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- one diverse comic book nation: Revisiting The All-New Atom
Um ... wow. I mean ... wow.
One wonders if perhaps, just perhaps, when a creator gets tempted to respond at this level, they should maybe step away from the blogosphere for a day or ten. I myself don't read Atom, or any mainline DC except for All Star Superman and Superman Confidential, so I don't quite have anything invested in this specific issue. However, I can't imagine that Gail Simone did herself any good responding in this way and at this level. If people wanted to articulate their concerns directly to her, that would be one thing, but this public discussion may not have been wise.
I do wonder if she was taking this sort of flack when she was doing her miniseries Matador; with a Cuban-American lead and family. I don't remember hearing about it, but then, as a miniseries on Wildstorm, it would simply never have been read by as many people. And I wonder if Kurt Busiek is getting this sort of flack now, with Astro City: The Dark Age having both leads be Black when he himself isn't. The race is somewhat relevant there ... but only somewhat.
For what it's worth, despite, as she puts it, her red hair and pale skin, she seems to be doing a perfectly fine job with the Black sheriff and her sister in Welcome to Tranquility, but then, their race simply isn't any sort of issue in the story at the moment.
- The Beat: Finding a safe place for THE BOYS
- Comic Book Commentary: Let's Stop Blaming Retailers, and Start Blaming Publishers
Hmm. Apparently, DC cancelled Wildstorm's The Boys over Matters Of Taste -- the fact that The Boys had none. Exuberantly and by design. Seriously, what on earth did DC think they'd be getting with this title? The pitch had to be pretty clear on where they were headed. (Mind, the hyperviolent drugged-out superhero orgy was probably rather startling, what with the major drug use and the bleeding vaginas and the gay blowjobs and ... well, let's just say that it was probably a bit surprising to DC at times.) At least DC is allowing them to shop the title elsewhere, even letting Robertson be non-exclusive for that one creator owned title. I hope, for their sake, that they wind up at Marvel Icon/Max (for a theoretically deceased imprint, Max doesn't seem to have ever quite gone dormant). Winding up at Marvel will likely be the only way for them to sustain the sales level; if they don't mind selling maybe a third less, then perhaps IDW or Avatar (especially Avatar) would be the place to be; for all that Image and Dark Horse can be just as edgy and sexy and violent as anything else, I think this title might make them ... twitch, just a little, at times.
That said, The Beat pretty much undermines its refutation of the point that others are, in fact, not making. Other people are saying that The Boys will lose sales when it moves, not simply because it's moving from one publisher to another (which is the point that The Beat is refuting), but because there are a fair number of retailers that are only DC/Marvel shops, or who won't buy much in other labels because they get a much bigger discount from DC and Marvel. If it moves to, say, Image or Dark Horse or IDW or Avatar, there are places where it simply won't be sold that it was sold before. The two titles they cite only reinforce that point. Powers moved from Image to Marvel Icon, and sales increased, almost certainly in part because it was now in shops that didn't sell Image at all. Fallen Angel moved from DC Universe to IDW and lost a third of its audience. Yes, of course it still sells, and I'd think that the trades -- given that trades appear in bookstore markets and on Amazon as well as in comic stores -- sell quite well indeed. That doesn't change the fact that the monthly simply doesn't get seen in as many places.
- one diverse comic book nation: Revisiting The All-New Atom
Um ... wow. I mean ... wow.
One wonders if perhaps, just perhaps, when a creator gets tempted to respond at this level, they should maybe step away from the blogosphere for a day or ten. I myself don't read Atom, or any mainline DC except for All Star Superman and Superman Confidential, so I don't quite have anything invested in this specific issue. However, I can't imagine that Gail Simone did herself any good responding in this way and at this level. If people wanted to articulate their concerns directly to her, that would be one thing, but this public discussion may not have been wise.
I do wonder if she was taking this sort of flack when she was doing her miniseries Matador; with a Cuban-American lead and family. I don't remember hearing about it, but then, as a miniseries on Wildstorm, it would simply never have been read by as many people. And I wonder if Kurt Busiek is getting this sort of flack now, with Astro City: The Dark Age having both leads be Black when he himself isn't. The race is somewhat relevant there ... but only somewhat.
For what it's worth, despite, as she puts it, her red hair and pale skin, she seems to be doing a perfectly fine job with the Black sheriff and her sister in Welcome to Tranquility, but then, their race simply isn't any sort of issue in the story at the moment.
- The Beat: Finding a safe place for THE BOYS
- Comic Book Commentary: Let's Stop Blaming Retailers, and Start Blaming Publishers
Hmm. Apparently, DC cancelled Wildstorm's The Boys over Matters Of Taste -- the fact that The Boys had none. Exuberantly and by design. Seriously, what on earth did DC think they'd be getting with this title? The pitch had to be pretty clear on where they were headed. (Mind, the hyperviolent drugged-out superhero orgy was probably rather startling, what with the major drug use and the bleeding vaginas and the gay blowjobs and ... well, let's just say that it was probably a bit surprising to DC at times.) At least DC is allowing them to shop the title elsewhere, even letting Robertson be non-exclusive for that one creator owned title. I hope, for their sake, that they wind up at Marvel Icon/Max (for a theoretically deceased imprint, Max doesn't seem to have ever quite gone dormant). Winding up at Marvel will likely be the only way for them to sustain the sales level; if they don't mind selling maybe a third less, then perhaps IDW or Avatar (especially Avatar) would be the place to be; for all that Image and Dark Horse can be just as edgy and sexy and violent as anything else, I think this title might make them ... twitch, just a little, at times.
That said, The Beat pretty much undermines its refutation of the point that others are, in fact, not making. Other people are saying that The Boys will lose sales when it moves, not simply because it's moving from one publisher to another (which is the point that The Beat is refuting), but because there are a fair number of retailers that are only DC/Marvel shops, or who won't buy much in other labels because they get a much bigger discount from DC and Marvel. If it moves to, say, Image or Dark Horse or IDW or Avatar, there are places where it simply won't be sold that it was sold before. The two titles they cite only reinforce that point. Powers moved from Image to Marvel Icon, and sales increased, almost certainly in part because it was now in shops that didn't sell Image at all. Fallen Angel moved from DC Universe to IDW and lost a third of its audience. Yes, of course it still sells, and I'd think that the trades -- given that trades appear in bookstore markets and on Amazon as well as in comic stores -- sell quite well indeed. That doesn't change the fact that the monthly simply doesn't get seen in as many places.