War Journal Entry number 851 - DC Comics has gone batshit crazy.
All right, let me preface this with the fact that a couple of months ago DC lowered the price on their regular, ongoing titles to $2.99 with heavy advertising of the self aggrandizing catchphrase of "Holding the line at $2.99." People assumed that DC had figured out something that was going over the heads of the folks at Marvel, that the fanbase couldn't handle $4 for a single comic and were cutting back.
Then came Flashpoint, DC's next big event crossover, to put the lie to this idea. The tentpole is a 5 issue miniseries at $3.99. Fine, a lot of minis are still at $3.99. And Booster Gold, an ongoing series I already collect, is also going to tie in to it.
So, for the month of May they list Flashpoint #1 and Booster Gold #44. Not bad.
Then we get to June - Flashpoint #2, Booster Gold #45, and then 20 brand new titles. Let me restate that, TWENTY new comics on top of what is already regularly coming out. And 16 are first issues of three issue miniseries while only four are one shots. At least they are all at $2.99. Still, for the month of June someone wanting to follow the entirety of Flashpoint would be spending $66.78 on top of what they are already buying. Seriously? Ridiculous. Seriously ridiculous.
This is all because some people cry about the series they follow being interrupted by company wide crossovers, so the companies have started putting out some crossovers as separate miniseries. The problem is that the people that enjoy crossovers end up having to buy double, the regular series and the tie-in miniseries. Of course, the companies like that and that's why it has gotten more and more prevalent. But 16 tie-in miniseries at once goes way beyond excessive, it's in fucking bat country.
I hope this crashes in their face. Unfortunately if this does burn them it will probably hurt comic book stores more.
If a crossover isn't so over the top I might go for most or even all of it. But with this much I'm not even going to try. No thanks. I'm picking up three of the miniseries, two that are written by Abnett & Lanning and one written by Peter Milligan featuring Shade, The Changing Man. At this point I might not even pick up the main miniseries which would make it the first major event from the big two that I've ignored in, crap, I can't even remember. Fifteen years? Twenty? Once I got serious with my collecting I always picked up the events so I was on top of what was going on.
Marvel's current crossover, Fear Itself, isn't a tiny affair either. But so far it is fairly evenly balanced between having its tie-ins within regular titles versus miniseries and one-shots. I'm not collecting all of it, but with a couple a titles I already collect having tie-in issues I'll be getting a greater proportion of it than I will of Flashpoint.
Then came Flashpoint, DC's next big event crossover, to put the lie to this idea. The tentpole is a 5 issue miniseries at $3.99. Fine, a lot of minis are still at $3.99. And Booster Gold, an ongoing series I already collect, is also going to tie in to it.
So, for the month of May they list Flashpoint #1 and Booster Gold #44. Not bad.
Then we get to June - Flashpoint #2, Booster Gold #45, and then 20 brand new titles. Let me restate that, TWENTY new comics on top of what is already regularly coming out. And 16 are first issues of three issue miniseries while only four are one shots. At least they are all at $2.99. Still, for the month of June someone wanting to follow the entirety of Flashpoint would be spending $66.78 on top of what they are already buying. Seriously? Ridiculous. Seriously ridiculous.
This is all because some people cry about the series they follow being interrupted by company wide crossovers, so the companies have started putting out some crossovers as separate miniseries. The problem is that the people that enjoy crossovers end up having to buy double, the regular series and the tie-in miniseries. Of course, the companies like that and that's why it has gotten more and more prevalent. But 16 tie-in miniseries at once goes way beyond excessive, it's in fucking bat country.
I hope this crashes in their face. Unfortunately if this does burn them it will probably hurt comic book stores more.
If a crossover isn't so over the top I might go for most or even all of it. But with this much I'm not even going to try. No thanks. I'm picking up three of the miniseries, two that are written by Abnett & Lanning and one written by Peter Milligan featuring Shade, The Changing Man. At this point I might not even pick up the main miniseries which would make it the first major event from the big two that I've ignored in, crap, I can't even remember. Fifteen years? Twenty? Once I got serious with my collecting I always picked up the events so I was on top of what was going on.
Marvel's current crossover, Fear Itself, isn't a tiny affair either. But so far it is fairly evenly balanced between having its tie-ins within regular titles versus miniseries and one-shots. I'm not collecting all of it, but with a couple a titles I already collect having tie-in issues I'll be getting a greater proportion of it than I will of Flashpoint.