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Post by Deleted on Dec 29, 2019 15:25:22 GMT -5
Couldn't agree more:
I do miss the days of (mostly) surprises. Sure, the comic you read regularly would inform you of next month's contents ("Come back next month to see Thor battle Juggernaut!"). But there were surprises. Good ones. Before previews and the like, I might walk into a newsagents and see a comic cover with "Unexpected guest villain of the year inside!" or something like that.
I remember as a kid picking up an X-Men comic (a title I never bought regularly) and seeing the Mandarin on the front. Or Ultron on the cover of Daredevil.
Knowing a lot in advance - about anything - spoils things. Right now, I am watching Star Trek Discovery on Netflix (first season). I have purposefully avoided any news articles about it. I haven't looked on Wikipedia or Googled anything. Other than the premise of the show, I know nothing. So what is occurring in each episode has been a genuine surprise. Far more satisfying than if a magazine had revealed, years ago, that Paramount and Disney had done a deal to allow Vader to show up in an episode so a Vulcan could put the Vulcan nerve pinch on him. If that's gonna happen (yes, please), then I want it to be a surprise.
Same with anything. I no longer subscribe to the Wrestling Observer. I don't want to know that so-and-so is negotiating with WWE - and may be coming in for a world title run. I want to be surprised like I was as a kid.
So maybe my new year's resolution will be to avoid, as best as I can, all comic news and not pick up previews. Let's see where this journey takes me.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 29, 2019 17:40:29 GMT -5
So maybe my new year's resolution will be to avoid, as best as I can, all comic news and not pick up previews. Let's see where this journey takes me. The downside of that of course, is that everything is pre-ordered and print runs are set to pre-orders, so there's no guarantee a shop will order enough to sell beyond pre-orders, so if you don't know what's coming, you may never be able to see a copy of it to buy. -M |
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Post by Deleted on Dec 29, 2019 18:07:39 GMT -5
I know. But let me have my dreams, kind sir.  |
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Post by Deleted on Dec 29, 2019 18:55:54 GMT -5
I know. But let me have my dreams, kind sir. The non-returnable basis of the direct market requires the solicits and previews in order for it to function. The days Slott is recalling came when books were overprinted and shipped returnable to newsstands, but even as early as the late 70s, solicits and previews were appearing in zines for the direct market. By the 80s things like the Amazing Heroes Previews Specials were staples, Marvel was producing Marvel Age etc. The days Slott is recalling is 40+ years in the past, so comic writers have been dealing with it for 2 generations now. -M |
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Post by rberman on Dec 29, 2019 19:02:16 GMT -5
Basically this is a problem that arises in a gasping distribution system that has outlived its success and will not survive the current generation of Wednesday Warriors.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 30, 2019 7:27:53 GMT -5
Basically this is a problem that arises in a gasping distribution system that has outlived its success and will not survive the current generation of Wednesday Warriors. It is hard to imagine a future at times. I know you can't deal with the horse after it has bolted, but one can dream (mrp, let me have my dreams please!). I was chatting with someone recently about the cost of comics. They are expensive if you're only getting one-sixth of a story. A comic here is nearly four quid. I think it's about £3.35. That's just over twenty quid for six issues. Yet if I wait for the trade, that can be between twelve and fifteen quid. Now, yes, I will buy monthly comics. Star Trek: The Q Conflict was intriguing enough for me to buy the monthly issues. Same with the crossover between Star Trek: TAS and Transformers. But although some DC and Marvel stories are intriguing, and I have bought monthly issues, as someone whose income fluctuates, it's better for me to wait for the trade. And for £12-15, I get the full story. Maybe it's just my social circle, but as far as those who read comics are concerned, I am coming across more and more who don't want to play the monthly comic "game". Mainly for price. And some stories are dragged out. No-one can deny the 60s Galactus story needed 3 issues, but methinks today it'd 'require' ten or eleven issues with dozens of tie-ins and a zero issue to build it up. All so a trade can be released. One reason I enjoyed Scooby-Doo Team-Up, other than for the premise, is that it told standalone tales. Each issue felt like value for money. But an issue of talking heads, one-sixth of a story, does not feel like a good use of my £3+. |
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Post by rberman on Dec 30, 2019 8:18:14 GMT -5
Basically this is a problem that arises in a gasping distribution system that has outlived its success and will not survive the current generation of Wednesday Warriors. Now, yes, I will buy monthly comics. Star Trek: The Q Conflict was intriguing enough for me to buy the monthly issues. Same with the crossover between Star Trek: TAS and Transformers. But although some DC and Marvel stories are intriguing, and I have bought monthly issues, as someone whose income fluctuates, it's better for me to wait for the trade. And for £12-15, I get the full story. Maybe it's just my social circle, but as far as those who read comics are concerned, I am coming across more and more who don't want to play the monthly comic "game". Mainly for price. And some stories are dragged out. No-one can deny the 60s Galactus story needed 3 issues, but methinks today it'd 'require' ten or eleven issues with dozens of tie-ins and a zero issue to build it up. All so a trade can be released. I see it as a different kind of value. The old done-in-one stories were great for introducing a vast array of ideas into the shared universe quickly, but at a lower level of detail, and with less focus on character. Your Galactus example is more accurate than you may know; have you read Ultimate Galactus? It does indeed unfold the story at a much more leisurely pace, with different characters getting different pieces of the puzzle. |
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Post by Deleted on Dec 30, 2019 8:35:50 GMT -5
I haven't read "Ultimate Galactus", no. Would you say it's worth a shot?
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Post by rberman on Dec 30, 2019 8:40:03 GMT -5
I haven't read "Ultimate Galactus", no. Would you say it's worth a shot? I enjoyed it. I've thought about doing a review thread on it but haven't gotten around to it. |
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Post by berkley on Dec 31, 2019 0:35:18 GMT -5
I don't read the kind of Marvel/DC monthly comics that I imagine Slott is talking about but I sympathise with his POV completely. I understand Mrp's point - the same system has been in place for so long, writers who take on work for those companies should have adapted accordingly by now - but just because a bad industry practice has been in place for a long time doesn't mean writers shouldn't express their dislike for it, especially when backed up by concrete reasons, as Slott does here.
I suppose it's somewhat analogous to the ever more elaborate movie trailers we seem to be inundated with for any big-budget release. I know myself, with anything I'm kind of 50/50 on seeing, I often don't bother watching the actual film because I come away from the trailer feeling like I know the basic plot-line and have probably already seen all the good parts.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Jan 3, 2020 8:49:56 GMT -5
I get Slott griping about it, but as a reader, it's pretty easy if you don't like it, just don't look at previews or comic-based media.
Also, I disagree about covers spoiling a story, more often than not the cover is a simple pin up (and often variants that have whatever the monthly variant theme are there for the buying as well) and have nothing to do with the content inside.
IN the old days covers were there to grab your attention on the newstand, and often showed false spoilers or out of context stuff. Now, they're just a feature of that artist drawing it IMO.
I totally agree about solicits though.. you can often figure out what's going on in a series without ever buying a book (probably bad for Marvel and DC). I get why they have to do it, but I think the system worked better in the pre-internet days where the solicits mostly just went to stores.
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Post by tonebone on Jan 13, 2021 11:16:50 GMT -5
the only two things getting in the way of Dan Slott's storytelling are
1. Twitter
2. Dan Slott
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Post by mikelmidnight on Jan 13, 2021 12:28:03 GMT -5
I suppose it's somewhat analogous to the ever more elaborate movie trailers we seem to be inundated with for any big-budget release. I know myself, with anything I'm kind of 50/50 on seeing, I often don't bother watching the actual film because I come away from the trailer feeling like I know the basic plot-line and have probably already seen all the good parts.
That's a peeve of mine as well. I like to have enough of a sense to be intrigued, but if I know the whole plot I am far more likely to not even bother watching the film. Does anyone actually like these trailers?
The worst I ever saw was the trailer for the film Comic Book Villains, which so spoiled the climax of the film that it made watching it completely irrelevant.
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Post by berkley on Jan 14, 2021 0:24:46 GMT -5
I suppose it's somewhat analogous to the ever more elaborate movie trailers we seem to be inundated with for any big-budget release. I know myself, with anything I'm kind of 50/50 on seeing, I often don't bother watching the actual film because I come away from the trailer feeling like I know the basic plot-line and have probably already seen all the good parts.
That's a peeve of mine as well. I like to have enough of a sense to be intrigued, but if I know the whole plot I am far more likely to not even bother watching the film. Does anyone actually like these trailers?
The worst I ever saw was the trailer for the film Comic Book Villains, which so spoiled the climax of the film that it made watching it completely irrelevant.
OTOH, I liked the the trailer to 300 in fact, it was so good that it almost worked as a short film on its own, one that the full-length feature failed to live up to, IMO.
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Jan 14, 2021 9:54:17 GMT -5
That's a peeve of mine as well. I like to have enough of a sense to be intrigued, but if I know the whole plot I am far more likely to not even bother watching the film. Does anyone actually like these trailers?
The worst I ever saw was the trailer for the film Comic Book Villains, which so spoiled the climax of the film that it made watching it completely irrelevant.
OTOH, I liked the the trailer to 300 in fact, it was so good that it almost worked as a short film on its own, one that the full-length feature failed to live up to, IMO.
Most James Bond trailers had the same effect on me for the past 30 years! I also loved the first Troy teaser much more than I liked the movie. (Trailer-making is an art, I would say!) |
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