Reader Participation: Trivia That Isn’t.
41 Comments | Posted: March 27th, 2009 | Filed under: Reader ParticipationExample: Everyone knows that “Video Killed The Radio Star” was the first video played on MTV.
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Reader Participation: I Have A Question About Green Lantern Comic Books
16 Comments | Posted: March 1st, 2009 | Filed under: Reader Participation, Thinking About Comics | Tags: green lantern
From what I can tell, the Green Lantern books have now spent a large chunk of about two years of storytelling to internecine combat between various factions who share the whole lanterns-and-rings motif. I actually quite enjoyed The Sinestro* Corps War and can see the appeal in exploring these new groups, but are the Green Lanterns still fighting people who don’t vomit blood or have oath and magic wishing ring on top of the rest of the junk that’s going on in the universe they’re supposed to be protecting? Is that being addressed?
*Sinestro. Were Genocidus or Stabbicon such great guys that they didn’t see that one coming? (Yes, it’s a hacky gag, but really. Sinestro.)
Reader Participation: A Question For The Comics Retailers Out There.
26 Comments | Posted: February 24th, 2009 | Filed under: Reader Participation, Thinking about Comics Marketing | Tags: buffy, dark tower, the standThis article from Publishers Weekly has me thinking about outreach efforts like this, and I’d really love some anecdotal evidence from the funnybook slingers out there. This quote stands out to me, from Marvel’s David Gabriel:
Again the comic shops have the ability to reach a huge number of consumers as well. Look at the amount of fans driven into stores for the Death of Captain America, the unmasking of Spider-Man, the Dark Tower comics launch, and recently the Amazing Spider-Man #583 featuring Barack Obama on the cover. We’re pretty certain that this book has the potential to bring thousands of new faces into comic shops and from there be introduced to a whole new world of graphic novels.
In my (admittedly very narrow, as I am extremely part time) experience with the buyers that come in specifically for property-oriented works like The Stand and Buffy, I’ve seen a distinct disinterest in anything that’s not those books. My local shop maintains a pull-box just for these customers and even mentioning good, accessible work like Whedon’s stint on Astonishing X-Men or the future-Slayer book Fray when they pick up their books has been met with a collective cold shoulder. Those readers seem to just want their Buffy or their Stephen King or Angel or whatever. Have there been retailers that have been able to to convert these readers into real customers with an interest in the medium at large? What’s their secret?
(Social) Satire as Hollywood Moneymaker.
36 Comments | Posted: February 20th, 2009 | Filed under: Reader Participation, Thinking About MoviesI was talking to sometimes-writing-partner Josh the other day about satirical films and how so few of them have seen any massive box office success. Off the top of our heads, we listed Robocop, Dr. Strangelove, and Starship Troopers*. Thank You For Smoking made a nice profit for itself ($24m on a $6.5m budget,) but that’s where my list ended. Discounting our love of movies like Idiocracy, what social** satires can you name that have made significant money for “the suits”? I feel like I have to be missing something here.
(Or am I overestimating people again? I am, aren’t I?)
*(The two Verhoeven-directed films from that trio feature sequels and ancillary material that replaced humor with po-faced, science-fiction cliché, reminding us that nerds ruin everything. I came close to including Total Recall as well, but it seems to be more in the Commando end of big stupid action movies that occasionally wink at the audience.)
**Thanks to MW from The ISS for pointing out that I was discussing social satire more than narrower, more genre-intensive versions.
Reader Participation: Your Irrational Pet Nerd-Hate.
60 Comments | Posted: January 31st, 2009 | Filed under: Reader Participation
I fucking hate the android Red Tornado. (Oddly enough, I think the Vision is radder than doing a vertical backflip on a Big Wheel.)
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Reader Participation: Name a comic that you love that no one ever talks about.
69 Comments | Posted: January 29th, 2009 | Filed under: Reader Participation | Tags: bughouse, steve laffler
For me, it’s Steve Lafler’s Bughouse stories, perfectly constructed downbeat jazz dramas in a word inhabited by insects, full of betrayal, romance, and drugs.
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Reader Participation: Your favorite Marvel story title.
22 Comments | Posted: January 27th, 2009 | Filed under: Reader Participation
Place your single favorite Marvel Comics story title below.
Reader Participation: Create A Trade Paperback Solicitation That Fills A Perceived Void
36 Comments | Posted: January 26th, 2009 | Filed under: Reader Participation | Tags: solicitationsTHE ESSENTIAL BLACK PANTHER
Written by DON MCGREGOR, JACK KIRBY & MORE
Penciled by BILLY GRAHAM, RICH BUCKLER, GIL KANE, JACK KIRBY, & MORE
Cover by JACK KIRBY
KIllmonger! Man-Ape! Baron Macabre! Kiber The Cruel! King Solomon’s Frogs? Thrill as T’Challa encounters the unusual and deadly in a series of Marvel Blockbusters where the fate of a nation — and the world — hang in the balance! This volume collects some of the Black Panther’s earliest stories from JUNGLE ACTION (Volume 2) 6-22 & 24 and BLACK PANTHER(Volume 1) #1-15 and MARVEL PREMIERE 51-53.
544 PGS / All Ages … $16.99
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