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Post by Calidore on Oct 4, 2023 16:41:30 GMT -5
The highlights, looking back, are the semi-autobiographical pieces by Del Close; if there are enough of these to fill up a book, I'd probably buy it.
I especially enjoyed the Loebs-illustrated Dead Detective stories, where the corpse of a gumshoe who was shot in the head while sitting in his office gets involved in and solves mysteries without ever actually doing anything, because he's just a dead body.
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Post by zaku on Oct 5, 2023 11:20:52 GMT -5
I just read that the Transformers (and G.I. Joe) license has now moved from IDW to Image. I'm not particularly interested in these comics, but I would like to know more about the business side of things. Why does an IP owner decide to entrust a license to a certain publisher rather than another? I mean, IDW was pumping out Transformers comics, so I guess business was good. Hasbro simply wanted to make more money and Image made a better offer? Or do creative choices also have something to do with it? To give another example, why did Lucas entrust the Star Wars license to Dark Horse at the time?
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Post by Dizzy D on Oct 5, 2023 11:53:54 GMT -5
Usually it's just about money: license owner hoping to get better sales or a bigger share of any profits. Sometimes it's a creative choice, but I think that's not as much a factor I'd guess, because if you decide to work with licensed material, you usually just accept that you will limited creative freedom with the property. Most of that will be only mentioned in contract negotiations and will never be made public, so we can only guess as to the exact reasons.
As for IDW/Hasbro specific: IDW was in financial trouble, so maybe Hasbro lost trust in IDW's ability to continue producing comics. Also IDW got the rights before the Transformers live action movies came out, so maybe they felt their IP was worth now more than what IDW originally paid for it.
Why Lucas went from Marvel to Dark Horse? I'd have speculated that at that time (1991), Marvel was doing financially very well and was probably making more on their own properties and would not be willing to pay as much for a license (especially one that didn't have any new source material at the time.. I *think* this was before the Thrawn trilogy, both came out around the same time?) as Dark Horse would for who it would be a big money maker. But looking into it, it was actually Tom Veitch sending a proposal to George Lucas for wanting to do a Star Wars comic and Lucas agreed, so ignore all my ramblings on that.
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Post by zaku on Oct 5, 2023 16:10:46 GMT -5
Usually it's just about money: license owner hoping to get better sales or a bigger share of any profits. Sometimes it's a creative choice, but I think that's not as much a factor I'd guess, because if you decide to work with licensed material, you usually just accept that you will limited creative freedom with the property. Most of that will be only mentioned in contract negotiations and will never be made public, so we can only guess as to the exact reasons. As for IDW/Hasbro specific: IDW was in financial trouble, so maybe Hasbro lost trust in IDW's ability to continue producing comics. Also IDW got the rights before the Transformers live action movies came out, so maybe they felt their IP was worth now more than what IDW originally paid for it. Why Lucas went from Marvel to Dark Horse? I'd have speculated that at that time (1991), Marvel was doing financially very well and was probably making more on their own properties and would not be willing to pay as much for a license (especially one that didn't have any new source material at the time.. I *think* this was before the Thrawn trilogy, both came out around the same time?) as Dark Horse would for who it would be a big money maker. But looking into it, it was actually Tom Veitch sending a proposal to George Lucas for wanting to do a Star Wars comic and Lucas agreed, so ignore all my ramblings on that. Thank you! About Dark Horse, it seems in this case was Marvel that wasn't interested to publish a new Star Wars comics! starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Star_Wars:_Dark_Empire#Development
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Post by codystarbuck on Oct 5, 2023 21:50:27 GMT -5
Usually it's just about money: license owner hoping to get better sales or a bigger share of any profits. Sometimes it's a creative choice, but I think that's not as much a factor I'd guess, because if you decide to work with licensed material, you usually just accept that you will limited creative freedom with the property. Most of that will be only mentioned in contract negotiations and will never be made public, so we can only guess as to the exact reasons. As for IDW/Hasbro specific: IDW was in financial trouble, so maybe Hasbro lost trust in IDW's ability to continue producing comics. Also IDW got the rights before the Transformers live action movies came out, so maybe they felt their IP was worth now more than what IDW originally paid for it. Why Lucas went from Marvel to Dark Horse? I'd have speculated that at that time (1991), Marvel was doing financially very well and was probably making more on their own properties and would not be willing to pay as much for a license (especially one that didn't have any new source material at the time.. I *think* this was before the Thrawn trilogy, both came out around the same time?) as Dark Horse would for who it would be a big money maker. But looking into it, it was actually Tom Veitch sending a proposal to George Lucas for wanting to do a Star Wars comic and Lucas agreed, so ignore all my ramblings on that. There is a lot that goes into that and not every licensed deal is the same, as others. Smart license holders, like Lucas, maintained control over everything, which is why dark Horse could reprint the Marvel comics, without the logos. Some left ownership of new characters to the licensee, like Bug, in Micronauts, or Shang Chi, Clive reston, Leiko Wu and Black Jack Tarr, in Master of Kung Fu (but not the Sax Rohmer characters). With Star Wars, specifically, the interest in merchandise waned after Jedi and the brand presence dropped significantly on all fronts. Marvel didn't sell as many comics after Jedi and eventually canceled it and let the license go. Meanwhile, Lucas had new publishing deals for books, leading to the Timothy Zahn books and there were signs of new life and they had the unpublished idea that was Dark Empire. Dark Horse built its reputation on publishing great licensed titles, with the Aliens and Predator franchises, both from Fox, who had distribution rights on the Star Wars trilogy. The one-two of the Zahn books and dark Empire helped launch a new wave of Star Wars fandom and nostalgia, leading into the 25th anniversary re-releases/tinkering and a return of enthusiasm from Lucas. You also have to remember that Lucas was pretty burnt out by the time Jedi hit theaters. he was building Skywalker Ranch and going through his divorce with Marcia, which took a lot of the money away. He needed a break from it all and things were pretty quiet between 1984 and 1991. Sometimes the reason for a change is that the license holder isn't happy with the return they are getting and tries another company and sometimes it is the licensee deciding that they would rather put the time into something they own. Transformers, GI JOE and Micronauts have problems with their license, due to Marvel owning anything they created, like Bug or Commander Rann, in Micronauts (necessitating new characters), or characters created in the Transformers comic. as it was, there were further issues with the US publishing rights and the UK publishing rights, due to those countries' varying laws governing such contracts. if I am not mistaken, UK law gives more rights to the actual people that create stories, leading to problems with Marvel trying to reprint Marvel UK stuff, like Alan Moore's work, after they ticked him off.
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Post by zaku on Oct 6, 2023 1:50:27 GMT -5
By the way, if anyone is interested the new comics licensed by Hasbro and published by image are having quite good reviews 🙂 (I find in this way that the licenses changed publisher)
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Oct 6, 2023 13:38:29 GMT -5
So, can I read Lobster Johnson independent of Hellboy? I've read some Hellboy, and while I generally like it, I get burnt out on it pretty quickly. Lobster Johnson seems pretty much up my alley though.
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Post by kirby101 on Oct 6, 2023 13:40:06 GMT -5
Yes, you can read Lobster alone. There is some overlap, but I don't think that will be necessary to enjoy the stories.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Oct 6, 2023 13:57:04 GMT -5
Also, why does the first Lobster Johnson omnibus not have the first mini-series in it?
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Post by Deleted on Oct 7, 2023 13:17:13 GMT -5
How many variant covers could Marvel have gotten out of Amazing Fantasy #15 back in the day? We're so much better at this now . Here are my initial thoughts: Cover A, Kirby regular version: Cover B, same as Cover A but no logo. Cover C, same as Cover A but black and white. Cover D, same as Cover B but black and white. Cover E, limited 1:500 of Cover A signed by Lee and Kirby Cover F, Ditko variant: Cover G, same as Cover F but no logo. Cover H, same as Cover F but black and white. Cover I, same as Cover G but black and white. Cover J, normal logo but all white image. I'm sure I'm missing many more.
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Post by james on Oct 7, 2023 13:22:41 GMT -5
At the end of FF 13 we see Red Ghost lose control of the Super Apes , so I’m just curious do we know how much or when he got them back under his control for the next 40 years?
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Post by Calidore on Oct 7, 2023 16:29:00 GMT -5
Also, why does the first Lobster Johnson omnibus not have the first mini-series in it? Chronology-related, I think. It's in the second LJ Omnibus.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Oct 7, 2023 17:22:35 GMT -5
Also, why does the first Lobster Johnson omnibus not have the first mini-series in it? Chronology-related, I think. It's in the second LJ Omnibus. I hate that. I like reading things in the order they were originally published.
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Post by Icctrombone on Oct 7, 2023 18:46:48 GMT -5
At the end of FF 13 we see Red Ghost lose control of the Super Apes , so I’m just curious do we know how much or when he got them back under his control for the next 40 years? He ditched the apes before issue 200 of the FF series.
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Post by Cei-U! on Oct 7, 2023 19:11:39 GMT -5
At the end of FF 13 we see Red Ghost lose control of the Super Apes , so I’m just curious do we know how much or when he got them back under his control for the next 40 years? He had them with him in his next appearance in FF #29, he was alone when he teamed up with Mole Man in Avengers #12, was back with them in FF Annual #3, claimed the Soviets euthanized them when he next popped up in Iron Man #15, made several appearances without them (Defenders #7-8, FF #197) before reuniting with them in Iron Man #82. I don't recall how or when he found out they were still alive but they stayed together through their last appearance (Amazing Spider-Man #255) before I stopped following Marvel.
Cei-U! I summon the monkey madness!
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