Recent Surge in Comic Book Genre

Recently I spent some time walking through the Barnes & Noble store and realized that there was a huge surge in comic books.  These aren't your traditional 75 cent comics that you used to see at your local Quick Stop store, but rather newly printed card stock cover reprints of multiple books.

At first I didn't think much of it.  I mean I've always seen Spiderman fans and Avenger fans walk into the store and read up on things, but then I noticed other comics.  Alien, The Walking Dead, Star Wars?  I mean these are huge blockbuster hits on TV and movies.

I guess they realize that there's a market for books in the industry.  The Walking Dead became one of the most successful cable television series in history.  Of course Star Wars is making a huge come back with JJ Abrams, but they seem to be pushing their comics more and more to fall more inline with their sister franchises at Disney.

And then I thought to myself about Robotech.  Recently there has been a splash about James Wan and Sony Pictures to push the movie forward.  In fact, there has been some readers debating with me on YouTube regarding how the next Robotech movie should be more for the blockbuster audience than the purist fans.

Of course I disagree.  I've been a Robotech fan since the 80's and sadly I'm also Japanese which means I had access to all of Macross from Japan.  So for me, just seeing the original version on top of the English one meant that I knew the bad from the good.  Some parts in Japanese were just so much more than the English.  And of course some of the English was better than the Japanese.

Either way, the new Robotech movie could revitalize the 1980's franchise for good.  Yes it could become like Star Wars and Avengers.  It could become like Transformers the movie series.

However, what makes this more interesting is that Director James Wan has free reign to what he wants to move the franchise ahead.

Of course for me personally, I'd like to see a pure Robotech film with no dilution of the power of song from the series.  And I would also like the first movie to embed some future franchises like Macross Plus and Macross II, and Macross Frontier.

That's the best right?  Having Sheryl Nome, Minmay, and Sharon Apple all be in one film from the get-go?  And of course there should have always been a spin off saga focusing on Max and Miriya.

All of this could happen if Sony does it right.  Plan ahead and focus on the characters rather than the Robotech timeline.   This way, the comic books would be a huge factor.

My thought and wishes go far beyond just 3 or 4 good movies.  My thought is that they would start campaigning for a television show like the Walking Dead.  Maybe even a cartoon series to continue the Macross series.

And even two or three more stand alone Robotech films not based on the SDF series.  Perhaps it could be more about the other lead characters.  Maybe it could be different characters from Macross Plus, Macross II and Macross Frontier meeting for the first time in their own series to unite and fight against the lead enemies of Marduk, Zentradi, and Meltrandi.

You see where I am headed with this?  The recent surge in comic book prints has given new opportunities for Robotech.

Perhaps the old toy line won't ever recover.  But there are always other ways to move the revenue stream ahead.  The fact that Walking Dead generates more than 14 million per episode says that creating a series not relying on the toy sponsorship is a viable business.

There are other revenue streams that the existing franchise in Japan already utilizes under JVC Victor with music and concerts.  And of course there's the Macross Museum dedicated to Shoji Kawamori.

If things go correctly for Sony Pictures,  they should expand with a ride park.  I mean it's this big folks.  With the right people in place they could make this work.