I HATE COMICS: ARTICLE THE SECOND

I HAVE TO BUY HOW MANY ISSUES?!

THE ART OF THE CROSSOVER (Part 1)

Last article we talked a bit about shifting tides in our favorite four-color medium thanks to the advent of digital comics, web comics, and the rise of the original graphic novel (or OGN for short). Smaller publishers are excited to broach these avenues in order to maximize exposure for their titles and not have to compete with the deluge of Big 2 titles guaranteed shelf space because of this banner or that strewn across the top of an issue indicating its part in a crossover event. But I ask you dear reader, what about those crossover events? What makes them successful? What is their purpose? And which are more successful – the line-wide (see “Messiah CompleX” in the X-Books, “Planet Krypton” in the Superman titles, and so on) or the company-wide (Final Crisis, Secret Invasion, etc.)?

First though, a small disclaimer: I grew up a Marvel kid. I make no bones about it but, as a result, much of what I talk about is going to utilize those titles and stories as examples. I may be able to comfortably sneak in a few DC bits here and there but the sad truth is that my education in the house that Superman built is still ongoing. I’d sooner stick with what I know for examples than try to point vague fingers towards something which may or may not support the thesis, dig? Also, I’ll be doing my best to keep this relatively spoiler free so read with some assurance that big story bits aren’t going to be ruined for you.

Looking at the overarching idea of the crossover, they typically set out to accomplish very specific ends for the publisher:

1) Increase exposure for underperforming or underappreciated titles by including them in the event.

2) Create hype around a line or the company’s universe by advertising large-scale changes.

3) Act as a springboard for new titles.

What makes these crossovers successful from a company perspective, in my humble opinion, is when it hits those marks. If readers are inclined (or forced, which we’ll talk about next article) to pick up a title they weren’t reading and happen to enjoy it, if they’ve gotten excited enough about an event to follow it from beginning to end with rapt attention, and if new viable print titles are created as a result of the story, then you’ve got yourself a successful event. Near as I can tell then, Marvel and DC have had some rousing successes with their company-wide events, turning them into nigh-annual occurrences.

How about the reader perspective though? If these company-wide events have been successful commercially based on the above criteria then surely they’ve got to have been successful in the reader’s eyes as well, yes? Not so, says I. All the unnecessary mini’s and tie-ins, the fact that they seem to just lead to next year’s big event and don’t give you a satisfying ending of their own (typically), it’s all just blech. Now, to be fair, I do understand the lack of a conclusive “The End” on any of these. They’re built as a launching pad for a full universe and, as such, can’t tie up everything. Still, reading some of these event series (your “Civil War”, “Infinite Crisis”, et al) on their own has been, for the most part, unsatisfying. So then, you say, “Surely reading all the tie-ins would help!”

Unintentionally I entered into an experiment over the past few years. You see, “Civil War” began right around the time I started to consider canning my pull list and, imagine my surprise when it got me super pumped. I fell right into the hype machine, like a junkie looking for one last fix. I followed the event rabidly, buying every mini and every tie-in. All told it was over 100 issues of story, read in the order handed down by the Mighty Marvel Checklist and editor/creator interviews.

Years later (as in, maybe two weeks ago) I had the fortune of seeing “Secret Invasion” in trade format. Having read none of the lead-in, none of the tie-ins, and having the entire main book collected in front of me was too tempting. “Let’s test the water,” I said casually as the other people surrounding the table in my local bookstore started to back away slowly. “Let’s see if what they purport to be is, in fact possible – let’s see if I can enjoy this story WITHOUT the tie-ins!”

Now I can say, for my own personal enjoyment, that neither quite hit the target. With “Civil War” I was loaded down with too many inconsequential points of view, stories which barely touched on the main event, and in some minor but notable cases, contradictions in character locations, costumes, scenes and actions, and so on, this last due to scheduling conflicts and miscommunication somewhere I’m sure. Overall, after being fleeced by my own excitement and not being thrilled with what felt like a rushed ending, I was left wishing I hadn’t picked up the ancillary books at all since none of them really did much to support the event or increase my enjoyment of the story.

With “Secret Invasion” on the other hand, I found myself feeling like I was watching a highlight reel. Bendis is great with characterization (I’ve yet to read an issue of ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN I haven’t liked, and I’ve read most of them) but the large scope of the event felt too compressed in some places and too decompressed in others. Feeling as though this might be a case in favor of the tie-ins, and having read an interview or three where Bendis indicated that NEW AVENGERS and MIGHTY AVENGERS were nigh-mandatory for the event, I gave the recently released “Secret Invasion” tie-in trades a read for each of those titles. Did they help?

Nope.

While they both served to fill in some interesting tidbits as to how things wound up the way they did in the main book, neither series was able to do more than that – neither advanced the story, since that was the intention of the main title, and they hardly fleshed out current events well enough to warrant the feeling of reading an overview elicited by the “Secret Invasion” series proper. I'm looking at you, Ka-zar. While I liked the concept of this event, and found myself drawn in a bit more than I was with “Civil War”, likely since I wasn’t diluting the main book with so many tie-ins, I was still left somewhat disappointed. I’m not saying I could’ve done it better, although I would love to have a chance to try it some time. I’m just saying that they left me wanting more, and not, I imagine, in the way Marvel intended.

Who knows? Maybe when the Final Crisis collections this summer will change my mind. Maybe they managed what Marvel didn't, in my eyes.

What's that? Superman sings at Darkseid? Oh hell...

Still, it is Morrison so I'm down for a try.

So then, if Mr. Critical (a.k.a. Yours Truly) wasn’t a big fan of either event even though they met all three basic company goals for a crossover, what COULD make him happy?

A good old fashioned line-wide crossover, that’s what.

TO BE CONTINUED…

I Hate Comics: A Love Story - Article The First

First post - time to make it shine...

Now, I don't think every post is going to be as streamlined as what follows - I daresay I can guarantee it. We're going to be having all sorts of discussions here, formal and informal, but what comes next happens to be more on the formal side. It's an article I was asked to write for yet-to-begin blogzine and it just so happens that said article inspired me to get up off of my ass and start singing for all you loverly folks.

The article focuses on a hot-button topic today in comics: Floppy vs. Trade.

Happy reading.

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WHAT HAPPENED?!

HOW I KILLED THE FLOPPY COMIC.

As the first in what will hopefully be a semi-regular (if not, dare I say it, REGULAR) series of articles, I feel it’s probably prudent to lay out a mission statement - a code of conduct, if not a code of ethics, which will likely dominate the series, columns, or whatever this eventually mutates into, for the foreseeable future. That statement is a simple one:

I hate comics.

Admitting you have a problem is the first step towards recovery and it’s also the hardest. It’s like a band-aid though – you just have to rip it off and deal with the searing pain of leg hair that may never grow back being evacuated from its decades-long home. You’ve just shared in my hair-yanking agonizing admittance to something which has plagued my subconscious mind for years. We’re in this together now so I expect you to stick it out. You’re my support group for overcoming this detriment, this shortfall in my life, and maybe together we can rehabilitate my mind and release me into the wild. Through these columns and musings we’re going to explore what it is that brought me to comics in the first place, and maybe you too, as well as what’s almost got that fire lit in me again and what’s happening to the industry as it evolves, shifts, and becomes something ALL NEW AND ALL DIFFERENT yet again in the wake of slowing floppy sales and the advent of the digital era.

With any mission statement there must always be a disclaimer and this one is no different. I don’t HATE comics in the traditional sense, not truly anyway. It’s just that of late there hasn’t been much that’s gotten me excited about them. Not in the way excitement used to brew, every Tuesday night being longer than the rest (even longer than the Sunday night with the inevitability of school the next day), frothing and shaking with avid anticipation of New Book Wednesday. I want that back as much as I want to spend my life making comics. The medium offered me so much growing up that I feel indebted to it, and it’s a debt I intend to repay with interest.

I’m now a published comic writer, continuing to make my way into the industry with my chisel and spoon, sneaking dirt out into the courtyard during free time so the warden doesn’t see me escaping my retail cell. It’s a slow process, as anybody on the ground floor will tell you. It also gives you an entirely different view of how things work and today, I want to talk about part of that: floppy comics vs. collected editions.

We began AWAKENING with Archaia Studios Press (MOUSE GUARD, et al) in August of '07 as a bi-monthly release and experienced the slow decline in sales across the three issues which came out, a common and unavoidable phenomenon that all books must endure. That, plus our now year-long delay between issues due to the restructuring of the company, just recently completed, has resulted in us deciding to release the series as two hardcover volumes rather than 10-issues.

For indie books, unless you've already established a pedigree of some kind for yourself, it's just impossible to compete with the big guns in this day and age. Retailers have to play a safe bet, and with banners across a combined total of more than 40 or 50 issues (plus 10 based on a particularly popular space opera, a couple of movie tie-ins...) per month from the big two proclaiming them to be part of either a line or company-wide crossover, shelf space just can't be wasted on a new guy or a book that doesn't have a tried and true sales history. While some larger comic stores (Midtown Comics and so on) have the space and the opportunity to showcase all sorts of books, the average shop wouldn't be making a sound economic decision, especially in these financially unsure times, supporting a book with a guaranteed smaller audience over that of the definite 50 - 100 copy seller. And hey, I'm guilty of contributing to those sales too. I grew up a Marvel guy and even dabbled in DC for a time and I'll always love picking up those books, even when I’m not crazy about everything in them. Going to the shop these days may not have me shivering with glee but there’s a certain sense of warm nostalgia in seeing those old reliable standards waiting for me in their four-color glory. I do this fully aware of the fact that I'm contributing to a machine which kept my book out of others hands. Why? Because I love the medium and most of those stories, those line and company-wide behemoths, are fun and enjoyable and worthy of the space they're given.

MOST of those stories.

On the other hand, asking a retailer to order one or two copies of a hardcover or trade isn't taking away from those monthly sales. A spined book takes up less space than a faced-out floppy on the rack, and very likely a retailer worth his salt will know at least one customer who he can promote the book to and get a $15 - $20 sale out of the deal. Hell, maybe they even know TWO customers who prefer collected editions and like to read, say, Eagle Award nominated existential horror with critically acclaimed mixed media art.

What?! The first volume is coming out soon - I've gotta make a living here!

Then they just nabbed $40 gross in one swoop and they didn't sacrifice anything of their guaranteed sales off the floppy rack. If nothing else, if a retailer doesn't actively try to sell the trade but orders it in the hopes somebody will stumble across it on the trade shelves, it will offer an alternative to the average shopper if they've been Secretly Finally Invaded out. Or, better for the retailer, it represents an add-on sale to a customers purchase. It also opens up the lucrative avenues of book trade sales (Barnes & Noble, Borders, Amazon, etc.) where indie books have a better shot of finding a niche for themselves.

Digital, on the other hand, is just not for me. Maybe my generation will be the last great hold out (what’s a kid of the early 80’s now? Generation Y?) but I need to hold a book, get that freshly printed smell, or in the case of an older book, that musty-I’ve-Got-History waft from the pages, and have a tactile interaction with something. I support the movement, anything that promotes the comic medium to a larger audience, but I don’t think it’ll ever replace printed comics entirely, anymore than I think Kindle or any other e-book phenomenon will replace the heft of a book in your hands. Web and digital comics offer a great marketing opportunity and low cost for creators/publishers and can even be a great proving ground for creators who, for one reason or another, just don’t get picked up right away by a publisher. Hell, I’ve got friends who practically make their living off of web comics and more power to them for it. For me though, I’ve just got to have it on a shelf, or in a long box, or on the nightstand, or where all great reading gets done, the bathroom, to truly immerse myself in the work and get the most out of it.

Personally, I loved writing a floppy book - and I plan to try more in the future once it's more fiscally viable for me, either through success with the trade/hardcover releases of my other books or some other means. For now though, I say let Marvel and DC have that ground and continue to draw people into comics as they have for generations.

Then let retailers show them to the REALLY cool stuff on the trade shelves.

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NEXT TIME: What's on THE DESK?!