Questorants

I guess the news about Questor's closing down got people in the local comic mailing lists talking. With such a major player being wiped off the board, there have been comments- some say that there surely will be something to replace the title, citing a potentially great opportunity. Some say that perhaps this is a sign that the local publishing market really is weak.

I am inclined to believe that a local comic or zine, done right, will sell and do well. Granted, Questor had decent production values- they were printed on good paper, had colored covers and interiors, and had a staff of decent artists. However, being someone who's been buying the mag for years, I can say that in my own opinion, the mag wasn't great.

For an anime and manga zine, Questor was sorely lacking in style and substance. It didn't have a great look to the pages- no dynamic layouts, no slick art direction, no cool exclusive content. All of it was done pretty much run of the mill. The articles and features were nothing you could not find anywhere on the web, or in any of the better anime magazines. The writing was bland and there were few if any things an otaku would go out of their way to get. In general, the thin Questor mag doesn't at all scream 'worth your manga bucks'.
Take Newtype- ungodly expensive, but DAMN, there is no better mag for anime out there. The features are up to date to the latest anime, the artworks and images are gorgeous and great to see, and there are insightful columns and articles that play to an otaku's heart. The pinups of sexy anime babes don't hurt either. Yes, Questor had pinups- but they were crap in comparison.

And then, there was Nopperabo, the Questor zine's resident comic/manga section. Let me say that I TOTALLY cannot comprehend WHY they kept with it. WHY the HELL would you have a bleak, depressing, often boring anthology of Japanese Occupation-era horror or drama tales as your main manga feature? It BOGGLES the mind that this dismal stuff awaits manga readers everytime they would buy a Questor issue instead of the wealthy vein of high fantasy, sci-fi, action or comedy that manga is known for. Boggles the mind.
Additional Note: I've been told that most of the staff of Questor themselves cannot fathom WHY they kept using Nopperaboo as opposed to any other manga story/series/anthology. Go figure.

Long story short- Questor wasn't a good mag- it had too much baggage from old-school old foagies who did not want to push the envelope and was limited in content by the biases of the owner (who featured only the anime titles he owned or was promoting, no matter how outdated).

So, really, I'm not surprised that it failed. The point is, it's failure shouldn't necessarily mean that local publishing cannot succeed. If you have great product, you will sell. That's what happened with Culture Crash, and what will continue to happen as long as they keep their standards high and their stories improving. I do not think that was a fluke. The CCCom guys did it right, and not it's up to anyone else who wants to follow their footsteps to bring the goods to the table, so to speak.

Don't show up with a knife in a gunfight. Do your homework, make sure your stuff measures up, and get it out there to the people who will want it. THEN we'll see what sells or not, what's great or not.

Now that I thought about it, perhaps the Death of Questor may actually be a blessing in disguise. Now that it's out of the picture, perhaps something a LOT better can FINALLY take it's place. The only question is, when, how and by who. We'll see.