How has the comics industry avoided implosion?

When comic books were on the rise in the 1980's, everyone wanted to get in on the game, resulting in the situations just mentioned. Buyers of comics in the 90's quickly became hip to the ploys and gimmicks that the multitude of comic book publishers was thrusting upon them to boost sales, and this backfired catastrophically.

Collectors sought out other areas to spend their money, and readers became overwhelmed by the onslaught of lots of mediocre and poor material. With a gigantic supply of unsold comics and not many customers left, many comic book stores had to shut down for good.

This, in turn, gave publishers fewer and fewer places to sell their comics, which resulted in mass job layoffs and a general sense of panic in the industry. Because comic books' continued ascent was well documented in the media, its crash was equally documented and likely caused further harm to the industry.

The crash reached a landmark moment when in 1994, Marvel comics reported an annual loss of $48.5 million. By 1996, there were only around 4,000 comic book shops left in the United States. And in that same year, Marvel filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

There was no magic bullet to fix the industry and help it recover. Lots of legal and comic book boardroom battles occurred to help keep certain companies alive, while others faded out, never to be heard from again.

Today though, the comic book industry has had a renaissance and is continuing to flourish. This is thanks to the incredible success of comic book films and the availability of material for fans on the internet. Currently, Disney owns Marvel, and Warner Brothers support DC Comics, so it is unlikely the comic book industry is going to implode any time again in the foreseeable future.