Comics A.M. | DC Comics sticking with hardcover-first policy
DC Comics
Publishing | Bob Wayne, DC Comics' senior vice president of sales, and John Cunningham, vice president of marketing, discuss May sales figures, which show the publisher edging closer to Marvel in market share and Batman topping Justice League. Wayne also explained why DC won't change its practice of publishing collected editions first in hardcover, then as inexpensive paperbacks: 'While certain titles do get a deluxe or an Absolute Edition at some point, we think our retailer would be leaving a lot of money on the table if we didn't give consumers the chance to buy hardcovers first on select titles. The sales we are having in both channels on Batman and Justice League in the month of May indicate that we don't have that many people waiting the trade, looking for that cheaper edition. A lot of people seem to want a nice durable hardcover and we plan to follow this model for the foreseeable future.' [ICv2]
Piracy | Manga scanlators (and proprietors of other bootleg comics sites, such as HTMLComics.com) have argued that reading manga on their sites is no different from checking it out of the library. Librarian and graphic novel expert Robin Brenner explains why that just isn't so. [About.com]
Sword of Sorcery #0
Comics | If DC Comics is keeping the New 52 at 52, as Co-Publisher Dan DiDio has said, and there are four new #0 comics coming out in September, which four of the current 52 will be coming off to make room for them? Todd Allen runs the numbers and adds some educated guesswork to come up with one possible list, and the readers take over in comments. [The Beat]
Retailing | The recent uptick in comics sales has several California retailers feeling optimistic. [Ventura County Star]
Creators | Chris Schweizer talks about making comics (most recently, Crogan's Loyalty) and also about teaching comics at SCAD in a lengthy interview with Tom Spurgeon. [The Comics Reporter]
Creators | J.L. Bell points out Ray Bradbury's classy response when EC Comics lifted two of his stories and combined them into a comic; he sent them a bill and invited them to do it again. [Oz and Ends]
Secret Invasion #1
Comics | David Brothers discusses the way Geoff Johns sets up a threat that makes the reader really fear for the characters ' and how Brian Michael Bendis misses the mark. [4thletter!]
Comics | Ryan Holmberg juxtaposes cartoons from the 1920s-1930s Japanese magazine Shin Seinen, which was sort of a Japanese version of The New Yorker, with later works by alternative manga creator Shigeru Sugiura, showing his influences but in the process showing some interesting cartoons by American creators including Milt Gross and Dr. Seuss. (Warning: Some racist imagery.) [The Comics Journal]
Comics | Jonathan H. Liu pens offers an introduction to Will Eisner's Contract with God trilogy. [GeekDad]
Humor | What sort of freelance job will the main character of BOOM! Studios recently teased Freelancer actually have? The image holds some clues ' [Stumptown Trade Review]
Conventions | Attendance at the second Niagara Falls Comic Con reached about 5,000, making it likely that there will be a third. ''We crushed it,' said a satisfied co-organizer Paul Tappay, who spent a year planning the show with business partner Chris Dabrowski. 'We're an organizing mullet ' he's the business end and I'm the party end.'' [Welland Tribune]
Conventions | Meanwhile, Stan Lee was his usual affable self at the Albuquerque Comic Expo. [KOB.com]
- June 11, 2012 @ 06:55 AM by Brigid Alverson and JK Parkin
- Tagged: Batman, Bob Wayne, Brian Michael Bendis, Chris Schweizer, comic conventions, comic retailers, comics a.m., Dan Didio, DC Comics, digital piracy, direct market, Dr. Seuss, EC Comics, Geoff Johns, graphic novels, John Cunningham, justice league, libraries, manga, Milt Gross, New 52, Patrick McDonnell, piracy, Ray Bradbury, Will Eisner
5 Comments
I'm sorry, but that's nonsense. DC can't be putting that much faith in the Hardcover when only a handful of the New52 series are coming out in hardcover format. DC also need to take a look at how LONG it takes them to collect material. These first trades and hardcovers for the New52 aren't coming out until they're about four months behind the current issue in publication. Wouldn't it make more sense to put out a collection in time with the next issue after the last one in the collection?
Sure. Use the top two franchises in your stable as an indicator that hardcovers are what consumers want. It also doesn't help that the hardcover is the only collected offering currently on stands. That ignores a lot of other things such as the length of time it takes for stories to be collected and then the additional length of time it takes to be collected in other formats.
The number of Marvel hardcovers bought on remainder for pennies that end up clogging half price bins at comic conventions would seem to contradict the idea that superhero fans want everything in hardcover.
Marvel readers are not DC readers. DC has been doing hardcover for so long that their readers do want them.
Oh, Wayne'you silly little man.
'deluxe or an Absolute Edition at some point.' By that you mean a Grant Morrison or Geoff Johns deluxe book.
I remember when it was (if) the softcover sold well, it got a hardcover. And of the hardcover sold well, a deluxe and absolute edition.
'The sales we are having in both channels on Batman and Justice League in the month of May indicate that we don't have that many people waiting the trade, looking for that cheaper edition. A lot of people seem to want a nice durable hardcover and we plan to follow this model for the foreseeable future.'
That's some horseshit. Just as C Biro stated: Use the top two franchises in your stable as an indicator that hardcovers are what consumers want.
This is way I stopped getting any trades from certain storylnes.
0 comments:
Post a Comment