Weekly Comic Spotlight #46 Discussion Thread

[laseraw]

hey guys!
i know this is kind of a blast-from-da-past but i just read this blog post and found it quite interesting, i recalled bob's comments about the cover model for final crisis

so here's a look, from a professional on the field, of the cover artwork for the final crisis series designed by chip kidd


"...An unusual and eye-grabbing design, and I approve of the fact that you can read the title from across a room, but I also feel the space devoted to the cover art is too small. Sure, it made some design sense to divide the space into thirds, but then the central space was cut further by the white area, UPC and prices and DC symbol, leaving only about 25% of the cover for art. The art itself is sort of a teaser, not bad, but is it really enough to grab readers? The hottest thing on the cover is the bright red on the outer thirds. Unless they’re going to do them all with red, that won’t last. And the font used for the title is bland and ordinary.
..."

todd klein on his fascinating blog (check it out!)

klein has been on top of his game since late 70s, and has lettered masterpieces like moore's swamp thing, watchmen, tom strong, promethea, miller's ronin, dark knight returns, batman year one, gaiman's sandman, coraline, books of magick, 1602, o'neil's the question, he invisibles, shade, justice, fables
...
and has originally designed and re-designed amazing letter collection headers, for an outstanding amount of memorable publications particularly for dc comics.
(i love the guy, if you didnt notice)


*i personally do like the final cirsis cover model, i think its not the formal approach we see on comics of the hero genera, and i do like that about it.
i think it has more of a contemporary paperback publication design, and i think its a positive porpoise to have. but i also see that novel dont have advertisements every two pages... and that novels aren't usually sold on 24 page increments.... etc

so... if they are taking the "literary route" to legitimize comics as a mature medium, there's a lot more to sacrifice than artwork real state on the cover...

[BobBretall]

Well, there are plenty of copies of the "Strip down the middle" covers warming the shelves of every comic shop I've been into for those who love them to enjoy

[comicm]

Just an FYI. My shop usually sells out of Final Crisis on Weds. He obviously is not ordering enough copies of any of the Final Crisis titles. On the shelf there are about 30 copies of each of the Secret Invasion. I think this is happening because he orders way too much to get the incentive covers for customers and a lot of books end up flooding the shelves.

I personally pick up both covers of each final crisis. I don't mind the sliver covers but can see where Bob is coming from. It is much like the Civil War covers but with 1/3 of content instead of half. I can see why marketing liked them because they stand out on the shelf and you know a new one is out every week. I also can see why fans flock to the full covers. I also love the 50/50 offer because I can choose which cover that I get. I hate it when I can't. I would much rather have this then the 1/10 options that DC has.

[JohnMayo]

Just an FYI. My shop usually sells out of Final Crisis on Weds. He obviously is not ordering enough copies of any of the Final Crisis titles. On the shelf there are about 30 copies of each of the Secret Invasion. I think this is happening because he orders way too much to get the incentive covers for customers and a lot of books end up flooding the shelves.

It would be interesting to know how many of each that store ordered. He could have sold twice as many of Secret Invasion as Final Crisis even with copies of Secret Invasion still sitting on the rack while Final Crisis sold out.

In any case, yeah, if he is selling out of Final Crisis on Wednesday, he should be ordering more copies.

[laseraw]

...It is much like the Civil War covers but with 1/3 of content instead of half...

good call!
i didnt even remember that!
it's pretty much the same approach
it's funny how, at least on my case, this "big deal events" just wash off in a few months... even on a visual level!
i'd have a real hard time recalling the plot points of WWH, other than the elevator pitch line...
i hardly even remember de JRJR artwork (him being one of my all-time favs)
but i guess these comments are more appropriate for the recent event fatigue discussion...

...
by the way, the batman cover for FC#6 on the current previews looks amazing!!
i also found the john h. williams III cover for superman beyond #1 outstanding!

[comicm]

It would be interesting to know how many of each that store ordered. He could have sold twice as many of Secret Invasion as Final Crisis even with copies of Secret Invasion still sitting on the rack while Final Crisis sold out.

In any case, yeah, if he is selling out of Final Crisis on Wednesday, he should be ordering more copies.

I think he is ordering around 60 final crisis and selling out (mostly to pull list customers). The final crisis tie ins he is ordering about 45 and selling out.

For Secret Invasion core title he is probably ordering around 125 copies and is left with about 40 on the shelf. Now he does sell out of the variants so maybe he is recouping the cost.

[BobBretall]

Just an FYI. My shop usually sells out of Final Crisis on Weds. He obviously is not ordering enough copies of any of the Final Crisis titles.

That's bizarre, because of the last 10 or so shops I have been in, they all have had huge stacks of FC on the racks. I was in a shop yesterday that must have had 30 copies of the latest issue, 25 of which were the "strip" covers.

[comicm]

Just an FYI. My shop usually sells out of Final Crisis on Weds. He obviously is not ordering enough copies of any of the Final Crisis titles.

That's bizarre, because of the last 10 or so shops I have been in, they all have had huge stacks of FC on the racks. I was in a shop yesterday that must have had 30 copies of the latest issue, 25 of which were the "strip" covers.

Well like I said he under orders. He ups his order everytime by about 10 copies but has at least 10-15 customers add it to their pull list every month. So when the order comes in he has none to put on the shelf.

[BobBretall]

Just an FYI. My shop usually sells out of Final Crisis on Weds. He obviously is not ordering enough copies of any of the Final Crisis titles.

That's bizarre, because of the last 10 or so shops I have been in, they all have had huge stacks of FC on the racks. I was in a shop yesterday that must have had 30 copies of the latest issue, 25 of which were the "strip" covers.

Well like I said he under orders. He ups his order everytime by about 10 copies but has at least 10-15 customers add it to their pull list every month. So when the order comes in he has none to put on the shelf.

It fascinates me that 10-15 people would be adding FC to their pull every month. I have certainly not been hearing any kind of positive buzz on the series that would indicate people flocking to add the series mid-stream. Maybe I'm not looking in the right places......

In any event, when should get the comic shops in Orange County, Portland & Phoenix (where I have seen all the unsold copies) to be sending care packages of Final Crisis to where you are, so they can meet the pent-up demand.....

[BobBretall]

...It is much like the Civil War covers but with 1/3 of content instead of half...

good call!
i didnt even remember that!
it's pretty much the same approach

Same approach, but different execution. As I recall from CW, the horizontal strip had some pretty decent Steve McNiven art depicting major characters/events from the stories. The FC strips have had some pretty cryptic images and art that is certainly not to my taste.

(sorry....my ranting against the "strips" goes on......)

[comicm]

That's bizarre, because of the last 10 or so shops I have been in, they all have had huge stacks of FC on the racks. I was in a shop yesterday that must have had 30 copies of the latest issue, 25 of which were the "strip" covers.

Well like I said he under orders. He ups his order everytime by about 10 copies but has at least 10-15 customers add it to their pull list every month. So when the order comes in he has none to put on the shelf.

It fascinates me that 10-15 people would be adding FC to their pull every month. I have certainly not been hearing any kind of positive buzz on the series that would indicate people flocking to add the series mid-stream. Maybe I'm not looking in the right places......

In any event, when should get the comic shops in Orange County, Portland & Phoenix (where I have seen all the unsold copies) to be sending care packages of Final Crisis to where you are, so they can meet the pent-up demand.....

Maybe those shops that you go to order a lot of copies for the shelf. In my shop he tends to be conservative unless it is Secret Invasion. I am not suprised because I think all of the Final Crisis and tie ins have been very high quality with the exception of one and that is Superman Beyond.

[comicm]

He probably has so many people ask to put Final Crisis and Final Crisis tie-ins on their pull list because if they don't they won't get a copy because there are none for the shelf.

His shop tends to be a Marvel shop so that is probably why he orders so few copies of Final Crisis.

[JohnMayo]

He probably has so many people ask to put Final Crisis and Final Crisis tie-ins on their pull list because if they don't they won't get a copy because there are none for the shelf.

That makes sense. If the only way to be sure to get a copy is to have it one a pull list then people will put it on the pull list.