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Damn #1s
Nov 7, 2024 11:39:00 GMT -5
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Post by rich on Nov 7, 2024 11:39:00 GMT -5
How would you track which order to read comics in if they were all #1s? 🧐 They have dates on them...just like every other periodical has had forever, almost none of which were numbered. *picks two random comics out* Months are mentioned, but not years. So you'd like a better dating system to replace the numbering? Riiiiight oh. 😬 |
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Post by DubipR on Nov 7, 2024 11:40:39 GMT -5
How would you track which order to read comics in if they were all #1s? 🧐 They have dates on them...just like every other periodical has had forever, almost none of which were numbered. Exactly. Look at the indica or the corner box. As for Number 1 issues, honestly I don't care these days. I know people like the legacy numbering which is fine but it doesn't matter to me. Back in the speculative 90s, I was happy to have all these number ones as its the premiere issue but in the end, its just another relaunch to boost sales. Its a good tactic for the publishers to hype up their own projects and creators. Readers like firsts, whether they think they don't. Its a weird FOMO mentality but its something collectors dive into. As Slam_Bradley said, just make them good. |
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Nov 7, 2024 11:48:51 GMT -5
They have dates on them...just like every other periodical has had forever, almost none of which were numbered. *picks two random comics out* Months are mentioned, but not years. So you'd like a better dating system to replace the numbering? Riiiiight oh. 😬 The date is on the indicia. I point was...I don't care. I buy less than a handful of floppy funnybooks a decade. I read almost exclusively trades, hardcovers, etc. In the odd occasion that I want to read a long run and there's some question about what to read next (sooooo very rare) there's this little box in my pocket where I can find that info in 30 seconds or less. Numbers aren't stories. Numbers aren't art. They simply don't have any real meaning beyond collector fetishization, whether it be a longing for legacy numbers or a longing for #1s, because they're "important." All I long for is good stories. |
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Damn #1s
Nov 7, 2024 11:58:12 GMT -5
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Post by rich on Nov 7, 2024 11:58:12 GMT -5
*picks two random comics out* Months are mentioned, but not years. So you'd like a better dating system to replace the numbering? Riiiiight oh. 😬 The date is on the indicia. I point was...I don't care. I buy less than a handful of floppy funnybooks a decade. I read almost exclusively trades, hardcovers, etc. In the odd occasion that I want to read a long run and there's some question about what to read next (sooooo very rare) there's this little box in my pocket where I can find that info in 30 seconds or less. Numbers aren't stories. Numbers aren't art. They simply don't have any real meaning beyond collector fetishization, whether it be a longing for legacy numbers or a longing for #1s, because they're "important." All I long for is good stories. You're suggesting people should have to open a comic and look at the small print inside to work out the date? Seriously? What about the world full of slabbing enthusiasts that could not do that? I could see an argument for limited series if that's what they were, like Dark Horse did with Aliens. The big two, meanwhile, appear to end series for such reasons as: 1, Sales dropped. 2, The content wasn't great. 3, Famous artist A has told them he'd like to draw it but only if he gets the bonus for the #1 sales. 4, The current artist is jumping ship because he's been offered a new #1 to draw. 5, An editor noticed over 24 months had passed since the last relaunch. I've read the final issues of series from Marvel and DC that clearly weren't planned in advance to wrap up in favour of a relaunch. Abrupt endings, plot lines not tied up, ending with a whimper and not a bang- not even a vague 'conclusion' typically. |
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Nov 7, 2024 12:21:47 GMT -5
The date is on the indicia. I point was...I don't care. I buy less than a handful of floppy funnybooks a decade. I read almost exclusively trades, hardcovers, etc. In the odd occasion that I want to read a long run and there's some question about what to read next (sooooo very rare) there's this little box in my pocket where I can find that info in 30 seconds or less. Numbers aren't stories. Numbers aren't art. They simply don't have any real meaning beyond collector fetishization, whether it be a longing for legacy numbers or a longing for #1s, because they're "important." All I long for is good stories. You're suggesting people should have to open a comic and look at the small print inside to work out the date? Seriously? What about the world full of slabbing enthusiasts that could not do that? I could see an argument for limited series if that's what they were, like Dark Horse did with Aliens. The big two, meanwhile, appear to end series for such reasons as: 1, Sales dropped. 2, The content wasn't great. 3, Famous artist A has told them he'd like to draw it but only if he gets the bonus for the #1 sales. 4, The current artist is jumping ship because he's been offered a new #1 to draw. 5, An editor noticed over 24 months had passed since the last relaunch. I've read the final issues of series from Marvel and DC that clearly weren't planned in advance to wrap up in favour of a relaunch. Abrupt endings, plot lines not tied up, ending with a whimper and not a bang- not even a vague 'conclusion' typically. Wait...I'm supposed to care about slabbers? Talk about fetishizing funnybooks. There's no reason that Amazing Flubber-Man can't have Jan. 2025 on the cover just like actual real magazines. And then the next one can have Feb. 2025. Just like real magazines. But, again, I just don't care. They can have issue number 7256 on the cover, issue 3.14159265 or they can all be issue #1. It's a matter of utter indifference. Just make the story good. Because if the story isn't good I'm not going to read it anyway. |
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Post by rich on Nov 7, 2024 12:38:10 GMT -5
You're suggesting people should have to open a comic and look at the small print inside to work out the date? Seriously? What about the world full of slabbing enthusiasts that could not do that? I could see an argument for limited series if that's what they were, like Dark Horse did with Aliens. The big two, meanwhile, appear to end series for such reasons as: 1, Sales dropped. 2, The content wasn't great. 3, Famous artist A has told them he'd like to draw it but only if he gets the bonus for the #1 sales. 4, The current artist is jumping ship because he's been offered a new #1 to draw. 5, An editor noticed over 24 months had passed since the last relaunch. I've read the final issues of series from Marvel and DC that clearly weren't planned in advance to wrap up in favour of a relaunch. Abrupt endings, plot lines not tied up, ending with a whimper and not a bang- not even a vague 'conclusion' typically. Wait...I'm supposed to care about slabbers? Talk about fetishizing funnybooks. There's no reason that Amazing Flubber-Man can't have Jan. 2025 on the cover just like actual real magazines. And then the next one can have Feb. 2025. Just like real magazines. But, again, I just don't care. They can have issue number 7256 on the cover, issue 3.14159265 or they can all be issue #1. It's a matter of utter indifference. Just make the story good. Because if the story isn't good I'm not going to read it anyway. I should have used an emoji... I hate slabbing and the sad fact it's obliterated the hobby of collecting for readers, creating a weird trading market that's magnitudes more pricey than a few years ago. I guess now that slabbers put a steak through the heart of my hobby of collecting vintage comics to read, I shouldn't care that it's way more of a pain to search for a specific comic on eBay... but I do still buy newish stuff, and sellers don't know how to label well, and even if they did it would still mean wading through a lot of unhelpful search results. |
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Nov 7, 2024 12:49:57 GMT -5
Wait...I'm supposed to care about slabbers? Talk about fetishizing funnybooks. There's no reason that Amazing Flubber-Man can't have Jan. 2025 on the cover just like actual real magazines. And then the next one can have Feb. 2025. Just like real magazines. But, again, I just don't care. They can have issue number 7256 on the cover, issue 3.14159265 or they can all be issue #1. It's a matter of utter indifference. Just make the story good. Because if the story isn't good I'm not going to read it anyway. I should have used an emoji... I hate slabbing and the sad fact it's obliterated the hobby of collecting for readers, creating a weird trading market that's magnitudes more pricey than a few years ago. I guess now that slabbers put a steak through the heart of my hobby of collecting vintage comics to read, I shouldn't care that it's way more of a pain to search for a specific comic on eBay... but I do still buy newish stuff, and sellers don't know how to label well, and even if they did it would still mean wading through a lot of unhelpful search results. I recognize that I am far from the norm when it comes to funnybook fans over 50. But I'd be perfectly happy to see American funnybooks go closer to the album model of most European comics. Brubaker and Phillips seem to be coming fairly close to that releasing a new graphic novel every 3-4 months over the last few years. I love that. As far as monthly floppies...it's been 25 years since I bought them. |
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Damn #1s
Nov 7, 2024 13:38:09 GMT -5
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Post by rich on Nov 7, 2024 13:38:09 GMT -5
m]I recognize that I am far from the norm when it comes to funnybook fans over 50. But I'd be perfectly happy to see American funnybooks go closer to the album model of most European comics. Brubaker and Phillips seem to be coming fairly close to that releasing a new graphic novel every 3-4 months over the last few years. I love that. As far as monthly floppies...it's been 25 years since I bought them. I'd also be happy with the album format. In fact I agree it would be better. It's probably the inevitable next step too, as Marvel and DC seem happy enough to let monthlies die a miserable death, and are courting book shops over comic stores also. I think we've passed the point of 60s continuity (or any Marvel/DC continuity perhaps) being worth caring about any more too, as it's such a broken mess. Producing good, coherent stories with a single creative team and releasing them as albums would be great. It would age better than the hodge podge of monthlies stuffed into a trade. Coincidentally, Phillips is the only creator I've followed entirely for the past two decades, since I gave up on monthlies. As such I've effectively followed Brubaker too. I've enjoyed their releases, which I've almost exclusively purchased as hardcovers. Edit: My main point in this thread being: if they must maintain their overpriced monthlies, at least number them competently! (Of course, keeping track of everything easily would also require stopping damn variants, but I've had that rant before...) |
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Post by MRPs_Missives on Nov 7, 2024 13:43:45 GMT -5
As I have said many time before, I could care less about the trade dress of comics, I care what's between the covers, not the business info on the cover or in the indicia. I also posit that if more comic fans were more interested in the story than the trade dress, we would have gotten better comics over the years, but comic fans again and again, by speaking with their wallets and buying in higher numbers on issue 1 than issue 72 repeatedly for decades have reinforced that the trade dress is more important to them than the quality of story and art. And I will reiterate-Comic fans get the comics their buying patterns deserve. What people say online, in shops, at cons or in written correspondence matters much less than how they spend their money, and they way comic fans habitually spend their money undermines the credibility of any complaints about numbering or trade dress they make. Follow the money not the spoken outrage. And the money says #1 and event cross-overs work. Much less now than previously, but still better now than issues not #1 or events currently do. And as long as that stays true, #1 and renumbering will continue to be the go to business model comic publishers use.
And if monthly periodical comics were to go away, I wouldn't be sad. It's a dinosaur format and an inefficient model for storytelling in today's marketplace. Unfortunately the entire direct market's infrastructure is built on this inefficient model and would have to evolve or die if periodicals went the way of the dodo. But the comic market has always had to evolve and the comic markets in other places have demonstrated the monthly periodical is not the only successful path to market for stories told using words and pictures arranged in panels and pages.
-M
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Damn #1s
Nov 7, 2024 14:19:38 GMT -5
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Post by rich on Nov 7, 2024 14:19:38 GMT -5
And if monthly periodical comics were to go away, I wouldn't be sad. Well, it had to happen eventually... I can finally say I agree with you on something. |
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Post by commond on Nov 7, 2024 16:40:07 GMT -5
I gave up caring about this type of thing a long time ago. It's not like I'm going to read Detective Comics #1089, so why should I care if it's numbered Detective Comics #1089 or Detective Comics Vol. 5 #32. Won't make any difference to my day.
It would suck if you were collecting back issues, though.
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Nov 7, 2024 16:52:14 GMT -5
My collection are all digital downloads. I can rename a file into anything I want. Can just plop it into a folder or sub-folder. Only want to keep the collection in a reading-order sequence which is easy to do since I'm in total control
So this re-numbering does not bother me but it's just another sign how desperate some companies are to increase sales, no matter how small the bump or how short term it will last
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Damn #1s
Nov 7, 2024 18:17:29 GMT -5
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Post by rich on Nov 7, 2024 18:17:29 GMT -5
My collection are all digital downloads. I can rename a file into anything I want. Can just plop it into a folder or sub-folder. Only want to keep the collection in a reading-order sequence which is easy to do since I'm in total control So this re-numbering does not bother me but it's just another sign how desperate some companies are to increase sales, no matter how small the bump or how short term it will last I was surprised how many comics have been scanned and put online for free... they look a heap better than Marvel and DC's miserable recoloured versions... and they're free! (Better have good ad blockers though, to dodge the porno pop-ups) It's amazing they're still happy with their 3 issue bumps. Primarily re-boots serve to sell a ton of variants for the first issue. What a depressing market. It makes a few dollars in the short term, but surely it's just another problem that will speed up the pending end of monthly comics, if all they're relying on are middle aged men and over who like to collect more than read. |
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Post by kirby101 on Nov 7, 2024 18:43:22 GMT -5
At DC, what does it matter since they have so many different Batmen running around in different series. At Marvel, I stopped worrying about continuity by the ends of the 90s when the characters couldn't be the ones from the Silver Age, and yet they were. What War did Reed and Ben fight in now? I also read almost nothing from the big two now.
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jtrw2024
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Post by jtrw2024 on Nov 7, 2024 19:21:23 GMT -5
If they're not going to stick to original numbering, I'd at least like to see a different system that maybe incorporates the year, just to make it easy to figure out what you're buying when flipping through back issue bins. That way they could reboot every year. For example, the first issue of Avengers to come out in 2025 would be labeled 2025-1 (with the year on top in small letters, and the issue number a little bit larger underneath).
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