Hernandez Discusses Aspen Comics' 10-for-10 in 2013

[CBR News]

Aspen Comics Editor-in-Chief Vince Hernandez discusses diversifying the publisher's line with its 10-for-10 initiative, the expectation for the program and the possibility of adding more female creators to its roster.


Full article here.

[Movieartman]

Whats the Purple chicks name?

[UnravThreads]

Whats the Purple chicks name?

If she shares the same name as her series, it's Jirni.

I have to say I'm very, very sceptical about all of this. I'm seeing Vince Hernandez talk about "strong female characters" but I'm seeing a bunch of women with wardrobe malfunctions, highly sexualised figures and, really, it's got me rather concerned. Add J. Scott Campbell covers into the mix and I really don't think he's really grasped the issue with Aspen. In fact Shrugged, Charismagic and Trish Out Of Water are the only "reasonable" looking ones there. The rest (excepting the character from Shadow Clan, maybe) looks like a 13 year old's spankbank folder. I mean even the woman representing BubbleGun seems fine until you notice she has two mixing bowls strapped to her chest, and presumably the ability to fill 'em.

Come on, Aspen. You've proven with Idolized that you can do titles that don't rely on cheesecake and that have genuinely well-written and well-drawn characters (even with the occasional cheesecake/broken back pose), and I would think it also applies to Shrugged and Homecoming (Shrugged being a Turner title, too). Leave the skimpy outfits to Lady Death and Vampirella covers, and give us art that matches your supposed "strong female characters".

Oh, also - A female character does not need to be strong to be good. What she needs to be is well-written. It is a major difference.

P.S. Idolized rocks.

[Alton]

I think you are right here but unfortunately the only cover that stands out among the 3 offered with Shadowclan# 2 is the sketch variant "babe" cover.Someone at Aspen doesn't know how to choose more dynamic group covers and the market being what it is these days...so it goes to cheesecake.

[Alex6166]

More J. Scott variant covers I see. he even did a My Little Pony one. Good to see Aspen is still going at it.

[dupont2005]

For a dollar I'll check a few out. Hard to pass up a new comic for a dollar, even if the odds are I won't like it.

[Altercator]

Oh, also - A female character does not need to be strong to be good. What she needs to be is well-written. It is a major difference.

Amen. You should T-shirt that!

[Dark-Flux]

Might try Fathom as i've enjoyed past series.
None of the rest really look appealing, but for $1 each I may gamble.

Apparantly Jirni is only 6 issues so a bunch of these may just be mini's.

[Ayra]

Apparantly Jirni is only 6 issues so a bunch of these may just be mini's.

Really? That's potentially unfortunate if some turns out really good and stops at 6 issues, but it does make sense since the article mentionned that it's mostly as a test to see what garners interest and what doesn't.

I can't say that any of them are "OhmigodIcantwaittoreadit" for me, but I am most likely going to give a few a chance. I dislike super-heroes comics (beside a very small handful) and current-day is the setting I like least. The vast majority of comics unfortunately fall in those categories... So anything that doesn't fit under that which isn't an horror title instantly gets some attention from me. None of the titles presented here are super-heroes ones, so that's a big plus right there. I usually prefer female leads, so it's another plus.

Unfortunately, all of those still are current-day beside Jirni, Bubblegun (I assume) and potentially Soulfire (The miniseries I read were all fantasy, so it depends what they do with it). I'm not a huge fan of Bubblegun's character design: I don't mind "sexy" character design in general, but when the character's waist is barely larger than her already tiny arm, something's definitively wrong.

So that leaves only Jirni as a "must try" for me... I'll likely be trying a few of the others if the 1$ thing will also apply to Comixology in case I'm pleasantly surprised, though.

[EMeadow]

I found Hernandez's statement of how they think they did pretty good with releasing their books on time laughable.

Look at the delays Fathom has had, not to mention Haunted City and Dead Man's Run, lord knows what happened to those two. And of course the recent only 3 issues Charismagic: Death Princess mini.

I wouldn't say anything about having a good/decent release schedule in any sense when one can count how many late books and how late they still are so easily.

[OrangeCrush]

What a bunch of haters. I for one have nothing but respect for Aspen and what they are trying to accomplish with the 10 for 10 initiative. They have definitely struggled without Michael, which is perfectly understandable given the fact that he was the main staple of the company, but 2012 was a great year for Aspen. Personally, I see 2012 as the year that Aspen found thier footing post Michael Turner and they are continuing to push forward in 2013 with a whole slew of new content. Wether it will be a success or not has yet to be seen but at least they are putting in the effort and trying, which is more than I can say for a LOT of companies out there. Aspen definitely has room for improvment but they have already improved greatly in the last few years and from what I can see from whats coming in 2013....well, I expect 2013 will be one of Aspens best years yet and as long as they continue to push forward and strive to improve, I expect they will be successful.

Of course, Aspen doesnt just produce comic books. They basically pioneered the comic industry in regards to limited edition prints and 2012 was one of thier best years yet for releasing prints. It may be a small market, in comparison to comic books, but they make a lot of money off of selling prints, which allows them more freedom to do things like the 10 for 10 inititive. Regardless of what people may think about Aspen, 2012 was a very successful year for them and 2013 is shaping up to be an even better year. Haters will be haters but regardless of what haters say, there is a lot of positive things going on at Aspen right now, regardless of how you look at it.

[OrangeCrush]

Really? That's potentially unfortunate if some turns out really good and stops at 6 issues, but it does make sense since the article mentionned that it's mostly as a test to see what garners interest and what doesn't.

I can't say that any of them are "OhmigodIcantwaittoreadit" for me, but I am most likely going to give a few a chance. I dislike super-heroes comics (beside a very small handful) and current-day is the setting I like least. The vast majority of comics unfortunately fall in those categories... So anything that doesn't fit under that which isn't an horror title instantly gets some attention from me. None of the titles presented here are super-heroes ones, so that's a big plus right there. I usually prefer female leads, so it's another plus.

Unfortunately, all of those still are current-day beside Jirni, Bubblegun (I assume) and potentially Soulfire (The miniseries I read were all fantasy, so it depends what they do with it). I'm not a huge fan of Bubblegun's character design: I don't mind "sexy" character design in general, but when the character's waist is barely larger than her already tiny arm, something's definitively wrong.

So that leaves only Jirni as a "must try" for me... I'll likely be trying a few of the others if the 1$ thing will also apply to Comixology in case I'm pleasantly surprised, though.

Yes, the 10 for 10 is basically a big test for new material but its just common sense that they will continue any book that is successful. So if Jirni does poorly, its very likely it will cease after the first 6 issues. On the other hand, if its successful and people like it, you can rest assured that they will continue to produce it. Thats the entire premise behind doing test runs like these. Odds are, you will see some titles drop off after the initial run. Aspen knows going in that its very unlikely that they will all be successful. Even if they get just 2-3 new series out of this event, it will still be a success. What they need to do is continue having events like this on a regular basis. In all honesty, its the biggest problem with both Hollywood and the videogame industry at the moment, not enough new material and too much reliance on sequels. Yes, new material is risky but at the end of the day a company will fail without new material. Its one of the reasons Electronic Arts is so hated. They just pump out sequel after sequel, year after year. You could count on one hand how many new IP's EA has had over the last few years. Personally, given the situation in the entertinament industry (and that includes comics), I have nothing but respect for any company that is pushing new content. Its a rare thing these days. Hopefully those comopanies that continue to push new content will be rewarded for thier efforts, and yes that includes Aspen. Otherwise we will sink even farther into sequel oblivion. If you want to see how bad its gotten, just look at the summer release schedule for movies over the last 5 years. Its literally like 95% sequels. The same can be said for the holiday release schedule for gaming. The comic inudusry isnt much better.

[UnravThreads]

What a bunch of haters. I for one have nothing but respect for Aspen and what they are trying to accomplish with the 10 for 10 initiative. They have definitely struggled without Michael, which is perfectly understandable given the fact that he was the main staple of the company, but 2012 was a great year for Aspen. Personally, I see 2012 as the year that Aspen found thier footing post Michael Turner and they are continuing to push forward in 2013 with a whole slew of new content. Wether it will be a success or not has yet to be seen but at least they are putting in the effort and trying, which is more than I can say for a LOT of companies out there. Aspen definitely has room for improvment but they have already improved greatly in the last few years and from what I can see from whats coming in 2013....well, I expect 2013 will be one of Aspens best years yet and as long as they continue to push forward and strive to improve, I expect they will be successful.

I would respect Aspen more if they dropped their absolutely ridiculous art ethics. They may have some good comics, but as is clear from this interview they're saying "oh, we love comics about women and we want to put them out there" and so on, but when you look at their comics - even at first glance - they're almost all full of hypersexualised, attractive females in anatomically impossible poses. They also don't help by churning out numerous mini-series based on their titles, meaning titles such as Fathom and Soulfire have a large number of miniseries with a lot of different names, and at first glance it's very confusing.

Of course, Aspen doesnt just produce comic books. They basically pioneered the comic industry in regards to limited edition prints and 2012 was one of thier best years yet for releasing prints. It may be a small market, in comparison to comic books, but they make a lot of money off of selling prints, which allows them more freedom to do things like the 10 for 10 inititive. Regardless of what people may think about Aspen, 2012 was a very successful year for them and 2013 is shaping up to be an even better year. Haters will be haters but regardless of what haters say, there is a lot of positive things going on at Aspen right now, regardless of how you look at it.

You mean their prints which are the same image recycled over dozens of different backgrounds? They'll change the image from time to time, but their print approach is absolutely shocking. It might work, but it's no less shocking. They've gone a little silly with the Idolized variant covers, too, and the art variants have pretty much always paled to the photo covers.

The 10-for-10 initiative is great. No-one is denying that. I don't think anyone in this topic has actually criticised the scheme. What we're criticising are the contradictions posed in the interview, the art style and ethics of Aspen and their behaviour as a publisher. I'll certainly be buying at least one of these issues, I'm sure most of us in this topic will be. But that doesn't mean we can't constructively criticise Aspen.

[EMeadow]

And if I was that much of a hater I wouldn't be pre-ordering and buying Aspen's books which I do every month.

But that doesn't mean I can't criticize them for stuff they say that seems downright silly.