Phil can give a more detailed analysis, but I would hazard that DC's 52 has had an adverse effect on sales and a true reflection on how AF is doing will not been seen before November.
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Phil can give a more detailed analysis, but I would hazard that DC's 52 has had an adverse effect on sales and a true reflection on how AF is doing will not been seen before November.
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It didnt even make the top 100? not good.
i know phil even said after augusts sales that dc's launch is going to push everything down. he was right. i fully expect alpha to be right behind x-factor (which is no. 100) and again, like phil the prophet stated, the main thing is going to be the number sold, as long as it keeps it readership around the same level, it should be good. the reason that second tier books like x-factor and thunderbolts have stuck around is they have a niche and a consistent sales level.
at least, i hope. :(
Yeah, a lot of people are buying DC's 52 who wouldn't have normally. That's gotta ruin the bell curve.
- Le Messor
"If a million people do a dumb thing, it's still a dumb thing."
Yeah, the placement is pretty much null & void this month, and for the next few possibly.
Sales figures will count and they should be out via ICv2's Top 300 soon, or possibly later depending on NYCC.
The thing to look at though is that all DC #1's were returnable, meaning retailers could take a chance on over-ordering and be able to return any unsold units for credit, rather than have them mounting up as dollar-bin territory so the numbers are phantom numbers, as will the next few be with reprints and variants included.
The fact that #4's dropped below X-Factor is not a good sign though.
Looks like the Wolverine appearance can't come quick enough! *sighs*
Doesn't matter to me where Alpha Flight lands on the list. I know it's completely awesome.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Le Messor
More people buy #1's than any other books, most of them don't even stick it out through the whole series. Back in the 90's books like Deathlok #1 would out sell big hitters just because of the gimik of being a first issue and the "collectors" would run out and but 20 copies of these books so that they could sell at a later point in time and hope to make a killing. But the sad truth to it is that these books are worthless if the series dose not continue, or the fact that there have been so many printed and that there are about 500 people who are thinking the same thing that they are.
I think we should convince Marvel to number each and every issue of Alpha Flight, "Issue # 1".Quote:
Originally Posted by Alpha Rider
I'm expecting a time when that will be standard for every comic.Quote:
Originally Posted by Flightpath07
- Le Messor
"If a system doesn't have to be reliable, it can do anything else."
That's a lot of # 1s! If I thought that # 1s were really, really special these days, that would be an awful lot of comic goodness.
I can only afford (and I am only interested in) Alpha Flight, though. So, if the stories are good and the artwork is good and the story-telling is excellent, Alpha Flight will be well worth the effort.
__________________________________________________ _________________________
"Not as frustrated, not as disgruntled, old-school Al-Fan"...it's getting closer and closer to that change...
That could get abie confusing.Quote:
Originally Posted by Flightpath07
Customer "I'd like to buy Alpha Flight #1 Pleasae"
Store owner "eeerrr, which one? #1 vol 1, vol 2, vol 3, vol 4, or #1 from this month, or #1 from last month?"
Customer "I don't know? Which one is the real #1?"
Store owner "Well, vol 1 is considered to be the true #1, but due to vol 3 #12 they went back in time and brought them in to the present, So maybe vol 4 #1 is the real #1?"
Customer "Well which one dose it have when Guardian dies in?"
Store owner "Well he did die in vol 1 #12, but came back in #25 vol 1 but it was turned out to be a fake, but then his wife heather took the name Guardian, but she never died, and the original Guardian came back in #88 vol 1 but died again in #100 vol 1, but came back again in #129 vol 1. There was a clone of the original Guardian in vol 2, but he died, then the original Guardian along with his wife who is the second Guardian and with most of Alpha Flight died in the new Avengers, but the came back."
Customer "...oh, What did I come here for again?"
Store Owner " I don't know...why am I here again?"
Comics are already like that. Ever tried buying the New Mutants issues in the Appearances threads?Quote:
Originally Posted by Alpha Rider
- Le Messor
"If a turtle doesn't have a shell, is he homeless or naked?"
Alpha Rider, that was hysterical :) :) :) Thanks for the huge LOL!!!
True enough, but we don't need a string of #1s every month for the same title every month. And don't get me started on Ghost Rider. Wow that thing will make X-men seem like Arche... Oh wait he's gone down that route too.Quote:
Originally Posted by Le Messor
Yeah, I agree. I don't think we need all the #1s we already have.Quote:
Originally Posted by Alpha Rider
But I've gotta say, in thinking about this thread - what DC did? It worked. It sold comics.
They haven't forgotten.
They have, however, forgotten what keeps people reading!
Route 666?Quote:
Originally Posted by Alpha Rider
I don't know what you were going for with Arche--?
- Le Messor
"If a woman has to choose between catching a fly ball and saving an infant's life, she will choose to save the infant's life without even considering if there are men on base."
~ Dave Barry
But then we would never have any of the nearly-as-popular and almost-not-quite-as-lucrative Issue 2's!Quote:
I don't think we need all the #1s we already have.
We could make them all #2s instead.
Should I make a scatalogical joke here?
... nah.
- Le Messor
"If all else fails, immortality can always be assured by spectacular error."
~ John Kenneth Galbraith
I've given this topic some thought, and I think I've come up with a solution that might make a majority of people happy (as if that's possible!)
Every year of a title will be a "season", with each season being issue #'s 1-12 (or however many issues come out that year.
Then next to the season #whatever, there can be a "shadow number" of how many total issues of that title there have actually been (like they did around 2004).
So that would make the latest issue of Alpha Flight (off the top of my head, so I may be off a bit) "Season 2011, #4, #166.
The companies get a yearly #1 boost and the people (like me) who actually like the longevity get their original numbering.
Okay...now everyone tear it apart....go!
There were times when The Avengers (for example) had both their new and old numbering going at the same time.
I think it worked.
Wait, was I supposed to tear it apart?
Sorry.
- Le Messor
"If all men were brothers, would you want one to marry your sister?"
It's a tough one.
Having new #1's makes sense, and not just from a speculative perspective as a #1 is a good jumping on point for new readers, either completely new to the medium or lapsed.
The Season method should work well in a greater sense outside of the comics community, but the thing with seasons that stops them being confusing is that there's naturally a season break after the last episode where comics are a constant medium, churning out month after month.
For a season method to work without confusing would require gaps in the publishing schedule.
Although I do think it's a wiser way to go about things tan the way they are now.
DC's current experiment is an odd one too as it's a partial reboot in places, ignoring continuity whereas not ignoring it in others.
In short; comics are a strange beast.
All comic books have gone to hell. And Archie where the continutity is very simple as they are a bunch of kids who go to school in Riverdale, (Still?) and it's probably not too long before a book as innocent as that will eventully fall to the grips of corpertization if it already haven't.Quote:
Originally Posted by Le Messor
Always gots to be difficult, dontcha? lolQuote:
I think it worked.
Wait, was I supposed to tear it apart?
I agree; this works for me, too!
So, confusion not a problem then? :-sQuote:
Originally Posted by Phil
I don't think a gap in the schedule would be required, though it might help.
Then again, if you give each 'season' a story arc (or something), you can make the seasons flow unbroken from stories.
Which would be great for the trades, too.
So, in conclusion, don't force-feed your kids broccoli.
I wondered if you were going for Archie.Quote:
Originally Posted by Alpha Rider
I'm sure it has already, but I don't read it so I don't know.
- Le Messor
"If all the world's a stage I want better lighting, script approval, and a percentage of the gross."
~ Anonymous
I don't really know what the companies should do about excessive # 1s or reboots or resets or whatever it is that they're doing. I just wonder, in this economy, with 52(?) new/restarted titles, how long will it be before there is a significant drop-off?
Why not start at 0, the π/4, π/2, 3π/4...
That's a great idea! Make each issue number an increasingly complicated math equation. If a kid (or even an adult) wants to know what fershlugginer number issue they have, they'll have to learn math! Edutainment!Quote:
Originally Posted by Mokole
Take that, Chinese!!
We could number them using the binary system, using the 8 bit computer system so the number box wouldn't get to big.
How about reverse numerical order? Starts off the series at number one million, then work your way backwards. That way, the writers would always know exactly how many issues they have left to wrap up any dangling plot lines.
They did that with 52. Starting at 52.Quote:
Originally Posted by Flightpath07
... didn't they?
- Le Messor
"If at first the idea is not absurd, then there is no hope for it."
~ Albert Einstein
Not sure. Truth to tell, up until a couple of weeks ago, DC hadn't piqued my interest in a few years.Quote:
They did that with 52. Starting at 52.
... didn't they?
Uh...52 was DC, right?
Yep.Quote:
Originally Posted by Flightpath07
A lot of people really liked it, too - you may want to look into it.
I'm not a fan, but I'm not sure the things that make me dislike it would be as much of a problem for you.
If you're into slasher horror and superheroes, and don't mind when they get mixed up, you might not mind.
And if you don't live in Australia (or even one guy I know who does) and don't know much about animals in general, it might not be a wallbanger.
(I don't know if two of those things apply to you or not.)
- Le Messor
"If God lived on earth, people would break his windows."
~ Jewish Proverb
It was actually Countdown to Final Crisis that started with #52 and well, counted down to #1.Quote:
Originally Posted by Le Messor
I am sad to say I stuck with that...less than bad year long series.
It was bad.
Very bad.
And I am very lenient in my criticisms of comic.
I've heard nothing but bad about Countdown.
I heard something good about it! "It's done."
That is good!