Category: 1

The Price is Wrong

Posted By: Peter DavidPosted On:

I’m receiving a number of queries as to my reaction to DC’s announcing of certain titles going up in price, including my two. And implicit in the question, sometimes spoken and sometimes not, is whether I’m going to offer to write those titles for close-to-free as I did with Marvel.

The answer is, no, of course not. The two situations are not analagous.

Look, I’m not stupid. Price increases are a part of the comics business. I used to sell the things for a living, remember. But there are significant differences between the two situations. First, the DC increase covers a larger group of titles, so I’m not feeling quite so singled out. Second, DC didn’t make the announcement by saying in effect, that they were raising the prices of three titles specifically to help them limp along for another year. Instead I perceive this as simply the first stage of what will likely be across-the-board price increases for the entirety of the line. I don’t have inside info on that; it’s just a guess. Third, I’ve made no bones about the fact that making the offer to Marvel was a means of getting “Captain Marvel” noticed. And it worked. And fourth, DC higher-ups simply don’t employ the same kind of over-the-top publicity tactics that Marvel does. By openly challenging Marvel, I was using the same PR-milking tools that current Marvel management uses. Sauce for the goose, as it were. There’s no point in going publicly nuclear on Paul Levitz because it’s an inconsistent reaction to his public demeanor; it’d be tantamount to kicking Johnny Carson in the nuts. As opposed to going mano a mano with Marvel management which is kind of like engaging in a steel cage match with Dennis Miller and Bill Maher.

“Proportionate response” is the watchphrase, young PADawans. In the cases of both YJ and Supergirl, I have major storylines coming up that ideally will overcome any hesitancy generated by the price increase.

However, I think we’re going to have to face facts: The 22 page pamphlet-style of comics is a terminal format. Who the hëll would want to pay $3 for a 22 page comic? It’s insane. Sooner or later, I think companies are going to have to bite the bullet and collapse several titles together into $3.50 perfect bound titles on slicker paper with stiff covers, 32 or 48 pages, and *that* will be the regular format. Just my opinion, I could be wrong.

PAD

Lafayatte, I am here

Posted By: Peter DavidPosted On:

Bet you were wondering where I was. Or maybe you weren’t, which would probably be better.

I’ve been on the road for the last week: First to a Star Trek convention in Bellari, Italy (about 90 minutes out of Bologna), followed by several store appearances in Paris. Nowadays traveling with a computer is just too much hassle (from an airport check-in point of view) to warrant bringing one, and I never stumbled over an internet cafe to get on line. Curiously, the internet seemed to survive without me for a while.

This was the one year anniversary of our wedding, and considering that Kath and I brought the kids along on the original honeymoon, it seemed that after a year we were entitled to one just for ourselves. So when an all-expense paid trip to Europe presented itself, we couldn’t turn it down.

Julie Caitlin Brown of NaToth fame put the gig together. Greatest convention appearance agent ever. If anyone reading this is connected to an SF series and wants to start hitting conventions, and wants to have Julie handle it, e-mail me and I’ll put you folks together.

I’ll be doing a detailed write-up in “But I Digress,” but for me the absolute high-point of the trip to Italy was getting to meet Leonard Nimoy. I still have just enough of the fanboy in me to be completely thrilled by the notion itself…but get this. *He* wanted to meet *me.* Apparently John deLancie had mentioned me back when they were working on “Alien Voices.” I dunno, maybe he just wanted to check and see if I was as horrific as all that. At any rate, I actually got to hang for a couple of minutes with Mr. Spock.

I’ve just read the previous graf over three times and keep thinking I should delete it since it makes me sound like nothing but the grown-up fanboy I am. But…nah.

My parents took me to Paris when I was ten years old. Back then the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, the Arch of Triumph…all those places looked huge. Of course, now I’m an adult, so they appeared much smaller. Okay, not really.

I had the opportunity to haul out my high school French, and actually was able to make myself understood, and comprehend what people said back to me. What was truly shattering for my entire belief system was that we didn’t run into a single rude Parisian. Everyone was helpeful, polite, and seemed genuinely pleased that I was at least making the effort to speak French. The only people who were rude and pushy were tourists from Germany and America. Go figure.

PAD

In the Buffy

Posted By: Peter DavidPosted On:

This entry might be problematic for our foreign readers, but nevertheless, I’m going to say a few spoiler things about the season ender of Buffy. I’ll add a few lines to try and allow spoiler space.

First, Giles’ entrance was the best entrance on TV since President Bartlett first showed up in the last five minutes of the “West Wing” pilot declaring “You shall have no other God before me,” and it was certainly the best entrance in the history of this series. Never has one series suffered so greatly from the absence of one character as this one has from the loss of Giles. As much as I feel for Tony Head’s desire to be with his family, I selfishly find myself hoping he’ll be more of a fixture next year because boy, did they need him.

Second, I wouldn’t say that the finale salvaged the season, but it was as if they were openly acknowledging all the problems with it. They seem to be saying that it was dramatically necessary. Perhaps. Didn’t make it any less sucky viewing.

And third, I’ll tell you, on paper the manner in which Willow was “saved” was just so…uchhhh. But hats off to the actors, who threw themselves into it with such sincerity, such fearlessness, that it was *the* standout moment of the season, and possibly the last few years. I was actually tearing up.

And speaking of West Wing…why does someone have to be in threat of dying or actually dead at the end of each season? What is up with that?

PAD

Marvel tales

Posted By: Peter DavidPosted On:

A suggestion from Dave Phelps:

“Might be fodder for that NotePAD thing on your website…

“Are you going to be doing anything special for the coming
cancellation/restart of Captain Marvel (like a major direction change ala
Supergirl)? Or is it pretty much going to be “business as usual” story wise
with maybe a little more “jumping on”ish material in the new #1?

“I’ll be buying either way, but I was a little curious.”

I don’t know if I’d say the series will undergo a “major change in direction,” because that implies that everything that’s gone before gets thrown out. I resist taking such measures, because to me that makes the “seams” show too much. If you jerk a character around too much, it becomes obvious that we’re dealing with–well–a jerked around character, and that destroys the willing suspension of disbelief. What I’m doing with the new #1 is embarking on a storyline that is a logical extension of what’s gone before, but also is ideally shocking and startling in its conception and execution.

I wanted the story to focus more on Captain Marvel without losing the influence of Rick Jones. So what I opted to do was have the story told largely through first person narration from Rick’s POV, but have it be almost entirely about Marv. And what it charts, quite simply, is Captain Marvel’s abrupt and horrifying descent into total madness.

To a certain degree, I was inspired by–of all things–a Jim Shooter Marvel/DC crossover story from many years ago, in which Superman came face to face with Doc Doom, and Doom says, “Nothing happens on this planet that you and I do not allow to happen.” And Superman doesn’t dispute the claim. And I thought, What if we jacked up that concept to a cosmic level. Have Captain Marvel come to the realization that he can’t be everywhere…and the cosmic awareness of that literally becomes too much for him. Peter Parker to the Nth degree, knowing with great power comes great responsibility, but in this case not unwilling to use the power but instead physically unable to do so, and incapable of dealing with his limitations. What happens then?

In Captain Marvel #1, on sale in September, you’ll see. In the meantime, the current storyline is laying groundwork for important developments later on. In the current issue, hitting the stands today, I literally went for the old style Marvel “shock follows shock” idea of storytelling. The issue starts off with a simple, goofy, fan-oriented gag and some light banter, just so people get to think that it’s business as usual…and then around page six or seven, I knock the wheels off the expectations wagon and just go from there.

At the base of all the hoopla and chest thumping which has gone on in recent weeks (be sure to check out the David 3:16 link elsewhere on this web page) is a comic book that the current issue of Comics International calls a “masterpiece still undiscovered by the masses.” So go discover already.

PAD

Angel cakes

Posted By: Peter DavidPosted On:

In deference to our foreign fans visiting the website, I won’t go into any sort of spoiler detail about the season wrap-up of “Angel” (although I *will* mention, because it’s non-specific, that a cliffhanger of that type is somewhat unprecedented in the show’s history. Until now, the series had always abided by the “Buffy” formula of ending clean. This one ends nasty and ragged. But then, that’s more like life when you get down to it.

What I’ve found interesting is the initial very negative fan reactions I’ve been seeing. I thought it was a pretty good episode, actually, in that it was a logical progression from all that’s gone before. That’s been both the strength and weakness of this season. All that has occurred has gone in a very logical, reasonable manner. Unfortunately, because of that, it’s also been remarkably predictable. The only beat of the Conner storyline I missed was my belief that the time-hopping demon Sahjahn *was* Conner. Other than that, it was pretty much obvious.

TV series always tread a fine line between giving viewers what they want (which invariably then palls on them and they move off) and giving them what they don’t want (which can enrage them but also keep them). “Angel” has tried to embrace the latter while showing a derth of imagination and therefore stumbling into the former. Not its most successful season…and that comes from someone who actually *liked* the three episodes in the other dimension last year.

“Buffy” likewise has been beat-by-beat for anyone who ever read the “Dark Phoenix” stories. In fact, that was signaled from the very first episode. Remember when Willow stood there in the center of the graveyard and telepathically guided all the Scoobies in their slaying? It was remarked back then that they’d turned her into Jean Gray. If they follow Claremont’s original model for the storyline (as opposed to the Shooter-mandated “She must die” ending) then eventually we’ll have Dark Willow going completely nova only to be captured, restrained, and (perhaps voluntarily) undergoing a sort of psychic surgery that will remove her abilities completely forever. We’ll see.

PAD

Phoenix Rising

Posted By: Peter DavidPosted On:

Been off line a few days while I attended Leprecon out in Phoenix, AZ. It’s the first straight-up SF convention I’ve attended in a reaaaal long time. One of the things I’m endeavoring to do is get people to realize that I do things other than comics and Star Trek novels, and I figured that getting out to a regional SF convention would be a way of spreading the word.

I don’t know that I succeeded all that much. The convention had about 500 people, and folks were very nice. In that respect, I had a good time. But a Jeopardy-style trivia competition on Friday had five questions about me, out of which the assembled group of thirty could only answer one. And my big GOH speech drew an audience of about a dozen, which put a sort of “Don’t know who he is and don’t really care” pall upon it. More frustrating for the committee folk was that fliers put out at comic stores prompted lots of comics fans to say, “Oooo! Peter David! I’ll be there!” and then exactly none of them showed up. So although the convention itself was a lot of fun and I’d recommend it to folks who want a nice, relaxed SF con, from a career profile POV it didn’t pan out.

One of the high points was a midnight demonstration of latex body painting upon a gorgeous, blonde and pretty much naked model. The hotel room in which the demo was being done was packed. Big surprise. There were large plastic sheets taped up on the walls, and fans inquired as to the reason for the walls being covered in that manner. I opined that they were allowing for the possibility that–for many of the fanboys in the room–it was the first time they’d actually seen a naked woman and there was concern their heads might explode and splatter the walls. You know, kind of like “Scanners.”

I’m not sure if my pictures of the event came out. I’ll let you know. But if they did, some of you may want to put some plastic covering over your computer. You know who you are.

PAD