My stash is still sitting at the comic book store, so it’ll be more like Stash Thursday. I’ll get back when I get it.
Ya, I’m getting my comics on Thursday too. I plan to get Detective Comics (can’t wait), Amazing Spiderman (24/7), and Buck Rogers (its only 25 cents!).
I’ll post my impressions later tommorrow.
DF
Personally, I thought Detective was more than worth the wait. Very, very lovely.
Picked up XFactor 42 late.
SHOULD have picked up Batman: Brave and the Bold #4.
Enjoyed Trinity as usual. Like a classic 80s saga on steroids.
Interesting team-up at the beginning of “Batman — The Brave and the Bold,” moreso than the rest of the issue.
As for “Amazing Spider-Man” No. 592 — I needed to see the last story page as much as Pete did.
“Interesting team-up at the beginning of “Batman — The Brave and the Bold,” …”
To continue the tease, these 2 characters would never belong in the Batman Universe in any other Batman book.
DUBYA! (Department of Unfinished Business, Y’All)
Last time out I asked people what they thought about editors and editing:
April 17, 2009 at 6:45 am
“General question, what could/should/does a ‘good’ editor bring to a book he/she is assigned to? Input from PAD/other pros more than welcome on this one!”
–
Pencilhead was kind enough to respond on the 21st, as the post was slowly sinking into the West:
–
Pencilhead says:
April 21, 2009 at 9:00 am
“I wish I knew more of what an editor in the comic business does specifically, but I always assumed and would expect is that they’re kind of like a handler crossed with a middle-man – they make sure the scripts/art are all tight and error free, that theme and continuity is upheld in terms of itself and other related books (by co-ordinating with other editors, especially if you’re in a sub-brand like the X-books or the Ultimate line), but also play go-between for the two parties of the talent and the higher ups (editor in chief/s?).
I remember reading in a recent interview where PAD was saying he had to fight tooth and nail for a long time with his editor to do the recent Madrox baby storyline. Whether the buck stopped at his editor or then the editor in turn had to run it by whoever oversees the general X books, I dunno – but I’d imagine they often can be either a mouthpiece and a possible bane, or a personal savior.
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Whether I’m on the mark or not is a another question, but that’s pretty much what I’d want and expect from somebody in such a position. That and maybe the ability to do your research for you. :]”
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If any of you feel like picking up and running with this, I’d still be interested in seeing what you think. (For bonus points, how many of us can – without looking – name the editor(s) on our favourite books?)
–
Cheers.
More Marvel books priced 3.99, does anyone care? and what justifies a 33% increase?
Yes.
–
Rising costs? Dwindling market? (The less popular sequel to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Wombat).
–
It’s not a good thing, and it will almost inevitably drive some fans to pirate downloads. There need to be better marketing and/or delivery models for selling that shot of graphicy goodness to the waiting masses.
–
Warren Ellis’ Fell format is at least a stab at addressing that, but more needs to be done, probably using (hack, spit) digital downloads.
–
Cheers.
I think the Fell format is dead.
I think Fell is more currently comatose, languishing limp in Limbo and generally pining for the fjords than actually ‘dead’.
–
Ellis and Templesmith both reckon there will be more, but don’t say when.
–
The ideas of futzing around with self contained single issue stories, lower page count for lower price, serialised graphic novels a la Black Summer / No Hero, etc, etc, are probably still worth trying out.
–
Ellis seems to have a fair bit of business savvy going for him as well as the writing talent.
–
Cheers.
Fraction said that another Casanova story arc is coming. This was the only other book to adopt the Fell format.
It’s a shame that more books haven’t adopted it, as I love both of those books and I am sure there is a lot of potential for it.
More Marvel books priced 3.99, does anyone care? and what justifies a 33% increase?
.
Between this and the tactics now being employed by publishers with e-books, I’m about to put a lot more of my money into PC and video games and wash my hands of books & comics altogether.
I’m now cutting out all books that go higher than 2.99 as soon as their current story line completes. I’ll be down to about 6 monthly titles in a few months. It’s just not worth it anymore. With rare exception, every title is just repeating the same basic story lines with different characters and no new gotta-read-it spin.
I can get far more enjoyment out of a novel, which cost less than 2 comic books when you factor in the weekly Border’s coupon. For the about the same price. My philosophy is why spend $7+ on 20-25 minutes total reading time, when I can get 2-4 hours at the same price, and have more Maggiano’s $$ too?!
Ack! I forgot to delete that left-over fragment…
Various threads and thoughts coming together here… Rising price of comics vs density of story in comics vs copyright and downloads…
–
I recently played catch-up on Green Lantern and it was probably more enjoyable reading three years of that in a chunk than getting the issues monthly would have been.
–
Lots of books in my pull list this week, with a paperback and a couple of magazines means I just dropped slightly more in the LCS for one weeks hit than I’m paying per month for internet, cable TV and house landline phone services and that’s a silly amount to spend these days
–
I don’t like reading comics on the PC. Girl Genius and Freak Angels are about he only ones I do that for anyway, but I want the paper in my hands feeling…
–
I-Tunes and legitimate music download sites are the best response to piracy – most people will pay a ‘fair’ price for the goods if they painlessly can.
–
Conclusions; I need to change a lifetime of buying and reading habits and do more trade-waiting. I also need to do some ruthless culling of what I do read.
–
Where I believe things need to go is towards digital comics and print on demand working in unison. What does get my hopes up is this news: http://www.ondemandbooks.com/home.htm
–
That’s the Espresso Book Machine, which prints 100 PDF pages a minute for black and white text and mentions 35 pages a minute for colour. Tweak the tech and fudge the figures, that’s a 22 page comic book out of thin air per minute.
–
I want one of those suckers in my LCS pronto, and I want the option to subscribe to digital comics for $1 a shot and hardcopy them for another $1 a pop. That’s new titles and the whole Marvel and DC backlist…
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And I’d like that rocket pack I was promised 20 years ago while we’re at it!
–
Cheers
I love reading comics on my computer. Even when I only had my 15″ LCD (compared to the 22″ widescreen I picked up over the holidays), it worked great.
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I have a near-complete run of the 90’s Guardians of the Galaxy series. It’s one of my favorites, and I enjoy taking them out to read now and then. But to pull out the long box, pull out individual issues, take them out of their cardboard & plastic, read them, then put them back away, for a +60 issue series? Ugh. 🙂
.
I’m also on the verge of getting a Kindle, as I’ve been wanting to get into e-books for several years now. But Pocket Books is making me think otherwise, due to their pricing of e-books. Either way, I’m done buying Trek books in print, and because of Pocket’s e-book pricing tactics, I may be done buying new Trek books altogether.
.
Maybe I should just get a PS3 instead. 😛
“Chacun a son goat” Or something like that 🙂
–
I enjoy having a stack of old issues to go through.. it’s also easier to pass one to my wife and say “Lookee, lookee!” at the good bits. On t’other hand, my collection is boxed but not individually bagged and boarded so that probably saves me some time… On t’other other hand I am seriously running out of box room, and that’s with a wife who shares my addiction and a garage we converted into a fanbunker five years ago…
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How would you feel about being able to get a digital comic for $1 to $1.50 a pop?
–
Cheers.
I’d love it. For me anymore, reading comics is about the story, not the collecting. I’ve got enough comics (and books, for that matter) and none of ’em are going to be worth anything down the road.
.
At $1, $1.50, or even $2 per comic, I’d certainly be able to stretch the budget for more stuff than what I currently buy, and there’s more incentive to try new stuff at that price.
.
But I still think we’re years away from Marvel or DC taking the plunge digitally in this manner. They’re just too afraid of upsetting the LCS’s. And, let’s face it, the LCS’s will continue to go the way of the Tower Records and Sam Goody’s of the world, whether Marvel and DC start making their comics available digitally (and available immediately, not 6 months later) or not. As it is, I think publishers are ignoring potential readers by dragging their feet on this.
.
That, and I’m not sure that they’d be smart enough to set the price at a point to make it worthwhile to those who actually want comics digitally. Much like with books, digital comics should be cheaper than their paper counterparts, not equally or more expensive. To do so is simply sabotaging the market, like Pocket Books is doing with e-books.
I should add: the $1-2 are for new comics. Marvel would probably be able to sell tons of ‘copies’ of older stuff if they go even cheaper. Imagine being able to pick up every one of the first, say, 400 issues of Amazing Spider-Man for .50 each or something. Or a simple package deal of X dollars for X issues of back-issues. The possibilities are endless… if they’re willing to take the plunge.
Historically when a big company gets a whiff of profit, long-standing agreemenets with smaller companies tend to go to the wall, so I wouldn’t see either of the Big Yins losing sleep over shafting the LCS…
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Running the POD option through fancy printers with the LCS as the distribution point at least keeps them in the frame.
–
In the States, how many LCSs are dedicated to just/mainly selling comics? The two local shops I have – Edinburgh and Glasgow – are both Forbidden Planet (aka Forboding Prices) outlets, and they each have maybe a sixth to a fifth of their wall space given over to actual comics, though that’s not necessarily indicative of how much of the monthly profit that brings in.
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Hmmm.. I need numbers. Anyone got a pointer to typical turnover numbers, costs and profits for the comic business? Publisher to distributor to LCS?
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Cheers.
Loved Detective. Which, given that I only liked the first part and that I am one of the few in fandom who doesn’t get Gaiman, is remarkable. Luckily, Gaiman gets Batman as well as anyone, and does a great job summing up the legend.
Angel was…well, it would help if I remembered what happened last issue. While Kelley Armstrong is a pretty good scripter (and from what I hear is a very good novelist), something is missing here. Still a lot better than Buffy’s been of late, though.
“uckily, Gaiman gets Batman as well as anyone…”
As does Paul Dini.
X-Factor (a week late) – If anyone lost interest in X-Factor due to art or story, you are missing out. This story has me very hooked. I wish things had developed a little more in this issue (because I am impatient!), but it sets up quite a few pieces on the chess board and moves them into some interesting places.
Minor spoiler — If Madrox is in the future now, and assuming he gets back, wouldn’t Cyclops know what Madrox had become? Why hope he was different than how Cyclops once knew him? I know time travel issues with Marvel are weird, but this seemed more confusing than normal.
The Longshot “retake” scene confused me. What exactly happpened? Is this how his power works? Must say, I am more intrigued with Longshot than ever before. However, not a fan of the almost sexist portrayal of the women acting like they can’t control themselves around him. Makes for some irony, but unless it is going somewhere, it gets old fast.
—————————
New Avengers 52 — The search for a new sorcerer supreme continues. The logic of why Dr. Strange can’t be it still seems weak, but let’s go with the flow. Not a bad issue, but it makes the mistake of telling you what happened rather than showing a decent battle. With such inconsistent rules for magic, it all just seems arbitrary. And didn’t really know or care about the cliff hanger ending.
Oh, and why exactly would you go into a mystic battle with guns? I get that the Hood doesn’t fully know his powers, etc. But come on, against Dr. Strange? If it was that easy, a gun would have killed him a long time ago.
May not be reading this much past this arc. We will see.
————————————————-
Mighty Avengers 24 — This is the best Avengers title right now. Not perfect, but definitely the best. The twist concerning the return of Wanda is perfect. What is better is it was not a one time throw away point. Slott is effectively using the character to make a significant impact on the Dark Reign cabal.
Unlike with Bendis, things seem to progress. New Avengers did little more than tread water. This issue left me wanting more.
One complaint: The characters seem a little too stereotyped. The depth PAD gave to Pietro is completely lost. His apparently false abduction claim seemed out of character. Not as bad as how Iron Man was miscast last time, but disappointing. Slott clearly gets the bigger picture of the Marvel Universe in terms of plot, but not so much the characters.
But that weakness aside, this felt like an actual Avengers book. As Pym says, they are the Earth’s protectors, not the lackeys of a particular nation, and they are acting like it (albeit in part due to the manipulations of a certain character).
Iowa Jim
I will say this about you, Jim: There are plenty of people out there who will not touch my work because they don’t like my politics. At least you’re always able to separate me from my work.
.
PAD
PAD, I’ll see Iowa Jim and raise. Not only do I think your politics are completely and utterly whacko, I actively seek out your stuff and buy it.
Hmm… maybe there’s some connection between your ability to spin fantastic tales for work, and believe such fantastic silliness in your politics…
Kidding, of course. Looking forward to “stalking”y ou at Shore Leave for the fourth year running…
J.
There are moments when it has not been easy to separate the two. But good writing is good writing. And then there is your writing, which is always excellent (even when I don’t agree).
My comics ship at the end of the month, but looking forward to getting Spider-Man 2099 Vol 1. Supposedly, it is ready and waiting.
Guardians of the Galaxy — great, fun read. Love the characters and how they’re being handled.
Fall of Cthulhu: Nemesis — I’ve been enjoying these, but this issue (maybe because it’s the start of a new arc) feels kinda disconnected from the fallout from Godwar and Apocalypse.
Iron Fist — This book has been fantastic since the first issue, and I’m really surprised. I really didn’t think I’d ever be into a “kung-fu comic”.
Incredible Hercules — this one is starting to wind down for me. Some of the characterizations feel really off… Osbourne (sp?) believes Ares is the God of War, but didn’t believe Hera or expect Ares to protest attacking her? I did like seeing Superman-lite get punked by Herc a few times, though. Also, I wasn’t really into the art this issue.
Thor — It’s been really strong, and I didn’t mind the change in artists, but this is the first issue where I didn’t like the interaction between Thor and Blake. This is the first time where their existence is outlined as though they are COMPLETELY seperate entities. That turns me off a bit. I was never a fan of the Blake persona to begin with, but my belief was that he was some aspect of Thor. This read more like they’re two completely different people who are sharing a body.
The second part of “Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader” made me cry. Such a very good issue.
Last week I finished my 100 issue collection of New Mutants, from the 80’s. I have been reading them and relishing every panel.
The problem with reading 80’s comics is that for the past two weeks every new comic I read has been painfully short and unfulfilling. Last week it was X-Factor and Uncanny, this week Savage Dragon, Invincible, and X-Men: Life and Times of Lucas Bishop. These have been some of my favorite current titles, and all have left me feeling as if a part of the story was missing. I don’t think it’s the writing or art, I think it is a matter of story density.
The New Mutants is like the “Fell Format” combined with the modern comics: dense storytelling, self-contained issues that last for 22 pages, and tie into a greater story.
That’s an interesting observation. Certainly last week I was bìŧçhìņg to Alan Coil that spreading an origin re-telling over 7 issues felt like it took way too long.. And there was a Bendis issue of New Avengers leading into Secret Invasion where most of the action was “Danny Rand’s plane crashes”… C’mon, a few years back quinjets got blasted out of the sky every few issues, taking 3-4 panels tops, then on with the story… I do think there’s a difference in pacing to modern books, quite possibly relating to the trade collections market.
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I’m not sure if 80’s comics – as opposed to some runs of some titles – were generally ‘better’ in that respect though.
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It’s honestly kind of hard for me to compare them, because I read most of them back in the 80’s, so I’m re-reading and contrasting old familiar / well-loved stories against brand new stuff, so it’s not really a like with like experience.
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I do think the purely physical improvements over 20-30 years count for a lot of todays experience though – better quality paper, computer colouring, etc, etc, so again I’d be hard pressed to isolate elements of the experience for comparison…
–
Cheers.
Compare and contrast to the more compressed storytelling of the 1960s under Weisinger and Boltinoff.
I’d compare also to the ultra-compressed style Morrison took in his more recent work, but I’m afraid folks may not have the perspective on this…
I was at ICON a few weeks ago and the Tom Brevoort the Executive Editor for Marvel Comics was on a panel about mega crossovers. He and Pak (incr herc and war machine) were talking about how these encapsilated stories made great trades and i asked about the delays in releasing books and thier impact on these crossovers and crossover sales. That when you have to hold up books to sync them with the events in the other book, you have to lose sales, He replied with “we plan the best we can but when they are done the collections make a great trade.”
I say that when the publishers can produce trades at will from the monthlies, the single issue story is dead and everything becomes a story arc that can fit into a 19.99 TP. Which is weird because 6 issues at 2.99 is 17.94
why would the trade be more then the actual comics ?
I picked up the Best of Simon and Kirby. Great art in a gorgeous format, and I haven’t read these stories before. I’m salivating just looking at the pictures.
I couldn’t get to the comic shop, but I WAS able to buy, online, the TPBs of the recent Thing and Spider-Man/Human Torch series. I can’t wait to get my hands on them.
I agree with everyone about Detective. It was really great. At the same time though, it did end up leaving me going, “huh?” at the end. Don’t get me wrong, I liked the ending…I’m just…not sure what it meant. I gotta read that recent interview Gaiman did and see what he said about it. This story is definitly going to be one to re-read.
The other books I read:
Buck Rogers #0: Well worth the 25 cents. Heck, it was worth more than 25. Very nice artwork and interesting story. A bit confusing at first (because it picks up in the middle of a story), but very interesting. I might want to check out the actual series.
Amazing Spiderman: It was an OK issue. I think the cliffhanger ruined it for me. Did they HAVE to go THERE? Not funny at all. Although, even both the cliffhanger, I wasn’t liking this issue as much as I had hoped…
Overall, Detective was great and Buck Rogers was good and Amazing fell short this week. Not even sure really if I want to read the next issue of 24/7. I’ll have to read a preview of it first…lol. *sigh*
DF
My new stuff included Buck Rogers #0, Trinity #47, Star Wars: Dark Times #13, Super Friends #14 (picked that one up because I couldn’t resist the Super Pets team-up), and most exciting of all, the Star Trek: New Frontier – Treason novel. Which is the only Star Trek novel over the last two months that Diamond didn’t cancel my order for! Congratulations to PAD on being the only Star Trek author able to get enough orders to make Diamond happy. 🙂
Super Friends #14 was from last week, but I don’t believe I have it. Hmmm.
• 
My stash is still sitting at the comic book store, so it’ll be more like Stash Thursday. I’ll get back when I get it.
Ya, I’m getting my comics on Thursday too. I plan to get Detective Comics (can’t wait), Amazing Spiderman (24/7), and Buck Rogers (its only 25 cents!).
I’ll post my impressions later tommorrow.
DF
Personally, I thought Detective was more than worth the wait. Very, very lovely.
Picked up XFactor 42 late.
SHOULD have picked up Batman: Brave and the Bold #4.
Enjoyed Trinity as usual. Like a classic 80s saga on steroids.
Interesting team-up at the beginning of “Batman — The Brave and the Bold,” moreso than the rest of the issue.
As for “Amazing Spider-Man” No. 592 — I needed to see the last story page as much as Pete did.
“Interesting team-up at the beginning of “Batman — The Brave and the Bold,” …”
To continue the tease, these 2 characters would never belong in the Batman Universe in any other Batman book.
DUBYA! (Department of Unfinished Business, Y’All)
Last time out I asked people what they thought about editors and editing:
April 17, 2009 at 6:45 am
“General question, what could/should/does a ‘good’ editor bring to a book he/she is assigned to? Input from PAD/other pros more than welcome on this one!”
–
Pencilhead was kind enough to respond on the 21st, as the post was slowly sinking into the West:
–
Pencilhead says:
April 21, 2009 at 9:00 am
“I wish I knew more of what an editor in the comic business does specifically, but I always assumed and would expect is that they’re kind of like a handler crossed with a middle-man – they make sure the scripts/art are all tight and error free, that theme and continuity is upheld in terms of itself and other related books (by co-ordinating with other editors, especially if you’re in a sub-brand like the X-books or the Ultimate line), but also play go-between for the two parties of the talent and the higher ups (editor in chief/s?).
I remember reading in a recent interview where PAD was saying he had to fight tooth and nail for a long time with his editor to do the recent Madrox baby storyline. Whether the buck stopped at his editor or then the editor in turn had to run it by whoever oversees the general X books, I dunno – but I’d imagine they often can be either a mouthpiece and a possible bane, or a personal savior.
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Whether I’m on the mark or not is a another question, but that’s pretty much what I’d want and expect from somebody in such a position. That and maybe the ability to do your research for you. :]”
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If any of you feel like picking up and running with this, I’d still be interested in seeing what you think. (For bonus points, how many of us can – without looking – name the editor(s) on our favourite books?)
–
Cheers.
More Marvel books priced 3.99, does anyone care? and what justifies a 33% increase?
Yes.
–
Rising costs? Dwindling market? (The less popular sequel to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Wombat).
–
It’s not a good thing, and it will almost inevitably drive some fans to pirate downloads. There need to be better marketing and/or delivery models for selling that shot of graphicy goodness to the waiting masses.
–
Warren Ellis’ Fell format is at least a stab at addressing that, but more needs to be done, probably using (hack, spit) digital downloads.
–
Cheers.
I think the Fell format is dead.
I think Fell is more currently comatose, languishing limp in Limbo and generally pining for the fjords than actually ‘dead’.
–
Ellis and Templesmith both reckon there will be more, but don’t say when.
–
The ideas of futzing around with self contained single issue stories, lower page count for lower price, serialised graphic novels a la Black Summer / No Hero, etc, etc, are probably still worth trying out.
–
Ellis seems to have a fair bit of business savvy going for him as well as the writing talent.
–
Cheers.
Fraction said that another Casanova story arc is coming. This was the only other book to adopt the Fell format.
It’s a shame that more books haven’t adopted it, as I love both of those books and I am sure there is a lot of potential for it.
More Marvel books priced 3.99, does anyone care? and what justifies a 33% increase?
.
Between this and the tactics now being employed by publishers with e-books, I’m about to put a lot more of my money into PC and video games and wash my hands of books & comics altogether.
I’m now cutting out all books that go higher than 2.99 as soon as their current story line completes. I’ll be down to about 6 monthly titles in a few months. It’s just not worth it anymore. With rare exception, every title is just repeating the same basic story lines with different characters and no new gotta-read-it spin.
I can get far more enjoyment out of a novel, which cost less than 2 comic books when you factor in the weekly Border’s coupon. For the about the same price. My philosophy is why spend $7+ on 20-25 minutes total reading time, when I can get 2-4 hours at the same price, and have more Maggiano’s $$ too?!
Ack! I forgot to delete that left-over fragment…
Various threads and thoughts coming together here… Rising price of comics vs density of story in comics vs copyright and downloads…
–
I recently played catch-up on Green Lantern and it was probably more enjoyable reading three years of that in a chunk than getting the issues monthly would have been.
–
Lots of books in my pull list this week, with a paperback and a couple of magazines means I just dropped slightly more in the LCS for one weeks hit than I’m paying per month for internet, cable TV and house landline phone services and that’s a silly amount to spend these days
–
I don’t like reading comics on the PC. Girl Genius and Freak Angels are about he only ones I do that for anyway, but I want the paper in my hands feeling…
–
I-Tunes and legitimate music download sites are the best response to piracy – most people will pay a ‘fair’ price for the goods if they painlessly can.
–
Conclusions; I need to change a lifetime of buying and reading habits and do more trade-waiting. I also need to do some ruthless culling of what I do read.
–
Where I believe things need to go is towards digital comics and print on demand working in unison. What does get my hopes up is this news: http://www.ondemandbooks.com/home.htm
–
That’s the Espresso Book Machine, which prints 100 PDF pages a minute for black and white text and mentions 35 pages a minute for colour. Tweak the tech and fudge the figures, that’s a 22 page comic book out of thin air per minute.
–
I want one of those suckers in my LCS pronto, and I want the option to subscribe to digital comics for $1 a shot and hardcopy them for another $1 a pop. That’s new titles and the whole Marvel and DC backlist…
–
And I’d like that rocket pack I was promised 20 years ago while we’re at it!
–
Cheers
I love reading comics on my computer. Even when I only had my 15″ LCD (compared to the 22″ widescreen I picked up over the holidays), it worked great.
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I have a near-complete run of the 90’s Guardians of the Galaxy series. It’s one of my favorites, and I enjoy taking them out to read now and then. But to pull out the long box, pull out individual issues, take them out of their cardboard & plastic, read them, then put them back away, for a +60 issue series? Ugh. 🙂
.
I’m also on the verge of getting a Kindle, as I’ve been wanting to get into e-books for several years now. But Pocket Books is making me think otherwise, due to their pricing of e-books. Either way, I’m done buying Trek books in print, and because of Pocket’s e-book pricing tactics, I may be done buying new Trek books altogether.
.
Maybe I should just get a PS3 instead. 😛
“Chacun a son goat” Or something like that 🙂
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I enjoy having a stack of old issues to go through.. it’s also easier to pass one to my wife and say “Lookee, lookee!” at the good bits. On t’other hand, my collection is boxed but not individually bagged and boarded so that probably saves me some time… On t’other other hand I am seriously running out of box room, and that’s with a wife who shares my addiction and a garage we converted into a fanbunker five years ago…
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How would you feel about being able to get a digital comic for $1 to $1.50 a pop?
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Cheers.
I’d love it. For me anymore, reading comics is about the story, not the collecting. I’ve got enough comics (and books, for that matter) and none of ’em are going to be worth anything down the road.
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At $1, $1.50, or even $2 per comic, I’d certainly be able to stretch the budget for more stuff than what I currently buy, and there’s more incentive to try new stuff at that price.
.
But I still think we’re years away from Marvel or DC taking the plunge digitally in this manner. They’re just too afraid of upsetting the LCS’s. And, let’s face it, the LCS’s will continue to go the way of the Tower Records and Sam Goody’s of the world, whether Marvel and DC start making their comics available digitally (and available immediately, not 6 months later) or not. As it is, I think publishers are ignoring potential readers by dragging their feet on this.
.
That, and I’m not sure that they’d be smart enough to set the price at a point to make it worthwhile to those who actually want comics digitally. Much like with books, digital comics should be cheaper than their paper counterparts, not equally or more expensive. To do so is simply sabotaging the market, like Pocket Books is doing with e-books.
I should add: the $1-2 are for new comics. Marvel would probably be able to sell tons of ‘copies’ of older stuff if they go even cheaper. Imagine being able to pick up every one of the first, say, 400 issues of Amazing Spider-Man for .50 each or something. Or a simple package deal of X dollars for X issues of back-issues. The possibilities are endless… if they’re willing to take the plunge.
Historically when a big company gets a whiff of profit, long-standing agreemenets with smaller companies tend to go to the wall, so I wouldn’t see either of the Big Yins losing sleep over shafting the LCS…
–
Running the POD option through fancy printers with the LCS as the distribution point at least keeps them in the frame.
–
In the States, how many LCSs are dedicated to just/mainly selling comics? The two local shops I have – Edinburgh and Glasgow – are both Forbidden Planet (aka Forboding Prices) outlets, and they each have maybe a sixth to a fifth of their wall space given over to actual comics, though that’s not necessarily indicative of how much of the monthly profit that brings in.
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Hmmm.. I need numbers. Anyone got a pointer to typical turnover numbers, costs and profits for the comic business? Publisher to distributor to LCS?
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Cheers.
Loved Detective. Which, given that I only liked the first part and that I am one of the few in fandom who doesn’t get Gaiman, is remarkable. Luckily, Gaiman gets Batman as well as anyone, and does a great job summing up the legend.
Angel was…well, it would help if I remembered what happened last issue. While Kelley Armstrong is a pretty good scripter (and from what I hear is a very good novelist), something is missing here. Still a lot better than Buffy’s been of late, though.
“uckily, Gaiman gets Batman as well as anyone…”
As does Paul Dini.
X-Factor (a week late) – If anyone lost interest in X-Factor due to art or story, you are missing out. This story has me very hooked. I wish things had developed a little more in this issue (because I am impatient!), but it sets up quite a few pieces on the chess board and moves them into some interesting places.
Minor spoiler — If Madrox is in the future now, and assuming he gets back, wouldn’t Cyclops know what Madrox had become? Why hope he was different than how Cyclops once knew him? I know time travel issues with Marvel are weird, but this seemed more confusing than normal.
The Longshot “retake” scene confused me. What exactly happpened? Is this how his power works? Must say, I am more intrigued with Longshot than ever before. However, not a fan of the almost sexist portrayal of the women acting like they can’t control themselves around him. Makes for some irony, but unless it is going somewhere, it gets old fast.
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New Avengers 52 — The search for a new sorcerer supreme continues. The logic of why Dr. Strange can’t be it still seems weak, but let’s go with the flow. Not a bad issue, but it makes the mistake of telling you what happened rather than showing a decent battle. With such inconsistent rules for magic, it all just seems arbitrary. And didn’t really know or care about the cliff hanger ending.
Oh, and why exactly would you go into a mystic battle with guns? I get that the Hood doesn’t fully know his powers, etc. But come on, against Dr. Strange? If it was that easy, a gun would have killed him a long time ago.
May not be reading this much past this arc. We will see.
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Mighty Avengers 24 — This is the best Avengers title right now. Not perfect, but definitely the best. The twist concerning the return of Wanda is perfect. What is better is it was not a one time throw away point. Slott is effectively using the character to make a significant impact on the Dark Reign cabal.
Unlike with Bendis, things seem to progress. New Avengers did little more than tread water. This issue left me wanting more.
One complaint: The characters seem a little too stereotyped. The depth PAD gave to Pietro is completely lost. His apparently false abduction claim seemed out of character. Not as bad as how Iron Man was miscast last time, but disappointing. Slott clearly gets the bigger picture of the Marvel Universe in terms of plot, but not so much the characters.
But that weakness aside, this felt like an actual Avengers book. As Pym says, they are the Earth’s protectors, not the lackeys of a particular nation, and they are acting like it (albeit in part due to the manipulations of a certain character).
Iowa Jim
I will say this about you, Jim: There are plenty of people out there who will not touch my work because they don’t like my politics. At least you’re always able to separate me from my work.
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PAD
PAD, I’ll see Iowa Jim and raise. Not only do I think your politics are completely and utterly whacko, I actively seek out your stuff and buy it.
Hmm… maybe there’s some connection between your ability to spin fantastic tales for work, and believe such fantastic silliness in your politics…
Kidding, of course. Looking forward to “stalking”y ou at Shore Leave for the fourth year running…
J.
There are moments when it has not been easy to separate the two. But good writing is good writing. And then there is your writing, which is always excellent (even when I don’t agree).
My comics ship at the end of the month, but looking forward to getting Spider-Man 2099 Vol 1. Supposedly, it is ready and waiting.
Guardians of the Galaxy — great, fun read. Love the characters and how they’re being handled.
Fall of Cthulhu: Nemesis — I’ve been enjoying these, but this issue (maybe because it’s the start of a new arc) feels kinda disconnected from the fallout from Godwar and Apocalypse.
Iron Fist — This book has been fantastic since the first issue, and I’m really surprised. I really didn’t think I’d ever be into a “kung-fu comic”.
Incredible Hercules — this one is starting to wind down for me. Some of the characterizations feel really off… Osbourne (sp?) believes Ares is the God of War, but didn’t believe Hera or expect Ares to protest attacking her? I did like seeing Superman-lite get punked by Herc a few times, though. Also, I wasn’t really into the art this issue.
Thor — It’s been really strong, and I didn’t mind the change in artists, but this is the first issue where I didn’t like the interaction between Thor and Blake. This is the first time where their existence is outlined as though they are COMPLETELY seperate entities. That turns me off a bit. I was never a fan of the Blake persona to begin with, but my belief was that he was some aspect of Thor. This read more like they’re two completely different people who are sharing a body.
The second part of “Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader” made me cry. Such a very good issue.
Last week I finished my 100 issue collection of New Mutants, from the 80’s. I have been reading them and relishing every panel.
The problem with reading 80’s comics is that for the past two weeks every new comic I read has been painfully short and unfulfilling. Last week it was X-Factor and Uncanny, this week Savage Dragon, Invincible, and X-Men: Life and Times of Lucas Bishop. These have been some of my favorite current titles, and all have left me feeling as if a part of the story was missing. I don’t think it’s the writing or art, I think it is a matter of story density.
The New Mutants is like the “Fell Format” combined with the modern comics: dense storytelling, self-contained issues that last for 22 pages, and tie into a greater story.
That’s an interesting observation. Certainly last week I was bìŧçhìņg to Alan Coil that spreading an origin re-telling over 7 issues felt like it took way too long.. And there was a Bendis issue of New Avengers leading into Secret Invasion where most of the action was “Danny Rand’s plane crashes”… C’mon, a few years back quinjets got blasted out of the sky every few issues, taking 3-4 panels tops, then on with the story… I do think there’s a difference in pacing to modern books, quite possibly relating to the trade collections market.
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I’m not sure if 80’s comics – as opposed to some runs of some titles – were generally ‘better’ in that respect though.
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It’s honestly kind of hard for me to compare them, because I read most of them back in the 80’s, so I’m re-reading and contrasting old familiar / well-loved stories against brand new stuff, so it’s not really a like with like experience.
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I do think the purely physical improvements over 20-30 years count for a lot of todays experience though – better quality paper, computer colouring, etc, etc, so again I’d be hard pressed to isolate elements of the experience for comparison…
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Cheers.
Compare and contrast to the more compressed storytelling of the 1960s under Weisinger and Boltinoff.
I’d compare also to the ultra-compressed style Morrison took in his more recent work, but I’m afraid folks may not have the perspective on this…
I was at ICON a few weeks ago and the Tom Brevoort the Executive Editor for Marvel Comics was on a panel about mega crossovers. He and Pak (incr herc and war machine) were talking about how these encapsilated stories made great trades and i asked about the delays in releasing books and thier impact on these crossovers and crossover sales. That when you have to hold up books to sync them with the events in the other book, you have to lose sales, He replied with “we plan the best we can but when they are done the collections make a great trade.”
I say that when the publishers can produce trades at will from the monthlies, the single issue story is dead and everything becomes a story arc that can fit into a 19.99 TP. Which is weird because 6 issues at 2.99 is 17.94
why would the trade be more then the actual comics ?
I picked up the Best of Simon and Kirby. Great art in a gorgeous format, and I haven’t read these stories before. I’m salivating just looking at the pictures.
I couldn’t get to the comic shop, but I WAS able to buy, online, the TPBs of the recent Thing and Spider-Man/Human Torch series. I can’t wait to get my hands on them.
I agree with everyone about Detective. It was really great. At the same time though, it did end up leaving me going, “huh?” at the end. Don’t get me wrong, I liked the ending…I’m just…not sure what it meant. I gotta read that recent interview Gaiman did and see what he said about it. This story is definitly going to be one to re-read.
The other books I read:
Buck Rogers #0: Well worth the 25 cents. Heck, it was worth more than 25. Very nice artwork and interesting story. A bit confusing at first (because it picks up in the middle of a story), but very interesting. I might want to check out the actual series.
Amazing Spiderman: It was an OK issue. I think the cliffhanger ruined it for me. Did they HAVE to go THERE? Not funny at all. Although, even both the cliffhanger, I wasn’t liking this issue as much as I had hoped…
Overall, Detective was great and Buck Rogers was good and Amazing fell short this week. Not even sure really if I want to read the next issue of 24/7. I’ll have to read a preview of it first…lol. *sigh*
DF
My new stuff included Buck Rogers #0, Trinity #47, Star Wars: Dark Times #13, Super Friends #14 (picked that one up because I couldn’t resist the Super Pets team-up), and most exciting of all, the Star Trek: New Frontier – Treason novel. Which is the only Star Trek novel over the last two months that Diamond didn’t cancel my order for! Congratulations to PAD on being the only Star Trek author able to get enough orders to make Diamond happy. 🙂
Super Friends #14 was from last week, but I don’t believe I have it. Hmmm.