Well, EVERY book I comment on could, in theory, be a great, well-told comic (or, just as easily, a crappy, badly-told one, of course), so it seems moot to point it out each and every time. The more significant point, in this case, is that the book happens to be a glorified advert.

I also have to second Sphinx Magoo’s comment about Wildstorm moving to Euro format stuff. It would be neat experiment and I could easily Elephantmen fitting into it. Frankly, given Image’s back end deal (great for a break out hit but not so great for books needing a little more marketing support and creators seeking financial stability) I find it a little surprising that other companies (especially Vertigo and Wildstorm) aren’t “stealing” the top indy books from Image.

Marc:
You misinterpreted me. I don’t see any contradiction between advertising and creative storytelling. They’re essential partners. I was warmed to read your statement - “Quite possibly, RUSH CITY could be an inspired comic book with great storytelling.” - because it’s leagues away from “a glorified advert you’re meant to pay money for” and was my whole point in posting originally. Thanks.

No offense, but you have GOT to be kidding. If 90+ K in sales is really a “disaster,” the American comics industry must be wayyyyyyyy healthier than I’ve been hearing for, I dunno, like at least a decade. I’m sure DC would be quite pleased if more of their titles were to bomb in a similar fashion.

I’m not remotely surprised that the book has failed. It featured no established or popular characters, it was a miniseries on the fringes of the DC Universe, and the only thing most people knew about it was that it had been commissioned as a product placement exercise. It’s hardly surprising that it didn’t sell very well. I can’t imagine why anyone ever thought it would, to be honest.

Erm, as far as I know, the Ford Motor Company did not approach Spielberg to make SCHINDLER’S LIST as a part of their promotional campaign for the Mondeo.

“I never said ‘Rush City’ wasn’t an advetisement, I said it was “more than” an advertisement.”

You seem to see an inherent contradiction between the notions of advertising and creative storytelling. Well, I don’t.

Quite possibly, RUSH CITY could be an inspired comic book with great storytelling. That doesn’t change the fact it’s an advert paid for by General Motors and made to promote a car, however.

You’re welcome to keep arguing with Marc, and your second statement has value (that the advertisement was “more than”) but seeing the use of the word logic and then a misuse of the term got stuck in my craw this morning.

Marc-Oliver said “The book was paid for by General Motors. That makes it an advertisement.”

So, by your logic, if Ford sponsors a commercial-free airing of ‘Schindler’s List’, then ‘Schindler’s List’ is an advertisement for Ford.

I never said ‘Rush City’ wasn’t an advetisement, I said it was “more than” an advertisement. My argument with you was your negative and dismissive tone of a book that could have been filled with crass commercialism and wasn’t at all.

TV commercials have creative merits as well, but that doesn’t change the fact they’re ads. The book was paid for by General Motors. That makes it an advertisement.

That’s not correct.

First up, the solicitations never indicated anything about a limited run, as they usually do in the case of limited series. The solicitation copy for issue #6 even states that it’s the book’s “first arc” which ends, without revealing that it’s actually the final issue.

Second, DC sent out a press release in March which announced the cancelation of the ongoing horror titles (and their continuation as specials and limited series). The press release reads: “FRIDAY THE 13TH comes to an end as an ongoing series with issue #6 (MAR070260), scheduled to arrive in stores on May 9.”

If it was always meant to be a limited series, as you suggest, DC certainly seem to have done their best to hide that fact from everyone.

No, DC bought WildStorm outright several years ago. It’s a “separate company” in the sense that it still has a separate legal existence as a wholly owned subsidiary of DC, but it’s effectively under their control.

Jimmy Palmiotti: “friday the 13th was not cancelled. it was always a 6 issue mini series. ”

Erm… with the greatest respect, Jimmy, I think you must be mistaken. The book was solicited as an ongoing title, and on 13 March 2007, DC even went to the trouble of putting out a press release to announce that it was cancelled. (”FRIDAY THE 13TH comes to an end as an ongoing series with issue #6…” - http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=104993 ) At the very least, if it *was* always meant to be a miniseries, Marc can’t be faulted for assuming that DC are describing the book correctly.

After Marc Andreyko does his 2 parter (can’t wait!!) you have to do another horror story!! I vote Nightmare on elm st!!

I cant beleave Manhunter sales sales have gone down again!! When DC bring it back its needs a new #1. Make it seem more accessible.

(I so cant spell right now)

and what this list tells me is that people need to buy more jonah hex. there…i said it. lol.

jimmy

Anyway, DC deserves credit for sticking with good material that doesn’t sell well much longer than Marvel does. Unfortunately they don’t seem to be putting out that much good material at the moment.

I think your giving ‘Rush City’ an unfair rub. True, the sales were awful, but it’s more than a car advertisement. I thought it was a fun, fast-paced series about a hired gun with a gadgety car. I don’t think the series ever mentioned it was a Pontiac Solstice. If Rush had said, “How great is my Pontiac Solstice” or guest-star Black Canary said, “This isn’t an ordinary Pontiac Solsitce, is it?”, then I’d agree with you, but it wasn’t that way at all. If featuring the car in the series makes it a glorified advert we’re expected to pay for, you may want to turn on your television or go to the movies sometime.

How great is it that GM thought they could reach their target market by producing a comic book? They must not know anything about how few people the industry actually reaches when compared to conventional advertising. Lots of folks scoffed at this almost naked marketing ploy, but I hope it’s a trend. It didn’t hurt comics or GM, and we got some fun Chuck Dixon stories in the bargain.

And Marvel has been following DC’s bad/stupid example since Quesada became EIC, but at least they have a rating system and have been known to be a little more cautious/responsible when it comes to the content in their books.

Our thanks as always to Marc-Oliver Frisch and The Beat for providing this information.

Marc-Oliver Frisch writes “Thanks to a successful performance of the four-part World War III blockbuster series, DC Comics’ overall and average periodical sale…

I think everyone expected it to do well, but I think few expected it to be a chart topper.

As for late books, they SHOULD get their clock cleaned as Mark Engblom suggested. But I don’t think DC cares. I believe it was Paul Levitz in a year-in-review interview in Comic Shop News who said that since sales don’t seem to be affected by lateness, DC wasn’t worried about it. Maybe now they’re starting to worry, but as long as we buy the late books, and we will, and the big crossovers DC is more fixed on than the regular books, and we will, it won’t change. I do like the listings of past years issues, like with the Flash, and seeing the issue numbers exactly 12 apart, as they should be. Memories…

I’m sure my time is up, but one more thing. How do you pick the books you list on here from other publishers? Is it their rank? Their hype? Dark Horse is there, but what about Hellboy and BPRD? They both shipped in April. They may not out sell Invincible (#140), I don’t know, but they have to beat Cartoon Network Block Party (#275).

But it’s a separate company, isn’t it? Does their contract enable DC to just abandon the brand? Besides, your Average Sales per Title show that it’s not doing that badly in the long term comparison. I think there is always going to be a niche for edgier superhero books. [/quote]

I think the real reason DC wanted Wildstorm was for Jim Lee and some of his crew. Oh yeah, and “Astro City”!

Maybe a couple of things Wildstorm could explore as the “edgier superhero” imprint are the following:
1) Web-only comics.
Just take one or two titles and make them web-only. Explore the viability of moving superheroes to the web. Really work on making a user-friendly format and interface. Try new things. Try all-Flash comics. Be the place where everyone wants to go. And print tpb collections once there’s enough content.
2) European-style graphic novels.
I don’t visit the local comic stores as much as I used to. It’s easier for me to visit Border’s and Barnes and Noble nowadays. It’s through those stores that I found out about “Sleeper”, “American Way”, “Albion” and “Thunderbolt Jaxon”. Maybe Wildstorm could be the imprint that skips the pamphlet in favor of the graphic novel approach.

There’s a lot of neat stuff coming out of Wildstorm. Their stuff feels more modern, so their approach to selling books should reflect that, shouldn’t it?