The Ides of Mike.
I’ve been kinda sorta occupied lately, reducing my time to post big and mighty like strong warrior on this here weblog, though I made some space in the schedule (i.e. got fewer hours of sleep) to get the End of Civilization out on time. Yeah, I know, boo hoo, poor Mikester had trouble finding time to goof off on the internet.
The tragedy is even greater, he said half-sarcastically, since I barely found time to read any of this week’s new funnybooks. Unread new funnybooks, with more than 24 hours having passed since their arrival? Oh, the nerdity! But, you know, I figure I’ve waited six months, more or less, to read Nexus #100, what’s another day or two?
But by God, I made sure I read All Star Batman and Robin #9. Is there a more beautiful comic? (The answer is “no, there is no more beautiful comic than All Star Batman and Robin,” in case you were wondering.)
In other news:
- For my money, of which I have none but go with me here, there may be no wiser commentator on the state of comics, comics fans, and the comics industry than this man. He brings a dose of levelheadedness, reality, and, well, adulthood, to a world too often dominated by hysterics, hyperbole, straw men arguments, and just plain lack of knowledge about the very things these alleged commentators are most passionate about.
This post, in particular, very neatly dissects some recent fanboy hoohar in entertaining, and enlightening, fashion.
- So Graeme on the Newsarama blog noted a message from Mark Millar about his new Marvel comic Kick-Ass, who was worried that the book would do poorly due to a lack of customer awareness, as “we have no Marvel marketing machine behind us here.”
Here’s the thing. If your comic is getting published by Marvel Comics, “buyer awareness” isn’t an issue. Being published by Marvel is having the Marvel marketing machine behind you. Sure, if you’re being published by A Very Small Comic Book Company Run Out of the Garage, Ltd., you’re buried in the back pages of Previews, and trying to get comic fans to be aware of your book is a challenge. But at Marvel…like Kevin said, you’re getting plenty of push from Marvel, not to mention comics news site mentions (like, oh, say, that very post on Blog@Newsarama), and, if you’re Millar, your own highly-trafficked website. And, since Millar just came off writing a best-selling mini-series event for Marvel, an event that impacted pretty much every title Marvel publishes, it’s not as if he’s some unknown quantity. He’s a Big Name Comics Writer at the moment, so anything he works on is going to attract some amount of attention. Particularly if it’s coming from Marvel.
So, in short, if your Marvel comic doesn’t sell, it’s not going to be because no one’s aware of it. It’ll be because no one wants it.
However, Mr. Millar will be glad to know that our customers apparently do want it, because we’ve already sold through all our copies. So stop bellyaching, you old worrywart. And get Marvel to do a second printing on this comic, instead of second printings on comics that don’t need ’em.
- Kevin Church has apparently invented the 48-hour day, as he’s begun yet another blog project for himself. At least this time he’s gone the group blog route to lighten his load a tad. Go, visit, be appalled.
- My visit to Wizard World Los Angeles next month appears to be a “go,” so if you’re in the L.A. area on March 15th, and you’ve been waiting for your chance to find me and beat me up, that’ll be your big day. “Et tu, Progressive Ruin reader?”
