James Gunn: “If I wrote comics today, I'd probably be unhappy because so few people read comics”

DC Studios CEO James Gunn recently admitted that if he wrote comic books today, he would be unhappy because so few people read them.

James Gunn and Chris Pratt attend Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 Premieres at the Dolby Theater in Hollywood CA on Thursday, April 27, 2023.

Speaking to Michael Rosenbaum on his show Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum, Rosenbaum asked, "Being the head of DC was that going to stop you from continuing [your] filmmaking and focusing all that passion on a single goal rather than focusing all this passion on DC? so far, [you] are going to direct a film, but [you] also have to worry about running a studio? How do we do that? Is it because Peter [Safran] is sort of helping to solve this problem?

Gunn replied: “Peter helps that. I think it's always been, you know, I only have so much time in my day. I don't have much to do. And I think the question has always been how much am I going to spend on writing, how much am I going to spend on directing, how much am I going to spend on hosting other writers, how much am I going on spending on hosting d other directors. , how much will I spend to define the kind of story that other writers can follow? I don't have much to do. I'm aware of that."

He continued: “And so yes, it is. And I love directing, so I didn't want to lose that either. But in my heart I'm a storyteller, in my heart I'm not the same as other filmmakers, I don't think. Other filmmakers, of course, but in my heart I consider myself a storyteller. I don’t consider myself a director rather than a storyteller. I am above all a storyteller.

"And that means that however I'm willing to tell this story, I'm fine," he explained.

James Gunn via Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum YouTube
Gunn continued: “I'm having this conversation with Dave Yarovesky, the director of Brightburn, he's one of my best friends. Because he wants to make films. He is mainly interested in filmmaking. That's what he wants to do. I say to myself that if I could tell a great television story, it's… making Peacemaker was absolutely brilliant for me, making a film is absolutely brilliant.

“If I'm proud of what I publish, I'm really happy, I don't care what that story is,” he said.

Gunn then commented on the state of comics: “I started, I wanted to write comics when I was younger. If I wrote comics today, I probably would be – I would probably be unhappy because so few people read comics.

“But I would probably be very happy with what my job was. I would enjoy this storytelling process,” he said. “So that’s what’s important to me. I happen to be good at directing because directing requires a lot of weird and different talents, I do a lot of those things, but not all of them well.

“As a director, there are always things you do very well and things you do well. And it's complicated work. It’s a very complicated job,” he concluded.

Gunn isn't the only one commenting on the lack of comic book readers. Marvel Comics writer Steve Orlando recently confirmed that comic book sales are struggling.

In a recent tweet responding to a question about sales of his Scarlet Witch series, Orlando wrote: “Sales are struggling and so is the entire industry. For now, we hope to get to ten.

He added: “To get even 15 issues, sales will have to continue to increase. »

Steve Orlando Twitter
Not only did Orlando admit that sales were struggling in the industry, but Scarlet Witch was one of the best-selling series according to ICv2's ComicHub system which tracks outlet data from over 125 stories selling American comics around the world.

Scarlet Witch #4 was the 8th best-selling series by units as of April 2023, surpassed only by Amazing Spider-#23, Batman #134, Spider-Man #7, Guardians of the Galaxy #1, Amazing Spider-Man #24, Venom. #18 and X-Men #21.

As of March 2023, Scarlet Witch #3 was the 13th best-selling book by units. In February, Scarlet Witch #2 was the 17th best-selling by units.

The book's January issue debut was the third best-selling book by units, beaten only by Amazing Spider-Man #17 and Batman #131.

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