Thanks to longtime customer Corey for sending along this picture he took of a couple of guests at the last Dragon*Con:
So this is the week the Sugar and Spike Archives finally…finally…comes out, reprinting the first ten issues of this classic series by Sheldon Mayer. I would have preferred maybe something a little more…consumer-friendly, perhaps, but beggars can’t be choosers, really. And I’m sure there are economic concerns re: expected sales versus production costs versus cover prices that makes the hardcover Archives format the best perceived match for this material…not to mention the fact that the people most interested in this will be willing to dole out nearly any price for it.
Anyway, it’s here! it’s here! And since Sugar and Spike ran for under a hundred issues, at ten issues per volume, that’s only ten books! Get cracking, DC…oh, wait, there’s also the other S&S material Mayer produced for overseas markets, some of which was printed in the U.S. in DC’s digest format in the 1980s. So, yeah, we’ll need reprints of that, too, DC. THIS I COMMAND.
After you’re done with that, you can start on Mayer’s Scribbly. Yes, I’ll allow you do to so. No need to thank me.
Anyway, I was poking through my Sugar and Spike comics here in the Vast Mikester Comic Archives for a good image to illustrate this post, when I came across this panel in Sugar and Spike #48 (Aug-Sept 1963). Mayer often dedicated stories to specific readers, usually in the format of “this story is for [name], age [#], [city/state or country].” But sometimes there’d be some additional info, like so:
Regardless, I hope Nugget-Pete did get to see his story in print. I bet it was a thrill for Sugar & Spike fans of any age to see a story that was dedicated just to them.
…Oh, and while I’m thinking of it…DC, we need an Archive edition of Mayer’s “Dizzy Dog” strips, too. Get on that, would you?
“Do you have any copies of Action Comics #1 left?”
“Sorry, no, all our copies pretty much blew out the door. We’re all sold out.”
“Wow. So, what were you selling them for?”
“Um…cover price.”
“Really! …Do you have any more copies in the back room?”
“No, we’re all sold out.”
Had a variation or two of that particular conversation over the weekend, as we experienced a phenomenon we hadn’t quite planned for: lots of out-of-towners, unable to find copies in their area as their stores have run dry, driving many, many miles to come buy them at our shop. So, as we were planning our orders, in addition to the extra copies we ordered to accommodate the estimated increased demand from our own regular clientele and then some, we should have ordered even more copies to cover regular customers from other shops.
This is the sort of thing, like the not-always reliable media coverage-driven sales, that makes it really difficult to order comics, sometimes. And seems to have caught a lot of people short.
Yeah, I know, “boo hoo, we’re selling comics,” but still. Like I noted before, we ordered what we thought were plenty, but this New DC thing really took off beyond expectations.
I had a customer ask me the other day when I thought DC might revert to the old numbering on some of their titles. Honestly, as I told that customer, I don’t think that’s going to happen for a while, as that would be tantamount to an admission of failure of this new initiative. Frankly, if things get that bad that quickly, I think “renumbering the titles” will be the least of DC’s worries. And on a related note, I don’t expect any of these new series to be cancelled right off the bat (even ones like the awesome OMAC, which might as well have a “SOON TO BE CANCELLED!” banner right above the logo) for the same reason. I’m guessing a year’s worth of issues, minimum, for the bottom sellers. …I have no idea, really…that’s just a gut feeling, is all. (EDIT: Further rumination on this point here.)
The other thing I mentioned in response to that customer is that there are built-in future sales boosts already evident in the titles. Like, for example, Superman…as soon as the court-ordered Superman: The Man of Steel movie wraps up its break-even-plus-maybe-some-change run in theaters, the need to keep the comic book version of the character close in appearance to the mass media version will diminish, and we’ll probably get the attention-grabbing “The Return of Superman’s Original Costume” Saga. Or in Green Lantern, when we get “The Return of the Green Lantern Everyone Knows…No, Not The Black Guy, The Other One” Saga. And, you know, other similarly marketable events.
Of course, it won’t be long before it all goes back to the old standbys, like death (“In this issue, a character with no mass media presence but all you fans claim to love dies!”) or crossovers (“Crisis of Batman Appearing in Multiple Books You Wouldn’t Ordinarily Look at Otherwise”). And as I noted before, assuming things last that long, we’ll see acknowledgements of the 1000th issue of Action and other such milestones, without necessarily renumbering the books.
Okay, perhaps I may have been slightly too cynical up there. All that aside, I can say customers are still really excited about what’s going on, and that’s good to see.
Also, Omac really is a hoot. Trust me on this.
So here’s what my original plan was:
After posting the final Sluggo Saturday and writing up my goodbyes, farewells, and amens, my initial intention was to do “Satan Saturdays.” However, I found I didn’t have immediate access to a sufficient number of devilish images to use for this project, so the plan changed slightly, to what you’ve been seeing me do over the last few months.
And…well, I wasn’t completely satisfied with the results. I mean, they were okay, I guess…I’m inordinately proud of myself for the Sea Devils Saturday entry, for example. But it felt a little forced to me, and turning these things up was more of a chore than a joy. And most importantly, they just weren’t tickling that same part of my brain that the Sluggo Saturdays were.
My goal was to do the “[character name beginning with the letter S] Saturday” thing for a year, and on the anniversary of that last Sluggo Saturday post, drop in a new Sluggo Saturday completely without notice. And then continue on with other characters, as before. Obviously, I didn’t make it that far.
So, um…apologies for making such a big deal out of my dropping the feature. I really intended to retire it, honest. But just when I thought I was out of Sluggo, Sluggo pulls me back in.
This doesn’t mean I plan on doing Sluggo Saturday every Saturday again, though…I’m going to try to keep it a little more sporadic than that, running when inspiration strikes. I’m also not continuing the other “S-Saturday” feature, unless, again, I come up with a good’un. Other than that, I have no idea what I’m going to be doing with my Saturday posts since I don’t have another regular feature planned. I suppose I could always go back to characters angrily pointing at this.
To follow up on yesterday: I ended up not getting Justice League International…just seemed a little too…generic-y superhero, you know? I also picked up Omac, after giving it a look-through or two, and hearing a good word or two about it from comrade-in-funnybook-arms Chris Sims. It’s Keith Giffen doing a totally-nuts Kirby riff, and if you’re gonna do a book like Omac, Kirby it up as much as possible, I say.
And Swamp Thing…my mystical eye of Aga-Mike-o has peered across the nerdinet and has witnessed the pleasingly positive response most people have had to this new debut issue. Like I said yesterday, it continues the “Alec Holland evading his Swamp Thing destiny” storyline from the mini-series, and I’m assuming Scott Snyder will eventually provide the explanation for the sudden reseparation of Alec from Swampy, when the rejoining of the two was such a big deal at the end of Brightest Day. But, also like I noted, where the Search for Swamp Thing mini-series seemed awkward and forced, this new issue is more along the lines of what I want from a Swamp Thing comic…creepier and more introspective.
There’s also a bit of business introducing Swamp Thing’s next adversary, which features a certainly intentional reference to one of the more disturbing visuals from the Moore/Bissette/Totleben era. I don’t know that it’s supposed to be the same thing from the Moore run, but…well, I realize I’m being vague here, in an attempt to avoid spoilers. But you’ll know what I’m talking about when you see it.
One more thing, and this could be a SPOILER, I guess: this comic features, I believe, the second in-story appearance of Superman in his new costume that we’ve seen since the beginning of the relaunch. And while Yanick Paquette does a remarkable job illustrating this issue, there’s only so much one can do with that new Superman costume. It just plain looks awkward. Even the dude who designed the thing couldn’t make it work in the one panel he had to sell us on it in Justice League #1.
I like to think that I’m not simply being a typical reactionary comics fan, hating something because it’s different from what I’m used to. I mean, it’s…I’m not even sure how to articulate it. I think it’s a level of…pretension, perhaps, that seems uncharacteristic of what we think of when we consider the character of Superman. I think it’s that collar. It sort of gives him, like…airs of royalty, maybe? A “hey, this is my important uniform, I outrank you” kind of thing? And the action figure space-boots he suddenly has? It’s like Superman is slowly turning into the kind of superhero Old Superman opposed in Kingdom Come, with the overwrought, overdesigned ’90s tech-fest look.
Yes, maybe the red underwear over the blue tights was kind of goofy. Actually, there’s no “kind of” about it…it is goofy. And as someone reminded me on the Twitter not long ago, Superman’s costume is essentially just an old-timey circus strongman outfit. And…I’m okay with that. “Simple” works for Superman. So does “goofy” — it’s a little more humanizing, helping to bring a fantastic (in the original sense) character like Superman down to earth. (Compare also with the work jeans and boots costume in the new Action.)
Granted, that George Perez cover makes it look okay, but then, that’s George Perez. He makes purt’near everything look okay. But I’ll have to see what he does with it inside the book. Maybe once I get the in-story explanation for it (if there is one), I’ll be a little more accepting.
I mean, sure, if DC sticks with this costume, I’ll get used to it. But it’s really no improvement, especially if no one can draw it in an appealing fashion. It’s just change for change’s sake, and just one more shout of “hey, look, we’re different now!” among DC’s cacophony of similar cries.
So, in conclusion, I liked the new Swamp Thing comic. And let us put an end to the DC posts on this site…at least ’til next week.
I asked a couple of days ago what DC books you were looking forward to the most, and the big winner was Action Comics by Grant Morrison and Rags Morales, followed closely by the J.H. Williams Batwoman comic. Neither of these are a real surprise, as Morrison on Superman is always a draw (and the Siegel & Shuster/Golden Age-esque take on the character intrigues), and we’ve all seen the beautiful work Williams has done on Batwoman in the last couple of years.
This is hardly a comprehensive scientific survey, I realize, but it surprises me that the Green Lantern franchise makes such a poor showing, with only one respondent noting interest. Given that there are four GL-related titles coming our way monthly, I wonder if that doesn’t bode well.
Another one that sort of surprises me is Mr. Terrific, if only because, at least at our shop, there seemed like there was an unusual amount of interest in this title, considering he’s hardly one of DC’s first-stringers. This was a while back, though, right after his title was announced, and perhaps it’s since been overshadowed by other more attention-grabbing series.
And despite my jerkiness about the title in the initial post, some brave souls still indicated that Hawk & Dove was their pick. I can tell you, having broken down the comic order and pulled comic subs Tuesday night…we’ve got more than a few requests at our shop for it. Liefeld is still a draw…or at least not enough of a deterrent to keep Hawk & Dove fans away. And seriously, more power to ’em. Like whatever you want, man, I’m not going to judge. Out loud. To your face.
Okay, okay, really seriously, read whatever you want. “People reading comics” is the primary goal here. We can worry about “people reading the comics I like” later.
Speaking of which, only two of you picked Swamp Thing. …I’m very disappointed.
Anyway, I might have more to say on this later, but I’ve had a long work day, and I’m still recovering from my illness. But let me say this, as I’ve had a “sneak peek” at the new DCs this wek whilst breaking down the order: decided I’m going to get Batgirl, too…looks like a fun read, as is typical of writer Gail Simone. And Action…not the kind of Superman story that’ll be familiar to folks accustomed to the post-Byrne revamp era of the character. Quite good. And Swamp Thing…ah, yes, Swamp Thing. Still spinning our wheels a bit on the “Alec must rejoin with Swampy” jag that we endured in that mini-series, but only it’s done well this time. Animal Man is about as good as you’re hoping, and I’m still undecided on Justice League International. Maybe if Swamp Thing joined.
REMINDER: let me know what the ONE new DC title you’re looking forward to the most is. I’ll probably comment on your response tomorrow, assuming I don’t die tonight while breaking down the comics order, doing pulls, and suffering from flu symptoms.
Anyway, those questions a couple of you asked about DC’s current publishing plan, and how it affects me, Mike Sterling:
Boosteriffic says
“It seems to me that DC has been telling us that part of the reason for this whole rebootalaunch is because retailers aren’t doing their job finding new customers (probably true: I don’t live in a major city, but all the comic stores I know of are really gaming stores with some reading material for between matches), and it seems I hear retailers saying it’s because DC’s business model and storytelling are alienating their readers (of which I am certainly one: now I have to wait six issues to finish a story the bronze age Batman would have tackled in one?). Do you have any insight into the validity of this back and forth argument?”
There are a lot of reasons for sales reaching the point that triggered DC’s newest publishing hoohar, but I don’t think it’s as easy as saying “retailers fell down on the job” or “DC alienated its readers.” Not that either assumption is necessarily wrong: we’ve all been to comic shops that seemingly didn’t go out of the way to encourage business, repeat or otherwise. And what Boosteriffic says about DC applies to Marvel as well, with extended storylines intended to keep readers coming back month after month, and designed for republication in trade paperbacks or hardcover editions, which can in some (but not necessarily all) cases result in story-padding and less satisfying reads.
But there’s also the death-spiral of lower sales = higher per-unit prices = higher cover prices = even lower sales = even higher production costs, and so on. And there’s the economy in general, which, at the moment, isn’t exactly facilitating the generation of disposal income. Plus there’s also the usual explanations of increased competition for the entertainment dollar, the lack of an audience turnover for comics, the insular nature of superhero comics, the difficulty of even finding comics, and so on. You’ve heard all the reasons before.
Boosteriffic adds:
“…Will you be closing the doors if this whatever-DC-is-calling-it doesn’t take off because your comic sales have flatlined?”
In our case, comic sales have been increasing…slowly, but steadily. And judging by demand for the new Justice League #1 and the interest we’ve seen in DC’s next batch of first issues, we’re expecting a bit of a bump in sales over the next few weeks. Whether that bump sticks, even as a slight net gain after the initial excitement over the new launches peters out and we see what the sales levels on these titles will actually be, remains to be seen. But I’m optimistic. My fear was that our upward store sales trend may have been derailed by DC cancelling everything and starting again, alienating the readership we were building, but for the most part that doesn’t seem to be happening. But, you know, in six months or a year or so, we’ll know for sure.
Now, that’s what’s going on for us, but if other stores end up with a net loss in readership for their DCs, to the point where Warner Brothers tells DC “nice try, kids, but we’re handing all your properties over the movie and television development departments,” and DC Comics as a publishing concern goes away…that’s bad news for everybody. Not that I think that will happen. But let’s say it does, and DC Comics are no longer on your local funnybook store’s rack. That’s a pretty significant chunk of income lost for your comic shop. And some comic shops wouldn’t survive that loss…and when those shops close up, that means fewer venues through which the other comic companies can sell their wares, which results in lower profits for them, and comic publishers going out of business, and lower profits for shops…I hate to use the phrase “death-spiral” twice in one post, but you get the picture.
And, as folks have noted in the past, the death of the comics market as it is now doesn’t mean the death of comics. As long as people can tell stories through sequential images, there’ll be comics. They’ll just be sold and / or distributed via different means. Like through this “internet” I’ve heard so much about.
Not that the very concept of “comic book store” would go away if there were no longer any periodicals as we know them now. After all, there are still record stores. I can see our shop holding on, downsized significantly, still dealing in old comics to an increasingly specialized clientele. And there will still be some publishing holdouts and novelty press, putting out limited runs of staplebound entertainments for the discerning reader, that we could carry.
Also, in this post-apocalyptic future, we will fight each other to the death in Thunderdome, but that probably goes without saying.
Dallas has a few questions as well:
“Does it make any lick of retail sense to be out of a fairly big comic after 1 day?
Is/was there a program through Diamond/DC that could get you more comics as quick as Fri/Sat or Monday 9/5?
I assume that you won’t get the reorder till the week of September 12, so how many sales are lost?”
I’d rather not be out of a Big Title after one day, but when you’re ordering three months ahead of time…and even getting a chance to adjust orders about three to four weeks prior…sometimes you just can’t predict how something’s going to go over. We ordered five times on this Justice League #1 what we normally order on Justice League of America, and up until about a week or so before the #1’s release, that seemed like plenty. And then the media attention hit, and lo and behold people seemed to care, and the demand jumped upwards. I tried to place a reorder ahead of the comic’s release, but by that time all available copies of the first printing had sold out.
I did get a number of requests for the comic over the weekend, so yeah, I could have sold quite a few more copies. Now, had DC had more of Justice League #1 available, I suppose it could have been theoretically possible to receive more copies by Friday via Diamond’s two-day air shipping on reorders, if we had the time to put an order together and we get in it to Diamond early enough for them to process it right away. I could plan ahead, prep a theoretical emergency reorder a couple of days before, and then send it in Wednesday morning if necessary. But then again, even if demand seems high, pulling the trigger on a significant reorder before actually seeing if the demand pans out could be an expensive mistake. About halfway through Wednesday it looked like we’d have enough JL #1 to meet the immediate demand, but later in the day, and through Thursday, sales and demand picked up and we blew through our copies. But it easily could have dropped off completely, and getting another pile of copies on top of the ones we already had warming the shelves would be a problem.
Now, like I said, once we got closer to the release day, JL #1 started to seem like it was really going to take off, so a prerelease reorder seemed like a good risk. But for the other titles…well, here’s your next question:
“Have you done anything to change the orders for the rest of September now that this happened?”
Yes, I’ve gone through and bumped up some numbers, keeping in mind that, even if some of the titles are returnable, we still have to plan our budget to pay for these books. I’d love to order a thousand of everything, and return what we couldn’t sell, but we’d still have to cough up the cash to pay for all those copies.
“Does the system of ordering/printing comics just not compute?”
Most of the time, the way we order comics through the direct market is fine. We see what we’ve been selling on the books in the past, we plan our orders accordingly, we send them in. Even on new first issues, we can make reasonably educated guesses based on the store’s sales trends. But this new DC initiative is fairly unprecedented. We have to guess at sales on these new series vis-à-vis past sales trends, customer interest in first issues, possible bleed-over interest generated by real-world publicity for Justice League #1, and, maybe most importantly, the “first issue fatigue” I discussed before.
I mean, let’s take All-Star Western, starring Jonah Hex. On one hand, sales on the Jonah Hex series were pretty terrible. On the other hand, All-Star Western is a new first issue, which can expect a slight bump in sales. On the other, other hand, it says “Western” in the title, and westerns aren’t big sellers in the superhero comics market. On the other, other, other hand, it’s tied in a little more closely to the DC Universe, taking place in Gotham City an’ all. But it’s not like Batman’s going to show up. But it could ride that “hey, it’s a new DC #1, let’s buy it” wave. But it’s still a Jonah Hex comic. But it’s returnable. And so on. Again, love to order a ton of them, and just return what we don’t sell, but we have to operate within a realistic budget.
“Is it too much to ask DC to have a pile of extra copies of JLA ready to be shipped out. Or does a reprint business model and the new, variant covers make more sense for all parties involved, including the general public getting their greasy hands on this over-priced, under-written 4-color superhero funny book.”
Like us, DC has to operate within a realistic budget. I’m sure they would have loved to have looked at the initial orders, said “hmm, better print up ten times that number to meet reorder demand” and sat on the copies ’til retailers asked for them. But that costs money, and again, there’s no guarantee ahead of time, when the decisions are being made to actually go to press, that there would be that much demand. Publishers generally do some overprinting to allow for replacement shipments on items that are lost or damaged, plus some allowance for reorders, but within reason.
That they announced a second printing, and a third printing, so quickly means that they were staying on top of things, at least. Economically, this makes more sense for DC than tying up money in a stockpile of extra first printings. And it’s good for us, because it’ll meet the demand for customers who just want to read the thing, and couldn’t care less about “first printing” or “investment opportunity” or what have you.
…That was a lot to read, I realize. Also, I’m on the cold medication, so if something doesn’t make sense, ask me to clarify.
