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 Archives continue early-shipping trend
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| Author | Topic: Archives continue early-shipping trend |
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BillNolan Member |
posted May 03, 2003 07:27 AM
  
Hey, guys, The reliable Midtown Comics shipping list has T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents Archives vol. 2 shipping this coming Wednesday. That's like two weeks early, I believe. I'm looking forward to it. - Bill IP: Logged |
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chris_ccl Member |
posted May 03, 2003 09:40 PM
Great! Thanks for the info Bill. Chris ------------------ IP: Logged |
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dylanfan Member |
posted May 03, 2003 09:47 PM
That is nifty news! I just started making time to read Vol. 1, now I can have a buddy for it next to the bookshelf that much quicker! ------------------ IP: Logged |
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bob_r Member |
posted May 04, 2003 08:24 AM
Does this mean there will be a longer pause between archives? Almost a whole month until Superman v6 then, when we had been looking at archives/high quality collections about every 2 weeks. Is there a possibility that Superman 6 will also ship early? IP: Logged |
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NecessaryImpurity Member |
posted May 04, 2003 02:33 PM
Sure there's that chance. I'm thinking the printer had some free time show up, and was able to bump up schedule by 2 weeks for all his customers. How long that lasts is anyone's guess. IP: Logged |
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Osgood Peabody Member |
posted May 04, 2003 05:22 PM
There's a possibility that the combination of 2 low-maintenance releases (LSH & JLA) afforded them an opportunity to fast-forward the schedule, and the solicitations haven't caught up yet. We'll know for sure if Superman 6 shows up on May 21st - that would clinch it. Then we're back on a 4-week cycle, and they can sneak in the 14th DCU archive under the wire: Challs 1 - 6/18 Keep in mind that anything after August is pure guesswork on my part. IP: Logged |
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Lee Semmens Member |
posted May 05, 2003 06:41 AM
I'd far rather see Silver Age Superman #1 in December than Supergirl #2 (or any time this year for that matter). IP: Logged |
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Karl40 Member |
posted May 05, 2003 11:17 AM
Thing is, there must be 175-200 more Archives needed to capture all the remaining Silver Age superhero stuff, and half of those would be needed just for the Superman and Batman families. If things don't accelerate soon with the SA Superman and Batman lines, we're gonna reach a point where we'll get almost nothing but Superman and Batman Silver Age Archives... IP: Logged |
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James Friel Member |
posted May 05, 2003 12:10 PM
There are two other factirs to consider in this acceleration of releases. First, it's possible that DC gang-prints several volumes at once, then sits on all but the first in order to insure on-time release. If that's the case, they may have decided to cash in their books faster, since they won't be paid for them until after they ship. Second, they're printed in Hong Kong and shipped by boat, a slow and not always precisely predictable process. They may just have gotten ahead a bit in shipping and decided to take advantage of it. In either case, it wouldn't necessarily mean anything for the future. Still, I'm hoping that they're increasing production as fast as they can. IP: Logged |
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NecessaryImpurity Member |
posted May 05, 2003 12:42 PM
quote: That's what Marvel is doing with the Masterworks this year. In this case, they are printing all volumes with the same page count at the same time. My guess is the savings occur on the binding end of the operation. IP: Logged |
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James Friel Member |
posted May 05, 2003 12:48 PM
quote: A while ago I worked out a scenario for 24-26 archives volumes per year that was satisfactory at least to me. I keep tinkering with it--now it involves eight annual alternating slots, most of them three-wat rotations, for the Superman, Batman and Shazam titles: Superman/Superman in Action/Superman in World's Finest (until SiWF expires) Batman/Dark Knight/Batman in World's Finest (until BiWF expires) Silver Age Superman/Silver Age Superboy (at a ratio of 2:1 Superman to Superboy) Supergirl/Jimmy Olsen/Lois Lane Batman Dynamic Duo/Batman in Brave & Bold GA Superboy/Robin in Star Spangled/Mary Marvel Shazam! Captain Marvel Jr./Marvel Family (at a ratio of 2:1) That would deal with all the Super/Bat/Shazam families' material from the '40s to the '70s in what I'd consider a satisfactory manner in what I hope will be about a third of the overall annual production when DC finally gets up to its ultimate speed, leaving 16-18 volumes for everything else. Ideally, I'd prefer that this stuff took up an even smaller percentage of the whole, but I could be very happy with this plan. IP: Logged |
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friend Member |
posted May 05, 2003 01:12 PM
Any chance that Superman 6 could come out today? J/K ------------------ IP: Logged |
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Karl40 Member |
posted May 05, 2003 05:23 PM
James, maybe my math's a little fuzzy, but my concern is that it appears the Archives program relies on 60% Silver & Bronze Age material to subsidize the Golden Age stuff. If we ever reach 25 volumes a year, and 10 are GA, 3 are Silver Age Superman and Batman and 2 are Bronze Age, that leaves 10 other books a year to cull from the Silver Age. That material runs out relatively fast - after this year, we'll only need another 30 or so volumes to complete the 1960s Adam Strange, Atom, Creeper, Doom Patrol, Flash, GL, Hawk & Dove, Hawkman, JLA and Metamorpho. Unless the Superman & Batman stuff starts comprising 1/4 to 1/2 of what's published now, we'll be left with mostly Superman, Batman, Aquaman, Wonder Woman, and oddball stuff in the superhero "pool" 5-10 years from now. I like your schedule just fine, but if DC is looking long-term - 10+ years down the road - I think they need to start putting out Silver Age Superman and Batman annually, WF every other year, and alternating both Jimmy & Lois and Supergirl and Superboy (that is, unless there's a much bigger market than I think for anthologies, myteries, humor, romance, war and backup features like Elongated Man and Manhunter from Mars)... IP: Logged |
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James Friel Member |
posted May 05, 2003 09:03 PM
I gather that there are different views within the company (and I suppose differences between DC and corporate) about how much and how fast the archives program should pay for itself, especially on a volume-by-volume basis. There's a school of thought that wants DC's backlist, in whatever form it takes (hardcovers, or trade paperback reprints, or some electronic form of reproduction, all of which require restoration) to bacome a larger percentage and more important part of the company's business--the comparison I've heard used is Warner's backlist movie library. If the company can be induced to buy that parallel, then costs of restoration could become amortizable over a longer period than is presently the case, and we could see more of the older stuff become available to us. Let me hasten to add that this is just an idea I've heard from one guy, and that I have no idea how widespread the concept is, or how far it may have gotten, or how much resistance there may be to it. I only mention it to point out that the rough balance of newer and older material that we see now, and almost certainly will for the forseeable future, isn't necessarily written in stone forever. IP: Logged |
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