America’s Got Powers – Double Sized for $2.99

America's Got Powers

We’ve know that coming this April from Image Comics is America’s Got Powers from Jonathan Ross and Bryan Hitch. But what we just found out is that the fist issue will feature 38 pages of story for just $2.99.  In this day and age of 20 page comic storys for $2.99, or even $3.99 sometimes, Ross and Hitch are definitely out to provide value for your dollar.

So much so, that yesterday they issued the below statement outlining their thinking around the $2.99 price and double size approach to the first issue.  In addition, Bryan Hitch provided a sneak peek at the pencils of America’s Got Powers. If one were to calculate the rubble to dollars ratio, we’re definitely getting our money’s worth.

Here’s the statement from Bryan Hitch and the pencils preview below:

Since I started drawing Ultimates issue one in late 2001, I may have only delivered two or three 22 page books. I’ve always pushed the story either with additional visual material to underscore what’s been written or to pump action to the level we all wanted but would never have had the room for. So I just drew it the way it felt right to do so.

Go count the pages in each issue of Ultimates, Captan America: Reborn or FF. Not many 22 page issues. I got hell of course but my deal has always been that giving the story the best work it can have is the only deal that matters. I even did some pages for free to get them in the issues.

We have taken stuff out of AMERICA’S GOT POWERSissue one, moved it around and walked around the room whistling. It should have been a 22 page first issue but there were things we felt had to be there and those scenes needed to breath. The story needed to be told properly; it ALWAYS does. So we put it back in and told the story the way we wanted to. Thirty-eight pages of it!

Normally a book this size would be at least $3.99 but that didn’t seem fair to us. It was our decision to make the first issue this big and it’s not right to ask you guys to pay extra for it. We are proud of AMERICA’S GOT POWERS, insanely proud and we want to pass that on.

Big time.

We’re just another small business like many of the retailers and we believe completely in the story we’re trying to tell so instead of putting out a 20 page issue and asking you to pay $3.99 for it, we’re giving you nearly DOUBLE that for a dollar less.

It’s had a knock-on effect though. Initially we had intended to release issues one and two in the same month, a sort of double whammy to kick-start the book. We’ve changed that plan slightly as most of that material is now in a single 38-page issue rather than two separate books.

As a result issue two will move backwards slightly into May, issue three into June etc so our team doesn’t kill themselves providing this much awesome in a single month

So we ARE still releasing what we intended to in April; the same TWO ISSUES of story but now it’s in one book and only the price of a single. We’re giving you what we said we would but at half the price.

$2.99

Boom.

And, to emphasize that boom, here’s a sneak peek at a big boom in a cool two pager from the first massive double-sized issue of AMERICA’S GOT POWERS.

Did we mention it was 38 pages at $2.99? It’s also worth mentioning that we can’t guarantee any of the other issues won’t exceed 20 pages either. Though if they do, they’ll never exceed $2.99

Enjoy the pencils sneak peek. Over the next few days, we’re going to properly introduce you to our characters and the amazing world they live in along with loads of pencils and inks from the first issue to get you excited.

– Jonathan and Bryan

Comments

  1. I find the concept (or at least the title) amusing, so I’m somewhat interested, but I found Turf to be unreadably dense. I’ll keep an eye out for the trade if I hear good things.

    This press release reads like it was written by a graduate of the Mark Millar School of Self-Promotion. Hitch’s pencils look good, and that is indeed a lot of pages for the money, but I’m not sure it’s worthy of this degree of back-patting. Boom?

  2. Good on them for doing this for the fans and consumers. Hopefully, the gamble will pay off.

    Looking at that penciled two page spread, I’m reminded of how great I used to think Hitch was as I haven’t been a big fan of his Marvel work of late. I’m hoping they’ve got a really solid inking and coloring team to make it all look great. Also, I hope he can keep up with the schedule of a monthly book.

  3. this is a great way to launch a new series. As a consumer, i love seeing this, but always get let down in the following months when its back to business as usual.(aka 22 pages for $3 and $4) I hope they can find a way to deliver extra value every month…seems like they are thinking that way.

    the concept sounds cool. i’ll check it out.

  4. Excellent, I had no interest before reading this. Yes it’s PR, but it’s good PR. Sold.

  5. Art looks great. I’m hoping Ross will show off some new found editing skills.

  6. I’m really looking forward to this!
    I myself have never been a big Hitch fan, but the story sounds really interesting.