Comments on: Stupid Promo Quote

By: Torsten Adair

Torsten Adair — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 20:07:12 +0000

In Europe, there are a few monthly newsstand titles, mostly Disney, with an occasional Marvel or DC title. The Marvel title usually includes two stories, one of which is the title character (Spider-Man) and the backup is a fan favorite (Thor). (This example is a bit dated.) Thick paperbacks are also popular at newsstands, usually showcasing one character. The best stuff is collected into albums (for example, Don Rosa) and the creme de la creme gets a deluxe leatherbound hardcover edition.

By: Torsten Adair

Torsten Adair — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 20:01:23 +0000

“…and Wonder Woman will have her own strong storyline in her series.”

Hmmm… time will tell.

By: Fanboy@50 » A ” Stupid Comment ” leads to an all out discussion

Fanboy@50 » A ” Stupid Comment ” leads to an all out discussion — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 01:12:38 +0000

[...] Alan Coil Says: February 10, 2008 at 7:48 pm [...]

By: Charles RB

Charles RB — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 00:09:18 +0000

“I would *much* rather buy a weekly magazine anthology or two of good stories than monthly garbage.”

In the case of 2000AD you can – everything from December’s Prog 2008 onwards is available for paid download.

By: morganagrom

morganagrom — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 20:23:12 +0000

@Dwight Williams

“How are comics series sold elsewhere? Outside of anglophone North America, to be more precise.”

Either finite series (manga) or series of standalone books (Asterix).

By: Kenny

Kenny — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 15:40:58 +0000

From what I can tell, comics in other countries are sold mainly as weekly black and white anthologies without any specific genre dominating the market. I mean, sure, 2000 AD could be considered the sci-fi genre, but that’s not so much the case in Japan with manga. I would *much* rather buy a weekly magazine anthology or two of good stories than monthly garbage.

By: Bill Williams

Bill Williams — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 15:26:47 +0000

One of the nice things about waiting for trades is that you lose 1/3 of the bulk when you lose the ads. Good for those of us with small work spaces. Bill

By: Lew Newmark

Lew Newmark — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 13:34:44 +0000

Actually John, I already have 2 giant piles of comics on my nightstand next to the bed, and believe me I hear it often from the wife! :)

I can’t write for everyone else on this topic, but I just hate to have to try to follow a weekly series ( good or bad ) and continue to pick up other titles that I follow on a monthy basis…and I’ll go a bit further and add in the little mimi stories that seem to permeate comics now, ie; The X-Men ” Endangered Species ” series that ran thru all the titles. I decided that I would just wait till they collected the entire series and did the trade edition and pick that up instead of having to read every X-comic there is, just to have to follow the storyline. I made an exception to this for the
” Messiah Complex ” though that ran thru the titles ( and I have not read as of yet )because I felt that this was a major event in the X- History, and just needed to be read. Mind you,I am still going thru my comics pile that I haven’t gotton to yet for 07.

By: John

John — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 11:59:31 +0000

Lew,

I get 2000AD, which is a weekly, and “the aggravation involved in getting them week to week” is near zero. If I want to I can go to the bookstore very week, or I can let a pile buildup and then read a whole lot at once.
I think perhaps what you are really trying to say is that in the case of 52 or Spider-man it isn’t worth “the aggravation involved in getting them week to week” because they simply aren’t that good. :p)

By: Lew

Lew — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 01:41:41 +0000

Sorry Alan, but I have to disagree with you about the weekly comic trend. I think that trying to keep up with a weekly comic is unfair to the comic reader who tries to follow more than one or two titles. I started to read the weekly 52 series from DC, and also Countdown, and in both cases quit the attempt mostly due to the fact that I felt both stories just weren’t worth the aggravation involved in trying to get them each and every week, while passing up a better comic. And I can tell you, I’m already starting to get a bit put off with Spiderman going weekly.

By: Alan Coil

Alan Coil — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 00:48:44 +0000

In 3 or 4 years, just about every comic will end up being weeklies. Even Marvel is getting on this bandwagon with Spider-Man.

By: James Schee

James Schee — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 00:20:50 +0000

Darn, and here I was wanting to see Brother Power the Geek star in Superman, Ralph and Sue Dibny Ghost Detectives! in Batman and Dumb Bunny star in Wonder Woman!

By: Marc-Oliver Frisch

Marc-Oliver Frisch — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 21:31:40 +0000

They’ve said that “Sinestro Corps War” did unexpectedly well for them, but I’m not sure that became much of a factor in its success. After all, “The Resurrection of Ra’s al Ghul” over in the Batman books also seems to have been a commercial hit.

Overall, I think the handful of interviews we’ve seen over the last few days suggest that they’ve learned a lesson or two from COUNTDOWN.

By: Chris G

Chris G — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 19:12:16 +0000

I admittedly haven’t read the Sinestro thing yet, since the vast majority of what I read these days is via library borrowing. But from what I’ve read online, isn’t a big part of why it worked the fact that it came out from under the radar, with a minimum of hype until after it started? And doesn’t it thus seem that announcing each of the big 3 will get their OWN Sinestro War event well in advance sorta misses the point?

By: Marc-Oliver Frisch

Marc-Oliver Frisch — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 16:27:20 +0000

I thought the point was that Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman are going to be the focus of their own, separate “event” storylines in 2008, ÃƒÂ la “Sinestro Corps War.” It’s not phrased very clearly, though, admittedly.

By: Johanna

Johanna — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 16:19:05 +0000

It’s true (and a sad statement on comics) that “we’re refocusing the title on the title character” can be meant seriously.

By: Dave

Dave — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 15:41:26 +0000

Yeah, I had to re-read that 3 times to see if I was understanding it… Then I realized, oh yeah… it’s Dan Didio.

Then again, I can think of plenty of Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman stories I’ve read over the years where the title character was the least interesting part of the story!

By: Lew

Lew — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 14:28:40 +0000

Wow! I never thought I’d see the day that DC Comics would actually promote the main characters of their titles by stating that they would be prominantly featured in said books throughout their year’s run. Just freakin amazin!

By: Dwight Williams

Dwight Williams — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 14:15:45 +0000

How are comics series sold elsewhere? Outside of anglophone North America, to be more precise.

By: thekamisama

thekamisama — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 06:50:36 +0000

Nothing suprises me from these guys anymore. This is the same company that ignores the weekly format gimmick is finally running up against a red brick wall of reader burnout. Instead of cutting back they are going to try and squeeze one out using the ‘Trinity’ characters. It is much easier to see if they can get a boost to trick fans to buy another book with 52 issues coming out in one year than actually serving potential readership.