Comments on: Star Trek Comic Promo

By: john morrison

john morrison — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 14:32:30 +0000

Nat’s analysis is amusing, and probably, sadly, true.
I used to be a huge Star Trek fan, and I bought all the Gold Key then Marvel and DC Star Trek comics, and the first 50 odd books in the 70s/80s, then basically decided I had had enough. There was so much material, and much of it so mediocre, that I gave up buying any ST. I just don’t care anymore.

I think the ST comics lost any interest for me when they quite clearly became a “property” with the 2nd DC series, when Paramount required that they focus almost solely on the existing stars and lost any connection with their larger world. One can only read about the same 7 characters so many times.
I still love the first DC series though. That was fun, and the way it was written around the movie continuity was very clever, and I always thought those red uniforms were the most stylish ST uniforms.

By: Alan Coil

Alan Coil — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 22:05:24 +0000

True about TV Guide having lower sales. I was a subscriber for nearly 30 years, but near the end, I found it to be completely useless for daily viewing selections. They also started giving me the Cleveland, Ohio, listings, but I was getting teh Detroit feed from my cable system.

By: Johanna

Johanna — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 14:37:34 +0000

Thanks for such an insightful analysis, Nat. I agree — once something is successful, it tends to be repeated to ever-diminishing returns. And I think you’ve hit on key differences between Buffy and ST. Your third bullet, about involving the primary creator, might explain the TV Guide quote, too.

By: Nat Gertler

Nat Gertler — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 13:51:59 +0000

As with, oh, just about every success in comics, we’ll likely see the Season X continuation copied in ways both meaningful and meaningless, until the advantage of it is drained from the meaningless one.
Buffy season 8 hits all the right points, but then:
*Buffy is a continuity-oriented series, so that these things take place after the previous material is meaningful. (Star Trek: TOS, in contrast, can be watched in any order without losing much.)
*There has not been significant amounts of post-Season 7 material for the key characters of Buffy (except Spike, who is not part of Buffy Season 8), so this shows a way to fresh territory. Since Star Trek Season 3, we’ve had the animated series, seven films, tons o’ comics and prose novels.
* Buffy season 8 has the strong involvement of the primary creative name for Buffy, Joss Whedon. That speaks to both its quality and to its sense of being canon.

So IDW’s Season Four should get some bump from being called “season four”, and I expect their Angel series will get more of a bump (as should DC’s Veronica Mars, if that goes through.) But if a year from now we’re seeing Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles The Animated Series Season 5 comic book, I’d expect the bump to be gone…. gone the way that the zombie bump, the holofoil cover bump, the “Dark Knight format” bump went away.