CBR: One Fan's Opinion 1/23

[CBR News]

Erik takes on the role of comics publisher this week, proposing an idea whereby American publishers follow a new weekly publishing plan that's an amalgam of the Japanese manga model married to "2000 AD."


Full article here.

[ggersten]

A few comments: I didn't know Europe was a country. <g>

Didn't Marvel sort of try this with The Rampaging Hulk and Savage Sword of Conan "magazines"? And, there was Heavy Metal as a format.

I would probably get back into buying if there were this format. It would allow for some experimentation as a "new" character wouldn't have to survive on its own. The catch would be in figuring out what secondary features were "working" or "selling". I also would think a one or two issue company x-over would read better in this format.

[saidestroyer]

I was thinking about it a few days ago, go figure! I hadn't considered the European comics model and was mostly focused in the Manga model, though. Erik's solution takes everything into account, but I wonder if those weekly anthologies would be of interest for collectors (I disagree with a passion with the "bag 'em, don't read 'em" mentality, but I'm not everybody).

I would be interested to know what are Erik's thoughts in how would this model fit or clash with the unavoidable digital market. Or this week's "One fan's opinion" is a proposal to keep the printed market and delay the digital model?




P.S. Glad to have you back, Mr. Larsen! I enjoy your columns a lot, even when you talk about your back's hairs, though I could go without that ;)

[saidestroyer]

A few comments: I didn't know Europe was a country. <g>

Didn't Marvel sort of try this with The Rampaging Hulk and Savage Sword of Conan "magazines"? And, there was Heavy Metal as a format.

I would probably get back into buying if there were this format. It would allow for some experimentation as a "new" character wouldn't have to survive on its own. The catch would be in figuring out what secondary features were "working" or "selling". I also would think a one or two issue company x-over would read better in this format.

I think crossovers would work better within the anthology format. They would be actually easier to coordinate, and there wouldn't be such a lot of mouth foaming fanboys crying "Waaaaa! These tie-ins don't make sense! Waaaaa".

Or as an original graphic novel maybe :)

[skaldicpoet9]

First off, I'd like to say I love, and look forward to your column every week Erik.

Ass-kissing aside :P

I think that this is a great idea. Recently I was browsing through the magazine racks at Wal-Mart hoping to find a comic of some sort (nothing American apart from Spider-Man Adventures which is really more a Spidey mag than actual comic) and spotted a copy of Shonen Jump. I picked it up because I liked the fact that it was only $4.99, contained six different Manga stories and was over 350+ pages long.

I have read about three of the six features and I actually found some great stuff (including Toriko, a comic about a "Gourmet Food Hunter", basically the guy goes around hunting various monstrous beasts for high class restaurants). Needless to say this was an immense value for my money and exposed me to serialized stories of Manga that will be released in trade form (I don't know what they call their collected editions in Japan). I am already planning on picking up Toriko when it comes out.

I have been saying this for the past year or two: anthologies need to return. I think it would be a boon to characters that may not hit it off with an audience right away (which would kill a monthly book) and potentially bring the bar for entry of new talent in the comics field substantially lower than it is. Not only that but I believe people would be more apt to spend $5 for an 300+ page anthology printed on newesprint with a heavy, card-stock cover then they would for a flimsy, 32 page comic printed on high gloss, I know I would.

...thoughts in how would this model fit or clash with the unavoidable digital market.

I think that publishers could go the Dark Horse Presents route and have a few small features up for free online. Another possibility is to do the print anthology digitally as well and selling it for $.99 or something small online. I would even welcome a $.99 - $1.50 subscription fee that would cover the comics and include extras for those those that view them online. I think that digital and print anthologies could definitely co-exist together.

[dupont2005]

As long as they keep the dimensions of European albums and not little manga pocketbooks. I doubt many of the comics I read would be included in these albums, and actually, if they were it might be a bad thing. I don't read super hero stuff. Image publishes a lot of stuff I don't read, and a few things I do read. If Walking dead was broken up into 5 page weekly installments that I had to pay $25 a month to read because it came along with all that IMage United crap, I would simply quit reading it. Same with Dark Horse, if Usagi came along with all their other stuff, it would be off my list. Maybe if they kept themes. I would probably buy a big thick weekly horror anthology that included Walking Dead. And if they could get Mouseguard, Usagi, and Tales Of The TMNT into the same book of anthropomorphic adventure titles I would be on board. That would obviously take a lot of hoping. They are all creator owned, but all under different publishers. Wait, TMNT isn't creator owned anymore is it?

[skaldicpoet9]

If Walking dead was broken up into 5 page weekly installments that I had to pay $25 a month to read because it came along with all that IMage United crap, I would simply quit reading it.

I agree (not that IU is crap but that I wouldn't pay for weekly serializations). Shonen Jump is published monthly in the U.S. unlike the weekly Japanese version. I think this works better then weekly anthologies personally. Hell, that Torkio story I read was around 40 pages long or so! Now, I am not saying that they need to be that long but if the stories were standard monthly comic length or even slightly shorter I would be down with that.

Wait, TMNT isn't creator owned anymore is it?

No, sadly it isn't anymore. Peter sold the rights to Nickolodeon/Viacom for $60 million. However, I have heard rumors on the horizon about Turtles and Image....which excites me to no end.

[HaroldAllnut]

I like this model, primarily because I do my best to try to try out smaller, flagging titles, only to normally see them cancelled.

For instance, I'm reading Magog right now, which is a great book created by some first-class talents; however, most people are betting the book won't last a year. I'm hoping it will. Are the odds against me in this case? Yes. But, if Magog were perhaps a feature running alongside others in a 64-page Justice Society of America book, I bet it would last a whole lot longer.

Also, since creators are releasing their works in smaller chunks, it would mean the end of decompressed story arcs that plague our market today.

[Union Jim]

I totally agree with Erik and have been saying this for a few years.

Strictly speaking, 2000AD isn't a good representation of the "European" format, as in Europe they are hardback books with one story whereas 2000AD is a British anthology of 5 and 6 page chapters of continuing stories.

Here in the UK we already have cardstock cover comics that reprint 3 issues of an American comic, Spider-Man prints 3 Spidey stories and so on. Most European countries have the same thing, translated into the local language. The ones in the UK cost around £2.95, which is about the same price as a $3.99 comic!

[skaldicpoet9]

btw: This thread is very hard to tell what it is about due to a lack of a title in the forum index (well, aside from "Cbr: "). Someone should fix that if they can...

edit: nvm, it is properly titled now...

[Munkiman]

Ha. Never thought I'd be comfortable abandoning the monthly format, but I'm sold. This sounds like a great plan.

[Erik Larsen]

As long as they keep the dimensions of European albums and not little manga pocketbooks.

Manga, as originally printed, is the same physical dimensions as American comics. They're collected in smaller books of various sizes but when the stories run in serialized form in the weekly books they're the same as they are here.

[skaldicpoet9]

Personally, I love the dimensions of Shonen Jump. It isn't quite comic-sized but isn't really as big as a magazine but it definitely has some density. It is somewhat bigger than your average comic in terms of page size as well. The only thing I dislike about it is the fact that the covers are thicker but aren't quite card-stock thick.

[Munkiman]

I think I disagree with the exact titles Larsen picked, though. Well, for DC, I don't really care much for Marvel.

If I were DC I’d do one cartoon book, taking the place of all animated titles – Scooby Doo, Bugs Bunny and all the rest. Then I’d do “Batman,” “Detective Comics,” “Superman,” “Action Comics,” “Wonder Woman,” “Justice League,” “Flash” and “Green Lantern” –all other books could be broken up and serialized in those titles. The lines in many cases are obvious, in others not so much. Blue Beetle, Booster Gold and Teen Titans could fold into the “JLA” book – anything god or mythology related like Captain Marvel, the Demon or the Spectre could fold into “Wonder Woman” and so forth. There could either be a couple Vertigo books or have them be the exception and keep their current format if there aren’t features strong enough to carry a book.

It just feels weird to buy a book where the title is a character's name, and it's filled with stories of other characters. Instead, we should have more general names, but with a popular character prominently featured - like 2000 AD: featuring Judge Dredd.

For instance, I think Wonder Woman could be replaced with "Sensation Comics, featuring Wonder Woman". Then we could have "Action Comics featuring Superman", "Detective Comics featuring Batman", then "JSA", "JLA" and "Teen Titans" as books featuring stories of individual characters involved in those teams from the past and present, as well as team stories. Including the animated book, that's seven. Next we could have "Flash Comics", which would be an anthology featuring not only the Flash family but unrelated heroes, just like the old "Flash Comics" from the Golden Age. I can't think of anywhere else Green Lantern, the Corps and DC's space heroes could go except a book titled "Green Lantern", but if anyone has any other suggestions for a good classic sci-fi title, that could work. That brings us to nine... I suppose considering the selling power of Superman and Batman, both franchises should have a second book... I suppose we could just call those "Superman" and "Batman", with these two books putting a stronger focus on the lead characters than Action and Detective, which would feature relatively more Supergirl, Robin, Nightwing, Superboy, Gotham City Sirens, etc. That gives us 11 DC books, but only 10 DCU books, so it balances out. :P

Also, personally I think Captain Marvel stories should go in Action Comics, not Wonder Woman/Sensation. Captain Marvel has magic-based backstory and all that, but he's thematically much closer to Superman than Wonder Woman or magic characters like the Demon or the Phantom Stranger.

[blulew23]

I couldn't agree with Mr. Larsen more. The anthology titles published in the past have been filler not to mention expensive. Give me books the size of the old Savage Sword of Conan magazines, fill them with meaningful, quality content and a book shelf ready spine and they'll get more of my money.

To bad we all know the reality of the situation though. This just won't happen and if it does, they'll just screw it up.