posted January 16, 2003 08:44 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by James Friel:
On the other hand, many libraries simply cut an open purchase order and go shopping if they have a local store that's either well enough stocked or flexible enough in its procedures to get them what they need quickly and is willing to give them a 20% discount.
I've had librarians arrive unannounced at both of the stores I work in, brandishing 2 or 3 thousand dollar purchase orders that they needed to spend on comics or science fiction. Kind of makes your day....

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Yeah. I was in Waldens one day and a women was going through the store, pushing on of those collapsable shopping carts, loading it down with mutiple copies of a wide variety of books.

I asked an employee who the woman was, and he said she was purchasing books for our county library.

posted January 17, 2003 07:24 AM               

quote:

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Originally posted by DStepp:

I think we should bleed eBay dry before DC starts devoting even minor resources to other distractions.

D.

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Well, I cant find cheap things like that here in Portugal so the decrease in the price would be good for those outside the US...

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N. Franco
aka Thanagarian

posted January 17, 2003 07:25 AM               

quote:

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Originally posted by Bob Greenberger:
As for JSA: Liberty Files, that's more likely to be packaged with the sequel, which comes out this spring. SECRET SOCIETY was waiting for its sequel, which looks like it'll never happen. These days, a 96-pager seems too thin a collection so this may not happen. But, as I've learned around here, never say never.

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Thats some bad news. I ordered the second mini but I wont buy a TPB with issues I already have...

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N. Franco
aka Thanagarian

posted January 17, 2003 08:51 AM               

You bet there will be a Superman/Batman: Generations II trade. In fact, 2003 looks to be a good year for John Byrne collections.

BATMAN ADVENTURES: DANGEROUS DAMES AND DEMONS, in store 4/30, contains the following: ADVENTURES IN THE DCU #3, BATMAN ADVENTURES ANNUAL #1-2, BATMAN ADVENTURES: MAD LOVE and the Batgirl story from BATMAN ADVENTURES HOLIDAY SPECIAL. Bruce did a gorgeous new cover and the book is sprinkled with anecdotes from Bruce and Paul complete with character sketches, unused story pages and the like. It's everything the guys did save the BATMAN B&W story which we deemed a poor fit with the rest of the material.

There are no plans for TOM STRONG VOL. 1 to be back in hardcover. However, we've got something special planed for LEAGUE for the summer, in time for the movie.

See you guys back here on Tuesday.

posted January 17, 2003 10:24 AM               

quote:

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Originally posted by The Vigilante:

Don't know if that makes me a "deadbeat fan" or not, since I don't buy nearly as many comics or toys as I used to, but I do buy what I can afford of what I like. Thank God I broke myself of the need to buy every damn thing on the market a few years ago.

--Rich

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Rich,

I wasn't making any connection between NOT buying monthlies or toys, etc. and being a deadbeat fan. This is just my opinion, but I think a deadbeat fan is someone who buys NOTHING through traditional retail channels...choosing instead to plow through used items (quarter bins, auctions, etc.).

It's interesting to me that (given the fact that you do sell some of your old comics) that you DON'T buy more new stuff these days. Assuming that the comic book market will eventually rebound (even if it's only doubling current circulation), there's never been a BETTER time to buy new comics. I don't intend to sell any mine any time soon, but I recognize the fact that, even in today's depressed market, back issues of books like Y:THE LAST MAN, LEGION, GREEN ARROW, AQUAMAN, HAWKMAN, AMAZING SPIDER-MAN, ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN, ETC., ETC. seem to create some heat on eBay and in comic book stores pretty quickly after their release. And that's with demand at an all-time low. Lord knows what today's comics will be worth if the market ever recovers to half its former glory.

posted January 17, 2003 10:31 AM            

quote:

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Originally posted by Bob Greenberger:
However, we've got something special planed for LEAGUE for the summer, in time for the movie.

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I take it that would be the Absolute LOEG Volume 1 oversized hardcover - for $75 you get 2 hardcover books, the first about 224 pages long featuring the original series with introductions (and other stuff) whilst the second features the entire original scripts to the series with illustrations by Kevin O'Neil. Anything else? Is the same thing due to happen for the second/third volumes?

By the way, you should check out the wide variations in prices that Titan pass on to us in the UK - some prices are similar to normal - eg Swamp Thing Earth To Earth was £12.99 (original price $17.95), but prices on some trades or hardcovers go up to a straight 1:1 dollar ound conversion, eg Top Ten Volume 1, $24.99 originally, £24.99 through Titan and the Absolute Authority hardcover, $49.99 originally and £49.99 through Titan - about £12 (or just under a third) more expensive than the direct edition.

This is not usually a problem for speciality shops that order directly through Diamond (eg Forbidden Planet) though they also sometimes buy trades through Titan (and can have 2 differently priced editions of the same trade on the shelf at the same time) but for bookshops like Waterstones that only order their trades through Titan it seems a little extortionate. I don't know if there are any plans to sort out these kind of discrepancies in the overseas markets...

posted January 17, 2003 08:30 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by stoter1:
Thanks again Bob. Are there any plans now for an Adam Hughes book collecting his Wonder Woman covers. His work has been incredibly well recieved and many have been asking for this book. On an archival note, is Dc currently planning on fast-tracking any particular archive series? Thanks.

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Not sure if it would ever happen but I'd love an art book of WW covers.

posted January 17, 2003 10:55 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by kingb:
Rich,

I wasn't making any connection between NOT buying monthlies or toys, etc. and being a deadbeat fan. This is just my opinion, but I think a deadbeat fan is someone who buys NOTHING through traditional retail channels...choosing instead to plow through used items (quarter bins, auctions, etc.).

It's interesting to me that (given the fact that you do sell some of your old comics) that you DON'T buy more new stuff these days. Assuming that the comic book market will eventually rebound (even if it's only doubling current circulation), there's never been a BETTER time to buy new comics. I don't intend to sell any mine any time soon, but I recognize the fact that, even in today's depressed market, back issues of books like Y:THE LAST MAN, LEGION, GREEN ARROW, AQUAMAN, HAWKMAN, AMAZING SPIDER-MAN, ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN, ETC., ETC. seem to create some heat on eBay and in comic book stores pretty quickly after their release. And that's with demand at an all-time low. Lord knows what today's comics will be worth if the market ever recovers to half its former glory.

---Disclaimer: I've never sold a single comic in 25 years of collecting/reading. So, what the hell do I know?---

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To be honest, a lot of the new stuff I get goes right out the door nowadays. I bought the first couple of Fables and Ultimates and zoom, they were gone with the first really high prices.

And believe me, it still does make me feel a little bad to sell my comics, but I since I prefer having a house and wife and all that sorta neat real-life stuff, they just gotta go...not that selling my Miracleman trades or my entire LSH & Flash collection didn't break my heart. At least I paid about three months of three mortgages with the books, so their sacrifice will be long remembered.

And at least every single comic I buy can be considered a tax write-off since it is definitely potential backstock. My wife loves that part of it.

posted January 17, 2003 11:12 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by The Vigilante:
At least every single comic I buy can be considered a tax write-off since it is definitely potential backstock.)

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posted January 18, 2003 12:21 AM               

quote:

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Originally posted by Old Dude:
Huh? I don't understand.

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posted January 18, 2003 03:03 AM               

Is there any interest at all in collecting the 10 issue Aztek series in trade form? I know that it's probably very low (if at all) on the list of tpb priorities, but being as it's one of Grant Morrison's best under-rated works (IMO)... it would be great to see it collected.

Plus, it's just damn impossible to find any of the later issues of that series anywhere... and I've tried!

posted January 18, 2003 05:14 AM               

2003 will be a good year !

posted January 19, 2003 12:47 AM            

quote:

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Originally posted by Bob Greenberger:
Yeah, it does feel like a Flash book is due, just nothing on the schedule as yet.

We stopped the Waid Flash collections for much the same reason we stopped the Byrne WW collections: demand shifted from the previous writer/artist to the current writer/artist and we answer to demand. The trades, quite often, are used to support the on-going monthly as people catch on to the heat but can't find the back issues.

---

While the rest of Mark Waid's run has been over, it's been almost impossible to find the issues in the backissue bins for his last two storylines (mainly, Chain Lightning (The Flash#142-150) and The Dark Flash/Hypertime (The Flash#151-159) storylines).

Aside from that, fans have asked for a tpb for The Dark Flash storyline since it ended up being a big hit. The same can be said for Chain Lightning but more so for The Dark Flash storyline since it involved Hypertime which was explained to the fullest there out of all the runs that have had a Hypertime story attached to them since The Kingdom Fifth Week Event.

Now, the only way to really get to that storyline (The Dark Flash/Hypertime storyline) though is getting the last issue of the Chain Lightning storyline (The Flash#150), which is where The Dark Flash storyline starts from really. It's the premise for it and without it The Dark Flash storyline just wouldn't make sense.

1)In short, my question is this. If there's fan demand and also no way to get backissues for those last two storylines, why wouldn't they be collected in two tpbs?

My last and final question is simple.

Geoff Johns run started with the Wonderland storyline. To have it not collected yet is really bad for new readers. Why? Because it introduced characters that are still playing a vital role in the series as we speak. Two villains (Plunder and Brother Grimm) first appeared in the Wonderland storyline. Let alone you actually learn about one of the current supporting cast members (Chyre) as well as Geoff's take on Captain Cold (which happens to be a premise for The Flash#182 and the next upcoming storyline with him as the leader of the rogues) and Mirror Master II.

The Wonderland storyline also introduces The Flash and his whole history for new readers. Everything they'd want to know is within the first two issues alone for this storyline let alone more that's mentioned along the way. In short, it's Geoff's spin on who the past Flashes were, who the current Flash is, what the current Flash is all about.

If that's not enough, you can't find any of the backissues for this storyline in any comic store. Milehighcomics doesn't have even one issue of the storyline let alone all 6 issues. To put it simply. You can't find any of the issues of the Wonderland storyline in the backissue bins.

2)So, my question is this:
Will Wonderland be collected in a tpb? If it will, when can we expect it around?

posted January 19, 2003 12:47 AM               

1) Is there a plan to ever do anything like Milleniun Editions again? Getting a GA/SA comic every week was pretty dang cool.

2) When the M.E. issues for fan voting were put on the DC web site, were all the issues considered already in the can or did the final votes trigger the reproduction of an issue?

posted January 19, 2003 03:37 AM               

But I still have some more questions and comments.

I'm gonna back up SNW21 a little on the point with the Flash collections business. This may sound way more sarcastic than it is meant to be, so I apologize in advance. But if the demand for the Geoff Johns issues of the Flash effectively ended collecting the remaining high points of Mark Waid's run, where demand seemed to wane anyway, then how do you explain where the demand was for the Warren Ellis run on Hellblazer that it necessitated a trade now, in the midst of two recent Brian Azzarello collections and not having finished collecting any of the Garth Ennis run? I mean, I love Ellis' stuff and was sad his run was cut short, but I don't really hear any buzz for his Hellblazer work that required a collection at this point. It's all about Transmet and Planetary with him, unless it's meant to tide us over while he gets Planetary back on track, in which case I can kind of understand. I just don't think his stories were perceived to be any sort of priority to be collected when most Hellblazer fans are still waiting for Garth Ennis' run to be given his due. But hey, I admit to not knowing the sales figures where it counts so I could be a victim of misperception.

I know there was a long gap between the Flash's "Dead Heat" storyline appearing in the regular comic and the trade, so I'm very hopeful that "Chain Lightning" and "The Black Flash" will be given their dues at some point. I just think that the earlier Waid collections reflected the high point of the Flash in the last decade extremely well and that the remaining two arcs mentioned pretty much wrap up all the essenitial Waid stories any regular comics fan would want.

As far as kitsch collections go (I call them that because I have no other word to describe them; in my mind they represent all the numerous short lived series in comics that have a cult appeal), why not reprint them in formats similar to your Annual and 80 Page Giant facsimile/reprints? It's not essential to have something like a Secret Society of Super Villains collection in nice glossy paper and a hardback like in an Archive but it would be appropriate and actually fit for it to be in an economical reprint with lower quality grade paper. I know it sounds crazy to even wonder who would want a Secret Society of Super Villains collection, or a Kobra or a Hercules Unbound or a Freedom Fighters, and on and on, but there are some gems hidden in these books. And it's more of a reminder of a simpler time in comics when chances were taken a lot more easily.

Heck, you do a Hercules Unbound collection and you get some pretty decent Wally Wood and Walt Simonson work that you'd have a hard time finding in back issue bins. Or the 70's Simon and Kirby Sandman, which was used in Infinity inc. and The Sandman.

Just something to consider. I could be wrong again, but I don't know where there is a demand for the facsimile reprints. Even though I have bought the Flash and JSA ones. I like them, but they end up collecting a lot of stuff that shows up in an Archive anyways, so if the motivation is to give people key Silver Age stories in a less expensive format, fair enough. I have this weird, quirky notion to let fans be given a list of choices from as many obscure titles from the last 40 years as possible, and pick say 4 or 5 to reprint in an inexpensive reprint format. The cheaper the paper, the better. Anything to allow it to break even.

As far as other topics go, I second a Wasteland collection along with other pre-Vertigo titles that remain influential. The Question being another title.

Monster Society of Evil serial from Captain Marvel Adevntures. Eventually in an Archive, or in a seperate format/release? I need it for a birthday present for my brother and that oversized hardcover is too hard to find and way too expensive. Please consider this, even before the Mark Waid Flash trades.

If you end up doing Swamp Thing by Wein and Wrightson in a hardcover slipcase like GL/GA and Deadman, how about reprinting OR recapping issues # 11 thru 24? As an extra bonus. Maybe?

posted January 19, 2003 01:39 PM               

Also, Question and Wateland should be collected (what about the Shadow?).

Finally, Bob could you please tell me (us) what material from the 70s and 80s would you love to see collected. You mentioned Perez' WW. What else?

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N. Franco
aka Thanagarian