I’ve been reading with interest on Newsarama.com the travails and frustrations of Micah Wright, whose “Stormwatch: Team Achilles” was canceled (with numbers that were, frankly, not much different from “Fallen Angel.”) Which gave me an idea, but I’ll get to that later. What struck me the most was that his experiences in boosting readership paralleled my own. He said:
When the monthly book was cancelled a week later, I noticed that a lot of online readers were saying things like “I’ve never even heard of this book… is it really as good as people here are saying?” That’s a bit depressing to hear… that someone’s never seen a copy of the book on the shelves of their Local Comic Store? Interestingly, another group of people expressed disappointment because they were following the book exclusively in trades. A third group of people were saying “Ðámņ, I’ve been seeing the new art team online and I was waiting on that third trade to jump onto the series.”
I’ve talked a lot online about lessons learned from this series… one of them is this: no nine-part story arcs while the book is still young. People whose store didn’t carry early issues can’t find the first part of the story so they wait for the trade.
Fans never heard of it, retailers didn’t stock copies to be seen. Boy, is this familiar. I can assure Micah, though, that the lesson he learned is pretty futile. “Fallen Angel” launched with two done-in-one issues, followed by a four parter, followed by a five parter. Made no difference. People who *found* the first issue said *they* were waiting for the trade.
But speaking of the trade, that’s the most intriguing aspect. According to the article, pre-orders are now very brisk on the third trade paperback of S:TA. In fact, fans are acting in concert to order copies. Only problem: The book doesn’t actually exist. DC cancelled the trade. So the tactic is of questionable effectiveness.
The trade of “Fallen Angel,” however, has not been cancelled. However, the quantity and, even more important, the speed with which the book sells is likely going to determine the future of the series.
If you’ve already bought the issues and don’t want to pick up the TPB in addition, I can totally respect that. If, on the other hand, you want to, so you can give it to a friend or something, hey. Great. Heck, as always, send it to me with a SASE to PO Box 239, Bayport, NY 11705 and I’ll sign it and send it back. And if you’re planning to buy the trade anyway… order it now. Bump the numbers up. Spread the word. Get some buzz going. What can it hurt?
Hopefully our esteemed webmaster will put a direct link to it (so you won’t have to slog through the astounding number of books, CDs, DVDs etc. that are all called “Fallen Angel.”)
Let’s see how high the Fallen Angel can fly.
PAD
• 
Er, I’m not sure if you know the full story, but there’s nothing “hilarious” about it.
He not only lied about being a Ranger, he also fabricated a whole career, including supposedly participating in the invasion of Panama to capture Noriega. He claimed to have witnessed his “fellow” Rangers committing atrocities, and that this brought him to his current political views because he had seen the “truth”. He regularly lambasted anyone who disagreed with his views (usually with obscene language) using the old “I was in it, how dare you argue with me” routine.
He used these and other lies to sell his book and advance his career. And he only posted his “apology” hours before the Washington Post was set to post their story (they’d gotten proof of his lies and confronted him). He then falsely claimed that he had revealed it unprompted, supposedly because his conscience had gotten to him, and he also claimed that he’d only lied in the first place to protect himself from death threats over “propaganda posters” he’d created (another lie, he’d been making these claims long before the posters).
If you’re still unconvinced that this guy is a lowlife, I suggest you check out the following links:
His original “apology” (which he later heavily altered when people pointed out the lies within it):
http://jimtreacher.com/ranger.htm
An account of Micah by his ex-girlfriend who was with him during the years in question:
http://www.thespoonsexperience.com/archives/002152.php
And further info from Jim Treacher’s blog:
http://jimtreacher.com/archives/000852.html
>>I am aware that there is a portion of the customer base that are ‘walk ins’ and will buy what is only on the store shelf but I would consider them to be a small minority. I’d venture to say that 90% of the folks who buy their comics from a comic bookstore already know what they want and are going to get.
From both a comic store employee and a consumer point of view, I’ve found that much of this depends on disposable income. Although there is an inherent obssessive-compulsive mindset in a huge percentage of comic readers, those with the money will often ask or take retailors up on recommendations and suggestions.
Not that this is the only factor involved in decision-making, because many people never move out of the “superhero” reader phase. Not a good or bad thing, but a reality.
Both of the above consumers can be approached by retailors and be given recommendations…. unfortunately, there are lots of retailors out there who have never moved beyond the afforementioned superhero reader mindset.
Fred
That means the average comic fan had a maximum–MAXIMUM–of three exposures to it.
You know, it’s too bad you just can’t take the next issue of Fallen Angel and have Mile High Comics do an online preview of it.
They’ve done recent full online previews of Daredevil: Father #1, Ultimate X-Men #46, and Venom vs Carnage #1.
And they’re getting something in the range of like 20,000 people reading through the comics.
That’s a rather impressive figure.
Unfortunately, as one of the recent newsletters stated, DC will not do this. And man are they shooting themselves in the foot for it.
PAD,
It is a shame you are not coming to Philly for WizardWorld. It was really fun meeting you and talking to you last year. It is really unfortunate. While I can understand your feeling slighted – you definitely should be one of the people they contact – I just feel showing up would enable you to help push Fallen Angel by interacting with fans.
In fact, I remember being shocked last year when the creator of Green Lantern was there, and I found out he had to buy a ticket and his own table! If thst can happen to him, you definitely shouldn’t feel like the Lone Ranger.
Again, since you seem so passionate about keeping the title alive, I would just like to help you in any way I can.
While I still feel a “signing tour” would be cool and the most direct way to promote the book, there is also a possibility I may be doing a story on female heroes, possibly as part of the Wizard package and to tie-in with Michael Turner. I can definitely include “Fallen Angel” in that story if it indeed comes to pass.
PAD,
Have you been able to check if the trade will be made available to libraries, like Wonder Woman and many others are? because like I said, I would do my best to see if I can get all of our branches to carry it. Also, that means everybody reading this could request their own local library purchase it. That’s a LOT of potential sales, and even more people who would be made aware of the book and get achance to read it.
Thanks,
Jerome
Posted by Matt Adler at May 3, 2004 03:48 AM
Er, I’m not sure if you know the full story, but there’s nothing “hilarious” about it.
Wow! You’re right, I had no idea that he went to such lengths.
I wouldn’t go so far as to call him a lowlife but I’d certainly categorize him as disturbingly interesting. Talk about @#$%ed up…
Brian,
I WOULD go so far as to call him a lowlife, because that’s what he IS.
Jerome
I’m a long-time comicbook collector (since 1981) and like some others here, I have also never read Previews. Nor do I go to websites to find out what’s up and coming in the comics world. Instead, I learn about new series from reading CBG, from this blog, and from browsing the shelves in the store I go to.
I’ve also picked up a series– such as “Bone”– after reading library copies of the trade paperback compilations. I’d actually gotten the first issue of that series, but hadn’t continued to buy, either because of budget limitations, because I thought it was just a funny animal series, or both. But after reading several issues in the trade, I started buying the issues as they came out, and sought out back issues as well.
I’ve only known about CBG for about eight years now, and have shared a subscription with a co-worker (who doesn’t read current comics, his interest is the Golden Age) for about seven. Prior to learning about that source of information, my primary means of finding out about new series was word of mouth from friends at school or work, or in the case of school, a teacher who also collected comicbooks, DC’s old, free, “Direct Currents” flyers, and house ads.
In fact, I think one of the reasons I’ve read more DC books than Marvel books is because DC’s “Direct Currents” was free, while Marvel’s “Marvel Age” cost the same as a regular comic. I couldn’t see any reason to spend money that could have gone to an actual comic on what was essentially advertising. What’s more, since I was reading more DC than Marvel, I was, naturally, seeing more DC house ads, which brought to my attention still more DC books.
I understand DC now has a modern version of their “Direct Currents” on their website, which is fine, I suppose, for those who visit the DC website regularly (I don’t). Of course, it doesn’t help those people who don’t have computers and/or Internet access find out about upcoming books.
I will say this for Marvel, though. Their “What If…?” series let me have an idea of what was happening in the Marvel universe. It was through “What If…?” that I learned there had been something called the Kree-Skrull war and Spider-Man’s clone (the first time, when he died at the end; not the 1990s storyline, when he called himself Ben Riley).
At this point in my life, I read only a handful of titles, “Fallen Angel” being among them. With “Bone” ending with the next issue, I will be reading one less title. I have not yet decided if something else will take its place. I’m still considering whether to add “El Cazador” to my list. I’ve read the first few issues, but haven’t yet been having them held. That was one I learned about through CBG initially, and had the information reinforced by a house ad in issues of “Ruse”, which I also first learned about in CBG.
I don’t recall ever seeing a house ad for “Fallen Angel”, and if I hadn’t been reading this blog or “Supergirl” (which I picked up because of the discussion of that series on the blog), I might not have been aware of the series. I don’t recall if CBG did a review of it or not, but even if they did, that wouldn’t guarantee I’d remember the name of the series while at my comic shop (“Ruse” first caught my interest through a CBG review, but it took me a while to find it, because I couldn’t recall the title and the shop owner wasn’t familiar with the description). So, I agree that it can be easy for a title to fall through the cracks.
Would I have picked up “Fallen Angel” if my only exposure to it was a review in CBG? Maybe. Maybe not. But if I didn’t read CBG at all (and for many years I didn’t even know it existed), chances are I wouldn’t have even noticed “Fallen Angel” in the first place. Heck, if not for ads in CBG and occasional mentions in this blog, I’d never have known about “Soulseachers and Company”, which I understand has been around for many years (I still have yet to actually see a copy of said book, but at least I know it exists).
So, in summation, I don’t think anyone can assume that because Prieviews exists or because a title might get a review or discussion online somewhere, that every potential reader is going to know about it. At the very least a publisher should run house ads for the series they publish, ideally in the pages of other titles of a similar nature. That could be a bit tricky with “Fallen Angel”, which is neither Vertigo or mainstream DC, but my suggestion would be to run “Fallen Angel” house ads in the Vertigo books and the “Batman” books (the latter because, on the surface, Lee appears to have a similar attitude to Batman’s, and an ad in a “Batman” book might get people to sample “Fallen Angel”). Maybe they’d stay with it, and maybe they wouldn’t, but at least they’d know about it.
Rick
Interesting, thanks for the info. I confess that I’ve moved over to TPB almost exclusively since I don’t have time to keep up with individual issues anymore. I often wonder if this trend (I know others that feel the same) actually ends up hurting the chances for our favorite series to survive.
I’m developing an idea based on a screenplay I’ve written for comic form but if the great Peter David can have problems with sales what chance do us cross-over writers have? Other than Straczynski or K. Smith of course.
PAD,
Just out of curiousity, why haven’t you addressed any of the other posters’ ideas about spreading the word on Fallen Angel? It seems like you’re willing to respond to those that disagree with you, but not to those that not only agree with you, but want to help you.
Just seems to me that it would be more productive to address whether or not those ideas are feasible rather than trying to convince some guy that some people still haven’t heard of the book.
Brian Thomer