Introduction

Given the retrenchment of trade presses from graphic novel lines, the fate of the form seemed knitted ever more closely to mainstream comics. The industry experienced astonishing sales at the start of the decade, but the mid-1990s crash did not presage a hopeful future. Yet despite the bankruptcy (arguably creative, definitely financial) of mainstream comics, initiatives seeded during the boom would eventually lead to the production of key graphic novels, whether at creator-oriented imprints inside established publishers or new companies founded by superstar artists.

By the decade’s end, the graphic novels that won literary prizes, were taught in universities, and received reviews in the broadsheets were primarily by creators who worked in alternative comics. In the 1990s, alternative comics were at the nexus of two polarised forms of cultural production: the bloated, commercialised world of mainstream comics, and the grey market in photocopied minicomics and fanzines (or ‘zines’). These were perceived as discrete realms where separate rules, rights, and political allegiances pertained, and the alternative graphic novels’ fraught position between mainstream comics and zines is evident in terms of their characters, iconography, and plots.

Great Expectations

At the dawn of the 1990s, the direct market delivered the comics industry to a position where record-breaking numbers of comics were sold. But not graphic novels: sales were outrageously high on periodicals, with Spider-Man 1 (1990) and X-Force 1 (1991) selling more than three million copies each. The circulation of X-Men 1 (1991) reached eight million copies, the best-selling issue of any comic according to the 2010 Guinness Book of World Records.

The pencillers on these series – Todd McFarlane, Rob Liefield, and Jim Lee respectively – were adored by fans, one reason for the high sales, but it was also the case that consumers bought multiple copies to sell for profit later. The value of comics as a financial investment was much touted and the media commonly noted the high prices that vintage comics could reach at auction. This brought people into comic shops who had not read a comic in years and perhaps had no intention of ever doing so again: speculators stocked up on large quantities of mint-condition comics in the expectation they would accumulate in value. The accoutrements of comics collecting, such as Mylar bags and moisture-free storage boxes, were a common feature of comics retailers’ advertisements.