Marvel's Bounty on the Lantern Ring Books

In a rare occurrence here at Retroactive Continuity, I'm going to discuss a piece of comic book news that is less than a month old. In fact, it's actually less than a week old. Has hell frozen over? Are dogs and cats living together? Surely some supernatural power has intervened to push me into the realm of topical news.

Well, not really. Normally, I just don't like writing about the same issues everyone else is writing about. I'd rather revisit the topic months down the road after the dust has settled and perspective has been gotten. That's kinda one of the reasons I named this blog Retroactive Continuity. Plus, adding my two cents well after everybody else has moved on, helps me believe I'm capable of original ideas.

But in this case, this particular news item really got my panties in a wad. I mean, they're wadded to the point that I need to vent in order to unwad them. And just what is this piece of news? Well, that would be Marvel's “Siege variant for Blackest Night tie-ins” promotions.

In case you haven't read the press release from Marvel, please take a few minutes to do so. I'll wait...

Read it? Good. Let's get started.

Bottom line, this is one of the biggest dick moves I have ever seen from a comic book publisher. And before you say, “but Cody, by talking about it, you're just playing into Marvel's hand,” you're probably right. But it's still a dick move.

The press release opens with snarkiness, and Marvel's follow-up statements, especially those from Tom Brevoort, continue the snarkiness. Marvel can spin this anyway it wants, but the announcement effectively places a bounty on a competitor's product, and that is not cool in my book.

It's childish. It's one-upsmanship. It's a neener neener neener move. I think this promotion is a cheap shot and of questionable business ethics. And the fact that Marvel is disguising it as a noble “effort to provide assistance to comic retailers” is just dishonest.

If I was still a retailer, there is no way I would participate in this sham of a promotion. And I say this knowing that reckless ordering was one of main factors in the failure of my store. My focus was in other aspects of the store and business, and by the time I realized what was going on, it was unfortunately too late for my corrections to work.

I would love for there to have been an avenue to dump the ridiculous numbers of general back issues my store accumulated – that's just not how this business works though. Yet even if I had hundreds of the lantern ring books in stock, I wouldn't send any to Marvel just out of principle – something the comic book industry seems to have in short supply.

Also, I hate variant covers with a passion. Yes, they increase the quantities of books retailers order. That's why publishers keep printing them. But they don't at all help to increase the number of readers for that particular title. Think about it, are you going to pick up a book you've never read just because you have the opportunity to overpay for the variant cover? Didn't think so.

At least with incentives like the lantern rings, depending on how the retailer distributes them, readers are introduced to a new title like REBELS or Doom Patrol just to get the ring. Not only are they a retailer incentive, they're also a customer incentive. What a concept!

Immediate internet reaction to Marvel's offer shows retailers are falling on both sides of the issue. But I wouldn't consider that a statistically relevant sample, so it's difficult to predict how many retailers will take Marvel up on its offer. In an ideal world, zero retailers will participate.

But who am I kidding. The comic book industry is far from ideal. There are plenty of retailers out there who are just as childish as Marvel and whose ethics are just as questionable. And they will jump on this opportunity. After all, comic book retailers love to make a quick buck. That's why retailer incentives like the lantern rings and variant covers work in the first place. And that's why Marvel's dick move will work.

Creator or Character: Which is More Important?

Earlier this week, I stumbled upon an interesting thread on the Newsarama message boards asking the following question: Which is the more important factor in your comic book purchasing decisions, the character or the creator? As all Newsarama threads do, it quickly degraded into a chest-pounding, battle of semantics. Yet it's still a very thought provoking question. And it's one I'd like to ask of myself.

To give fair warning, this column isn't going to draw any revolutionary conclusions on the subject or contain any inspiring anecdotes. It's just a little bit about my perspective on reading comic books, which hopefully the four of you who visit this blog will find interesting.

I started reading comic books in the early-90s, just as comic book gluttony was peaking. Back then, there was no internet, and I didn't seek out comic book shops. Hell, it's possible I wasn't even sophisticated enough to know they existed. I bought all of my comics at the grocery store and the monthly comic book conventions at the local mall.

Because I had no exposure to the industry beyond the comics themselves, I was pretty ignorant of the names in the bylines of the books I was enjoying. The only two names I was familiar with were Todd McFarlane and Frank Miller. And to be honest I doubt I could have recognized their work outside of Spawn or The Dark Knight Returns.

But I knew the characters. I was intimately familiar with Batman and the Bat-verse. I knew Superman, the Justice League, Spider-Man, Wolverine and the X-men. I recognized Spawn, Wonder Woman, the Fantastic Four, and Swamp Thing. And as a young man in his teens, I definitely recognized Witchblade for her... assets.

Fast forward nearly two decades, and with near infinite access to material and information on the internet, and years of exposure to the industry, I can recognize which artist drew what, and which writer wrote what. In fact, I get quite the kick out of browsing my old issues of Batman and Detective Comics, and seeing names like Chuck Dixon and Greg Rucka. I'm guessing that's a common maturation process for a lot of readers my age.

So what do my current reading habits say about me? Well, as you can see from my pull list to the right, I'm a total Bat-whore. Always have been, always will be. In fact, the only Bat-titles I don't purchase are Batman Confidential and Superman/Batman.

While I will always buy Batman and Dectective Comics due to the last shred of completism I haven't been able to purge from my body, I buy the rest of the Bat books because I enjoy the characters and stories, not because any particular creator is associated with them.

The same goes for the rest of my pull list. I've picked up Booster Gold from issue one, because I think the character, and time travel, kicks butt, not because Geoff Johns was the first writer. Same with Atomic Robo; I had no clue who the creators were when I picked it up, but the character and stories looked cool.

With that said, creators also play a role in my reading habits. Several writers will always get my attention – Grant Morrison, Greg Rucka, Geoff Johns, Joss Whedon – as will a couple of artists – Jim Lee and the late Michael Turner. However, while I'll give them the benefit of the doubt at first, I'm by no means a kool-aid drinker.

For example, I won't be picking of Geoff Johns' new Flash series for the simple reason I just don't care about Flash. Yet, I'm almost positive I'll buy Grant Morrison's Multiversity project when it hits the shelves because of its potential awesomeness, and Jim Lee's ridiculously awesome pencils sucker me into All-Star Batman & Robin even though I know it's not good for me. Damn you, Jim Lee.

So in the end, I guess it comes down to the characters for me. While there are certainly writers and artists I tend to enjoy more than others, and will always be on the look-out for their next projects, I always default to the characters. After all, an entertaining Batman story is an entertaining Batman story regardless of the creative team behind it.

New Reader Intimidation: The Root Cause

At the DC Nation panel during the Long Beach Comic Con in October, a fan asked the panel members when DC was going to create a line of books like Marvel’s Ultimate line, which is free of the company's convoluted continuity and thus new reader friendly. I audibly groaned.

In fact, I was so irrationally upset I wanted to stand up and shout to the guy, “WTF are you talking about, dude?!” I mean, I really enjoy the fact DC hasn’t given in and dumbed things down for the “short attention span, immediate satisfaction” generation. I appreciated the fact that the overall feeling in the room seemed to parallel my opinion.

Jump ahead about two months, and DC announces its line of Earth One graphic novels, the purpose of which is to create an entry point for new readers into a universe free of continuity, making a non-intimidating introduction to comics. *face palm*

I maintain the belief that un-indoctrinated readers are turned-off by pre-established continuity is bunk. The elusive new reader is just not that stupid.

The intimidating part is not coming in mid-story, or the decades of source material. It’s the stores themselves, whether they be mainstream bookstores (the apparent target of the Earth One books) or comic book specialty stores.

The majority of comic book stores can seem confusing and not inviting whatsoever, even to regular customers. Disorganized and non-intuitive merchandise layouts; no internal signage; smug, unfriendly employees behind the counter. As a result, a new customer may walk in, not know where to start browsing, and walk right out the door.

Even the graphic novel and trade paperback shelves at mainstreams book stores can leave a new reader with that deer-in-the-headlights looks. So what if the Earth One books are going to be on those shelves. Big whoop. How will the guy off the street know which books to start with?

Further, why is this alleged lack of gateways only mentioned in the comic book world? You never hear it mentioned in the context of television or novels.

Now, I’ll give you that coming into the middle of a story arc can be confusing, but I'm willing to bet the reader is smart enough to realize the “Part X” in the title or “Number Y of Z” on the cover means there are a few back issues that need to be picked up. It's just the same as coming into a TV show mid-season and needing to catch up on the reruns.

The difference is not the density or complexity of the material, but knowing where to look for it. For television shows, you can check-out sources such as Hulu, iTunes, or the network's own website. A quick search finds the episodes you're looking for front and center.

But comic books are a very different experience for the layperson. Let's say you pick a floppy from the shelves of your local comic book store. Are the previous issues next to it on the shelf, which is the most logical spot for them? At least that's how I'd look at it.

They certainly wouldn't be in those dingy looking, unwelcoming cardboard boxes on the tables, would they? Should I ask the greasy guy behind the counter who appears more interested in the book he's reading than helping me? Maybe I should just put the book back on the shelf and leave.

The graphic novel shelves at a bookstore are only slightly less confusing, because at least everything is right there in front of you. But because the books are most likely in alphabetical order rather than chronological order, it's still difficult to answer the “which book is first” question. Fortunately mainstream bookstore employees are typically more welcoming of questions, although they may lack knowledge specific to comic books.

I think we – meaning the comic book community – need to give the layperson more credit when it comes to reading comprehension. The problem is not intimidation from too much material or continuity; that's easy to sort through. The root cause of the intimidation is a lack of guidance and direction, be that from a messy, dungeon of a store or socially inept employees.

Thus, the burden of growing the customer base is on the owners and employees of comic book stores. It's truly a grassroots effort. They need to make their store inviting and open and user friendly. DC and Marvel can't do that for them.

No amount of “new reader friendly” material will increase the number of readers, if those readers aren’t coached on where to start.

Long Beach Comic Con 2009 - Day 1

I arrived at the convention center shortly after 2PM, and painlessly picked up my badge. With the ribbon cutting ceremony starring Stan Lee at 3PM, I had some time to kill. Thus, I walked around the “front porch” of the convention center and people watched.

It was your typical beautiful sunny day on the Southern California coast, with a slight ocean breeze only occasionally marred by cigarette smoke. I’m certainly glad I remembered to put on sunscreen before I left the apartment though.

By the time I rolled back inside (2:45ish), the crowd around the ceremonial ribbon was already about ten people deep. There was no way to see through it. It was like lead to Superman’s X-ray vision – ok, that analogy even made me cringe. But I definitely wasn’t going to see anything standing there. And then I looked up, and noticed the balcony.

So I walked up the stairs, and was presented with an unobstructed, birds-eye view of the ceremony. For the longest time, I was the only person up there. Eventually, I was joined by a half dozen people, including the local newspaper’s photographer, each telling me, “I saw you up here and thought ‘what a great idea.’” But let’s be clear here. I had the idea first. I’m a genius.

While I was looking down on the crowd content to stand on the floor with arms stretched above their heads holding their cameras and phones to record the ceremony rather than actually watching it, I first I thought the turn-out was low. I mean, there were, at most, only a few hundred people watching the ribbon cutting ceremony. But then I remembered this is the Los Angeles metro area, and we don’t do anything on-time around here.

We don’t show up until the third inning at baseball games, and barely make it to the arena in time for the main act at concerts. And when you tack on the 3PM start time and the Friday afternoon traffic, the lower turnout kinda makes sense. And perhaps it was for the best, as it resulted in a much more intimate affair. The fans watching Jeff Loeb proclaiming on behalf of LA County that October 2 was “Stan Lee Day” were the fans that truly wanted to be there.

But have no fear, the crowds definitely increased as people started getting off work. By the time I left around 4:30, thanks to the cold I’ve been battling all week flaring up again, there was a steadily increasing influx of people.

After the ribbon cutting ceremony, I ran into a co-worker while I was outside taking a phone call. As we walked onto the exhibit floor, he proclaimed, “I’ve already forgotten the stench of Wizard World.” And I think that’s the perfect summary of Day 1 at the Long Beach Comic Con. Everything that Wizard did wrong, leading to the eventual downfall of its Los Angeles show – i.e. moving out of Long Beach, trying to be San Diego lite, not catering to the fans or creators, all the things I’ve discussed on this blog in the past – the good folks at Long Beach Comic Con did right.

But I was left with one nagging question: Which lantern corps t-shirt should I buy??

Click here for my Long Beach Comic Con 2009 photo album.

Reporting Live from the Long Beach Comic Con this weekend

Well, if all goes as planned – and in the name of full disclosure, it probably won’t – I will be twittering or tweeting, or whatever the heck the kids call it, from the Long Beach Comic Con this weekend. In addition, I’ll post daily summaries and photos on this here blog.

Now, because I’m fully aware I won’t be able to stay at the convention the whole time, expect tweets from areas outside of the convention center as I look for distractions to take me away from the crowds.

You might be asking, why the hell would a hack blogger like you who has no readers, no twitter followers, and barely even uses twitter to begin with even want to blog/tweet from the convention? Trust me, I’ve asked myself the exact same thing, and the answer is I’ve got nothing better to do this weekend. I’m single and the forest where I go hiking is closed. Why not report my mundane and asinine observations from the Long Beach Comic Con?

So if you’re interested, or more likely just really, really bored, follow my twitter account at http://twitter.com/cmachler. I’ve also set up a twitter feed on the right hand side of this blog for the truly lazy. Oh, and be sure to watch for my daily summaries and photos on this blog.

I’ve got my three day pass, a new messaging phone, and I live ten minutes from the convention center. What could possibly go wrong? Other than my short attention span, lack of patience, and dislike of large crowds, that is.

I Went to my LCS and Now I Feel Dirty

After my store shut down, I made the decision to not transfer my patronage to another comic book store in the area. I arrived at this plan for a number of reasons.

1. Paying frequent visits to a successful store would constantly remind me of my failure as an entrepreneur.

2. As long as you don’t care about getting your books weekly – and monthly is certainly fine with me – it is so much cheaper to buy your comics from an online store, especially when you consider you don’t have to pay the outrageous 10% sales tax that plagues my area of residence.

3. I was witness to business practices by local owners which I consider to be shady – although I later concluded that’s just how things are done in the comic book retail business – and I had no desire to give them my money.

4. Visiting an LCS would just make me more nostalgic than I already am for my store.

I held to that principle for a very long time. And you know what? I didn’t miss walking into a store one bit. But that changed about a month ago when I decided consolidate my comic book collection; a plan which required golden age bags and short boxes, and from financial and lead time perspectives, it made more sense to buy them from a local store.

Incidentally, I decreased the total volume of my collection by almost half by repackaging my comics from individually bagged and boarded to groups of ten in golden age bags. I consider that little project a success. But back to the story…

Thus, in the last several weeks, I visited two of my local comic book stores. And you know what? I feel dirty. Yes, dirty… and not in the good way.

Poorly dressed employees (and owners); The employees (and owners) never tried to strike up a friendly conversation with me – in fact they barely greeted me; Cluttered and disorganized merchandise; Narrow aisles; Poor lighting; An overall atmosphere, intimidating to people unfamiliar with comic book store stereotypes; A stone age cash register with a dot matrix printer and no Point Of Sale system; No friendly “we’ll be right with you” while standing in a long line at the only cash register.

I felt a lack of motivation on the part of the owners and employees to try to evolve and improve their store; to break the proto-typical dark and grimy comic book store mold. There was simply an overall sense of “we’re making money so why try anything differently.”

And why should they? The vast majority of comic book store customers tends to be creatures of habit, and therefore do not ultimately care about the store. They just buy their books and leave.

As long as the store is open and it gets new product every Wednesday, the customers keep showing up. And as long as those customers keep showing up, and provided the owners are comfortable with their level of sales, there’s no need to worry about increasing their customer base. Therefore, they can logically conclude that their old school way of thinking still works, and change is just a troublesome and costly endeavor.

Breaking that mold was my main reason for opening a store. And I think I was successful in doing so. I just didn’t have the war chest of funds to survive while I was building a customer base – well, that and I was working 50 hours a week at my day job and 20+ at the store, which wasn’t sustainable. However, I received more than enough “thank you for opening a bright and friendly comic book store” comments from customers to know at least the concept is valid.

Perhaps one of these days I’ll find a comic book store that doesn’t make me want to leave as soon as I walk through the door. But until then, I’ll stick with the online thing.

No San Diego For Me

Back in May – has it really been two months since I last posted something here? I’m a such a slacker – I wrote that my interest in Comic Con International in San Diego normally cycles through peaks and valleys, but this year it took up residence in one of the valleys several months ago and stayed there. Thus I didn’t register or book lodging.

Yet there was still a voice in the back of my head that mocked me by saying, “Sure you think you’re too cool for school now, but just you wait until the programming schedule is released. You’ll find one or two panels that will entice you to the point of obsessing over how to get down there, and then you’ll be sorry for at least not registering. Dumbass.”

Deep down, I knew that voice was correct. I would read through the programming schedule and inevitably see something like “Spotlight on Richard Dean Anderson: Join us on Saturday as RDA discusses his career from MacGyver to Legend to Stargate, as well as his personal interests of ice hockey and backpacking.”

Assuming I survived the convulsions of ecstasy, I would wipe the drool from my chin and begin sifting through the list of industry folks I know who might be able to score a pass for me. Of course, the next question becomes what would I do if I couldn’t score a free pass? How much would I pay a scalper? Or perhaps more importantly, what favors would I be willing to give or what acts would I be willing to provide should a friend dangle a pass in front of me like a carrot in front of mule? The answers to those questions are too embarrassing to post here.

Fortunately, there is no programming this year awesome enough to drive me to such depravity. In fact, while viewing the schedule, I only thought, “That might be kinda cool to see,” once or twice. Yet the next day, I couldn’t remember which panels piqued my interest, which means either I have a shorter attention span than I believed or the panels just weren’t that interesting after all. I’m betting on the latter, but only by a little bit.

So why have I lost interest in San Diego when just a few years ago I was all about living the marathon? I don’t think there’s really any one answer, but I won’t be as arrogant as to summarize it by saying I’ve grown up and now see the convention as beneath me. It’s much more complicated than that.

I’ve always been a bit of a loner – ok, more than a bit. I highly covet my alone time, and while I’m ok with small groups of people, I can’t stand large groups. I’m not afraid of them, nor do I suffer from a clinical form of social anxiety disorder. I just have little patience for the general public when it congregates in feeding frenzies like the San Diego Comic Con where everyone is over-stimulated, distracted, and out for themselves.

In the past, the excitement, adventure, and anticipation of San Diego were more than enough to offset my desire to avoid the masses. And hell, I’ll admit it, knowing I might possibly snap after running into my seventh comic book guy with greasy hair and a t-shirt stained with sweat and yesterday’s lunch was also a draw in a “it hurts so good” kind of way.

But whether it’s because the convention’s luster has actually dulled, or my anti-social tendencies have increased, I have nothing more than a passing interest in attending. Even the chance to see swarms of Slave Leias isn’t enough to make me put up with the traffic and crowds.

I’m sure I’ll return to the San Diego Comic Con sooner rather than later. For now though, I’ll scratch my itch with the Long Beach Comic Con in October.

So to those hitting San Diego, I wish you the best of the times. And I’m looking forward to reading all of your reports and viewing your photo albums.