cahubble09

June 23, 2011 5:57 pm @mguy77  Publishers have systemic reasons for not keeping their mouths shut. Retailers make ordering decisions based on solicits. How would you feel as a retailer if you only ordered X copies of a key issue based on your store's historic buying patterns, the publisher didn't say anything, and you were left out in the cold when you sold out in 30 minutes?

June 23, 2011 5:46 pm @josh  I try to be really disciplined about what I buy. I give myself one book per publisher per month (of the top five or six). Frankly, I love Red Robin (and am looking forward to Batwoman) and X-Factor, but don't find much in the big two that really interests me all that much. With that said, I can be sucked in in a heartbeat by a promo or a snazzy cover. Many of the recent Batman and Robin covers have brought me back into that book. In the case of Johnny Storm, I complained about the fact that he isn't really dead (IMO)--but reading the story also compelled me to buy the issues back to where I had stopped reading it, because it really has become a pretty decent book. In the case of Spider-Man, I'm not interested, I'm not buying, and I'm not complaining either. I'm not suggesting that people do or don't have a right to complain. I'm just saying that when someone suggests a producer of any good or service "doesn't owe you anything" they're ignoring basic economic facts.

Do you think it is possible to break down the buyers into subgroups? How many of those picking the issue up are folks new to the book who may or may not stay with it (but who probably don't have much to say about the "stunt" itself), and how many are "collectors" who are buying the book because it is a "death" issue and for posterity (and who also may not have much to say about the story or the "stunt"), and how many are regular readers who are invested in the book and do perhaps feel put off by the turn the story as taken. I don't think you can blame folks in that latter category for continuing to read while complaining at the same time.

June 23, 2011 3:00 pm Anyone who is interested in selling a product knows they damn well owe the buyer something ... otherwise, THEIR PRODUCT WON'T SELL! Now, does this mean they have some sense of allegiance to a market so small it hardly registers in the GDP? Maybe, maybe not. But clearly, the publishers strive to be attuned to what the market (i.e. READERS OF COMICS, in this case) tend to buy. The horrid circular logic here is that if we're tired of being fed crap, then maybe we ought to stop reading crap ...

Oh ... wait ... looks like we've done just that ... if recent SALES TRENDS are a reliable indicator.

June 23, 2011 12:23 am That was an utterly perfect prelude to the finale ...

June 23, 2011 12:15 am The priest is using some kind of mind control ... gotta be ...

June 22, 2011 12:17 am Couldn't agree more. This is my potw every time it comes out. The story is complex and mysterious, populated by interesting characters and the artwork is AMAZING!

June 20, 2011 12:24 pm I felt let down by this book. It doesn't surprise me that a six year old would have the hero chopping villains' heads off. On the other hand, when I saw this was written by a six year old I said to myself, "hey! this would be a great book to read with my nine year old nephew!" Wrong idea. I could have found better entry books for someone at his age, and the level of violence in this just wasn't appropriate. The fact that something is written by a six year old doesn't excuse the publisher from placing age-appropriate guidances on the cover.

June 20, 2011 12:00 pm Yes ... I agree ... waaaaay too many characters. I haven't counted the actual number of characters they're pulling into this, but the fact that they're all Kirby properties gives it an immediate unity (and integrity?) that Project Superpowers never achieved. It is all in the storytelling so time will tell, but this one is certainly starting well.

June 19, 2011 1:56 am LOL!!! "With great power comes ..."

Back on track boys! 

June 19, 2011 1:40 am At this point, I'd also give the story a 5. I'd say it deserves it based on pulling off breaking the fourth wall, wouldn't you? I thought that was done well.

RE # of pulls ... I wonder if the mediocre Project Superpowers has made people leery of Dynamite projects involving resurrecting unused characters and ideas for today's readership. Alex Ross wrote PS and the drawing model was the same ... he did the covers and someone else used his sketches to draw the artwork. And this was definitely better artwork than in Project Superpowers.

The story in this also feels superior to Project Superpowers. There was no cohesion in Project Superpowers. Maybe it helps that every one of these characters (except Kirby and Bobbi and their parents) are Kirby properties. I'm going to stop comparing this to Project Superpowers beginning with issue #2. ;)