Steve Rude Predictions for the Future

Dear All,

As our world begins to recover from global hysteria, the sun begins to rise once more, and the flowers start resuming their blooming, who's for getting back to work?  I see from the incoming invites, even the comic conventions are starting to pop up again.

Being fairly out of the loop with the business end of things, wife Jaynelle, who keeps up with all this more than I, began to fill me in.  Very simply, she explained that after the COVID shutdown, the comic companies couldn't sell their books because the people who distribute them had to shut down.  The comic stores that bought them from the distributors were shut down as well, so no profits were made.  Just like everyone else in the world.

So I began to think, a dangerous act in itself, what would these companies do to stop flagging sales and keep profits coming in?  Here's my prediction...

The companies will begin leasing out their characters. 

I see from the many past comic conventions I've attended that this kind of "leasing" goes on all the time.  Those Disney and Star War artists out there raking in the bread at their booths--how do they get permission to do that without getting sent to the slammer?  Answer:  They pay the Mouse a licensing fee.  

If this does indeed happen, would Marvel and DC begin to do the same with Cap, the F.F., and Superman himself, just to keep profits coming in?  Using a central printing location, all the artists who never had a chance at these characters would be free to attempt their own versions.  Some versions would be awful, but the fans would (hopefully) support the good ones with higher sales.  In my case, I would return these great characters to their former nobility, and the world becomes a happier place.  

Possible?

Seeing the sun rise again and the flowers starting to bloom, maybe anything is possible.

 

Steve Rude