Wednesday, 29 February 2012
Monday, 27 February 2012
Sunday, 19 February 2012
Playing in the Minors
It seems like there is a big push going on for independent comics and publishers right now.
According to an article I saw a week or so ago, the big two (DC & Marvel) make up something like 70% of the comic book market.
I know I've found myself getting into the books put out by the smaller publishers, if only recently. I've been preoccupied with the New 52 to really notice anything else on my radar. But that has changed now that some of the DC story lines have established themselves, not in a great way either. I'll just say that the only reason I'm still buying Batgirl if for the Adam Hughes cover art.
When it comes to the small fries, I'm giving some lesser knowns a chance. I really want them to do good.
Here's a sample of what I've picked up this last week:
The Ninjettes (loved it)
King of the Jungle (WOW)
Vampirella vs Dracula (Inspired from an Alan Moore story, has potential)
Thief of Thieves (haven't read it yet)
I'll admit that I hadn't been collecting books, or even paid attention to them in a long while. After reorganising my books to accommodate the influx of the New 52 I noticed that I have quite a few books that weren't Big Two releases. I found books from Lightening, Gearbox, Oni, Harris, Avatar and a slew of others.
Seeing as I hate the corporate scene that keeps new talent from emerging by sticking with the tried and true artists and writers, I'm glad that I seem to have always supported smaller guys.
My questions to you are...
What books are you following?
Who is putting them out?
Are you reading web comics?
Which ones?
Are you donating to them?
And please please please give me an answer in the comments area. It's a chance for you to give respect to the ones working harder for you than we give them credit for. You might just turn someone on to a real gem.
Here's a screen capture I got from the web comic Twilight Monk by Trent Kaniuga
I haven't started reading it yet, but once I'm caught up on my other books I'll dive right in.
So keep it up little leaguers, it will be your time soon. Trust me.
According to an article I saw a week or so ago, the big two (DC & Marvel) make up something like 70% of the comic book market.
I know I've found myself getting into the books put out by the smaller publishers, if only recently. I've been preoccupied with the New 52 to really notice anything else on my radar. But that has changed now that some of the DC story lines have established themselves, not in a great way either. I'll just say that the only reason I'm still buying Batgirl if for the Adam Hughes cover art.
When it comes to the small fries, I'm giving some lesser knowns a chance. I really want them to do good.
Here's a sample of what I've picked up this last week:
The Ninjettes (loved it)
King of the Jungle (WOW)
Vampirella vs Dracula (Inspired from an Alan Moore story, has potential)
Thief of Thieves (haven't read it yet)
I'll admit that I hadn't been collecting books, or even paid attention to them in a long while. After reorganising my books to accommodate the influx of the New 52 I noticed that I have quite a few books that weren't Big Two releases. I found books from Lightening, Gearbox, Oni, Harris, Avatar and a slew of others.
Seeing as I hate the corporate scene that keeps new talent from emerging by sticking with the tried and true artists and writers, I'm glad that I seem to have always supported smaller guys.
My questions to you are...
What books are you following?
Who is putting them out?
Are you reading web comics?
Which ones?
Are you donating to them?
And please please please give me an answer in the comments area. It's a chance for you to give respect to the ones working harder for you than we give them credit for. You might just turn someone on to a real gem.
Here's a screen capture I got from the web comic Twilight Monk by Trent Kaniuga
So keep it up little leaguers, it will be your time soon. Trust me.
Saturday, 18 February 2012
Hensley age 5
I helped with the lettering of his favorite knock knock joke.
It's titled "Making Grandad Laugh"
It's titled "Making Grandad Laugh"
Thursday, 16 February 2012
I'd like to kick you in the balls with X-23's adamantium toenail
I awoke this morning and found a link to a blog post from DC in my twitter feed. The blog is written by Bob Harras and is in reference to the cross overs that will be taking place with Batman, specifically the Court of Owls society.
Here's an excerpt:
"This May we are taking the opportunity to show that The New 52 is a shared universe in a couple of different ways. First of all we have the epic NIGHT OF THE OWLS story across the Bat-Books as the Court of Owls attacks Gotham City. You can follow different parts of the tale in Batman #9, Batman Annual #1, Detective Comics #9, Batwing #9, Batman and Robin #9, Birds of Prey #9, Batgirl #9, Red Hood and the Outlaws #9, Catwoman #9, Nightwing #9 and All-Star Western #9 (which takes place in 188- but still in the same universe as the rest of our books)."
So it seems that every #9 book regarding Gotham City is going to deal with the Court of Owls, including the first Batman Annual. The Night of the Owls story arc from BATMAN is an amazing story that I can't wait to read each month, but, this is leaving a bad taste in my mouth. Fuck that, it's actually really pissing me off.
Currently I'm only buying four of the nine titles in surrounding Gotham, monthly that's costing me roughly $12.
With this cross-over bullshit, if I want to keep up with the story line I'll be forced to spend over $30 on books I'd never have paid to read in the first place! I've read a couple Batgirl issues and some of the Red Hood books too, and there is a reason I stopped reading them. They were shitty books that didn't deserve my money. The only thing I liked about Batgirl was the amazing cover art by Adam Hughes. It says alot when the best part of a book is the cover. Knowing that once you get past that you're in for a let down is the best reason to keep your money in your wallet.
I have a simple solution for the marketing schemes employed to boost sales. Instead of figuring out what's working with one title and than spreading that around all of the other related titles, how about making every book amazing? With a storyline worth paying for without having to resort to these cheap and transparent ways of getting fans to buy more books. Better yet, if a book isn't selling well, drop the fucking thing!
DC isn't the only publisher that pulls this kind of shit either.
I was recently introduced through a friend to Marvel's character X-23, the twin of Wolverine. I hunted down the series (NYX) that brought her into comics, and read them all. Shit, I even recommended it to people.
Than I started reading her solo books and when I reached the end of issue eight I found this:
I didn't want to read DAKEN, much less buy it. I took a deep breath and waited for Daken #8 to come out, only find out that the tie-ins were going to span another two books. Not so bad right? Only two extra books to buy?
That's what I thought until I read DAKEN #8 and found that the story needed to be put in context because while X-23 appears in DAKEN, that didn't mean the entire book was a simple continuation from X-23. So, I went and found the issue previous to the cross-over and my rage filled me yet again because DAKEN #7 was the final issue in a four part story arc.
Now I have to buy four books just to make sense of half of the first issue in the X-23 tie-in?
Go fuck yourself Marvel.
Why don't you just make DAKEN a good fucking read that fans will WANT to buy instead of a title that you FORCE fans to buy?
It's shit like this that when it comes to my purchasing dollar is going to blow up in your face. Instead of pulling me into one new story, what you ended up doing was driving me away from two.
Both Marvel and DC are in the business of making films, as such they will tell you that "piracy is a big problem" for their bottom line. Well boys, showing contempt for your readers by pulling crossover stunts, to me, is just as bad as putting out a weak ass movie that fans have to pay too much money to see. If you keep up with this kind of crap I will begin recommending that people raise their sails and download all these extra books you TRY to make us buy, and not necessarily from your official websites either.
These are shitty financial times, so stop with the fucking cash grabs. I'm a fan of comics and want to stay that way. I've fallen in and out of collecting a few times because it became too expensive and I don't want that to happen again because of this kind of greed.
I wonder what the comic writers themselves think when they're told they have to participate in a crossover? Something tells me the writers of the popular books don't want much to do with it and would rather stick with what's in their head. I also bet that the writers of the weaker titles can't wait to hear that a well received character is going to show up in their book to literally save their ass.
This post probably wasn't the the most eloquent blog post and there was basically no artwork. But I didn't charge people $2.99 to read it. I also didn't make people go hunt down another blog so they could make sense of this one.
Here's an excerpt:
"This May we are taking the opportunity to show that The New 52 is a shared universe in a couple of different ways. First of all we have the epic NIGHT OF THE OWLS story across the Bat-Books as the Court of Owls attacks Gotham City. You can follow different parts of the tale in Batman #9, Batman Annual #1, Detective Comics #9, Batwing #9, Batman and Robin #9, Birds of Prey #9, Batgirl #9, Red Hood and the Outlaws #9, Catwoman #9, Nightwing #9 and All-Star Western #9 (which takes place in 188- but still in the same universe as the rest of our books)."
So it seems that every #9 book regarding Gotham City is going to deal with the Court of Owls, including the first Batman Annual. The Night of the Owls story arc from BATMAN is an amazing story that I can't wait to read each month, but, this is leaving a bad taste in my mouth. Fuck that, it's actually really pissing me off.
Currently I'm only buying four of the nine titles in surrounding Gotham, monthly that's costing me roughly $12.
With this cross-over bullshit, if I want to keep up with the story line I'll be forced to spend over $30 on books I'd never have paid to read in the first place! I've read a couple Batgirl issues and some of the Red Hood books too, and there is a reason I stopped reading them. They were shitty books that didn't deserve my money. The only thing I liked about Batgirl was the amazing cover art by Adam Hughes. It says alot when the best part of a book is the cover. Knowing that once you get past that you're in for a let down is the best reason to keep your money in your wallet.
I have a simple solution for the marketing schemes employed to boost sales. Instead of figuring out what's working with one title and than spreading that around all of the other related titles, how about making every book amazing? With a storyline worth paying for without having to resort to these cheap and transparent ways of getting fans to buy more books. Better yet, if a book isn't selling well, drop the fucking thing!
DC isn't the only publisher that pulls this kind of shit either.
I was recently introduced through a friend to Marvel's character X-23, the twin of Wolverine. I hunted down the series (NYX) that brought her into comics, and read them all. Shit, I even recommended it to people.
Than I started reading her solo books and when I reached the end of issue eight I found this:
I didn't want to read DAKEN, much less buy it. I took a deep breath and waited for Daken #8 to come out, only find out that the tie-ins were going to span another two books. Not so bad right? Only two extra books to buy?
That's what I thought until I read DAKEN #8 and found that the story needed to be put in context because while X-23 appears in DAKEN, that didn't mean the entire book was a simple continuation from X-23. So, I went and found the issue previous to the cross-over and my rage filled me yet again because DAKEN #7 was the final issue in a four part story arc.
Now I have to buy four books just to make sense of half of the first issue in the X-23 tie-in?
Go fuck yourself Marvel.
Why don't you just make DAKEN a good fucking read that fans will WANT to buy instead of a title that you FORCE fans to buy?
It's shit like this that when it comes to my purchasing dollar is going to blow up in your face. Instead of pulling me into one new story, what you ended up doing was driving me away from two.
Both Marvel and DC are in the business of making films, as such they will tell you that "piracy is a big problem" for their bottom line. Well boys, showing contempt for your readers by pulling crossover stunts, to me, is just as bad as putting out a weak ass movie that fans have to pay too much money to see. If you keep up with this kind of crap I will begin recommending that people raise their sails and download all these extra books you TRY to make us buy, and not necessarily from your official websites either.
These are shitty financial times, so stop with the fucking cash grabs. I'm a fan of comics and want to stay that way. I've fallen in and out of collecting a few times because it became too expensive and I don't want that to happen again because of this kind of greed.
I wonder what the comic writers themselves think when they're told they have to participate in a crossover? Something tells me the writers of the popular books don't want much to do with it and would rather stick with what's in their head. I also bet that the writers of the weaker titles can't wait to hear that a well received character is going to show up in their book to literally save their ass.
This post probably wasn't the the most eloquent blog post and there was basically no artwork. But I didn't charge people $2.99 to read it. I also didn't make people go hunt down another blog so they could make sense of this one.
Welcome again
I've moved over here to blogger from wordpress due to the upload limits imposed on a blogger unless they upgrade.
I say fuck that, I'll just run two blogs.
I say fuck that, I'll just run two blogs.
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