee booklet size magazine were ALL readers interested in informing and improving themselves, in getting ahead in the world. This target market never left Dewitt Wallace's mind and in the hundreds of notes he made, the following is testament to his focus and vision:

"Printed Matter: Never fear, there is a strong undercurrent of desire for knowledge. Supply it and every dollar's worth of printed matter will come home to roost."

To this day, we still see the same sections of the Digest intact: laughter the best medicine, moralistic tales or articles compatible with the judeo-christian belief, political articles that favor conservative Republican philosophy, medical or health articles, human interest and survival stories, short biographies, articles on family relationships, and of course the standard condensation of popular books and bestsellers.

Circulation of the Digest was limited geographically when it began in 1922, being sold exclusively through direct mail solicitations. It was in 1929 amidst a looming economic depression (similar to the economic and political crisis facing the Philppines right now) that the Digest was first offered for sale in the newsstands. 62,000 copies were sold and six years later in 1935, it grew to approximately one million copies. SInce then, RD has maintained its million copy circulation both domestically and abroad.

How did that happen? What makes Reader's Digest's circulation different from all other print publications, especially "entertainment based" comicbooks?

From the previous data provided, it is apparent that RD is controlled by a company, the Reader's Digest Association, Inc., that focuses all its energy and resources into the production and successful circulation of its print publication. It doesn't just collect articles, put them on the stands, and wait for them to sell. There is more to it than that.

Unlike other print publications, RD's subscription solicitations from old and new readers is intensely planned and executed to a tee, almost akin to a military style campaign. Data is gathered from subscribers, statistical/mathematical formulations using "regressive analysis"follow, then business analysis, until marketing strategies are devised, modified, and implemented.

For a more detailed discussion on this fascinating subject, please visit: www.baselinemag.com/article2/0,1397,1835224,000.asp and read the Baseline Magazine article: "Data analysis: Reader's Digest: The Longest Goodbye".

This kind of focus and dedication is absent from most American comics publishing houses like DC or Marvel. These two companies in fact, are now owned by parent companies that don't specialize, much less give priority to, comics publishing.

Marvel today is owned by a toy company, TOYBIZ, who gets its revenue mainly from toy sales, and licensing mostly from movies, video games, cartoon shows, and other merchandize. DC on the other hand, is owned by AOL-TIME-WARNER who obviously gets most of their revenue not from comics publishing, but from movies, television, video gaming, and licensing. The other smaller comics companies like Dark Horse, Image and others are relatively small operations that do not have the same intense dedication to promoting comic print publications at par or on the same level as Reader's Digest.

And then there's the content. Note that in a single monthly publication, RD articles appeal not to children or angst-ridden, power-fantasy starved teenagers, but to responsible, mature, young adults and older people FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD. What is more, and this is pivotal, the articles in RD are diverse and though entertaining, have INFORMATIONAL OR USEFUL VALUE AIMED AT BETTERING ONE'S LIFE; qualities that are absent in most American and globalized FIlipino comics today. In short, RD promotes a culture of literacy, of continuous self-learning and of the world at large.

Its not simply a matter of providing good "entertaining" content. Its not a question of simply putting out good stories and art either. In creating a widely circulated magazine as a piece of respectable "media", one must take a look at the circulation strategy involved. And on this score, Reader's Digest has a very interesting story to tell.

Briefly, the Digest does not wholly depend on newsstand sales for its circulation and revenue. Rather, it concentrates more in its direct mail solicitations for SUBSCRIPTIONS. This was in fact, how the first issue of the Digest was circulated.

"In his gloom,he saw anew the brilliance of a suggestion given to him by a fellow worker--why not sell the magazine directly to readers, by mail? Immediately Wally (Dewitt Wallace) went back to his rented room and his portble typewriter. The big publishing houses would go hang. He began pounding out letters soliciting subscriptions. He scrounged lists of people--teachers, professors, nurses, prechers, women's club members. From college catalogues, for example, he got names of faculty members.

The pitch had to be particularly good since what he was peddling existed only in his mind. But he offered a provisional commitment--the subscription could be canceled and all money refunded if the reader wasn't satisfied. For four months he wrote and mailed out letters, each with an individually typed first page. xxx His direct-mail approach established a personal connection, a kind of companionship between editor and readers. The promotion letter you got was from the man who originated and produced the magazine, exhorting you to subscribe for your own good. Other magazines beginning about the same time aimed at millions of readers and got them eventually. The upstart Reader's Digest aimed at the individual, and outsucceeded the whole pack." (Source: "Unforgettable Dewitt Wallace" by Charles W. Ferguson, Reader's Digest, March, 1987 issue)

The strategy continues even to this day. Pick up any copy of RD from whatever year, or whatever edition, and you will ALWAYS find a subscription card promo offer. Here, the reader is usually offered a one-year or 12 month subscription but with a discount of two issues given for FREE.

In the November, 2005 Asian edition for instance, we find that RD in the Philippines costs Php 140 or Php 1,680 a year. But with the subscription offer, you pay only Php 1,395 which translates to a savings of Php 285. This also means that you get two issues free. On top of the subscription discount, you also get a free gift, in this case a nifty backpack convertible into a folding chair.

In the 1970s, I personally remember that just before Christmas, the Digest would always give a subscription offer with a whopping 50% discount or six issues free if the new subscriber refers the Digest to a friend as a gift subscription. This same beneficiary of the gift subscription also gets the same 50% subscription discount. On top of all this, the first subscriber/referror gets for his referral, a free gift like a diary or silver pen or a sweepstakes ticket entitling him or her to join the grand draw. Knowing human nature, (and guided by the Digest's marketing and statistical data) a lot of people wouldn't want to pass up this opportunity. People in the millions to be exact.

Revenue from subscription actually solves crucial publishing and circulation problems. For one thing, a portion of the advance subscription money would answer for the printing and production costs of future isues, while the other portion answers for present and future administrative expenses and profit. RD writers and researchers are reasonably and timely paid too. Another thing, is that through subscription, the publisher is assured of a readership for at least one year who will hopefully convert into a loyal subscriber the next year after being exposed thoroughly to the contents of the publication. And on this score, the Digest has other strategies to maintain that subscription in the second year, third year and fourth. But perhaps the biggest reason why RD could afford to give that two issue discount is that the cost of those two issues usually amount to the newstand dealer-distributor's fee. RD in effect is eliminating the middleman's participation and share in the distribution process which all the more looks attractive to the purchasing RD reader.

Curiously, when DC and Marvel in the U.S. were originally owned by publishers who really specialized and concentrated in promoting wide million level circulation of a printed comic, subscription offers were almost always found within its pages. Take out a DC or Marvel comic in the early 1960s and you're sure to see that subscription offer. Marvel in fact, was more aggressive in this area with its 1960s 'Merry Marvel Marching Society" ad campaign. When company ownership changed hands in the late 1960s, those subscription offers started to dwindle. Today, you don't see subscription offers in the pages of a DC or Marvel Comic. What does that tell you?

Even here in the Philippines, we almost find no such subscription offers in the pages of Filipino komiks especially those published by the Roces monopoly. Think about it. This may be idle speculation at this point, but if the Roceses had aggressively implemented a subscription campaign tailored specifically for its low-income bakya audience, it would have lessened the rental of its komiks by banketa newstand dealers the proceeds of which deprived the Roceses of significant income.

Advance revenue from the subscription campaign would have also helped improve the financial demands of its impoverished yet aspiring new batch of writers and artists, and not have their talents blocked by the old guard who took most of the money. But as luck would have it, the Roceses or at least the subsequent generation of Rocesses were not that interested in improving what was started by their pioneer forefather, Don Ramon.

We see the same thing repeating itself with most of the licensed, or so-called "independent", largely photocopied, and globalized Filipino comics of today that rely solely on sales (usually from the few comics specialty shops around) for revenue. Most of these comics publications have no well-thought and aggressive subscription campaign either that would assure a captive and continuous readership. A captive readership subscription base attracts advertisers who are another source of additional revenue. This is what the Digest achieved who eventually had advertisers in the 1950s.

Caveat ends.

When corporations lose or have no faith in comics publishing

As one reads more about the history of some comics publishing companies, one will see a common thread develop. And that is, as the comics publisher ceases its main focus of comics publishing, or of diverting and sharing that focus with other commercial ventures, readership and patronage of their printed comicbooks decline.

In America for example, we have the comics duopoly of DC and Marvel Comics. From the late 1930s to the late 1960s, DC and Marvel were closed, near-family corporations. DC was owned and controlled by the Donenfeld family (Harry and his son, Irwin) and Jack Liebowitz while Atlas/Marvel was owned by the Goodman family (Martin and his son, Chip). Stan Lee was a cousin-in-law of Martin Goodman. During this time, the family business was entirely and solely focused on the business of comics publishing, specifically in the commercial activity of dominating the comics reading market in the newstands. Each of these publishing companies even had their own distribution company that specialized in the distribution of their comics magazines nationwide.

However, in 1967 DC was sold by Liebowitz (who now owned DC after the prior death of Harry Donenfeld) to the Kinney Corporation who was into funeral services and parking, among other business interests. Kinney later bought Warner Brothers-Seven Arts, and became a publishing, movie, television, electronic games (Atari), and record entertainment business conglomerate called Warner Communications Inc. with DC Comics, Mad Magazine, Independent News, and Warner books forming its Publishing Division. Goodman on the other hand, likewise sold Marvel in 1968 to the Chemical and Film Corporation later called Cadence Industries who was basically into the film and printing business (related at least to comics publishing). Cadence, a much smaller firm than Warner, was composed of Marvel, Curtis Circulation, Magazine Management, Hudson Pharmaceuticals, U.S. Pencil, Saxon Theatres and Alexander Film Services. Goodman was retained by Cadence to head Curtis Circulation Magazine Management (until he later broke away to form his own company, Seagate, publishing the short-lived "Atlas Comics Group"). Cadence' publishing division was composed of Curtis Circulation, Marvel, Magazine Management and (three subscription departments). Curiously, when these corporate mergers took place, newstand sales of DC and Marvel comics began to decline until it became more acute in 1975 onwards.

Joe Brancatelli, a business journalist hired by Publisher Jim Warren in 1974 to run an impartial business column on the American comicbook industry appearing on all the WARREN black and white magazines, observed in 1977 that though Warner and Cadence made a rosy picture of increased profits in each of their publishing division's overall performance, there was no particular improvement in comics newstand sales which continued to decline. Brancatelli's observations were based on the annual corporate reports to stockholders of Warner and Cadence, thus:

"While the Warner annual report bubbled enthusiastically about the performances of Mad, Independent News and Warner books--not to mention the lush profits turned by television, movie, record, cable TV and the electronic games divisions--it had nothing of financial substance to say about DC's sales and profits in 1976. Despite lusty applause for the rest of the publishing group, DC was only credited with an ability to "delight readers"--and the corporate hope that the 1977 "sales potential for comic books" would improve because of the impending Superman movie and the new dollar-sized books.

In the warped world of annual reports, where hysteria equals profitability and "sales potential" of another year equals poor performance, Warner's treatment of DC is tantamount to an admission of near disaster. Since Warner isn't legally required to report sales and profits of each individual group, no one knows exactly how bad the situation is. Keep in mind, however that one DC war book sold only 100,000 copies per month in 1976 and that's surely something of a modern-day low.

It's also of interest to note that while Warner is financially and corporately stronger than Cadence--about 30 times more profitable and nine times as alrge in sales volume--its publishing division is much less important to the company than Marvel/Curtis/Magazine Managemetn is to Cadence. Whereas Warner Publishing accounts for only 6 percent of total Warner sales and 9 percent of Warner's total profits, Marvel et al has considerably more attractive contributions of 52% of Cadence sales and 86% of Cadence profits. Cadence, therefore, is primarily a publishing concern, while Warner's involvement--and continued interest--in periodicals could only be termed "marginal".

One other point to keep in mind about Warner vis-a-vis Cadence: Warner Publishing is only a million or so dollars larger than Cadence Publishing despite the dwarfing size of the Warner conglomerate. The companies are fiscally identical competitors in publishing circles.

At Cadence meanwhile, board chairman Sheldon Feinberg took pains to mention Marvel's "turn around" and "significant gains" in 1976 in his letter to the stockholders. What he didn't say, however, was that the improvements were apparently not in newsstand sales, the lack of which had been vexing the House of Ideas in 1975. Explaining the division's sterling financial status, Cadence credited higher sales at Curtis, but mentioned only "increases in cover prices...royalty income and a lower rate of returns" at Marvel.

In understandable terms, whatever improvements were made at Marvel came by virtue of the fact that they raised comic prices, made additional non-comic-book sales (to newspaper synidcates, TV and movies), cut printing costs by lowering the print runs and subsequently had less books returned unsold since less were printed in the first place. Sales, Cadence clearly implied by omission, did not improve significantly, if at all. That is especially interesting since Cadence had been publicly admitting that sales in 1975 were slumping. It also indicates the company decided to print less comics in 1976 rather than trying to sell more." (Emphasis Mine) (Source: "The Comic Books" by Joe Brancatelli, Creepy No. 92, October, 1977 issue)

Since both DC and Marvel were now controlled by different owners who either focused their attention to other commercial ventures; minimizing their participation in comics publishing, or were altogether not that well-adept at handling the business of comics publishing. The former situation would apply more to DC/Warner's situation while the latter to Marvel/Cadence's predicament.

In 1975 for example, after sales of DC comics suffered heavy newstand losses due mainly to a marketing and distribution ploy by Marvel, Warner executives became wary of comics publishing and fired its then publisher, Carmine Infantino, and drastically cancelled a lot of their titles, cutting down on comics publication and began what was infamously known as the "DC Implosion". Marvel on the other hand, became the no. 1 comics publisher in America, but not after its flooding the newstands that it saturated the newstand comics market leading to a decline in comics sales by late 1975 to 1976.

As a consequence, Warner minimized its comics publishing business, infusing little or no funds to DC and concentrated on forming and promoting a soccer team: The Cosmos, and concentrated more on obtaining revenue from its movie, television, cable TV, electronic gaming, and record business, and on occasion from their licensing of the images of famous DC comics characters to other media formats. Cadence on the other hand, suffering a huge loss, was later sold to a new company who was not even into comics publishing and minimized infusing money and support in that department. It was this time that sales of Marvel Comics began to dip considerably. They were still publishing more in volume when compared to DC but their sales were spiralling.

So what saved Marvel in the late 1970s? According to the account of Marvel's then President, James Galton, and Editor-in-Chief, Jim Shooter, it was licensing. Specifically, the granting to Marvel Comics of the license by George Lucas to exclusively publish in comic book format his all-time blockbuster movie: "STAR WARS". Yes, it was the STAR WARS comic (and later licensed comics based on toys and movies) that kept Marvel afloat and away from bankruptcy.

Concurrently the other factor that saved the American comics industry was the indirect, almost fluke, development of the comics direct market. But this interesting sidenote on the business of comics distribution has to be reserved for another time. Suffice to say, and by way of summary, DC and Marvel have since obtained their revenue not from comics publishing but from licensing. The reason? Part of it is that its corporate owners are not focused, lack knowledge and enthusiasm, in comics publishing. It is their experience and opinion that more money is to be had from licensing their comic characters' images than from print publishing. Comics publishing consequently, has become a means of enhancing the profitability of its licensing activities. Properly, it should be the other way around but things seemed to have been perverted along the way.

This little background history on the American experience is relevant when we turn back our attention to the Philippine comics industry monopolized by the Roces family. When the komiks publishing business was passed on to the third generation of the Roces clan, i.e. the Davila and Guerrero grandchildren of Don Ramon, these people were all not interested or had any inclination at all in comics publishing. At best they did not even develop any managerial acumen specializing in the area consequently leading to the closing down of most of their dummy comics publishing houses and their selling of some of these dummy comics companies to new owners who were either disinclined, or looked down on comics publishing.

Atlas Komiks for example, was sold off by the Roces-Davilas to Benjamin Ramos of National Bookstore. National Bookstore is not into comics publishing in a big way, as the first and second generations of the Roceses were. That is not National's owners' inclination. Its main forte' is "book" distribution and sales (particularly of school and office supplies). It has no specialized expertise in cheap comics publication especially when distributed in the banketa newstands. Even Atlas' old comics personnel who were absorbed by National Bookstore, did not possess the managerial acumen or expertise to steer Filipino komiks publishing into the 21st century. Imagine: selling a cheap looking banketa Filipino komik in air-conditioned, first class bookstore branches of National frequented by class A, B and C readers. No wonder these cheap and raggedy Filipino komiks couldn't find its audience in that high class crowd.

History's moral: comics publishing is a harsh mistress. It's either you stick with her or you don't. Just look at the comics industry in Japan where manga comics publications comprise 40% (but TIME Magazine says 20%) of its yearly publication output. Now THAT's devotion to comics publication.

(Sources: "Men of Tomorrow: Geeks, Gangsters and the Birth of the American Comic Book" by Gerard Jones, "Stan Lee and the Rise and Fall of the American Comic Book" by Raphael Jordan and Tom Spurgeon, "Comic Wars: Marvel's Battle for Survival" by Dan Raviv, and "Comic Book Artist Collection Volume 1", edited by Jon B. Cooke)

Tony DeZuniga's Agency Fee

Finally it's on record. Some of us had heard rumors, read veiled accounts, of how the great Filipino comics artists of the 1970s were being ripped-off by an unknown "representative" or "agent" of their dollar earnings for comics work done for National Periodical Publications (now DC Comics, Inc.) in the U.S.

Just who was this representative or agent? How was the matter settled? What happened to this agent? What was the motive? Were the victimized Filipino comics artists given proper restitution?

The legendary Carmine Infantino, former publisher of NPP/DC Comics in the early 1970s and definitive 1960s artist of BATMAN, FLASH and ADAM STRANGE, recounts the incident in his autobiography, "The Amazing World of Carmine Infantino".

It appears that during the late 1960s, Carmine had heard of an impending comics writers strike where comics artists would soon join in. In order to pre-empt this from developing, Carmine decided to "outsource" DC's comics artwork to the Philippines. The suggestion of hiring out Filipino comics artists came from Filipino comics artist and eminent illustrator of DC Western bounty hunter JONAH HEX, TONY DEZUNIGA, who at the time was working at NPP/DC. DeZuniga assured Carmine, and Carmine's then assistant, JOE ORLANDO, that the Philippines had a professional and well-organized comics industry and that the Filipino comics artists then were excellent professionals and well-trained draftsmen. Carmine's recollection of the matter are as follows:

"So, Joe Orlando, Tony DeZuniga and I all went to the Philippines. DeZuniga was the brother-in-law of somebody connected with Ferdinand Marcos, the dictator in power, which helped us cut a little red tape. We went to Manila and met all these wonderful artists. Some of them came shoeless to show their work. It was a remarkable scene! I selected a dozen or so and said, "These are the artists we'll work with." And then Tony DeZuniga said he would stay there and set up shop. Now, we had heard that these guys out in the Philippines worked for $2 or $3 a page. But I said, "No. We have to pay fair wage." So I think we paid something like $45 or $50 a page, plus 20% for the DeZunigas who were running the shop in the Philippines.

We would send them scripts and they would get the artwork done and send it to the States. Things were running very smoothly for a while, but then every once in a while I'd ask for the top talents like Alex Nino and Nestor Redondo. (I love everything Alex Nino does; his work is genius! He's one of the guys that I brought over from the Philippines). Those two were the best. But I wouldn't get any work from them. I'm wondering, "What the hell is going on over there?"

A young Filipino came up to me at a convention in San Diego and said, "We are very upset with you in the Philippines. You're paying us $5 a page." I had no idea what he was talking about. I told him we had a contract and were paying $50 a page.

What happened was, the people running the shop were keeping almost all the money. They were ripping their own people off and living like kings! As soon as I got back to the office, I wrote them a letter and told them I could not tolerate this and it's got to change. They responded with a scathing letter saying, "How dare you!" They wrote that I couldn't tell them what to do, and why don't I mind my own business! They were ripping each other off terribly.

So I contacted Nestor Redondo and I said, "Nestor, can you organize getting scripts and art back and forth with the artists there? Because I won't deal with these crooks anymore." He agreed and handled the thing for a while. But gradually it was phased out." (Emphasis Mine) (Source: "The Amazing World of Carmine Infantino" (An Autobiography) by Carmine Infantino and J. David Spurlock, Vanguard Productions, 2001 ed.)

All this occurred from the early to mid-1970s. It will also be noted that from the mid-1970s to the early 1980s, Tony De Zuniga, had practically little or no work from NPP/DC and in fact, was now doing work for Marvel mostly as inker in most of the latter's black and white magazines and superhero titles (The Mighty Thor) at the time. Carmine meanwhile, was booted out as publisher of NPP/DC in 1974 when his performance as such was severely chastised by NPP/DC's parent company, WARNER COMMUNICATIONS, INC. What followed was a severe downsizing in order to cut on losses and waning newstand circulation. This was known as the infamous "DC Implosion". Many DC Comics titles were cancelled while some were merged with others. In short, there was little work for comics creators at DC in those days now presided by Jeanette Kahn as publisher.

But despite the loss of the DC connection, the Filipino comics artists' quality work were now publicly exposed and they were fortunately picked up by other comics publishers such as Marvel, Gold Key, Charlton, and the legendary WARREN PUBLICATIONS, INC. of Jim Warren, publisher of the great black and white horror and sci-fi comics magazines: Vampirella, Creepy, Eerie, and The Spirit (reprints). Jim Warren's long-time editor at the time and protege', BILL DUBAY, recounts how the Filipinos came to work mostly for Warren magazines in his interview by JON B. COOKE, editor of COMIC BOOK ARTIST MAGAZINE:

"DUBAY: Around '76 or so, I picked up a few Filipino comics at this wonderful international book store down on 42nd Street and noticed this astoundingly innovative artist named Alex Nino. I called the Philippines and spoke with the publisher of those comics who told me that Alex was unavailable. He was working in America for a "comics industry giant". I was given a friend's number, who in turn gave me Alex' Detroit address. A week or so later, we spoke and Alex was elated by the possibility of joining us at Warren. When I asked if we could get his best art for $125-135 a page, he laughed and said, 'DC's been paying me $7 a page for 2 years now."

So to me, the rumor that Jim (Warren) was exploiting off-shore artists with slave wages was just some more of the bad press others were spreading to cover their sins.

JON: I'd heard that a prominent Filipino artist and his wife brokered the Filipinos' services, billing DC for $35 a page and giving the artists $7--keeping $28 a page as brokerage fee.

DUBAY: Once word reached other Filipino artists about our rates, I was inundated by art samples from the Philippines. Suddenly, I was their best friend--and all I was looking for was to be fair. If their work was good enough for our magazines, we wanted them. We never paid anyone less just because they came from a Third World country. Jim was good that way. He paid Jose Gonzales, Jose Ortiz, Esteban Maroto, Luis Bermejo, Alex Nino, Paul Neary, Alex Toth, all of our top artists top dollar. We had guys out of England, France, Spain, The Philippines, Korea. The policy was firm: If an artist was good enough to work for Warren, he deserved top dollar." (Emphasis Mine) (Source: "The Big Push and Other Tales: the William Dubay Interview, from THE WARREN COMPANION, TwoMorrows Publishing, 2001 ed.)

From then on, the Filipino invasion continued, almost derailed by the sad, yet all too common trait of Filipinos ripping-off fellow Filipinos; an edema still with us to this day when we look at our present political and economic crisis. As a postcript, Tony DeZuniga returned to DC in the mid to late 1980s mostly as inker and then left. Apparently, the "old problem" forgotten. For the Filipino comics artists who were gyped and still with us to this day however, one can only wonder if they too have long forgotten this ugly episode in Filipino comics history.