Chapter 149: Romance Conformities
'A Mysterious Feeling Called Love' was a relative success on its own. It wasn't as established and high-momentum as its predecessors but it still had its own merits.
Compared to the 'Young Romance' comic and all the other comic books being displayed in most stores, Creed Comics' romance special practically stood out. How could it not when it was still a unique, fresh, and aesthetic story to immerse oneself into.
It didn't follow the usual single-issue format though as it made use of the book-like success that the previous 'Predator: Slaughterous Hunt' has made a profit from.
The heavy and easily storable condition that would allow the romance release to be piled along with the other Volume Books made it a must-have for most collectors.
It wasn't going to extend to further Volumes though as Creed Comics has made it clear on some of the credit messages that it was going to be a one-shot story with a clear-cut beginning, middle, and end in one go.
It didn't follow the extensive and expansive story arcs that most publishers were going for and are clearly within the boundaries of a one-shot and a graphic novel.
One-shots and graphic novels are self-contained stories overall. Their distinctions aren't that clear but most people consider the thin, single-issue one to be the one-shot while the bookish type as the graphic novel.
The throwaway feasibility of the former and the novel-esque name of the latter already telltales how one is different from the other.
Either way, the buyers of 1985 didn't care for the distinction as they just bought it when they like it.
The Creed romance special was cheaper than most Volume Books by a dollar or so, depending on the store, but it was still considered a dollar-saved for many.
It was a bit thinner than the regular Volume Book after all and its peak may just be the Valentine season, so Creed Comics didn't want to hike much of the price when they were retailing it.
Still, it made a profit as the direct market already brought all that was in distribution and the correspondents were giving the Creed market team some of the necessary data.
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February, Valentines, romance, and love go hand-in-hand at there was no denying that those factors helped the sales of the February special release. Essentially, the romance genre should be at its peak during this period of time.
Generally, it is a genre depicting strong and close romantic love and its attendant complications such as jealousy, marriage, divorce, betrayal, and heartache.
Romance comics are essentially the image and print form of most TV melodrama series and love shows and romance movies.
During the 1940s and 1970s, the romance comics of the period typically featured dramatic scripts about the love lives of older high school teens and young adults, with accompanying artwork depicting an urban or rural America contemporaneous with publication.
However, the CCA struck and the unfortunate censoring happened towards the romance genre as well. Romance, at some point, explored factors that are nearing or reached the San Fernando Valley adult film production after all.
The censorship did help but the genre seems to have been stuck in a rut for the American comic book industry.
As much as the CCA is supposed to mean well, it had practically become a villainous type that destroyed some stuff but the mishaps of the romance genre seem to have something to do with the relative disinterest of most comic artists towards it.
Since heroes were the ones that always sell and have traction, most of their romance stories cater towards the affection between the heroics.
In the opinion of the publishing companies, romance is a niche of a niche. It was better for them to focus on the more popular among the niche. This insistence of theirs is what led to the rise of manga in the States and how DC and Marvel are only banking on their respective movie universes.
The superhero focus trend should have lasted for many decades into the future but a certain Chaos Butterfly just had to mess with things. Alexander simply Americanized bits of Japanese manga while also improving on America's noted franchises.
The niche industry became relatively less niche and most of the superhero genre had pretty much played second fiddle to everything Creed.
Since Creed Comics has given the entire industry a boost and even semi-awakened the horror genre, then the romance genre could very well be next on its agenda.
It may not even be on the agenda anymore as it was already happening this February of 1985.
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Girls were especially drawn into it as everything about February and romance always appeal to them. This wasn't the 2010s and 2020s, where everyone is confused about sex orientation, themselves, and, their mentalities.
The kids, teens, and girls of the 80s were much less complicated in what they wanted as they follow what the majority considered to be hip and trendy.
Since 'A Mysterious Feeling Called Love' was the norm for the non-niche comic community, then that was what they liked as well.
It wasn't that much of a good thing for people of the 80s to be easily swayed by the majority but it was what was working and Creed Comics would just be the big winner in all of it.
Since herd mentality is what drives up the business, then there was no way that capitalists or business companies would give them a wake-up call.
Besides, 80s girls being simple people who always follow the leader was just a relative generalization as there are still different types of people out there.
Either way, since sales were guaranteed, there was no more need to consider much of the reason for why it was a success. What was important was that romance and the girl comic demographic were opening up.
Much like the horror genre, romance along with other stories that appeal to girls can be leveraged to full potential by a certain someone who has a stockpile of girl-oriented franchises that he can plunder and take as his own.
Unlike the "woke" entertainment companies of the past-future, Alexander also wouldn't forget to take account of the boy demographic that could be targeted by the girl comic movement as well.
Boyfriends that had no gift for Valentines could practically go for the Creed romance book option while boys that just want to woo someone could take inspiration from the love knowledge contained within it.
Romance was a two-way thing and it doesn't happen without the perspective of the opposing sexes. Fortunately, 'A Mysterious Feeling Called Love' was a light and lovely story that showed the side of the girl and the intentions of the boy.
It was a bias to the hetero-sexes but rainbow people are still hiding by the 80s after all. It was best to conform to what society considers as normal at this point in time.