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| An Article on Comics; from Entertainment weekly. | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Oct 29 2005, 05:47 PM (1,711 Views) | |
| The Swigg Lebowski | Oct 29 2005, 05:47 PM Post #1 |
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Current Two Time DWB Champion
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So in this weeks EW there is an article about how the world of comics is on the decline. They interview people from Marvel and Dark Horse, etc. In a HUGE twist of Irony, the article seems to give off the idea that comics aren't selling as well because kids don't know where to get them. They also say that Marvel is using tactics like "Hiring celebrity writers" to dry and draw in new audiences, as well as going for younger audiences. Here's what I have to say: The reason comics are in decline is because every damn story seems written to fit into a TPB. So what's the point of buying them off the newsstands, when you can get the fucker in a set at Barnes & Noble in four months? Any other opinions? |
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| The S.S. Nintendo | Oct 30 2005, 08:20 AM Post #2 |
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dWb Superstar
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What's a "TPB"? |
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S.S.Nintendo's DVD Collection S.S.Nintendo's Game Collection
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| The Last Free Voice | Nov 10 2005, 01:33 PM Post #3 |
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I'm not around much anymore...
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Trade Paperback. I agree, that may be the problem. I can't comment too much, because 90% of my collection is in trades. They're easier to keep track of and read in one sitting. That's just me, though. |
| yeah, i'm alive. | |
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| Erick Von Erich | Nov 10 2005, 03:15 PM Post #4 |
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I'm Big E and I tell it like it is
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TPBs are part of the problem. You're correct that most stories are written for an eventual TPB. They scrape the barrel with crap like The Writer on Green Arrow's "Straight Shooter" arc, presented as "part 3 of 6", etc. This is the unfortunate legacy of the Spidey-Kraven crossover from 1987. Kraven vs. Spidey had been done a million times...but take a simple story, slow it down, stretch it out and they hit a home run. Nowadays writers miss the point and impact of the Kraven-Spidey pacing and think they can emulate it by dragging out their shitty stories about Flash vs. Capt. Boomerang. A story of no real consequence that could have been done in one issue is now a “six-part epic that will re-define the hero and his place in the universe”. Instead of coming up with 10-12 villains/plots for each calendar year, a writer only needs to come up with 1 or 2. I absolutely HATE trades, because they’re essentially reprints. When I was a wee lad, my big brother beat the shit out of me because I bought an issue of “Marvel Super Action” and told him it was a legitimate issue of “Avengers”. I learned then that reprints are worthless....and painful. Another factor contributting to the lack of current issue sales is that most books are under-ordered. Retailers order such a miniscule amount of each new issue that if you miss ONE, you’re up a creek. The store I go to routinely sells out of banal crap like Firestorm or Robin. Those titles aren’t sales giants by any means, but it’s impossible to find the most recent back issues. It’s been this way since about 1997, and it’s a repercussion from the over-ordering/speculation of the early 90’s. So the current reader misses out on the story nad has to wait for the shitty TPB. Example of this: in the mid 80’s, I jumped onto “Secret Wars” with #4. The next time I went to the store, I picked up issues 1-3. I missed about six months of GI Joe in 1983...same thing: I could easily walk over to the back issue bin of the SAME STORE where I bought the “new” issue and I was up to date. Compare that to last week. I missed Sentry #1. So I picked up #2 off the rack and thought I’d simply find #1 somewhere in the store. Same thing for the new DC “Justice” series. Nope. The store owner told me I’d have to special order them. I figured it was just an effect of the Shitty Store Syndrome. So I dropped by some other stores during my travels. Same situation. I’d have better luck finding Action Comics #1 than I would Sentry #1. So now my only options are to scour eBay and pay 5 bucks shipping, or wait eight months until someone offers the entire series. Or wait for the TPB..... Extremely frustrating because I was able to complete my collection more thoroughly on a paper route budget in 1983 than I am with a professional budget in 2005. Pisses me off because I LIKE following a story from month to month. To me, it's the difference between following your NFL team for 16-26 weeks, as opposed to waiting for the highlight video to come out in March. Second point-- I don’t accuse Marvel of hiring “celebrity writers”. The Stephen King deal is one thing...but it’s not like they’re hiring some shmuck lke George Lopez or Snoop Dogg to write comics. King’s always had a connection to comics, so to me it doesn’t seem like grandstanding. Aside from King, WHO is their “celebrity writer”? The guy who does “Young Avengers” worked on Buffy or some shit.. but that’s just a nerd jumping fences, not changing careers. He’s not a “celebrity”, either. |
| DWS Apparel Store- Buy. Consume. Obey. | |
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| SamoaRowe | Nov 10 2005, 03:49 PM Post #5 |
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dWb Superstar
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I don't buy new comic books as much as I used to. I used to read the X-Men titles religiously, and I'd frequently get Avengers, Green Lantern, some Spider-Man, and Spawn. I fell out of X-Men because back in the day before I had a drivers license and had to rely on parents for transportation, the super market we went to stopped selling comics and the local drug store that had them closed down. I missed a bunch of crap and by the time I had the license and could get to places like Borders, everything had changed on me. I tried getting back into Uncanny X-Men a few years ago, but they were doing some really shitty things at the time. Lately I've been picking up Uncanny X-Men again, since I noticed that Chris Claremont was back as writer and Chris Bachalo was doing the art again. Those two combined makes me very happy. |
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| The Swigg Lebowski | Nov 10 2005, 05:10 PM Post #6 |
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Current Two Time DWB Champion
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I think that Grocery stores and Drug Stores not selling comics does play a HUGE part as well. I read the entire "Knightfall/Knight's Quest" whatever storyline at my local grocery store as a kid. And the celebrity writers, I don't think it's Steven King level that's the problem. It's the Joss Whedon/JMS, etc. They get free reign to fuck everything up. Which leads to the problem that Rowe had. Too many changes within a year, without lead up or explanation. Like the shit with Gambit & Rogue losing their powers. When did that happen? How? Why? Also, there are WAY too many characters in the books. You can get lost way too easily. They're adding characters to freshen up the books, and that just doesn't work as well as some would think |
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| SamoaRowe | Nov 10 2005, 06:21 PM Post #7 |
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dWb Superstar
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That, and I used to read Generation X up until about issue #40. I no longer could buy it at the store, so I was subscribing to it, and I think my entire subscription only covered one really shitty storyline involving them messing around with an M/Emplate crossbreed name (get ready for this) M-Plate. I was wondering what happened to a bunch of the characters in that series because I happened to really like a lot of them. I noticed Chamber joined the X-Men for a while, and I thought I heard something that they hooked Husk (aka, Page Guthrie, the younger sister of Cannonball), with Angel. The few issues of Uncanny X-Men that I have now involve the Braddocks, another version of the Jean Grey character, and a female version of Nightcrawler. That, and Juggernault has joined the X-Men. I can't even begin to say how stupid it is that Juggernault became a good guy. |
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| D.A.V.E. | Nov 10 2005, 06:50 PM Post #8 |
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If I Told You That, You'd Be As Clever As Me
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I can't really get invloved either, because most of my collection is TPB aswell |
Now Go Read My Blog
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| The Last Free Voice | Nov 10 2005, 07:16 PM Post #9 |
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I'm not around much anymore...
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Yea. Go us! Really though, one other reason I buy trades is because I'm not able to consistantly get to comic shops, so I can't buy each issue every month/two weeks etc. It's a lot easier for me to just wait for the trade. |
| yeah, i'm alive. | |
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| Erick Von Erich | Nov 10 2005, 11:32 PM Post #10 |
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I'm Big E and I tell it like it is
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I've been checking around and noticed that some grocery stores still sell comics. Out here, King Soopers sells 'em. They're part of the nationwide Kroger chain...so the name may be different in your neck of the woods. But, the comics they're selling are the weird "Marvel Heroes" reprint titles. They take a few X-men issues or a few Avengers issues and shove 'em into a flip book. They have maybe 6 different titles, tops. Not much of a selection at all. This change has only happened in the last few months. If I had a few bucks leftover in my grocery run, I'd pick up "Amazing Spider-Man" or "Uncanny X-men". Now I don't pick up anything. Honestly, I had never head of J. Michael Stracyznski before he came to Marvel. Same for Joss Whedon. When Greg Rucka came over to Batman in 1999, I heard he had written crime novels, but damned if I had ever seen 'em in any bookstore. I don't buy any of these nerds as "celebrities". King is a dorky celebrity and an accomplished writer....Rucka is a femmy dweeb who worships NYPD Blue. Since about July 99, I've made it a weekly activity to bike down to the comic shop every Saturday. Unless it's snowing or raining, I'm out there every weekend, doing 8-15 miles. Whether or not this has tied me into maintaining the hobby is a good question. If I didn't have the comic shop, I probably wouldn't be biking...and if I didn't have my bike, I probably would not be going to the comic shop. My sugestion, then (and I don't know if this is practical) is to ditch the TPBs and maintain the last 6 months of a title on the rack. That would probably screw over Diamond's business model, though. So here's my serious question for ya: if you could buy the last 6 issues of JLA or the TPB with the same exact story in it, at the same price, which would you prefer? |
| DWS Apparel Store- Buy. Consume. Obey. | |
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| Mad Dog | Nov 11 2005, 05:51 AM Post #11 |
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ho ho who the hell are you?
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DC is by far the worst offender of the writing arcs specifically for TPBs. I gave up on buying JLA and Teen Titans because you can just wait for a couple of extra months and save a few bucks. I've stopped collecting but it has a lot of outside factors. The store I was a big customer at changed management about 4 years ago. Before that I was a good friend with the old manager and I was their 3rd best customer. They would actually put $200 issues into my pull box if I showed interest in it. The new guys are ok but they've redone the store and it's a disorganized mess now. There's barely any room for walking and that's a big mistake with comic book fans. Also being mostly a Spider-Man and X-Men fan the last decade hasn't really thrilled me storyline wise. I don't care what anyone says, Morrison's run completely sucked after the first couple of arcs. I've liked Whedon's run for the most part but he does have too much freedom. Spider-Man has been awful since his parents showed up in the 350s and only saw a brief rebirth with Jenkins at the helm. My secondary books like the Avengers was a quality book but the more recent stuff has made bandwagon jumpers buy up everything. Batman has been underwhelming since probably when Jason became the second Robin. |
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| The Swigg Lebowski | Nov 11 2005, 09:28 PM Post #12 |
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Current Two Time DWB Champion
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I think Batman picked up with No Man's Land, and especially with the War Games arc. Making Black Mask a major character is just the refreshment the books needed. Ironically, I read the "X-Men: The End" TPB, and I think it's a great story, but I would be much happier with it being part of the current direciton of the X-Men instead of the End in the distant future. It actually gives the story behind Gambit & Mr. Sinister's connection, and it makes Gambit a dramatically more interesting character. But again, this is the end of the X-Men so he's just gonna be boring as shit in the regular books. Also, I would like to add that I think the Ultimate line has also helped to scare away new customers, as they can't figure out the continuity or the differences between universes. Especially when Marvel puts Ultimate X-Men on all their merchandise instead of the regular universe |
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| SamoaRowe | Nov 11 2005, 09:57 PM Post #13 |
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dWb Superstar
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Yeah, I was a bit scared when I tried to get back into things in 2001. When I had left off, there was Uncanny X-Men, X-Men, and X-Men Unlimited. When I came back, there was Uncanny X-Men, X-Men, New X-Men, Astonishing X-Men, Ultimate X-Men, and no longer seemed to be any signs of X-Factor or X-Force. If I were in charge of Marvel, I would've just left it at Uncanny X-Men and X-Men. That should have been enough. |
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| The Swigg Lebowski | Nov 11 2005, 10:00 PM Post #14 |
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Current Two Time DWB Champion
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If not, kill some people. FOR GOOD |
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| SamoaRowe | Nov 11 2005, 10:06 PM Post #15 |
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dWb Superstar
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Yeah, and stop having every great X-Men villain turn to the good side, even if it is just for a while. Having Juggernault as a part of the group just doesn't sit with me, similar to how Mystique was a member of X-Factor. |
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