I’ve had some people say they wanted the old me to come back and really bash something. Well, I’m not doing that exactly today (but if you would like me to go off on why I HATE Columbus, er, Genocide Day… find my Facebook page.) But I’ve had my three shot latte and feel a long winded rant coming on. But first…
Customer Appreciation Day…
We are going to have a special customer appreciation day on October 29th. This will consist of a day of special sales and discounts followed by a closed shop party for customers in the evening.
Remember, we do these things because we love you all, without you, we wouldn’t exist.
Rachel Rising, Diamond sucks and why comic ordering is hard…
We all know about the new DC books being shoveled into comic shops over the last month and a half. I’ll get to some of my thoughts on these in a bit, but I wanted to point out another new book and both the good and bad troubles this book is having by being pure and untainted by corporate publisher hands.
So, instead of Action or Batman or Firestorm or Justice League Dark, the best new book being published in the last two months is Rachel Rising. Hands down, end of discussion. (Don’t believe me, ask Kyle. We all know he can’t lie, he has long hair.)
“What is this, never heard of it,” you say. Well, it is an independently released comic by easily the best writer/artist in the industry, Terry Moore, creator of Strangers in Paradise and Echo. Rachel Rising is a horror/supernatural book only on issue two and is showing great success, but with this success comes hard decisions.
I’ve had my own troubles getting copies to fill demand – which I’ll get to – but the book has been selling out nationwide and at Diamond, so no reorders. This presents the question to the creator, re-print or let it go and make the people find these copies. Moore wrote on his blog this week that they are struggling with the decisions of going back to press. He discusses the numbers they have sent to Diamond and what was “lost” in Diamond’s warehouse. He also discusses who pays for going back to press – answer; him and out of his own pocket, but you can tell this is an agonizing decision. HE doesn’t want to possibly loose a customer and hence by saying this he doesn’t want us retailers to lose a customer.
This blog post was probably prompted from retailers like me who found sales of issue one of Rachel over five times higher than issue thirty of his previous book Echo. I’m really glad the book is selling, but depressed that I can’t get people issue two. I know people will just not pick up issue three if they can’t get issue two and sales growth will stop.
Made worse is the mismanagement Diamond Distributors have shown lately, but on this book in particular. We put in a reorder of ten copies on issue two – with our initial order just barely covering our hold list requests (and finding out later it didn’t cover those.) Common is the cut-down quotient in retailing. Issue two sells about 50 to 75% of issue one – mostly. You have to figure out which of the books are going to grow and if you don’t you lose that momentum.
Sorry, for that side bar, back to the troubles. Throw on top of this the four copies of the initial order being damaged, my utter hated for selling a damaged book, all of the reorders going to backorder and even the damaged copies going to backorder (which translated to non-retailer terms means Diamond didn’t have enough copies to cover even damage replacements… a major issue they have NOT been dealing with lately, especially on independent books.)
I hope this shows some of the issues that we go through in ordering. I find a creator like Terry Moore, independent and of the highest quality, agonizing over the loss of a customer an interesting parallel to my own agonizing in selling to a great book to you. I wish all the bad books would go away and people would only order good quality… sorry, was day dreaming there for a second.
Why Barnes and Noble sucks Just a little less today…
Seems giant corporate monsters don’t always get alone all time like we would think.
It seems Barnes and Noble, DC and Amazon are in a little love triangle and someone feels slighted. This interesting little story of back room corporate dealings has turned quite interesting over the last day or so.
DC has gone and promised Amazon 100 or so of its top selling graphic collections for exclusive distribution to whatever they call their impersonal digital reader. This pissed the holy hell out of impersonal big box Barnes and Noble who sells these collections in their stores, but wouldn’t be able to sell them on THEIR impersonal digital reader. So, they told DC to screw off and pulled these 100 or so collections off their shelves on Friday.
I don’t like big box bookstores at all. As a collective group they can %$#@ off, but I have to say, “kudos, sir. Good play chap.” It happens so infrequently, I’m amazed to see a corporate whore show some balls.
But, do you think DC actually understands the irony here? How a back room secret deal pisses someone off when that deal goes against the good will you’ve tried to build with your partner of decades. Do you think anyone in B&N management gets the irony the direct market feels towards this? Don’t hurt yourself thinking too hard on this one, I’ll answer that question, NO! It is completely lost on everyone concerned, especially DC and makes me shake my head at just how clueless this company has become over the last year.
For a little more info on this, try Bleeding Cool or Comic Book Resources.
(Earlier I used the term graphic collection, I want to explain this. The media says graphic novel and refers to every single trade or collection published. Now we know the media is dumber than a sack of hammers, collectively, and I want some definition of terms here. We comic collectors know that a graphic novel is an original, first time printed, large scale, bound format story. A trade paperback is a collection of originally printed comics. Big difference, not every trade is a graphic novel. Get your terminology correct media idiots! Sorry, I digress. By the way, want to know about comics, we got Scott McCloud’s indispensible “Understanding Comics” back in stock last week. If you have never read this, and call yourself a hard-core comic collector…)
X-Schism, relaunches and why continuity is important…
Thanks for ruining everything DC.
I have had a few people try and get my personal feelings out of me on what I think of the new DC relaunch. The past couple of weeks I have had others reviewing these books. If you are smart, you can figure out why I would do such a thing. Bad mouthing a product you are selling runs contrary to your ability to make money off said product – and at the end of the day my disgust with capitalism is tempered by actually being part of the system, i.e. I ain’t no dummy!
I permitted reviews that were not positive because, in the end, I think you are all smart enough to see these reviews as opinion and would decide for yourself. It tends to not work that way when I review something poorly. I will always tell you my opinion of a product if asked, but… you need to understand it has to be tempered, my lively hood depends on it.
That said, I will tell you now, I am not happy with the new DC. I’m not reading much of it – can’t tell you it sucks if I don’t read it – and don’t really care too and all of it goes to the haphazard way they have released this new continuity.
I am an old school collector. I date back to my first comic over 30 years ago and have obviously read much before that now. I have runs of over 500 issues of Detective Comics, Superman, Batman and Action are approaching this, but none of that matters anymore. DC Continuity, though we joked about this when we held our wake a month ago, is dead.
In its place has been set a big plate of steaming gruel, a mass, a mixture of… something. What this something is, we do not know, though it is starting to come out. Last week, on his Facebook page, Dan Didio – head of DC publishing – announced that none of the Crisis books exist in this new continuity. WHAT?!?
So you used your own, personal, social media to make an announcement that majorly impacts parts of previous continuity, maybe the most important parts of DC’s continuity over the last 25 years that is now no longer part of this bold new continuity. That, sir, is stupid and dangerous.
Is this how this company is being run now?
“Oh, I woke up this morning and decided I don’t like Dick Grayson anymore. Kill him off.” “I didn’t vote for Jason Todd to die in Batman #426 when I was younger, so, I’ll bring him back. NAH!” “Is this in continuity? You don’t care, I can do whatever I want ‘cause I’m getting a huge paycheck and helping to design new movies and video games that make this company more money than these stupid comic books… sweet!”
There is no such thing anymore as a cohesive set of rules, no set of laws to tell editors what is and is not contradictory from one book or another, past – which technically doesn’t exist – present – which no one is sure of – and future – which I guess is just the Legion and they seem to have not missed a beat from pre-reboot continuity. This is all so very confusing.
Comics have relied on their continuity to help, in “universe” set storytelling, for as long as comics have existed. To jump into the deep end with no set of governing rules gives the writers free reign, but readers no sense of a grounding and no reason to buy anything that has come before.
When DC “restarted” after Crisis on Infinite Earths they actually released a book called, History of the DC Universe. Today, the convoluted new DC is as I’ve said, a mass of jumbled stories. I could go into all the contradictions I’ve found so far, but I’m just going to stay with the most recent crisis – Final Crisis. If this does not exist anymore, Batman RIP CAN NOT exist. If Final Crisis doesn’t exist, the return of Bruce Wayne doesn’t exist than Batman Inc. does not exist and you start to see how it is difficult to release anymore of this story, though they have solicited the next part in the October previews.
Marvel has got it right.
Change happens and some stories are needed to be hushed or altered. Marvel Comics is showing the right way to do this. Mark Waid’s Daredevil and Jason Aaron’s X-Schism are both great examples. Schism does not throw the baby out with the bathwater. It alters the status quo, tells a good story and moves us onto the next big relaunch, NOT reboot. Mark Waid is not altering one bit of any continuity that has come before in Daredevil, he is just not relying on it as strongly as say Ed Brubaker relied on what Brian Bendis had done when he came on the book. He is picking and choosing what is important in his storytelling, but not throwing everything out.
Why do I harp on this?
I have already seen some of those new customers starting to disappear. A big launch happened when Marvel restarted their heroes in Heroes Reborn, then sales started to sag and it was eventually abandoned. However, Marvel kept their old books going so it’s core was still placated. DC has done nothing like this and essentially abandoned its core collector base. This should be a wake-up call to you the ten, twenty, thirty, forty year collector. DC does not care about you. OR, this is an ultimate launch and no one was told. If this is the case, how angry will the core be when we are given back our heroes after we bought this… gruel.
If you like these stories, I am the first person who is happy to sell them to you. I have no beef with you. My beef is with a company that discards its core audience like an unwanted wrapper on candy bar. If you throw away the thing that keeps us here, we will leave and THAT could be the end of comics as we know them… well, at least DC comics.
Matty J’s Top Five New DC Books:
I think they are all… okay, these were at the very least good stories:
1. All Star Western
2. Batman
3. Animal Man
4. Action Comics – but issue two was pretty weak, in my opinion.
I don’t have a number five FAVORITE. I’m not reading most of the 52. Just like Ultimate Marvel, this is not my continuity, so, what reason do I have to care.
I’ll continue to read all four GL books, the two Legion titles and Swamp Thing, but can’t bother with the rest when I can pick up ANYTHING from Dark Horse and be happier!
But I am only one opinion. Many, probably a majority, think these books are great.
My employee, Ronnie the Awesome, is not one of them, here is his hysterical rant:
If you’ll notice on my list, none of the books I really liked required the reboot to make it work, they worked in spite of The Didio-cide. Batman #1 could have been Detective Comics #900. Both Swamp Thing and Animal Man could have been published at any time in the last 5 years, no ret-con required, and they would be just as awesome and relevant. Action Comics is just another in a long line of Superman origin re-imaginings. However, we were due for one, it’s been at least a year since the last one… and a generation since a good one… and Batwoman was written something like two years ago, then rescheduled and advertised repeatedly for the last 18 months.
The (unaffected?!?) Batman continuity suffers greatly from the Geoff Johns/Jim Lee meddling, mainly in the disregard for any sort of sense in timeline. Every major Gotham story/event is at risk of disappearing. If Bruce Wayne is anything, he is the sum of his experiences. How many teenage sidekicks in how many years? Apparently Year One was two weeks, Jim Gordon has a Lazarus Pit, Dick Grayson was Batman after apprenticing as Robin for 6-18 months (but not a Teen Titan, possibly never a teenager at any point), Joker has no face, Tim Drake is now Black Condor, and Barbara…
Poor Barbara. I have heard so many passionate arguments from both sides on this. They all have valid points. However, could Barbra’s recovery and return to street vigilantism been handled any worse? If it had to have been done, then Gail should be the writer, no question there… but not like this… Ever! I bet Simone agrees too. As of issue #1 Oracle, the role that made Barbara Gordon one of the strongest, most unique characters in DC, is ignored. 20+ years of story ignored. She deserved better than that. I think she deserved a mini-series detailing her recovery and training and a well guarded surprise ending of her putting on the mask again. Maybe a mask and codename of her own design? Without the ‘girl’ tacked on to the end of it? Maybe she should have struggled with PTSD and overcame it before she went out adventuring? Maybe we could get her reason to be in tights again at all?
Or she could have stayed the Oracle!
And Jason Todd could have stayed dead. His death created the modern Batman. You think that 900 number still works?
I did try some of the other series. In my opinion, out of all the elements the reboot changed, it doesn’t seem to have improved upon any of them. And once the dust settled, very, very few of the titles had legs to stand on. Green Arrow – ruined. Batgirl – ruined. Superman’s underwear – ruined. Starfire – will be the reason we will be forced with a Comics Code Authority again.
I truly believe comics are better now than they have ever been. Just not DC comics.
These are my thoughts as a reader. As a comics retail employee, the whole scene changes and brings with it many more concerns. That is a much longer, more hysterical rant.
Didio-cide. Heh, I should trademark that.
Ronnie’s Top 5 New DC Titles
5. Batwoman/Action Comics (tie)
4. Batman (Snyder saved it)
3. Animal Man
2. Swamp Thing
1. Don’t have a #1 because the reboot did not make anything better.
A middle ground between Ronnie’s thoughts and pure joy is Pat. One of my Reviews of the first month he had this to say when asked for his thoughts:
I’ll admit that when the announcement of a line-wide relaunch came across, I was probably one of the few people who didn’t go insane and start bashing it all over the internet. Once the creative teams starting being revealed I thought it was going to be pretty good. The continuity basically stayed the same with Batman (Editor’s note: sorry Pat, DC lied to you) and Green Lantern so I was ok with DC messing around with everyone else. I mean, who really liked those arcs on Superman and Wonder Woman? They had moments, but that’s because Chris Roberson and Phil Hester, both of which don’t have new series in this new DC, did the best they could with the JMS turd sandwich they were left.
DC has wanted to make Superman more “modern” and “relevant” for a while now. They picked the perfect person in Grant Morrison, as he gets the character like writers in the last few years have not.
Aquaman is looking like it could be one of the best series DC has to offer after creators couldn’t think of what to do with the character and he was just killed off, probably for lack of a better use for him.
I also feel several series have reached the goal of a fresh start and new readers can come in and enjoy a character from the very beginning. Blue Beetle is probably the best example.
On the other hand, if you read a series like Green Lantern or Legion of Superheroes, you probably have no clue what’s going on if you’re a new reader. They just start up immediately from where they left off before the relaunch. Why is this?
I also have enjoyed the reluanch because I picked up books that I probably would have never gotten before. I knew it would be a fresh start and I could pick it up and go, which is DC’s ultimate goal I’m sure. New coninuity = sales to readers who didn’t want convoluted character histories to catch up on. I picked up Batgirl, Batwoman, Animal Man, Swamp Thing, and Blue Beetle when I had never really gotten into any of these characters before. I love what these creative teams are doing with these characters and can’t wait for issue 2 for these series (#2 of Swamp Thing and Animal Man have come out, and holy cow they are awesome, no fluke on those first issues).
So, long story short, I really liked the relaunch. I’m a reader that enjoys a good story with good characterization. I just hope DC sticks to its guns and doesn’t reset the DCnU in a year with a big event comic.
And, please DC, keep Grant Morrison on Superman for the rest of his life. He knows the character so well and has actually been the only person who made him translate into the modern world, which as I stated has been the goal for a while. It’s going to be interesting to see how long the creative teams stay on each series. These starting teams seem to really have good things going for them, at least on the series I liked, and it would be nice to see their ideas come to fruition.
Pat’s Top Five New DC Books:
1. Action Comics (this is probably impacted by the fact that issue 2 has come out and it rocked)
2. Batman
3. Swamp Thing
4. Batgirl
5. Green Lantern
And now for another point of view, but not all that different than Pat, is RJ, the self professed Marvel Zombie, with a recap/review:
What an amazing and interesting journey. BIG thanks to Matt and Cup of Kryptonite, without his “Hate It, Return It” policy, I doubt I would have tried so many of the books (I read 43 of the 52 new books). And honestly, had I not tried such a large sampling, I really would have missed out on some books I ended up liking quite a bit. There is a lot of good stuff out there, and I can honestly say that DC succeeded in ensuring that there’s truly ‘something for everyone’. If you’re of an age to get yourself to a comic book store and have the money and desire to buy a comic book, and still can’t find something out of these 52 books that you enjoy; you’re probably not really trying and maybe shouldn’t be reading comics anymore.
Seriously, DC offers everything from an adorable (yet frightening) space faring kitty that spews napalm from its mouth to an oversexed alien idiot that hangs out with skinny dudes with lousy fashion sense. Long term fans should be able to wrap themselves comfortably at night in the unchanged continuity of Batman (Editor’s Note: Again, you were lied to) and Green Lantern; nostalgia fanatics (and fanboys with a dream that never died) have Barbara Gordon back as Batgirl and Barry Allen as the Flash; fans of Game of Thrones and DragonAge have Demon Knights; the most vehement feminist comic book readers who haunt the web have seemed greatly satisfied by the new Birds of Prey and Batwoman; and I’ve heard that even Brian Bendis himself is a fan of the insanely decompressed and yawn inducing Justice League (okay, I made that last part up…).
That being said…out of the 43 books I read, only 15 have secured a place on my pull list for at least the next 6 months. There are a few that I read and enjoyed, but ultimately have no real need to continue buying. Justice League International was a really good, old school team book, but what does it provide that I don’t get from Alpha Flight (for example)? It, and others are books that I would not dissuade anyone from reading, but for the sake of money and space I need to maintain some restraint in my monthly buying habits. To be completely fair, there are only two books that I would actively recommend people to avoid: Justice League and Suicide Squad. Those books were not only poorly done, but seemed to fail miserably when compared to the books that preceded them. Justice League is a cash grab with both the company’s “Big” names attached to it, a stretched out storyline and an extra $1 in cost. Suicide Squad…well…put it this way: If the 1980’s Ostrander Suicide Squad was the original ‘Star Wars’, and Secret Six was ‘The Empire Strikes Back’, then this new series is ‘Attack of the Clones’.
But why focus on the ‘bad’ when there’s so much good that was found in these books? If I can be permitted, let’s take a look at some of the things that made me smile:
Peter Milligan. The man had about a 25% success rate with me coming into this. The only Milligan book I ever read and enjoyed was his X-Force/X-Statix run. Everything else seemed completely mired in confusion. Not only did he perform a feat that I would have found IMPOSSIBLE 30 days ago (crafting a coherent first issue of Red Lanterns), but with Justice League Dark, he produced probably the finest debut issue of a not-a-team-team-book I’ve read in years (yeah, it even beat Villians United #1 in my eyes).
Paul Cornell has apparently been wowing the heck out of people with his other work and I’ve been too obtuse to enjoy it. Stormwatch and Demon Knights about both books I wasn’t planning on buying but now have homes on my monthly pull list.
Madame Xanadu gets my award for “Breakout Character” in the New 52, appearing in no fewer than 3 books, and being an exciting part of all of them. She’s gone from “yeah, I think she’s that blind Vertigo chick” to “Hey, she’s pretty cool” in 4 short weeks.
Action Comics. I like a Superman comic. I mean, I REALLY LIKE a Superman comic. That right there is something I never, EVER thought I would say or type.
And…of course…Batgirl. I freakin get a freakin monthly Barbara Gordon BatfreakinGirl book. This is seriously something I’ve wanted for about 2/3 of my life, and it’s FINALLY here…and it’s good. Really, really good.
RJ’s Top Five New DC Books:
1. JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK – It’s Justice League…and it’s Dark…but beautiful.
2. DEMON KNIGHTS – By day I read comics, by night I read A Song of Fire and Ice (you HBO subscribers call that “Game of Thrones”). This book is the best of both worlds.
3. BATGIRL
4. RED LANTERNS
5. I, VAMPIRE
Yeah, seriously; I,Vampire trumped Action, Wonder Woman, Stormwatch
I also asked some customers and friends to give me their Top Five of this New DC:
Alicia’s Top Five New DC Books, with commentary:
5. Justice League Dark
WTF is happening in this book?! Bunches of crazy stuff, that’s what! And I loved every minute of it. While it was light on action, it almost was guaranteed to be that way, in order to set up the story. Zatanna pulling one over on Bruce Wayne Bats provided me with some cathartic relief (although I disagree with her statement that her death wouldn’t be important; increase your self esteem girl!) & the ominous tone of the book is filled with promise. I know nothing of Enchantress or her history, but she seems to be at the center of the craziness going on in some of these other books, like Swamp Thing & Animal Man. I am seeing plenty of parallels in the Dark books & whatever’s coming is going to be HUGE. Again, Mikel Janin’s disconcerting art complimented Peter Milligan’s story perfectly.
4. All-Star Western (Tie)
An 1800s Gotham crime story? Yes, please! Who is this Jonah Hex guy, never read any of his books before, but I completely dig him, (might need to pick up some back issues.)
Justin Gray & Jimmy Palmiotti didn’t disappoint. The team up between Jonah Hex & Doctor Arkham provides a few moments of comic relief in an otherwise dark plot & Moritat’s art reflects the time period impeccably. This book probably has one of the best stories in the whole New 52, it’s classic, it’s the perfect division of poor & rich in the corrupt city of Gotham. Someone’s killing prostitutes & the culprit is one of the richest, most powerful men in the city. I have no doubt that Jonah Hex will find him & make him pay, dearly.
4. The Huntress (Tie)
Helena is a killer. She’s also a babe. I have to say, the cover art on The Huntress was kind of a turn-off. Why are her boobs so big? The composition is awkward, (why is her thigh so crazy large?) but I’m not a huge fan of Guillem March (*cough* Catwoman) so, moving on…
The inside of the book definitely made up for it. Magnificent. Kudos to Marcus To.
This issue was just a rollicking good time & the story of vindication and revenge is ultimately satisfying (see guys, this is what happens when you exploit women, take note). Good job, Paul Levitz. Actually, I’m sad that this is only a mini-series lasting 6 issues, yet EVERY male Robin has a book? Can I get a WHA THE…?
3. Animal Man
This one surprised me. Mostly because I didn’t know who Buddy Baker was, but I put complete faith and trust in Jeff Lemire (Sweet Tooth) & obviously for good reason. The format of the book, with the story of Buddy in the front was helpful for those of us who had never heard of him. The tension between being a family man & Animal Man is definitely prominent here & you can see the consequences of living with that dichotomy at the end of the book. There’s a hell of a “Big Bad” in The Hunters Three & Buddy has hallucinations about just how bad. And it is not pretty, in fact, what he envisions is the definition of macabre.
The art, however, is pitch perfect. I had never heard of Travel Foreman but he definitely impressed me. It just suits the story so well.
2. Wonder Woman
I’ve never read a Wonder Woman title in my life. I’m fairly new to comics & you could say I’m a little picky about what I select. I can honestly say that Brian Azzarello’s take on Diana had me hooked from page one. And if the story didn’t hook me, Cliff Chiang’s art would have… completely gorgeous, completely. And thanks to Chiang for not making Diana & the rest of the women look like strippers or victims of plastic surgery. When Azzarello said this was going to be a horror story, he wasn’t kidding. The antagonist is terrifying; the son of a god with his own unknown agenda. Again, I can’t wait for #2 so I can know more about where the story is going.
1. Batwoman
Duh! The art’s BEAUTIFUL, Kate’s totally badass, and I’d be lying if I didn’t say I’d been looking forward to the book for over a year. And it definitely did NOT disappoint. I’m intrigued to see where JH Williams’ story is going; the Weeping Woman is undeniably creepy. I can’t wait to see what happens between Detective Sawyer & Kate and don’t forget that Cameron Chase is another of Williams’ strong female creations, as well as her ooky boss, from the DEO, has popped up and are hot on the Batwoman’s tail.
Again, thanks to JH Williams for not feeling the need to objectify the female form; the women look proportional. All I can say is I can’t wait for #2! If there is a gripe, my only one would be this issue seems to be unchanged from the original story, so it may make it difficult for new DC readers to follow.
Jess’s Top Five New DC Books:
5. Batman
4. Wonder Woman
3. All Star Western
2. Batwoman
1. Animal Man
Mike N’s Top Five New DC Books:
1. Demon Knights
2. Batgirl
3. All Star Western
4. Nightwing
5. Justice League Dark
Some of these even surprised me.
Tia’s Top Five New DC Books:
1. Red Lanterns
2. Animal Man
3. Green Lantern
4. New Guardians
5. Justice League
Chad’s Top Five New DC Books:
1. Animal Man
2. Swamp Thing
3. All Star Western
4. Batman
5. Action Comics
