Still salty about the Jason Todd thing.
Okay, I ultimately decided not to continue the search for the most ’90s comic for the moment, as picking up from where I left off there was…well, weird. But I do have more 1990s comics content in the works, so check back next week for that.
But, speaking of the 1990s…here’s DC Comics with a big ol’ announcement regarding the forthcoming variant-laden first issue of Jeph Loeb and Jim Lee’s “Hush 2” storyline:
So here’s what Batman #158 entails.
Cover A – the main cover.
Covers B, C, D, E, F, G – cardstock cover artist variants
Cover H – the blank sketch cover
Cover I – foil cover by Jim Lee and Scott Williams
Cover J – a connecting fold-out cover by Jim Lee
Cover K – wraparound foil cover by Sean Gordon Murphy
Cover L – the 1 in 25 ratio variant
Cover M – the 1 in 50 ratio variant
Cover N – the 1 in 100 ratio variant
Cover O – the 1 in 250 Jim Lee pencils “virgin” cover
Cover P – the 1 in 608 (get it?) black and white variant signed by Jim Lee
Cover Q – the 1 in 608 black and white variant signed by Jeph Loeb
Cover R – the 1 in 1000 signed by Lee and Loeb
Then there are the Giant Size (probably Treasury Size) editions, with a regular cover edition and a foil one, as well as the Glow-in-the-Dark foil “Launch Party” variant. And this doesn’t count stuff like a special bundle of ashcans for sale/giveaway, or whatever retailer-specific variants there may be for this comic.
Obviously that 400,000+ copies are divided up amongst all these variants, and I wonder what the print run per comic would be…probably 125,000 or so for the main cover, and the balance spread out over the rest of the covers.
Now, it seems unlikely that Batman is suddenly going to quintuple in sales for this comic, and dumping 400,000+ into the current state of the direct market does seem like quite a lot. Retailer orders does not always equal sales (no matter how much the Rob may brag about the order numbers on X-Force #1 back in the 1990s, a solid chunk of those went directly into stores’ back rooms), but I suspect this particuilar Batman comic will do reasonably well. It really depends on how many different covers any one customer may end up buying.
In its favor, there have been a couple of decades’ worth of sales of the original “Hush” story in trade paperback building up an audience for it. (Never read it myself, beyond flipping through an issue or two, but people seem to really like it.) Can DC get people who read this as a trade initially to come back to pick up a comic book series for six consecutive months, or will that specific audience just wait for the eventual hardcover/paperback release?
Will customers already buying single issues in the direct market suddenly flock to “Hush 2” pushing the already (relatively-speaking for today’s market) high numbers on Batman even higher? Maybe for a while, and orders may be up there for the first couple of issues, but I imagine we’ll see a huge correction in orders by part 3.
Another point in its favor is the artist, Jim Lee. He’s been a popular artist for decades, but the extra push of “THE PRESIDENT AND PUBLISHER OF DC COMICS IS DOING A RARE ART JOB” will probably grab eyes. “Hush” has always been a Jim Lee art showcase, the story being relatively superfluous beyond “Batman fights all his villains,” and the prospect of new Lee art is a big sales pitch. Whether it’s 400,000+ copies big, we’ll find out soon enough.
The Giant Size is actually bigger than Treasury Size: 11″x17″ vs. 10″x13½
What if I want a version that’s just 22 covers and no interior pages? Or is DC saving that for “Hush 3”?
C’mon DC–where’s the variant “audio” foil cover where you press the button on the cover and hear Deep Purple’s classic “Hush” tune playing?
I want the 1 in 1983 alternate audio variant featuring “Too Shy” by Kajagoogoo instead.
“Can DC get people who read this as a trade initially to come back to pick up a comic book series for six consecutive months, or will that specific audience just wait for the eventual hardcover/paperback release?”
And it’s not even complete! There will be another six issues completeing the story to be solicited “at a later date”.
The sheer number of variants for Batman #158 is wild, but it’s hard to tell if the hype will translate into real demand. Jim Lee’s art will definitely sell books, but 400,000 copies feels like a gamble.
DC is going all-in on Hush 2, but flooding the market with variants feels like a risky move. Let’s see if the nostalgia factor is enough to make it pay off.
“covers”.
GEE, I THINK THEY’RE OVER-DOING IT.
“(no matter how much the Rob may brag about the order numbers on X-Force #1 back in the 1990s, a solid chunk of those went directly into stores’ back rooms”
and some people bought all five damn copies to get all of the damn trading cards!
“H2SH”.
How do you pronounce that? “Hu-Two-ish”?
“Jason Todd”
honestly, just kill him off again.
“Deep Purple’s classic “Hush” tune playing?”
“audio variant featuring “Too Shy” by Kajagoogoo”.
Dammit, I like BOTH songs, so I’ll need BOTH.
Covers S-Z : a missed opportunity.
Damn right! I’m salty as hell about it. I voted multiple times to kill that MoFo. The Hush story is where I stopped buying and reading the main Batman/Detective titles after religiously buying them since the mid-70’s. I’ve never looked back. To put that in perspective, I read my way through Scott McDaniels’ horrible art on Batman and someone thinking anyone wanted Orca as a villain. Jason coming back to life was a step too far for me.
I never read Jason Todd’s resurrection, as I had stopped reading comics by then, but I can wondered what was up when I read Red Hood and The Outlaws back in 2011–beyondvthe menage a trios between Todd, Starfire, and Roy Harper. Whose decision was it to resurrect Todd and have him take on the identity and name once associated with The Joker before he became The Joker?
I think it would have made more sense to recycle a concept from a public domain Golden Age character or even old Batman character from those late Golden Age/early Silver Age “imaginary stories” –like The Owl, or The Owl Man–which was originally supposed to be a future timeline Dick Grayson (and, yes, I know that there is the Crime Syndicate’s Owl, but a Jason Todd The Owl could be distinct from that and have a different costume). The are several public domain Owls…the on from Dell Comics, another called The Black Owl, etc. Or, they could have named him after a legacy character from DC or Quality Comics. I don’t know if DC had a new Crimson Avenger at that point, but maybe Todd could have become The new Crimson Avenger. Or what if he took up the mantle of Jack Cole’s Midnight? What if he just became a tough guy private eye without a costume known as Jason Todd –“The Acrobat” due to his acrobatic circus skill set? He could have been solving crimes in back up stories in Detective Comics, and maybe old Slam Bradley would help him solve the occasional case.
Or better yet- just leave the little snot DEAD. Honestly, he was one of the worst characters.
I think the only reason I hate Gambit MORE than Jason Todd is that Gambit is inexplicably POPULAR.
@Snark Shark
I think that early Jason Todd wasn’t bad at all–when Gerry Conway, Don Newton, Doug Moench, and Gene Colan were writing and drawing Batman and Detective Comics. It was the aftermath of COIE and altered origin that ruined the character–and the warped idea at DC to call in to vote if the character should live or die. I mean, DC should have had people call in to see if Guy Gardner, Booster Gold, Lobo, or Azrael should live or die…
Re:Gambit
I stopped following X-Men early in the John Romita Jr. run. His art on X-Men wasn’t really my cup of tea, especially after Paul Smith, Dave Cockrum , and John Byrne. But whenever I have looked at various X-Men comics from the 1990s and beyond, it feels like Marvel lost the plot decades ago, and a lot of goofy mutant characters, redundant storylines, and pointless “events” have come down the pike in the last thirty-five or so years. I feel like what I consider “real Marvel” lasted about 25 years–after that, things fall apart.
“Guy Gardner, Booster Gold, Lobo, or Azrael should live or die…”
I wouldn’t have minded if they had for Azrael or Gardener! I did like gardener as comic relief in JLI/JLA, and a little bit while written by Steve Engelheart in Green Lantern, but he became utterly unbearable.
“I stopped following X-Men early in the John Romita Jr. run. His art on X-Men wasn’t really my cup of tea, especially after Paul Smith, Dave Cockrum , and John Byrne”
I admit his art isn’t as good as those three, but I did/do like it, for his x-Men and Daredevil runs.
“and a lot of goofy mutant characters, redundant storylines, and pointless “events” have come down the pike in the last thirty-five or so years”
yeah! Gambit, Bishop, too damn many storylines to keep track of, (I don’t know if they ever finished all of the sub-plots), Claremont went off the rails.
I like JRJR art on Spider-Man but it just wasn’t it for me on X-Men or scrolling back or forward, Iron Man or Daredevil.
I did like his art on Kick-Ass but not a fan of his art on much else, too stonky/watever you call it on Avengers/New Avengers or whichever he drew.
I prefer David Finch or Deodato Jr on any Avengers to JRJR’s huge figures(still bought most for completist sake tho).
On X-Men I started buying regularly with Paul Smith and going backwards slightly Brent Anderson(missed any Cockrum mostly I think) and stopped with Cyclops vs Storm leadership battle in #201.
Mostly inertia and occasional Barry Windsor Smith art kept me buying X-Men and I liked the Age of Kulan Garth story AND art(JRJR stonkiness maybe seemed lesser/even appropriate thena).
Precursor to Busiek and Perez Avengers feudal world change 2-parter in Heroes Reborn Avengers(which i didnt realise in 1998). Nor did I notice Age of Apocalypse was a 4/5 month take on Age of Kulan Garth(which only took 1 issue total!)
Didn’t buy any X-Men until 2000s I think Morrison’s New X-Men.
“I think Morrison’s New X-Men.”
Oh! I liked that one, too! Actually saw one at Fred Meyers that got me buying it, rather than the comic store.
Astonishing X-Men by Joss Wheadon was very good, too. And Wolverine written by Frank Teiri.
@ MixMat and Snark Shark
I would say I liked early John Romita Jr. art the best, from the late ’70s and early ’80s. I liked his Iron Man work, as inked by Bob Layton, and his first go-round on Spider-Man. Also, I haven’t read the run, but what I have seen of his work on Daredevil, as inked by Al Williamson, is good. I tend to think of JR JR as being similar to Sal Buscema in that they can generate a high volume of work, but both benefit a lot from having great inkers on board to embellish their layouts or pencils.
I kind of wonder why Brent Anderson or James Sherman wasn’t given the X-Men art gig after Paul Smith left? They had both drawn fill-in issues and are both great artists. Of course, if he hadn’t already left Marvel for DC, where he was making the New Teen Titans the top-selling book, George Perez would have been a great artist to hav on X-Men–and he did draw that one X-Men Annual and several X-Men covers. Michael Golden would have been great as X-Men artist as well, but maybe he was busy drawing The ‘Nam by then. Or Butch Guice could have been good, and he did draw the X-Men/Micronauts mini-series, but maybe he had already gone to DC to do Flash or was still on Micronauts or Swords of The Swashbucklers.