Buying Factors

Chris Campbell · Post by **Chris Campbell** » Tue May 31, 2011 2:09 pm

Inspired by John's quick discussion of buying factors or heuristics, I thought I'd sit down for 5 minutes and try to figure out my own factors. Very few of these factors are determinative on their own, but after weighing the factors, a clear choice emerges in my head fairly quickly.

Factors that will almost certainly get you on the prelminary list:
Batman family
Green Lantern family
Flash family
Legion of SuperHeroes family
Sherlock Holmes family (good example of something that can be overwhelmed by neg. factors)
Contains one of a few other characters I love (Booster, Blue Beetle, etc.)
Specific writer (Johns, Simone, Parker, Seeley, Bendis, Brubaker, Snyder)
Specific artist (Hardman, Samnee, Reis, Immonen, Lark)
Ongoing series set in core DC or Marvel universe
Those special series that just fall into your life (Jonah Hex, Hack/Slash)
Those series that get praise from people whose opinion I trust (Xombi)
Theme relates to "smart" horror movies or buddy cop stuff.
Contains good preview art (especially in the Hardman/Samnee/Lark style)
Someone that I've personally met and genuinely like is involved in the book.
Absolute or oversized Hardcover
DCBS extra-special discounts
Part of a ballsy relaunch of the entire DC line

Factors that may push you off the list:
Written by someone I've never heard of
Drawn by someone I've never heard of
Poor coloring
Includes too much reprinted material as a percentage of the whole.
Limited series (especially if we're past issue #1 already)
Video game or movie tie-in
Involves characters that are not that interesting (Martian Manhunter, etc.)
Ultimate or "Beyond" universe or Red Circle or First Wave books
Overly depressing looking book
"Slice of Life" books
Bad preview art (including extensive photo reference in the Maleev style)
Creators have a bad reputation regarding timeliness (from posts below)
TPB or "premiere" Hardcover (especially those that collect 3 or fewer issues)
Inconsistent trade dress (i.e. JLI Hardcovers going to TPB with #5)

Well, that was 5 minutes off the top of my head.

abysslord · Post by **abysslord** » Tue May 31, 2011 3:26 pm

I'll just thrown in that one factor that is becoming more important is a consistent schedule. It doesn't have to be 100% consistent, but if the next issue hops between a month, two months, to maybe 5-6 months, no thanks. Yes Aspen comics, that's you. If their hit list agenda event this summer has problems, I'll drop all the others too [since I'm sure those will continue to be late as hell].

Just too many other things I want to read to keep track of a story that reads 22 pages every 3-4 months.

Trev · Post by **Trev** » Tue May 31, 2011 3:41 pm

Here are mine for picking up new books. I adjusted this significantly when I cut back a year or so ago.

1. Do I want to read it RIGHT NOW? This is the most important, because I try to limit myself to 3-5 books a week, and if I don't want to read it immediately, it should fall off. This is the test I give myself all the time i the shop when I have >3 books in hand.

2. Title I'm currently following. These are 'no brainers' as long as creative team is the same. If not the same, then do I like the new team.

3. Character/Team I love

3. Writer I enjoy

4. Artist I enjoy

I agree with abysslord, if there's a mini-series that's marginal and the writer/artist does not have a good track record, then I'll wait. examples -- anything by Kevin Smith (or other hollywood vanity project), Ethan Van Sciver, Mark Millar, Steve McNiven, etc.

cgenro · Post by **cgenro** » Tue May 31, 2011 5:47 pm

my buying habits the majority of the time lean towards characters but I definitely don`t buy blindly. I am a huge Batman fan but I am not supporting the current bat books at all as I have found the Morrison regime not to my taste.

other factors that will put a book on my list include certain writers or artists as well as street level heroes. I am not into heavy sci-fi/cosmic books.

HassanT · Post by **HassanT** » Tue May 31, 2011 7:41 pm

Great thread. My quick thoughts:

Positives:
Batman family book
Green Lantern family book
Flash family book
Teen Titans family book
Justice League family book
Legion family book (Chris - we have the same tastes it appears)
Favorite creators (like Geoff Johns or Grant Morrison)
Solid creator
Interesting idea
Any new Vertigo book

Negatives:
Someone I never heard of before
Characters I am not interested
A new book that already has spinoffs solicited before the first issue

JC · Post by JC » Tue May 31, 2011 9:34 pm

I must admit that my comic library has about 40% unread books. That doesn't stop me from selectively buying more books, albeit at a slower rate, and hoping that I'd be able to catch up on my reading someday.

Buying factors:

- Oversized books (almost all DC Absolute Editions, a lot of Image Library/Omnibus, some Marvel Omnibus, a few Darkhorse Library/Archive)

- Writers: Neil Gaiman, Alan Moore, Robert Kirkman, Frank Miller, Mike Mignola, Stephen King, Joe Hill

- Characters: Conan, Red Sonja

- Recommendation from Collected Comics Library and Comic Book Page: Usagi Yojimbo special edition, Tomb of Dracula Omnibus, 75 years of DC comics, The Sword

GABE! · Post by **GABE!** » Wed Jun 01, 2011 9:35 am

What will get me interested in a book:

Batman; this seems to be a trend here.

Spider-man

Marvel Cosmic

Ultimate Universe

Vertigo on-going book

Cool and different art styles. Infinite Vacation

Online buzz. If I hear John and Bob give a book a good review I'm more willing to give it a shot.

Online Marketing. I'm a sucker for marketing, I'll admit that. So, if I hear about a book selling out before shipping, or if the creator team does podcasts to promote the title it will spark my interest.

Creator (personally) if I meet the artist or writer at a con or store appearance, and they were nice and friendly I'll be willing to pick up their current or next project.

Friend

What will make me second guess a title:

Un-familar characters- Hawkman, Legion.

Over exposed character. Kind of hypercritical since I get almost everything batman. But, all the Deadpool books really turned me away.

No marketing push. No preview art, no Previews--ah, preview.

Bad word of mouth.

If I don't feel like the story is relevant (most Flashpoint mini's)

torchsong · Post by **torchsong** » Wed Jun 01, 2011 9:48 am

Great topic!

What gets me to buy:
- Is the Marvel Family (Cap, Mary, Jr) involved?
- Is it based on an older property I love/used to love (Sheena, Honey West, Parker, John Carter)?
- It it an omnibus or large collected work of a property I don't know much about...but WANT to (ie. The recent Kammandi omnibus)
- Were any of the following people involved: George Perez, Marv Wolfman, Bill Mantlo, Michael Golden, Joe Jusko, Michael Turner (RIP), J. Scott Campbell, Bill Willingham, BK Vaughan, Geoff Johns, Ethan Van Sciver, Mike Grell, Barry Windsor-Smith, etc...
- Is it a manga series of something I'll enjoy?
- Is Ambush Bug involved?

What keeps me from buying:
- Price

Chris Campbell · Post by **Chris Campbell** » Wed Jun 01, 2011 9:57 am

HassanT wrote:Great thread. My quick thoughts:

Positives:
Batman family book
Green Lantern family book
Flash family book
Teen Titans family book
Justice League family book
Legion family book (Chris - we have the same tastes it appears)Favorite creators (like Geoff Johns or Grant Morrison)
Solid creator
Interesting idea
Any new Vertigo book

Good man

I forgot to include Trade Dressing. I'll update my list.

I like to have a thread going that I can use to take my mind away from the DC news for a few minutes.

BobBretall · Post by **BobBretall** » Wed Jun 01, 2011 10:24 am

Some high-level factors I consider......

These will make me want to add a book
* Writer or artist I'm a big fan of
* Interesting concept that hooks me as different from everything else I'm reading
* On-line preview available & I am hooked by it
* Met/interviewed the creators & they sold me on the book
* Something new with character(s) I was fond of in the past (the Atlas relaunch fell into this category)

These will make me want to NOT get a book
* Art that I personally am not fond of
* Story that is overly convoluted and/or does not seem to deliver story value/punch in each issue
* Gives me a feeling that this book is just "more of the same"
* #1 issue that does not "hook" me and make me want to come back for more
* On-line preview available & I do not care for it

fudd71 · Post by **fudd71** » Wed Jun 01, 2011 4:37 pm

I find this to be a fascinating topic and one where I thought my opinions would be vastly different than most but I have found that to be only part of the case. I find that I am both the typical and atypical fan at the same time. While I do listen to quite a few podcasts and participate in a few forums (mostly as a lurker), I hate the comic news cycle. I am one of those that pines for the old days when books just came out and you read them with no idea what would be in them. I do order though Previews, but hate it and feel like I have been forced into it. To for the most part I only look at the order form and avoid the actual solicits as much as possible. That is one of the reasons I like this podcast, I love hearing about current books and others opinions on them. I do not listen to any of the Preview episodes, I try to avoid thinking ahead and focus on enjoying the story in front of me and not worrying about months from now.

Things that will get me to try some:
1)Anything in the main DCU that is not Superman related
2)Creators, this is a very short list of only 1 or 2 creators that I will almost always try
3)Books that have good buzz for a prolonged period of time. I don’t flock to the hot book of the week or month but if something has sustained buzz over a year or more I will usually pick up a trade or two and if I like it continue into the single issues. This is how I came to books such as Walking Dead, Fables, Witchblade, Irredeemable, and others.
4)Licensed properties I have an interest in, I will try almost anything G. I. Joe, Green Hornet, Serenity, or Lone Ranger for example.
5)Price I will try things out when the creator or publisher goes out of their way to have an attractive price point. Those $4.99 and $9.99 trades done buy some companies got me to try and sometimes stay with those books.

Things that will get me to not try or drop a book.
1)Creators, nothing will get me to drop a book faster than creators who forget their job as story tellers and begin to think of themselves as celebrities or spokes people. You can put all that into your stories but I don’t need you to blog or tweet about politicians you like or don’t, charities your raising money for, and just blindly bashing of other comics. You can talk to your friends and families about that other stuff; it is not needed to sell your books and makes you look like a narcissist. I also don’t care what side of any issue you are on, the fact that you think you are some kind of moral authority rather than a comic creator turns me way off.
2)Writers, I will rarely buy a book because of the writer’s past work but it will get me to not try something new they are doing. It’s one thing to not write the best book all the time but it is entirely different when a writer has years of work I haven’t liked or outright hated. Also any creator who says if you don’t like their work you don’t get it or are dumb. No, you either believe your own hype or can’t write, or both.
3)Oversaturation, I am a sucker for Batman and will buy most Bat books, other than that I have no need for more than 2 titles in any other family or character (that is just me obviously there are other characters for others).
4)Cover-Overs with existing titles I don’t already read, sometimes it will get me to try the other title but mostly it only gets me to drop the one I was already reading.
5)Inconsistent stories, since I don’t follow creators I don’t care how many times they change, but if the story feels inconsistent or like a rollercoaster of constantly changing voices I’m out.
6)Price, if it goes up in price or starts high there better be a darn good reason for me to get it, being independent is not an excuse. Just like you aren't in the charity business neither am I. $3.99 is a little high for a book, any $3.99 book I buy needs to prove it is better than most $2.99 books I buy.

stardog · Post by **stardog** » Thu Jun 02, 2011 4:38 pm

Positives:
Batman and the Bat-Family
The JLA and the "big gun" members in individual books.
Green Lantern
Zatanna
Daredevil
X-Men
Writers I enjoy
Artists I enjoy, although it's a tougher sell if I'm not a fan of the writer.
Non-superhero material for variety

Negatives:
Writers and artists I don't enjoy or I'm not familiar with.
Marvel's tie-ins as I've felt burned by too many of those.

GABE! · Post by **GABE!** » Fri Jun 03, 2011 12:10 am

Also, I completely pass up T&A books. Tarot, Grimm Fairy Tales, Bomb Queen, anything like that.

Chris Campbell · Post by **Chris Campbell** » Fri Jun 03, 2011 7:22 am

stardog wrote:Positives:
Batman and the Bat-Family
The JLA and the "big gun" members in individual books.
Green Lantern
Zatanna
Daredevil
X-Men
Writers I enjoy
Artists I enjoy, although it's a tougher sell if I'm not a fan of the writer.
Non-superhero material for variety

Negatives:
Writers and artists I don't enjoy or I'm not familiar with.
Marvel's tie-ins as I've felt burned by too many of those.

For the bigger lines of titles like X-Men, do you have trouble culling that down to a manageable list, or do you just buiy most of them?

I'm a huge Batman fan, but even I don't buy every title. I didn't pick up Dark Knight or Gotham City Sirens.

Great posts guys!

BobBretall · Post by **BobBretall** » Fri Jun 03, 2011 8:51 am

GABE! wrote:Also, I completely pass up T&A books. Tarot, Grimm Fairy Tales, Bomb Queen, anything like that.

I need an infusion of that sometimes......Tarot & Bomb Queen are good for that. Tarot is pretty much ONLY good for the T&A. Bomb Queen actually has some pretty entertaining stories with kind of a sidelong commentary on comics & society.