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Bravo Frank Miller, for still finding the time and energy to do stuff for fun.

I’m surprised by Unfollow. Immediately picked up for TV, no one seems to even know it exists. In fact, I was looking for a copy of the second issue (as my store had only copies that literally had split open on all the bottom seams, part of that whole “We print crappier comics today than we did in the 60’s!” mentality the Big Two are using today, but I digress… ) and comic shop owners were all like “Unfollow? I’ve never heard of that title.” Boom.

And can ANYONE tell me what Survivors’ Club is actually about? I mean, I read the first issue and it made 99.8% no sense. Honestly, I pick up each issue that comes out, look over it in the shop and go “Nope, still making NO sense!” ;) I wanted to like it, too.

I thought creators were ditching Vertigo for Image because its page rates had gotten worse (see: Snyder, Morrison, Lemire). Something must have changed to spark all these launches.

Based on Diane Nelson’s description of Vertigo as reported by Variety at the Variety Summit in September 2015 it sounded like the creator-owned aspect is all but gone.

“Vertigo, which focuses on stand-alone fantasy stories, is an engine “for getting original IP into the company and feeding other businesses as well as our publishing business.”

http://variety.com/2015/biz/news/dc-diane-nelson-batman-vs-superman-marvel-flash-arrow-1201595124/

Superman Lois & Clark turns out to be an 8-issue miniseries in a tweet posted before the publication of this article.

Wow at Omega Men doing the usual Vertigo numbers.

“In DKIII’s case, even if you are very generous and assume that up to 200K of those copies went to customers who actually read them (and frankly I think that the number is likely closer to 150K), that means that over half of the total copies sold of DKIII #1 are either sitting unread in a bag and board somewhere or just taking up space on a retailer’s rack (and before too long in a retailer’s quarter box…)”

Dave, maybe don’t confuse sell-through with profit?

My basic line is that you can’t succeed in retail if you’re not keystoning cost-of-goods (doubling your whole cost), but the nature of Variants, both limited by number (1:25, 1:50 and so on) as well as retailer-exclusive covers (where the large majority of DK3’s 440k is going to *actually* come from) means that you might very well be keystoning COGs and yet still be liquidating the majority of your sell-in number.

I also suspect there’s a WIDE swath of retailers who are “just” breaking even on store-exclusives, but they view it as a marketing expense, and therefore are revenue neutral in their heads.

If someone has been selling comics for six years or more, and is still in business, and doesn’t show any signs of imminent closure… well, it’s probably safe to assume that their business model is absolutely no worse than break-even at which point the market needs to say “Sure, OK” — it’s only cases in which retailers are actively losing money that we should have the slightest concerns about their viability — and the impact on the greater market in the sense of “collapse”

*just because you don’t like how someone conducts commerce does not, a priori, make it a poor model*

(All said with the understanding that I personally believe variants, and marketing in that direction to be the equivalent to a disease: http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=41000)

-B

@Brian: I understand fully well that retailers can be breaking even or coming out ahead on incentive variants even while leaving a large amount of the stock unsold. That was kind of my point. It may be good in the term for retailers and publishers, but long term it is bad for everyone.

I mentioned my August 2015 column with my variants rant, but neglected to link to it; it’s here http://www.comicsbeat.com/dc-comics-month-to-month-sales-august-2015-bombshells-return/

I suspect you and I agree far more than disagree on this.

@axspo This column was submitted several days before it was published on the site.

Nathan AAron–

I’m with you. I haven’t bought a book from ‘the big 2’ for years, but the premise (as advertised) for Survivor’s Club intrigued me.

I read the first issue, scratched my head, and never went back.

“Based on Diane Nelson’s description of Vertigo as reported by Variety at the Variety Summit in September 2015 it sounded like the creator-owned aspect is all but gone.”

But if it’s all about IPs for other media, I wonder if that’s the lure, and if there’s a major incentive if they get bought up.

I’m not gonna cry for vertigo as they launched al those new titles with a 3.99$ cover price and apparently stopped their 9.99$ pricing, and did not bother to communicate at all on what their new offer will be to promote this new line of titles.

And yes, I was quite early this month with my column, as I was the last one last month. :p

Based on that pic, my tweet question will be: “Where’s your signature red and black striped shirt or razor claws?”

Silly But True

It’s probably not an appropriate question for a non-family member (or close friend) to ask, but I would sincerely like to know if Frank’s ill or something. He doesn’t look well, and to be, uh, frank, some of his recent art has been…. not good. (Particularly considering all those variant covers that the 74-year-old Neal Adams recently cranked out, that look fantastic.)

Silly But True: At first glance, I thought a pic of Freddy has been posted here by mistake.

I’ll always respect Miller for the superb work he did in the ’80s, but I’ve found everything he’s done for the last 25 years to be unreadable. “Holy Terror” was the last straw for a lot of former fans, but I gave up on him after the second or third volume of “Sin City.”

He blew the doors off the 80s,

Thanks to Google Translate and some variation on common sense, Hannah and I did our best to translate that Le Monde interview:
http://www.geekrex.com/2015/10/frank-miller-speaks-with-le-monde-about.html

“a logical conclusion to the saga”

Wait…are we supposed to start pretending again that Miller hasn’t completely gone round the bend and left his awesome talent behind? You can like whatever you like but let’s not kid ourselves. The sequel was clearly the product of a diminished imagination and suggesting this latest bit of fluff concludes a coherent trilogy is ridiculous.

Mike

At first glance I thought the big twist would be that Frank Miller art is actually turning pretty good.

You know, color me optimistic. The bottom line is that Frank Miller is a talented storyteller. What I’ve been disappointed by in the past is his tendency to let his idiosyncrasies and tics overwhelm his narrative, when he’s not careful.

Think about it. In the 80’s, when he was coming up, he was responsible for corporate properties that had a decent amount of guardianship– and he had a trusted editorial relationship with Denny O’Neil on those projects. As a result, we most often remember how he leveled up Daredevil and Batman with a neat synthesis of crime fiction writing, cinematic techniques, and an infusion of principles from bandes dessinees, manga, and Will Eisner.

But even back then, whenever he did work with less editorial input, his idiosyncrasy spiked hard. If you think his current art is ugly, check out Ronin from that period. Without a finisher, Miller’s got a wild pen. Good figure drawing is the last thing on his mind, as is background work. He’s more keen on texture, motion, and striking graphics. (That’s not a bad thing, either).

Diana Schutz provided a guiding hand on Miller’s work in the 90’s, which led to more stylization and a broader, less nuanced style of storytelling, but his tics still never overwhelmed his narrative. The politics got stronger, for sure, but it’s still entertaining work. It’s only when we get to the 2000’s, when he came back to DC with very little reigning in that the scale tips. (Recall– even Holy Terror was going to be a Batman book. They just had the sense to pass on it).

I think pairing him with Azzarello and Kubert is intentionally designed to bring things back into balance. Here, you’ve still got the storytelling sense and visual pacing that Miller excels at, with collaborators that tend to those sensibilities, resulting in a much better filter against the ongoing quirks and the evolving personal politics that we’ve come to find so offputting. I anticipate that when this third volume is finished, we’ll see a throughline of both Batman AND Superman both maturing and growing in the way they fight against overwhelming odds. (And Carrie Kelly coming up in the world as her own brand of bad-ass).

Here’s a fun experiment. Track down something from the Fort Thunder camp, or a volume of Kramer’s Ergot or Mould Map. Weird, avant-garde work, right? High on the personal expression of the post-modern artist– less about the story. Then go look at DK2. Visual vocab of early 2000’s SPX, story sensibility of a classicist. It’s probably not quite the lemon you think it is.

I find it amusing how people like to put down the efforts of guys like Frank Miller, Neal Adams (Comics Alliance even had a regular column belittling Batman: Odyssey) John Byrne, and others whose contributions have resonated decades after they did their initial works. Miller may not be your cup of tea (I didn’t care for DK2 and the Spirit) but making fun of his talent and creativity is laughable.

“making fun of his talent and creativity is laughable.”

Miller is one of the greatest comic creators of all time. But DK2 was a fiasco, no matter what deconstructionist, meta-textual hoops you jump through to pretend otherwise. DC running him out there again to embarrass himself is like a boxing promoter sending a broken down fighter with a big name out to get his head bashed in.

I think it’s fascinating that when DC exploits an inanimate intellectual property like Watchman, everyone loses their minds. DC exploits a living creator to Jar Jar Binks his own timeless classic for a quick buck and people don’t even shrug.

Mike

“DC running him out there again to embarrass himself is like a boxing promoter sending a broken down fighter with a big name out to get his head bashed in.”

Alternatively, since Miller appears visibly ill and other writers and artists are doing the heavy creative lifting on the book, maybe DC is setting this up so that a sick man can earn some needed cash? I’m not suggesting DC won’t make a ton of money themselves, but rightly or wrongly, I have a feeling Frank needs this to happen now.

In recent photos Miller looks healthier. As for DC “hunning him out”, he still has plenty of fans that are interested in his work.