What's your prediction for the comics medium in 5 years? and 10?

[MrOwl]

I feel like the medium in print/traditional form will get less and less popular due to webtoons. maybe super popular comics will still be printed.

[TheGentleArtist]

I'm pretty sure printed/traditional form will still be around by that time. Less popular? Sure, but still viable

[NotDawnKara]

In my opinion, web comics will definitely be more well known. However, I don't think the traditional form comics will get less and less popular any time soon ^^

[inubasket]

I hope webcomics become an even bigger thing but I feel like webcomic sites are already becoming way less popular.

I used comicfury and smackjeeves years ago as well as a couple others and they're all basically on their last legs now, despite being used by so many thousands back then.

[NickRowler]

Something that I have seen people try but it never had a huge footing is animated comics. I could also see that having a crossover with TikTok like apps and have a voice over paired with it.

I don't think print comics will go away but I do see them shifting maybe away from comic books and more towards graphic novels or trade books. I also see maybe a push more towards younger kids to help encourage early reading.

[rajillustration]

My prediction is that it will depend entirely on the future of casual computing. Will phones have adblock more accessibly 5-10 years from now? If so, that will change how apps like Webtoon operate and make money. Maybe they'll go the route of youtube and introduce subscription models (if they haven't already--they probably already have and I just haven't noticed) Will people 5-10 years from now even still use cellphones the way we know them now? All Apple needs to do is merge it with a tablet or a watch, maybe change the shape to horizontal or something and like--that would entirely change how the webtoon format works. We're basically at the mercy of whatever is going on in tech, just as we have been for the last 10 years.

So I think we'll see a push back against the apple app standard because so many people won't be able to post what they want to because of the ever changing shape of tech and the restrictions on what we can post (which will only continue to become more restrictive depending on advertisers--I mean look what happened to Youtube), and we'll go back to a lot more personal webpages and blogs of yesteryear for page format comics and also comics with content that might get censored. But, to make money doing this it'll probably be entirely through donations since I just don't think ad revenue will ever be as reliable as it once was.

As for print, I think parents and teachers are getting wise to how comics help kids with reading disabilities. There will be lots more graphic novels for middle grade, for sure--but they're always going to be held back by how expensive they are to produce. Like especially here in the States I don't see there being as many comics as there are in like Japan or anything like that, but it'll be more accepted for kids to read at school.

I think that comic stores however, are probably going to fold. I'm still surprised to see a few hanging around.

[Crusoe]

I think physical comics may become less popular due to online subscriptions by DC and marvel which are way cheaper and give you access to a lot more, though comic collection as a collector's sport will be around.

However, I think comics will gain a bigger audience in the form of online readers and graphic novel readers as we're already seeing a big increase in graphic novels being published due to online demand! I'm already seeing it with my friends and in diversified reading lists for children.

Of course, manga, although not comics, will start to be more mainstream as well.

[PaulieBlade]

I agree that regarding consumption of digital content we rely on what devices are the most popular. But is a rapid change like a switch to horizontal still possible at this point? I think the ultimate device should fit the hand and the hand is not changing. That's why I would like to believe we hit more or less a consensus with a 5-6 inch vertical phone.

[MrOwl]

Of course, manga, although not comics

[SagaHolmgaard]

I think creators are going to keep pushing the medium. Maybe someone will have a great idea for a comic completely in AR or even VR? If it blows up certainly more comic artists will want to try that. I've already seen printed picture books use AR as part of their story (The book also has an app, and the app reads symbols in the book similar to a QR code reader and makes certain scenes appear in AR).
Maybe we'll have more 3D-rendered backgrounds and characters as 3D-modelling software becomes more available, and people learn to make their own assets instead of using pre-made ones.

If the trend towards reading comics on your phones and tablet continues we'll see the scroll-format develop. The ones that are doing scroll format now will be the experts in a decade, maybe teaching the next generation how to work in that format, which further makes the page format something of the past.
It'll also promote less dialogue per panel, so any comics that take inspiration from the style of comics like Asterix and Lucky Luke will have a hard time gaining popularity.

Marvel and DC are probably going to stay popular. I don't know how they'll affect the medium, but I think a lot of what the standard look for comics is gonna depend on how their comics develop as their readers start/keep buying digital comics.

Well, I didn't mean to write so much But this is fun to think about I'll admit

[MrOwl]

Marvel and DC are probably going to stay popular. I don't know how they'll affect the medium, but I think a lot of what the standard look for comics is gonna depend on how their comics develop as their readers start/keep buying digital comics.

Marvel already have a few webtoons/scroll-format, so maybe they'll adopt it? or at least influence it somehow.

[bakasama25]

I think the Direct Market is going to be dead by next year.

[rajillustration]

yeah, I'm just throwing horizontal out there on a whim--like that Office episode when they made the pyramid phone. I think its more likely that phones will vanish all together to be replaced by more affordable tablets working in conjunction with smaller smart devices like watches and headphones (Like apple watch straight up replaces a phone even now). Google Glass could always make a comeback.

But who knows, maybe there will always be screened phones? I hope.

[SagaHolmgaard]

Maybe! With bigger budgets and a lot of artists working together on one comic, I'm sure they'll be able to innovate further on the scroll format. I don't think the scroll format has really "peaked" yet, but maybe as it gets more popular we'll see more and more creative solutions to scroll-type comics.