New UK Batman Comics website launched

[aaronsayers]

Afternoon All,

I have recently launched a Batman Comics website in the UK and would like your feedback on the site. At present it is setup as a tool to assist UK fans as a one stop shop to obtain details on the best books/stories/villains etc and links to forbiddenplanet in the UK for simple online purchase. I am keen to get the thoughts of other fans on the site and expand to offer more unique content tailored toward the more longer serving fan base. I am currently working on a Batman History page and Gotham City page and in time will be looking to post up video interviews and news columns.

I am grateful for all feedback, good and bad.

Best regards,
Aaron

[El Sombrero]

Afternoon All,

I have recently launched a Batman Comics website in the UK and would like your feedback on the site. At present it is setup as a tool to assist UK fans as a one stop shop to obtain details on the best books/stories/villains etc and links to forbiddenplanet in the UK for simple online purchase. I am keen to get the thoughts of other fans on the site and expand to offer more unique content tailored toward the more longer serving fan base. I am currently working on a Batman History page and Gotham City page and in time will be looking to post up video interviews and news columns.

I am grateful for all feedback, good and bad.

Best regards,
Aaron

I would find a way to play up what makes your site unique. There are many Batman sites out there that basically do the same thing as your site (list Batman comics), and those sites have been around for a really long time and do a really good job at what they do, so it will be hard for you to compete with them. Given that you are from the UK and seem to be proud of that, I would play up that, feature more stuff about UK comic collecting, UK-related Batman stuff, etc. I think that would get you more hits and more interest from comics fans. I just mean, as your site stands now, there's nothing that makes it unique, but a UK-oriented Batman site would (at least, I think) be fairly unique.

I hope that was helpful, I am not trying to be too negative, just honest.

[UKComicFan]

I agree. As a UK Bat-fan, I'd love a website that gave (for example) the history of Batman comics in the UK, what's currently being printed (e.g. Titan's collected reprint comics) and other UK-centric news, articles and so on. You could embellish by including info on what Bat-shows/films are currently playing in the UK (the original 1960s show is on ITV4 for example, plus all the various cartoon versions).

As El Sombrero alludes to, I'll be less interested in yet another website - no matter how well meaning - that gives me the same sort of stuff as all the other Batman sites. You've got an opportunity to do something "unique" in playing up the UK-focus.

[ngroove]

Why is there no Pre-Crisis, only all modern, stories in the "Top 20 Batman comics" section?

And, under the Penguin, I would hardly count "Long Halloween" / "Dark Victory" as books representing him - yes, he was in them, but only little more than cameo appearances - only about 3 pages each per volume - might I suggest "Detective Comics: Faces of Death" and "Greatest Batman Stories Ever Told Volume 2 (1992) in their place?

[aaronsayers]

Many thanks for the useful feedback, I will further explore UK specific content. Please do stop by again in the new year and check out how the site is developing.

Regards
Aaron

[aaronsayers]

Thanks also to ngroove for the feedback, I will check out the Penguin books you have recommended. I will be looking into developing discussions and providing updates via Google Groups and Twitter so if you're interested do stop by the site in the new year for details.

[Meteora]

Looks good so far. I would use your site. But if you had not posted on CBR I doubt i would have found your site. How do you plan to gain traffic/visits ?

[aaronsayers]

Thanks Meteora, I have not yet looked in any detail at raising traffic/visits, my priority at present is the content and getting feedback so I can develop a site that is useful to Batman fans old and new. I think as El Sombrero stated above, there is so much competition that until I have expanded the site to include more unique content I am going to struggle to rank highly on the search engine results. Happy to receive any suggestions you may have.

Regards
Aaron

[aaronsayers]

I have added an online store to the website powered by Amazon so as far as a tool to assist UK Comic Book Collectors in purchasing Batman Comics online I think I am pretty much there now but please do let me know your thoughts. Anyone interested in the discussion above I will be developing the website over the Christmas Holidays so a more unique Batman Comics site will be live in the new year which will hopefully serve as a point of interest not only to UK fans but to all fans of the Dark knight.

In relation to the Batman Villains that I have currently included on the site, I would be interested to hear what people think of the initial list. I will expand on the villains in time but does anyone have any suggestions for inclusion - perhaps a few of the lesser known villains such as Arnold Wesker and Killer Moth? With some more detailed origin details for Batman Villains

[ngroove]

In relation to the Batman Villains that I have currently included on the site, I would be interested to hear what people think of the initial list. I will expand on the villains in time but does anyone have any suggestions for inclusion - perhaps a few of the lesser known villains such as Arnold Wesker and Killer Moth? With some more detailed origin details for Batman Villains

Seeing a "recommended reading" section for each...lesee...somethings that they are actually a significant part of, rather than just merely a bit part in it, like Knightfall for instance...

Ventriloquist / Scarface - False Faces, City of Crime, Broken City, Private Casebook

Killer Moth - Robin: Year One, Batgirl: Year One, Tales of the Batman: Tim Sale

Firefly - Knightfall (yeah, I said Knightfall earlier, but he was featured in about 3-4 chapters of it), Batgirl: Year One

Maxie Zeus - Tales of the Batman: Don Newton, Batman Cacophony

Cavalier - Find this character pretty charming personally, BUT his last significant story he was in, like forever, was Batman / Catwoman: Follow the Money, which has not been reprinted yet. His first appearance has been reprinted in Batman Chronicles Volume 10 though, and a significant story featuring another compelling individual under the name of "Cavalier": Tales of the Batman: Tim Sale.