Image in the Previews catalog

[jediracer]

So I'm flipping through Previews, checking out all the upcoming cool comics and related merchandise. I get to the Image section, and there is s serious WTF.

All of the descriptions for the Image titles are very brief, some are only one sentence!

The best example is the description that accompanies the solicit for The Sword: "Someone tries to take the sword from Dara." That's it. Followed by two and a half inches of white space.

Ummm, what? How is that supposed to draw in new readers? How is that even supposed to get current readers excited? Terrible, terrible, terrible.

This is an extremely lazy and lackluster effort on the part of Image. It's like you don't even care. You Image folk should be embarrassed.

At the other end of the spectrum, flip several pages ahead to Moonstone's solicit for MILF Magnet by Tony Lee. I just about fell on the ground laughing. If the comic is even half as entertaining as the description in Previews, it should be a rousing success.

When you're a writer, everything you write should be entertaining, whether it's a comic script, a pitch for a comic, a blurb/description for your comic, a letter to you grandma, whatever, it needs to entertain.

Can you guys at least pretend to care?

[michaeljsmith]

There is a balance between giving a good explanation and trying not to give away valuable storyline. I do not disagree that there should be some sort of brief description of the book in general if they are not going to divulge a lot of story line but I for one am glad that The Walking Dead solicits are vauge. I would hate to know what happens next.

[jediracer]

I would think it should be fairly easy to at least let me know who Dara is, why he or she has a sword, why the sword is special, why "someone" wants to take the sword, and perhaps who this someone is, all without spoiling the story.

In any case, does Previews even care about spoilers? It's a retailer publication, not necessarily meant for the general fanboy public.

[michaeljsmith]

I would think it should be fairly easy to at least let me know who Dara is, why he or she has a sword, why the sword is special, why "someone" wants to take the sword, and perhaps who this someone is, all without spoiling the story.

In any case, does Previews even care about spoilers? It's a retailer publication, not necessarily meant for the general fanboy public.

It is also how all solicits are published out to the world. Trust me I agree with 85% of your sentiment. I really do

[Erik Larsen]

All of the Image creators--with few exceptions--write their own solicitation copy. And in most cases--what you see is MORE than enough. Why spoil a story with too much information? If "Someone tries to take the sword from Dara." is the most compelling bit of information the Luna Brothers can come up with--who's to argue with them?

Retailers have to read and digest a lot of information from that phonebook-sized catalogue. Filling its pages with irrelevant information which won't compel a single reader to check out a book is a waste of everybody's time. Would a reader who isn't aware of who the supporting characters in the Sword are care if the Lunas said, "Andrea is on the brink of death?" No. They don't know who Andrea even is--so it only means something to somebody who is already reading the book and somebody who is already reading the book is already reading the book.

I dunno. There are different theories about what does and does not compel a person to check out a given comic book. I certainly do not think it's a matter of the creators at Image "not caring" about their books -- it's more of a case of wanting to NOT spoil surprises and give only information which is vital. if Invincible is in an issue of Savage Dragon, that's information which could help a retailer decide how to better order that book-- "Savage Dragon's daughter Angel starts going to a new school" doesn't.