I was somewhat enjoying ACTION and SUPERMAN as their own separate entities for the first months, but when they started to tie in with SUPERGIRL and I wasn’t getting the complete story anymore because I wouldn’t buy it — well, I dropped the line.

The line could take a cue from how the Batman line is doing things. BATMAN is self-contained. DETECTIVE COMICS is self-contained. I have no interest in RED ROBIN, and the two books I am reading aren’t trying to force me to read RR by crossovering with it. Hence, I keep reading them.

“But it does appear to me anyways, that you’re leaning a little too much on the variant argument as somehow inflating sales on the project.”

Well, it’s not so much an argument as a statement of fact: These variant editions exist, they come with unusually high thresholds for retailers, and they’re distorting the numbers somewhat.

Look at BATMAN AND ROBIN, for example, a similarly high-selling book which only had one of the rarer variants for its first issue. The drop-off is noticeably larger as a result.

As it says in the last paragraph of my comments, I agree that BLACKEST NIGHT is doing well. But that doesn’t mean the contributing effect of the variant edition should be ignored.

Maybe I didn’t make my point clear, I wasn’t trying to nitpick. But it does appear to me anyways, that you’re leaning a little too much on the variant argument as somehow inflating sales on the project. When 4 months in the way it’s held up and the drop off between issues shows that people are digging the content of the book not gimmicks covers.

But my bad if I got your comments twisted in anyway.

The problem is, “good” doesn’t cut it.

People already get dozens of good, solidly crafted superhero books every month from Marvel and DC proper, and for years now, a lot of them have been more quirky and out there than the WildStorm Universe stuff. Simply put, there’s no place in the market for a third superhero line that’s not all that different from what readers get in the two existing ones.

I think WildStorm’s only hope for its superhero line is to get pioneers and let them go crazy: creators with strong voices, who Do Stuff with superheroes that people aren’t getting anywhere else. And I’m not talking about plot here.

Currently, what they’ve got are caretakers who act like the WildStorm Universe was the Marvel Universe. Those caretakers are all solid craftsmen, I’m sure — but there’s not much left to take care of, at this stage.

As long as they don’t realize that, I don’t see any hope for the line. And even if they did realize it all of a sudden, that wouldn’t mean that people would pay attention, mind you — not to mention that other publishers like Image, Dark Horse, Avatar, IDW, Dynamite and Boom! are now all operating successfully on the turf that used to be WildStorm’s. So it’d be an uphill struggle under the best of circumstances.

The New Universe was before my time. Wasn’t that just Pittsburgh being blown up, followed by an alien invasion?

All I recall of the Ultraverse’s death throes were Marvel characters crossing over.

2099, yes, I vaguely recall that, but wasn’t that when the line was condensed down to one comic? That’s not quite the same as four titles examining different aspects of the setting.

Ultimatum started well after Wildstorm went in its current direction, and the line is still going, so it must not have been much of an apocalypse.

I agree that the creators have always been the main draw for Wildstorm, but the last batch, while not commerical, was good. DnA are culty, Edginton is underrated, and Gage is an up-and-comer. In a few years, this period of Wildstorm could be as fondly remembered as Ellis’ (which no one read at the time either).

“looking at the icv2 estimates for October, it’s pretty clear to me that BN is holding up incredibly well month to month so the variant cover argument is holding very little water here.”

You’re right, it was unfair of me to suggest that “BLACKEST NIGHT keeps performing very, very well,” when it’s perfectly plain to anyone that, as a matter of fact, BLACKEST NIGHT is holding up incredibly well.

I apologize profusely.

“Love it or hate it, the post-apocalypse direction has been something different.”

Surely you jest. From the New Universe through 2099 through the Ultraverse and so on right through the recent ULTIMATUM, I’ve got a hard time coming up with a struggling superhero line that DIDN’T go for the “apocalypse” gimmick in its death throes — or one where it worked, for that matter.

Nobody cares about the WildStorm Universe. Consequently, why should anybody care if it blows up? All people ever cared about was to see creators like Ellis, Millar, Casey, Hitch, Quitely or Brubaker go nuts and do the things they couldn’t do at Marvel or DC. Right now, the WildStorm Universe line is at least ten years out of date, rather than the cutting edge of anything.

“Also, Adam Beechen (Wildcats) and Marc Bernardin & Adam Freeman (Authority) and the next solicited writers, not Wood.”

I was referring to Wood’s DV8 relaunch.

@ Marc… You do know that since their last relaunch the Wildstorm line has been anything but “generic superheroes” right? Love it or hate it, the post-apocalypse direction has been something different. Also, Adam Beechen (Wildcats) and Marc Bernardin & Adam Freeman (Authority) and the next solicited writers, not Wood. I’d ask if I missed an annoucement, but I’m not a Brian Wood fan.

“The Authority and Wildcats actually have new writers incoming, so no, it isn’t more of the same.”

I tend to disagree. As long as they keep publishing books that pretend WildStorm is still a strong publishing brand and the WildStorm Universe and its characters so inherently fascinating that more generic superhero stories will do, I don’t view the change of a creative team as a breath of fresh air.

Hiring someone like Brian Wood and a promising new artist to relaunch one of their properties is a step in the right direction, certainly, but it doesn’t strike me as nearly radical enough. In order to convince people that there’s still life in the imprint, they’ll have to do a lot more, and it doesn’t seem to be happening. If anything, people might not notice Wood’s book because it’s stuck in a crowd of zombie properties (THE AUTHORITY: THE LOST YEAR…?!).

I prefer calling them “singles”, and graphic novels/trade paperbacks “albums”, but that could just be me.

Also, about Starcraft:

“Is this selling anywhere? To actual people, I mean, rather than wholesale, to companies that view it as a promotional giveaway?”

I have one guy that reserves this in my store, but other than that, no.

And Warcraft has two reserve people (one of ‘em is the aforementioned Starcraft guy).

The Authority and Wildcats actually have new writers incoming, so no, it isn’t more of the same. God knows why DC is bothering to replace Abnett & Lanning and Gage with even lower profile, less talented writers though.

1. I’m not even getting too deep into the hot-cold Blackest Night tie-ins. Batman did best with it, because of the great unspoken motivation of the memories of dead family members throughout the title’s entire history. Superman was full of sigh; it’s far too easy for the Big Blue Boy Scout to shrug off pathos. Titans landed somewhere in between. With all the dead Titans, there was plenty of material. Too bad this series beats both the monthlies for material with potential for fan interest.

2. For the love of Hawkman’s tailfeathers, get Willingham and Sturges off of JSA, now! Yes, I know they haven’t had long, but they have completely abandoned the familial feel of JSA for traditional team book shtick. This book is not “Uncanny Old-Men”. Ick.

3. To this day, I still don’t understand the Super Team’s continuing fascination with Superman’s origin. If Matt Idelson is paying attention, I’ll type slowly: Stop… re… hashing… the… *(&^%… story…!

Should have collapsed Supergirl into Superman as a back-up with Mon-El as the lead. Action could have taken New Krypton as it’s back-up so Superman would still be in one of his own books. And Superman/Batman is should just end since it hasn’t had an audience outside of completest for both heroes I think in a couple of years.

As for JLA…yeah the roster is bad but the Titans roster Robinson is going to place in isn’t instilling me with a lot of interest either. The Atom in the JLA again will be great but Congorilla, Cyborg and Starfire???

Batman relaunch..I think Paul Dini’s titles suffer from not feeling like they are part of the Bat books but rather continuation of stories from his Detective Comics run which were slow moving story arcs.

Also again too many Bat Books. I think DC could have easly been happy with Batman and Robin, Batman, Detective and Red Robin. Gotham Sirens and Manhunter-SOG backup, could have been the back up for B&R and Batman.

When you multiply the units times the cover price you get the following changes (hope the formatting comes out OK):

Old rank Title Total New Rank
1 BLACKEST NIGHT #3 (OF $561,736.14 1
3 BATMAN AND ROBIN #4 $319,705.75 5
4 GREEN LANTERN #46 $309,961.34 7
6 BLACKEST NIGHT BATMAN #2 $262,037.62 10
8 GREEN LANTERN CORPS #40 $248,504.88 13
10 BLACKEST N SUPERMAN #2 $235,510.34 15
11 BATMAN #690 $230,232.99 17
25 DETECTIVE COMICS #857 $227,681.37 19
27 JUSTICE LEAGUE CFJ #3 $218,356.74 21
28 SUPERMAN SECRET ORIGIN #1 $217,973.70 22
74 JUSTICE LEAGUE 80 PAGE #1 $193,135.57 28
17 BLACKEST NIGHT TITANS #2 $191,617.14 29
44 ADVENTURE COMICS #2 $188,711.04 33
26 JUSTICE LEAGUE AMERICA #37 $165,879.22 39
55 BATMAN STREETS/GOTHAM #4 $151,173.12 43
60 ACTION COMICS #881 $144,370.17 47
61 WEDNESDAY COMICS #9 $143,484.39 49
39 RED ROBIN #4 $143,355.55 50
43 JUSTICE SIETY/AMERICA #31 $141,833.64 52
63 WEDNESDAY COMICS #10 $139,466.46 55
48 BATMAN WIDENING GYRE #2 $138,398.13 56
66 WEDNESDAY COMICS #11 $136,721.34 58
69 WEDNESDAY COMICS #12 $135,348.78 59
72 TEEN TITANS #75 $130,903.92 61
53 BATGIRL #2 $121,471.74 66
90 SUPERGIRL ANNUAL #1 $112,765.38 72
57 SUPERMAN WON KRYPTON #7 $112,714.03 73
58 SUPERMAN #692 $112,708.05 74
59 SUPERMAN BATMAN #64 $108,632.68 76
65 GOTHAM CITY SIRENS #4 $102,870.95 78
75 SUPERGIRL #45 $96,397.60 86
83 TITANS #17 $90,160.46 95
85 POWER GIRL #5 $88,196.03 98
115 DOOM PATROL #2 $87,783.99 99
116 BOOSTER GOLD #24 $86,706.69 100
87 WONDER WOMAN #36 $86,129.94 101
93 BRAVE AND THE BOLD #27 $80,442.96 104
94 MAGOG #1 $78,792.48 105
96 SOLOMON GRUNDY #7 $77,521.73 107
126 GREEN ARROW BLACK C #24 $74,932.20 111
105 SECRET SIX #13 $71,517.81 119
111 OUTSIDERS #22 $68,097.25 125
140 SHIELD #1 $67,818.03 128
118 FABLES #88 (MR) $64,308.92 133
119 JSA VS KOBRA #4 (OF 6) $63,109.93 134
149 WEB #1 $61,872.93 135
120 RED TORNADO #1 (OF 6) $61,447.49 137
155 ASTRO CITY ASTRA SPECIAL #1 $58,361.73 141
131 BATMAN CONFIDENTIAL #33 $54,238.60 147
172 FREDDY JASON ASH NW #3 $48,594.21 153
145 UNWRITTEN #5 (MR) $47,872.89 157
185 FREDDY JASON ASH NW #4 $45,438.12 165
191 BLACKEST NIGHT #1 (OF $43,874.04 171
162 JACK OF FABLES #38 (MR) $41,232.10 174
200 STRANGE ADVENTURES #7 $40,171.32 176
164 EX MACHINA #45 (MR) $38,367.68 180
210 BLACKEST NIGHT #2 (OF $37,585.80 183
168 FINAL CRISIS AFTERM RUN #5 $37,093.94 185
171 JONAH HEX #47 $36,570.69 188
176 WORLD OF WARCRAFT #23 $35,757.41 192
180 LAST DAYS OF ANIMAL MAN #5 $35,255.09 196
184 FINAL CRISIS AFTER ESCAPE #5 $34,722.87 202
186 REBELS #8 $33,927.53 206
190 HOUSE OF MYSTERY #17 (MR) $33,314.58 210
192 FINAL CRISIS AFTRM DANCE #5 $32,617.91 212
193 HELLBLAZER #259 (MR) $32,330.87 213
194 GREEK STREET #3 (MR) $31,777.72 215
195 FINAL CRISIS AFTERM INK #5 $31,610.28 216
197 WARLORD #6 $30,889.69 219
199 BLACKEST NIGHT SUPERMAN #1 $30,249.83 222
201 BLACKEST NIGHT BATMAN #1 $29,846.18 223
207 MADAME XANADU #15 (MR) $29,101.67 226
215 NORTHLANDERS #20 (MR) $26,270.14 230
224 AUTHORITY #14 $25,098.06 235
232 VIGILANTE #10 $23,489.44 240
237 DMZ #45 (MR) $22,691.11 242
241 WILDCATS #15 $21,462.22 244
223 TINY TITANS #20 $21,087.50 245
245 UNKNOWN SOLDIER #12 (MR) $20,526.35 250
249 BLACKEST NIGHT TITANS #1 $19,596.46 256
252 AIR #13 (MR) $19,363.24 258
258 NORTH 40 #3 (OF 6) $18,789.16 266
128 SWEET TOOTH #1 (MR) $18,567.00 267
259 MIGHTY #8 $18,250.96 268
242 BATMAN THE BRAVE AND B #9 $17,660.00 271
290 JUSTICE LEAGUE CFJ #1 (OF 7) $17,563.98 273
293 JUSTICE LEAGUE CFJ #2 (OF 7) $17,061.24 275
271 YOUNG LIARS #18 (MR) $16,672.24 280
300 BLACKEST NIGHT TALES OTC#2 $16,351.02 283
274 STARCRAFT #4 $16,229.72 285
265 BILLY BATSON AND TMOS #8 $14,645.00 288
281 STORMWATCH PHD #23 $14,471.60 289
284 BATMAN AND ROBIN #2 $14,115.79 292
291 RED HERRING #2 (OF 6) $12,967.63 295
292 GREEN LANTERN #43 $12,889.89 296
280 SUPER FRIENDS #19 $12,612.50 298
299 SCOOBY DOO #148 $10,257.50 300

And I can’t believe a Philip Bond comic sells so poorly. Oh comics.

Pamphlet is not a term that applies to comic books, no matter how many people use it to disguise the fact that they are embarrassed to say they read comic books.