Image Comics Thread

[Flightpath07]

Segregation isn't healthy.

I agree.

But which comes first (devil's advocate, here), the chicken or the egg? Do LCS's put Marvel and DC separate from other companies because those are the two that sell best, or do they sell best because they are constantly being separated in the shops?

Which I think is what you are saying. If there weren't that segregation, then would more people be attracted to more independent-type comic titles?

[Le Messor]

it also featured a great letter by some strange fellow from Australia! (Mik,... Incidentally, was it reprinted in the comic with or without editing and cutting?)

It was edited. They didn't just cut things out, but they rephrased at least the first line of it.
But I don't mind. 'cept that first line - I like the way I put it better:
from memory:
as written:
'...people who hate censorship and tolerate all points of view. They never publish letters that disagree with them.'
as published:
'...people who hate censorship and tolerate all points of view, but never publish letters that disagree with them.'

It's a tiny change, but I think my way was funnier!

I'm reprinting this page below. Have a read, and see if his words still hold true today...

Well, I wouldn't say 'still true' so much as 'far truer now than ever'... but things haven't changed that much in the last four years.

As with Spawn, Youngblood, Stormwatch etc... again, let's not make image out to be angels and Marvel/DC to be devils.

Yeah, that's a huge part of why so little of their stuff appealed to me.

Just as a matter of interest; anyone reading this - does your LCS split new weekly comics up into New Marvel, New DC, New Image, New indie on the shelf, or just New comics A-Z?

I have one of each. I prefer the A-Z just for reasons of trying to find stuff! alone. Especially trolling for back issues; do I have to know the name of every publisher who's ever done a Star Trek comic?
Oh, btw, the ones who segregate do a lot more than just DC / Marvel / Image / Indie... many, many publishers are split up.

Fair enough. But, I think this goes back to the comment by Mr. Larsen that Even more than that, I have been feeling lately that I am hanging onto Big-Two titles, merely because the familiar is easier than change.

Kind of true of me, too. But more I'm hanging on on principal; I don't want to let go.
That said, there are a few good titles from Marvel at the mo'.

I also like cheese. And cake. And cheesecake. Strangely enough, even though I like cats, and pancakes, I don't care for cat pancakes.

Me, too!
Though the cat pancakes one is a huge problem I'm finding with comics (I call it 'bacon-flavoured ice cream'). They think 'people like our ice cream and bacon is very popular right now. You know what people will love? Bacon-flavoured ice cream!' and they spread bacon flavouring throughout everything they produce, including their ice cream, never quite realising that combining two good things can make something abysmal.

People can always opt out of crossovers though!
No-one is forced by gunpoint to buy them - this is what i don't get.

Yeah, I don't get that either. Why don't they force people to buy them at gunpoint?

Actually, I think Larsen's essay hit closer to the point than that. Note the qualifier that he either keeps using or I'm making up -
people have to buy the crossovers to follow the comic they're reading. And that's the problem. If I want to follow one monthly comic, I have to buy 100 issues a year to do it. If I don't buy the crossover, I lose track of the one I want to read.

And sometimes, it's better that way.

But do I want my superhero comics to constantly break new ground?

I know I don't. And sometimes the breaking of new ground has only been for the worse. *coughwatchmencough*

Still, I'd rather have them break new ground than break wind.

Sorry, i didn't make that very clear. I was meaning i'm tired of gimmicks, and phrases like "everything changes" and "nothing will ever be the same" and "brand new", when the product basically stays the same. I realize that is marketing and advertising, and i know it works, but i still hate it. I want the meat and potatoes, i want the innards of the comic to be the thing that thrills me, the story, the art

Me, too.
I think most of us feel that way... which is why comics are haemerraging (sp?) readers.

Do LCS's put Marvel and DC separate from other companies because those are the two that sell best, or do they sell best because they are constantly being separated in the shops?

I don't know if it affects sales or not. In the shop that does do that, they have one new-comics shelf, and it's not very wide (4-5m?) so it doesn't make it any harder for people to reach the comics... just to find the ones they want.

~ Le Messor
"It is easier to run down a hill than up one."