I was watching a video by ItsaGundam and he was talking about the current state of comic books and he mentioned how they always say now that comic books are for everyone (which a lot of other IPs and video games say that too). He said they always were for everyone which I agree somewhat but I would say that it isn't for everyone, but anyone who is interested can get into comic books.
I think Marvel and DC comics should be a great lesson in how not to market/run a business. I would also throw Star Wars and gaming companies into the mix. Ahaus7 said once that video games should have never started to pander to extreme minorities and the same could be said for the rest of them.
I can remember a few years ago when I first heard high ranking women in comics who instead of talking about how much they loved comics or what they read growing up talked endlessly about diversity and how they didn't see people that "looked like them". Also Star Wars loves to hire men and women who seem to be clueless about Star Wars and if you look at their social media, you can almost always find the usual "down with whitey" nonsense.
What do you think? Is it accurate to say these things have always been for everyone? Also, do you think at some point these industries will realize that it is idiotic to market to people who don't like the product?
I think that's one of the key things about the success of manga and anime and how it's pushing worldwide. There's generally something for everyone. I've only been interested in anime for a couple years now, and there's more I've tried and not liked because it just wasn't made to appeal to me. I don't really do manga as I just prefer to read books, but same concept applies.
I was never interested in comics as a kid because I've never had even the slightest interest in the superhero dynamic. I'm much more a sucker for the more realistic person overcoming things through hard work and such that's in a lot of anime. Still, American comics lost their audience because they quit targeting an audience. It's not a thing for 12 year old boys or whatever their demographics was anymore despite them saying it's the same.