I have a bunch of little bits for you first.
A newsy comic thing I found odd this week. Writer J. M. Straczynski is now exclusive at DC. This, I feel, came out of no where and begs the question, “how mad was he at Quesada for the Amazing Spider-man, One More Day thing?” I know he wanted, at some point, to have his name removed from the book, but… Hmmm. Also, it seems he has written the screen plays for World War Z and The Silver Surfer. He’s got two books coming out through Image and will finish the Twelve and continue on Thor for awhile. That is a hard working guy.
Speaking of movies, The Boys is going to be made into a film. Yeah… Um, okay. Good for Darick and Garth I guess, and, who knows, since most of the comic to film superhero films suck, maybe one that doesn’t glorify underwear on the outside will be great. Here is a little more info on it: forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=147572
Also, the advance previews for Marvel and DC came out this past week. Prepare yourself for an expensive summer. The two big companies are going nuts and publishing anything they can think of. Between the two of them alone there will be fifteen new series or mini-series starting in May. This doesn’t count anything started in either March or April that we haven’t even seen yet. I get it, somehow their is supposed to be more money in the summer, but has anyone told the heads of these two companies we are headed into an economic slow down and that when this sort of thing happens, one of the first things to be cut out of people’s budgets is extraneous spending. Guys, if you want a comic industry to grow you really need to rethink your publishing models.
And, as if that wasn’t bad enough. Marvel has lost it with the Iron Man movie coming in May. There are an additional three more Iron Man books (and an annual) coming out (those I didn’t even count above.) What the Hell?!? Here is what you will have, just for Iron Man in May: Iron Man; Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. (the current on-going series), Iron Man; Legacy of Doom (mini-series), Iron Man, Viva Las Vegas (mini-series), The Marvel Adventures book (also on-going), the annual, the Ultimate Iron Man comic will just be coming to an end and a NEW on-going regular universe series called The Invincible Iron Man (which will have at least five variant covers at different order increments). That is nuts. Iron man (sorry, for those few who still like him) is a villain. Marvel has made him out to be a Bush like corporate monster who doesn’t care for civil liberties and it could be argued “got Cap killed.” All for a movie or to try and tie into a movie. Marvel executives have lost their minds, now let us see how crazy Batman will be the next month. I have a feeling it’ll be even worse.
Monthly Archive for February, 2008
This post will not be all that and a bag o’ chips. Frankly I’ve got a lot on my mind this week and could care less about comic books right now. I would so much rather be out playing hockey and listening to Iron Maiden. Yeah, that sounds like a nearly perfect afternoon.
However, I got several responses to last week’s “article” on the Trinity weekly book from DC, so, I’ll continue with that general theme and look at monthly numbers, something, frankly, I spend nearly no time dwelling on.
About every five or six months I see that the monthly sales numbers have been released from the comic companies and I say, “Eh, why not see what these show me about my shop.” and nearly every time I look at them and see that my shop bucks the trends.
This is the first time I can say we may becoming more inline with the national numbers.
Just as a reference here are the sales numbers for January as reported by Newsarama. www.newsarama.com/marketreport/Jan08sales.html
Now, this may be a shock to many of you, but I’m a cynical and sarcastic son of a bitch. No, really, I am. Lovable fun scamp, true, but also an S.o.b. too. So, what you are about to hear, should probably be taken with more then a few grains of salt. Nonetheless, I’m also a straight shooter…
WOW, DC sucks.
I’m sorry for those of you who are still reading any of their titles (I still and will always read several) but they are getting killed. Their first title in the top twenty is Justice League of America (12) and then it’s Batman (19). There overal numbers aren’t great either for the shear volume they publish.
Now, this is probably due to two things. Marvel is a marketing machine. They are the worst self promotion/hype-ists in the industry, by far. Hell, some Hollywood types would love to have them doing their promos. Chicken Salad out of… what was that? Really, though, look at the top ten and you can see four “BIG EVENTS THAT WILL CHANGE COMICS FOREVER!” events and three more books connected to those “BIG EVENTs.” Marketing and self promotion, Marvel in a nut shell.
Also, DC has really been ramping up the crossover crap lately and I think some backlash is starting. I have long thought DC readers tend (TEND, Mind you. Not are. Don’t burn me at the stake just yet.) be slightly smarter on what they read and a little more broad minded. I’ve seen some steadily dropping sales on nearly every DC book, even the big ones like Batman, which is really rather good. I think this shows some DC people are moving to something else.
I was surprised to see Countdown as high as it was. It sells pretty decent for us (actually on par with Wolverine), I didn’t think it was that big across the nation. Also, Buffy The Vampire Slayer at number 15. Wow!?! Good for Dark Horse.
The numbers also show no “support” for Vertigo and we know this is BS. Vertigo is the industries stalwart for quality. It just doesn’t sell a lot of issues of anything.
So, what does all this really mean. Not a damn thing. You should read what you want to and stop listening to Marvel or DC or Newsarama or F***ing Wizard. If it’s a good book that you like and you think needs more support, get two copies and give one to a friend. Let someone borrow your copy and then get them hooked on the book. (How do you think The Walking Dead has gotten to where it is with out this kind of help.) On that list are nearly none of my favorites (except Captain America, which is AWESOME!) and I’m fine with that. You should be too.
And if you read only the most popular comics, fine. Enjoy them. Though know this, there is NO money to be made in comic books. NONE! So, read and enjoy, collect if that brings you happiness, but don’t listen to others, especially me, unless of course I can get you to read Fables…
Found something interesting this week.
First there was 52 and then Countdown, DC’s weekly comic… thing. This weekend Warner Brother’s little red headed step child announced their next weekly comic experiment, Trinity (nothing to do with Matt Wagner’s book about Bat’s, Supes and Wondey Woman, or is there?)
It (or at least part of it) will be written by Kurt Busiek and drawn by Mark Bagley and will center around DC’s big three and will start in June.
Newsarama asked DC Executive Editor Dan DiDio about what impact this would have on DC. He responded by saying “There will be a storyline that features Superman prominently in the Superman titles through 2008, there will be a storyline that features Batman prominently throughout his titles in 2008, and Wonder Woman will have her own strong storyline in her series. Final Crisis will be contained to the primary series and a couple of spin-off series and a couple of one shots, but doesn’t crossover throughout the rest of the line. And Trinity will be its own story amid all of that, because it explores not just the history of Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman, but their impact on the DCU in the past years and for the future.”
You can read the whole article and interview about Trinity here: http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=146142
I have been a strong critic of DiDio since he started at DC, but this statement makes me think he’s removing his head from… it sounds good. Perhaps, we have finally come out of the never ending crossover. The point of (superhero) comics some time ago was to tell a good story (all be it with underwear on the outside.) DC has been locked into a crossover for several years. Ever since Identity Crisis (you remember the story that started so well and never really ended) DC has just moved one crossover on into the next one. The same one that has run through a bunch of failed books, a couple of weekly issues (104 to be exact) and derailed what could have been quality writing jobs in nearly every regular book. Marvel has for the first time, perhaps ever, taken a page from DC and done this crossover thing even worse, but I’m railing on DC right now and don’t want to get off on how Brian Bendis has destroyed Marvel Comics, nearly single handedly. (He’s the skrull!)
The DC publishing ideal has been to keep the druggie hooked. The thing is many of the DC junkies have checked themselves into rehab and are doing well reading something else, of quality.
This article makes me think things are changing and that is good. The crossover (originally) was never meant to be a never ending event. (Though our current President would make us think that war is run that way too. So, maybe art does imitate life.) I can only hope that new (or old) ideas are being thought of, cause the way the industry has turned, like a stomach after a bad Mexican meal, it’s needed.
Now if there was a real artist on this Trinity thing, maybe I would consider reading it.
I have a couple reviews for you.
The new Spiderman book, With Great Power, came out last week and I haven’t personally had a chance to read it, but one of my customers, Mike Woody, tried it out and had this to report:
“That new Spider-Man book was weak at best. The artwork is okay but nothing special and how many frickin’ times do we need to see the origin story retold? Nothing to add, seems to be set in an Ultimate type environment and it is clearly a play for cash. Don’t bother holding the other four issues for this guy.”
Now don’t complain that I never put bad reviews in this e-mail. I’m personally a big fan of Tony Harris’s art and I have a few customers who love the David Lampam. Do you disagree? Let me know.
And Y The Last Man is finished. This marks an end of sorts for the shop. Y was the first big selling book at Cup. It ran for a little over five years and was pretty much on time (most of it anyway.) I felt the last couple months issues were drawn out, dragging the good story telling down with it. However, the final issue was pretty good. Should you read it if you haven’t been reading it? No, of course not. Get the trades and start there, but then if you were going to start on a new comic from the beginning, go with Fables (and Jack of Fables) or Walking Dead or Invincible… I think they are better.
A quick reminder on a few series. I’m ordering a little tighter on some books to try and maximize profits, so, if you think you are interested in some of the new Marvel books (especially the x-books) or the Countdown related books, let me know and I can get them on your list.