[...] The end is near, and it will come, predictably, not with a bang, but a whimper. [...]

[...] Various voices have reacted to the news that Claypool will be ceasing print publication: [...]

One could argue it was a problem with content, or a problem with promotion. One could argue it was a problem with the cover styles, or that customers just aren’t interested in the stories themselves.

While I’m sure Claypool’s demise is complex and is due to many problems, I would argue instead that the main problem with Claypool was with *format*. They realized far, far too late that the 32-page staplebound format is essentially a dead medium for indy comics publishers. And, well, it has been dead for several years now.

Claypool obstinately REFUSED to publish any trade paperback collections at all. I think there were four or five trades they published, about a decade ago, and that’s it. Want to read Elvira? There’s one or two trade paperbacks, but then you hafta go back and pick up 150+ individual comic book issues, some of which are a decade old and could never be found in local comic book stores.

Working for a distributor, I’ve seen how comic book issue sales for indy and small-press titles have dwindled down to almost nothing. Even long-running titles with built-in fan bases (like, say Gold Digger) are a hard sell in staplebound format. In fact, I could pinpoint exactly when the switchover occurred — just by looking back at stats. In 2000, 1/3 of our sales were in trade paperbacks, 2/3 were in comic books. The following year, those stats switched (almost exactly), and trade paperback sales haven’t looked back. I haven’t run the stats in a while, but these days I would probably estimate that TPBs outsell comic book issues through us at a ratio somewhere between 10-1 and 20-1. Anything in a staplebound format is a tough, tough sell these days, if you’re a small publisher.

Claypool missed the trade paperback parade…or, for some inexplicable reason, they chose to defy it. Who knows why — I’m sure plenty of retailers chastised them for not producing trade paperback collections. If, say, three years ago they started publishing a trade paperback a month (Elvira one month, Deadbeats the next, Soulsearchers the next, then repeat), by now they would have a big library of trades for sale. Not a bunch of comics with a one-month window of sales, but evergreens that keep selling year-after-year. Plus, they would have opened a door to a much larger marketplace — the mass market and bookstores — where trade paperbacks outsell the direct market several times over.

So, people can argue Claypool failed for various reasons, but I would argue it was because they didn’t change their format to suit the times. At least, that’s my opinion.

Recent jumping-on point stunt aside, Claypool never seemed very friendly to new readers. They were a set of long-running series with few collections (and none recent) that looked, stylistically, as though they were a couple of decades old, even though they had a fairly good creator lineup.

But I don’t want to bash them when they’re down. I do find it interesting that most of the recent “going to the web instead of print” announcements made sure readers were aware that eventual print collections would be available for purchase. This one didn’t.

At least they’re going out with class — letting everyone know this far in advance that they’re winding down is a good move, for both the creators on the books and those fans that they have. A lot better than insisting nothing is wrong until the day after they lock their doors and turn out the lights, at least.