Grace Randolph's Stacktastic - Avengers 2012, A Trailer For Comics?
Grace Randolph takes a look at tomorrow's comics tday - but first, what is the impact of the Avengers movie having on comics? Should it have one? And what about Disney's influence? An opinion from one who has spent a little time under the Mouse, as part of Grace's Think About The Ink video blogs for Bleeding Cool.
I don't understand why people are so crazy about Johns' Aquaman. It's a really terribly written comic.
Those avengers movie based comics are gonna be a joke.
Grunge isn't Dead, Just indifferent
Ivan Reis art is amazing though!Originally Posted by Maniacmatt
I saw Marvel comics in a shop inside Disney's California Adventure theme park in Anaheim, BUT, they were old random issues. I remember seeing some mid-arc Second Coming issues, not too inviting for the casual customer.
Both Disney and WB needs to post a secret word right before their comicbook movies that downloads a free digital comic at comixology. Who cares if the code gets out on the internet, the idea is to make it a good comic you wouldn't mind giving away for free that sells the concept (like the ones they give away free now) and instead put it up for 99 cents, so you need a code that gives it to you free. The idea being that yeah the code gets on the internet and comic fans get a free comic they have most likely already read, (and you would have given away anyway) but also gets the non-readers in the movie to log on and try a comic they think they are getting a deal on with their ticket.
Before Avengers they should have a short ad that says "with you ticket, log on to comixology.com and read a free avengers comic by entering the code avengers1."
I am rather disgusted that the big two do not honestly reach out to new readers. As much as I love print and brick and mortar stores, you need to tap into the digital market to get new readers reading comics in the first damn place. And you can't price competing with the pricy print versions. You have to price digital comics in competition with the digital market. Kids and teens can buy full novels for five to fifteen dollars on their phones and e-readers. Why would they spend the same money for one to five comics at only twenty pages of story a pop? The publishers need to compete in the digital market, not hold back for the meatspace one they're used to.
And I don't quite blame Disney really. Marvel wasn't really doing crap to reach out to new readers. Their Ultimate line is as messy as their main line. And they simply flood the damn market, much worse than even DC. I gave up on Marvel and their massive crossover events. Hell, I think they even started overlapping events and event spinoff comics. I just can't be bothered. As still hefty and mixed quality as DC's New 52 offerings are, at least they're relatively more streamline and new reader friendly. Marvel may have number ones and jumping on points, but they're all muddled into a flood of comics and comic events. Meanwhile, Image is dominating the trades with Walking Dead. DC is better represented on the New York Times best seller list for stuff they published in the mid eighties like Dark Knight Returns, Watchmen, and V for Vendetta than stuff they publish today. I see Morriason's Return of Bruce Wayne and the 90s Batman: No Man's Land pop up on some weeks, but they're main best sellers are a quarter century old. The only thing popping up consistently is Vertigo's Fables.
Though I guess we shall see how the reboot trades and sales numbers work. Now if only Marvel could streamline their books and ditch the heroin like addition to more and more events and more books with almost meaningless issue numbers. It's like we're moving toward a singularity in which the mass of books and issues numbers collapse in on themselves and suck reality away. Hell, maybe that was the point of Flashpoint. Wasn't the whole reason of numbering these things was to make stories easier to follow? If you need checklists to follow one major story, those numbers are near pointless.
Anyway..
Ooo.. Damn... A Brubaker Catwoman omnibus?!
I own all those issues and Selina's Big Score... but I might need to pick that up for the shelves.
Old media giants, even smaller nooks like Marvel and DC, simply don't get the digital realm. Hell, just look at Marvel joining the old media giant oligarchy in support of crap like SOPA. They simply do not get the digital age of media. They're liked those dinosaurs in blind support of big oil and who refuse to even consider new energy sources. I'm kinda in between as I am a print die hard. Yet even I acknowledge the need for reaching out to the new generations who like digital. You're not going to get them into comic stores anyway if you don't get them reading comics in the first place! Free digital giveaways are EXACTLY what they need. These things are serial anyway. You could give away five issues of a six to ten issue story and you're not really losing money. You're getting new readers. The people that don't buy after that free sample weren't likely to buy even a single issue anyway.
Yes, a movie is exactly the exposure to use to send out these free hits digitally. Congrats. You're thinking smarter than everyone at DC and Marvel's publishing and marketing departments.
Hell, I don't buy things digitally. Well, save for games on Steam oddly enough and random Johnathan Coulton mps off amazing. Yet I checked out comixology and most of the freebie full issues are from a ton of indie and smaller press publishers. Hurm. Maybe this will lead to a revolution where the comics market isn't controled 75-85% by two giant companies. I can only hope that a healthier market eventually comes out of Marvel and DC being totally tone deaf to new and younger readers.
Last edited by The Xenos; 01-24-2012 at 12:17 PM.
Just like anyone who still doesn't own a tablet. I was exactly like that until last month when I got a Motorola Xoom (10.1 inch comicbook standard dimensions screen).
Imagine having your entire collection in one place, available at the press of a button wherever you are. No storage problems, no bagging/unbagging maintenance issues, no chance of missing any title or issue no matter how late you felt like checking it out. And with the reading size almost the same as the actual print comic and print quality always in mint condition. Plus, unless you want the books immediately, they are at least $1 cheaper a month after release (excluding Marvel, as always). Only downside is the guilt of abandoning your local comicbook store unfortunately, but that is a sign of the times.
Digital distribution is the future of comics guys. And the future is Now.
Do you know what a chazzer is, Frank? That's a pig that don't fly straight.
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