As it is, I did see it on the stand, I did flip through it, and I did put it right back on the stand. As Samy Merchi said, the art is terrible. The worst I’ve seen in a book in the last year. Worse than the wannabe-Flash animation style used in (kid team) New X-Men’s Limbo arc. While Samy’s comment about not being able to read it sounds like hyperbole, I can understand it. I stood there in the store trying to pick up the basics of the book, and I just couldn’t concentrate on it because of the art.

As for the X-Men Claremont comparison, it really isn’t a fair comparison. As said, X-Men are more popular than Titans. Storm and Rogue are better known than Raven. And while Claremont’s name is enough to drive away some potential readers, he still has a dedicated fanbase that will buy anything that he releases regardless of quality or content. A Storm LS could still sell with Raven’s art, and a Rogue one might as well. To be perfectly honest, I’d knock a Raven school LS down to comparisons with someone like Jubilee. And while I happen to be one of the few that like Jubilee over Kitty Pryde, that isn’t a positive comparison for Raven.

That’s where I first heard about the book, actually.

1) He was speaking in general terms - not just the internet.
2) There are general comics boards out there. Was there any excitement on them? [Such as comics boards attached to non-comics fora, and generic Marvel/DC/etc fora. If you hunt out a Titans-only board, you’re one step away from the hardcore fan.]

And this is definitely not mid-chart numbers. Raven sold AWFUL numbers.

“C.) No shit it was anticipated on Titans forums. That’s kinda to be expected. Was is anticipated anywhere else, though? ”

Why on earth would somebody go to a Batman forum and post, “Gee, I really want to see that Storm LS”? Makes no sense.

I’ll give you B though; Titans have not been as popular in the last decade as the X-Men have been.

Nonetheless, the sales would have been noticeably higher with a different artist.

You would imagine a Raven LS written by Wolfman would mainly sell to the people who read NTT in the 1980s. Then why on earth go a completely opposite art style? This was just a colossal misjudgment. I don’t expect Perez, but an artist with a more classical style would have played to the strengths of this particular LS.

The exact phrasing I use is “didn’t show up in stores as scheduled,” which seems about right, given that it was a week late. If anyone took that to mean “didn’t ship at all,” I profusely apologize.

A.) A Storm or Rogue miniseries by Chris Claremont would shift mid-chart numbers at best, because Claremont has aged terribly as a writer and everyone knows it.

B.) Storm and Rogue are both far more popular than Raven and attached to a far stronger brand than Raven. Note the margin by which the main X-books outsell Titans.

C.) No shit it was anticipated on Titans forums. That’s kinda to be expected. Was is anticipated anywhere else, though?

#6 was out May 28, #7 was out July 2, #8 was out July 30. Printer snafu that pushed #7 back a week, is all.

b

Utter nonsense. Raven is a core cast member of DC’s biggest book of the 1980s, written by her original creator. This is like a Storm or Rogue LS written by Chris Claremont. The series has been repeatedly anticipated on various Titans forums since word got out of it years ago.

What killed this book was not the character, nor the writer, who were *perfect*.

What killed this book was the art. In 20+ years of reading, I have *NEVER* seen art this atrocious in a mainstream comic book. I took a chance and pulled this title despite the covers, hoping the interiors would be better, and I *cannot bring myself to read because my eyes bleed*. I’ve paid for the comic, it sits on my shelf, but I just can’t read it. It’s horrible.

Everybody who stayed away because of the art was right. And the sales numbers serve DC right. Hopefully they’ll think twice before wasting a great character and a great writer on a horrible artist ever again.

I agree, but the masses are being trained by those who are considered “witty”.

Also note that ‘the masses’ can be transformed (as can ‘assume’) into…’them asses’.

I personally wish the Big 2 would try more one-shots or anthologies. Throw stuff at the wall and see what sticks and THEN launch a new series. Plus, you need to allow new readers more places to jump in. Too many times fan buzz is slow to build and a comic is a few issues in before people hear they should check it out, Throw out a one-shot and then follow it up a couple months later with something else and see where the sales are.

But how much of that is commitment to a creative vision, and how much is it folks in editorial keeping their darlings around (ie, Blue Beetleborg, which is read by just about no one)?

On the plus side, it seems that no matter how high up the better selling books can fall, DC can still (moreorless) afford to keep its low tier books around. SIMON DARK, JONAH HEX, MANHUNTER, even ATOM to some extent. And plenty of the Vertigo books. When they say they have faith in certain comics, they certainly do their best to keep them around longer than other big companies would.

Ah, sorry. It’s a crossover.

Correct. It was a one-shot, apparently, despite Diamond listing it as a two-issue series. Oddly enough, I’ve also been unable to find it in last year’s solicitations.

I can testify that the orders in the Phoenix area certainly matched demand on that issue. My old LCS sold out of an enormous shipment in less than an hour the morning it reached their shelves. Three reorders each sold out with equal speed. Other stores in the same regional chain were equally strapped for copies.

Clearly, there was demand for the title in its original form. Had the book maintained its schedule and its creators at that point, I sincerely doubt we’d be talking about a book shedding ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND READERS in the span of twenty-four months. Had that first delay-marred run not been followed by a run by a creator who may well have been the worst ever to write an arc of the title in any of its modern incarnations, it seems unlikely that interest in the re-launch would have dissipated to its current levels. Had that second run not been followed by close tie-ins to an “event” that may well be the most widely-derided events of recent memory, it’s unlikely that sales numbers would have been eroded still more heavily.

Whatever Simone does at this point won’t suffice to stanch the bleeding on the current run. Its goodwill is shot. Clearly, there’s a demand in the marketplace for a quality WW title, but DC will have to do something to rebuild trust that a) it IS putting out a quality product, b) that it will put out that quality product on time, and c) the project will hew a bit more closely to market expectations wrt a WW project. (That they’ve managed to do this well for this long — not that they’ve done particularly well by any stretch, but as well as they have — with a motif combining the Sekowsky run with the CBS TV series is nothing short of amazing.)

NOBODY is setting sales records; indeed, sales are mostly down from last year.

It’s the economy.

Thanks again for the numbers and analysis. This column completes my month, every month.

Is is what you got from reading the Marvel 2nd Q report and the SI and ASM sales? Is this what the unwashed internet people are saying?

Also long has the company is making money and I have books I enjoy I do not see a problem no matter who the company is.

Remember how the great unwashed 3 - 6 months ago said the WB needed to ask Marvel for help on making comic book films. It may be fun to look at the July trade sales and then look at the Trade sales for the months Iron Man and Hulk came out. Which was better for the bottom line the Jackson end Credit or the Watchman trailer. Think about it.

To me they are doing something right.