This episode made some really great points, it's weird that publishers can't figure some of these things out.
The Big Picture: Continanity: Rebooted
- Thread starter MovieBob
- Start date
Affordability also draws readers. Paying anywhere from $3.00 and upwards for a new issue of a comic book nowadays, will stop a lot of people dead in their tracks.
Well said. For people to be willing to go out of their comfort zone to follow other media it has to be worth the effort. It applies to all forms of media.KirbyKrackle said:
And yes, not all comics are superhero comics, but that's something that won't change until more people get the chance to pick up and read comics. How can non superhero comics gain a readership? Outside web based comics... I don't know. But it may be a start.
Hmmm, well I'll be honest in saying that the current re-boot plans comic companies in general are going through are destroying what interest I still maintain in comics. Simply put it's the huge, sprawling universes that keep me periodically coming back as I can afford to. Wiping the slate on these long running universes does nothing to paticularly interest me, and honestly when it comes to DC in paticular I'm tired of them constantly doing this every time they want a sales boost, I mean it was cute with "Crisis On Infinite Earths" and then "Infinite Crisis" and then "Final Crisis" and now we're dealing with this garbage. If anything just keeping track of those handfull of crisis events is probably responsible for 90% of the complexity they were allegedly run to deal with.
I'll also be honest in saying that I read comics to get away from reality, and truthfully a lot of the reboots nowadays seem to be directed towards making comics more "politically relevent" to a left wing demograhic, not only does this bug me to some extent as someone who is more right wing than left, but also because I read comics to get away from all of that crap. I don't read comics to see someone use them as an analogy for their political platform, this has always been around to some extent, but really I have begun to find it increasingly irksome. Especially seeing as "politically relevent" seems to go along with every hero being more or less an anti-societal, and what at one point would have been considered a dark hero. Looking at the current "reboot" of Superman for example he's no longer the unironic American cultural icon that you could point to as a counterpoint to the dark heroes. Indeed the dark heroes kind of lose a lot when they represent the majority of characters since they have nobody to really stand out in comparison to.
I doubt DC cares, but I've spent a lot of money on comics from both major companies (them and marvel) over the years, and they still get some of my money, that seems likely to stop when they stop selling the characters I want to read about.
In connection to the above paragraph, I think a part of the problem not touched on here is how comics have become too heavily connected to a collector's market. See, the thing that makes a "reboot" of this sort profitable is the promise of all those limited run #1 books. You put #1 or "limited" on any comic of note and sadly you can get a major sales boost, whether it represents a genuine industry change or not, it still represents a collectible. To be honest I'm not convinced this isn't just another stunt to boost sales and that the continuity won't be more or less restored a few months after they make these sales, in which case little is likely to change as far as my purchusing goes.
The collector's market is also part of the problem with the business, one of the reasons why comics aren't more heavily saturated and dependant on specialty stores is because limited quantities of issues is a part of the business. Mass production on the modern level is probably going to hurt the long term value of the product and drive a lot of serious comics collectors out of the hobby.
Comics going digital is interesting, and I've seen this to some extent via things like a PSP service, but one of the issues with comics is that like publishers in general they generally do not want to reduce their prices. I can understand the rising prices of comics along with the cost of materials like paper, but when it comes to digital distribution I have a bigger issue with paying the demanded prices, and I don't think I'm alone here, as the cost of digital material compared to hardcopy material has been a big deal accross a large spectrum of products. Right now the services that are selling digital comics seem to be priced the same as the hardcopy equivilent, and truthfully I don't think they are going to take off that way. If they drop the price through the floor for digital comics, and then make them omni-present through things like the Ipad, I could see them picking up volumes of business... but really I'm not sure if this is going to mean much in the final equasion. Truthfully I kind of suspect the only reason why comics companies are going digital at all is to try and counter the claim of pirates that with limited runs of comics and the collector's markets, the only way to read many comics has been to steal them. This way they can point to the digital archive and say "well you could pay us for a digital copy as opposed to downloading off of The Pirate's Bay"... I think it's intended defensively and to counter fan-to-fan arguements of the sort made about Anime (ie, it's not for sale at all) than as an attempt to create a viable business that people will actually use.... It sounds kind of ridiculous when I explain it, but it is big business, and that none the less does seem to be the attitude. I don't think the guys pimping digital comics are actually all that concerned about people buying digital comics despite all the pretensions.
I'll also be honest in saying that I read comics to get away from reality, and truthfully a lot of the reboots nowadays seem to be directed towards making comics more "politically relevent" to a left wing demograhic, not only does this bug me to some extent as someone who is more right wing than left, but also because I read comics to get away from all of that crap. I don't read comics to see someone use them as an analogy for their political platform, this has always been around to some extent, but really I have begun to find it increasingly irksome. Especially seeing as "politically relevent" seems to go along with every hero being more or less an anti-societal, and what at one point would have been considered a dark hero. Looking at the current "reboot" of Superman for example he's no longer the unironic American cultural icon that you could point to as a counterpoint to the dark heroes. Indeed the dark heroes kind of lose a lot when they represent the majority of characters since they have nobody to really stand out in comparison to.
I doubt DC cares, but I've spent a lot of money on comics from both major companies (them and marvel) over the years, and they still get some of my money, that seems likely to stop when they stop selling the characters I want to read about.
In connection to the above paragraph, I think a part of the problem not touched on here is how comics have become too heavily connected to a collector's market. See, the thing that makes a "reboot" of this sort profitable is the promise of all those limited run #1 books. You put #1 or "limited" on any comic of note and sadly you can get a major sales boost, whether it represents a genuine industry change or not, it still represents a collectible. To be honest I'm not convinced this isn't just another stunt to boost sales and that the continuity won't be more or less restored a few months after they make these sales, in which case little is likely to change as far as my purchusing goes.
The collector's market is also part of the problem with the business, one of the reasons why comics aren't more heavily saturated and dependant on specialty stores is because limited quantities of issues is a part of the business. Mass production on the modern level is probably going to hurt the long term value of the product and drive a lot of serious comics collectors out of the hobby.
Comics going digital is interesting, and I've seen this to some extent via things like a PSP service, but one of the issues with comics is that like publishers in general they generally do not want to reduce their prices. I can understand the rising prices of comics along with the cost of materials like paper, but when it comes to digital distribution I have a bigger issue with paying the demanded prices, and I don't think I'm alone here, as the cost of digital material compared to hardcopy material has been a big deal accross a large spectrum of products. Right now the services that are selling digital comics seem to be priced the same as the hardcopy equivilent, and truthfully I don't think they are going to take off that way. If they drop the price through the floor for digital comics, and then make them omni-present through things like the Ipad, I could see them picking up volumes of business... but really I'm not sure if this is going to mean much in the final equasion. Truthfully I kind of suspect the only reason why comics companies are going digital at all is to try and counter the claim of pirates that with limited runs of comics and the collector's markets, the only way to read many comics has been to steal them. This way they can point to the digital archive and say "well you could pay us for a digital copy as opposed to downloading off of The Pirate's Bay"... I think it's intended defensively and to counter fan-to-fan arguements of the sort made about Anime (ie, it's not for sale at all) than as an attempt to create a viable business that people will actually use.... It sounds kind of ridiculous when I explain it, but it is big business, and that none the less does seem to be the attitude. I don't think the guys pimping digital comics are actually all that concerned about people buying digital comics despite all the pretensions.
Actually if they DC did it right it would NOT be confusing. In June 1978 Action Comics #484 had the story where Superman and Lois Lane married ("Superman Takes a Wife!") but it took place on Earth-2 where the JSA then resided. Just before Crisis On Infinite Earths DC launched a book call Infinity Inc set on Earth-2 which looked at the generation AFTER Batman, Sueprman, Wonder Woman and the rest of the JSA. Like Marvel does now DC had a little one page blurb only this one explained the multiple Earth concept and was actually integrated into the comic story itself.Kekkles said:
Contrary to the claims made it wasn't "confusing" to have the two Earths around. What WAS confusing were the Earths created by editors years after the fact to explain really big continuity gaffs and served as makeshift dumping grounds (Earth-B and Earth-2A were the two big ones)
Very good episode as always, MovieBob. Really enjoyed it.
If I may ask, I'd like to know if you could give me your opinion on some comics friends of mine have been asking me to check out for sometime now. Granted yeah, I go to the comic book store about once a week, but like many people, I can't spend a lot of cash on a lot of comics. And I don't want to waste anywhere around 2 to 3 bucks on a comic that sucked. Just want to know if any of these comics are good or at least ok from somebody who knows comics really well. If you want to give me short answers as to whether they're good or not, feel free to do so. If you don't know because you haven't read them, then you don't have to give an answer to it.
The Goon [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheGoon]
Red Sonja [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RedSonja]
Hellblazer [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Hellblazer]
Gen13 [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Gen13]
Lady Death [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/LadyDeath]
Archie's: Mega Man [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/ComicBook/MegaMan]
Tarot: Witch of the Black Rose [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TarotWitchOfTheBlackRose]
Danger Girl [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DangerGirl]
WildCATS [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/WildCATS]
If anyone wants to give me their opinions on these comics, be my guest.
If I may ask, I'd like to know if you could give me your opinion on some comics friends of mine have been asking me to check out for sometime now. Granted yeah, I go to the comic book store about once a week, but like many people, I can't spend a lot of cash on a lot of comics. And I don't want to waste anywhere around 2 to 3 bucks on a comic that sucked. Just want to know if any of these comics are good or at least ok from somebody who knows comics really well. If you want to give me short answers as to whether they're good or not, feel free to do so. If you don't know because you haven't read them, then you don't have to give an answer to it.
The Goon [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheGoon]
Red Sonja [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RedSonja]
Hellblazer [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Hellblazer]
Gen13 [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Gen13]
Lady Death [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/LadyDeath]
Archie's: Mega Man [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/ComicBook/MegaMan]
Tarot: Witch of the Black Rose [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TarotWitchOfTheBlackRose]
Danger Girl [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DangerGirl]
WildCATS [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/WildCATS]
If anyone wants to give me their opinions on these comics, be my guest.
I have to say, I'm from the suburbs and used to listen to a lot of NPR on the weekends... so I have to admit it reminds me most of Tom and Ray from Car Talk. They had to tone it down when they went national, but it didn't get completely eliminated.sageoftruth said:
I don't mind the accent itself, but drifting in and out of it is horribly distracting.
Yeah. I've heard some car talk myself. Never got through it completely. I just can't stand the Boston accent. As was mentioned in the last Big Picture, when I hear it, I think of the Scout from TF2, and that does not go well with anyone who's trying to come across as intellectual on any level.rickynumber24 said: