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Comics Phase Fourteen


Teng Ai Hui
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On 9/22/2019 at 12:02 PM, Winterfell is Burning said:

Hickman said he's only writing the first arc in New Mutants to set up things for the future.

Hickman also said he has another book coming, something only he could get away with. Probably after the NM arc is over.

Looking at the solicits new mutants appears to be alternating issues between him and another writer. One is focusing on a space element and the other on an earth bases team. Given Hickman is heavily setting up space as a thread in the current series and the fact he seems to like cannonball and sunspot i think he's handling the space story.

It'll be good if his second book follows a different aspect like POX and new avengers did. X-MEN sounds like it'll be weekly adventures so the other title will hopefully be more epic in scope.

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7 hours ago, Garlan the Gallant said:

Kind of random, but is anyone following the latest batch of total cancellations out of IDW? I know that they were having financial problems earlier in the year and were pursuing a sale, but it’s surprising that the fourth largest US comic book company could go out of business.

But i think marvel and DC have about 90% (especially with walking dead finished and saga on hiatus by image) so being fourth is still a tiny share. 

Which books are being cancelled? I know they do a lot of licensed books which reduces the profit margin but may still be their best sellers meaning less money/support for non licensed books.

 

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The final issue of Black Science (#43) was excellent. Fitting “ending” for that book. Pretty bleak overall, but that shouldn’t surprise anyone familiar with some of Remender’s other indie stuff like Fear Agent. Definitely a book that will benefit from multiple re-reads, although it does get much less confusing the deeper into the story it gets. Grant McKay is one of the better comic characters in recent years, imo. The art was always amazing throughout the series, too. I can’t believe this started way back in 2013. Doesn’t feel like it’s been that long. Really enjoyed it though, and I would definitely recommend this book to anyone that likes heady sci-fi type stuff. 

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16 hours ago, Nictarion said:

The final issue of Black Science (#43) was excellent. Fitting “ending” for that book. Pretty bleak overall, but that shouldn’t surprise anyone familiar with some of Remender’s other indie stuff like Fear Agent. Definitely a book that will benefit from multiple re-reads, although it does get much less confusing the deeper into the story it gets. Grant McKay is one of the better comic characters in recent years, imo. The art was always amazing throughout the series, too. I can’t believe this started way back in 2013. Doesn’t feel like it’s been that long. Really enjoyed it though, and I would definitely recommend this book to anyone that likes heady sci-fi type stuff. 

I'll have to come back to it. Think i read the first 24 then switched to trade waiting (think it went into an every other month schedule?) And then forgot. I think i got to the point where McKay went on some sort of soul quest and had just reunited with his daughter? It was definitely getting hard to follow at the time.

How many books does remender still have as ongoings? Is "low" still on the go? Then there was the fantasy one. I really like his books and the artists but found them hard to keep into on a monthly basis.

The Harley book was ok. The artwork was nice but it felt not a lot happened over a lot of pages. The origin of the harley name is a bit odd unless she only appropriates the name later in the story it seems odd that's the name she takes on.

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20 minutes ago, red snow said:

I'll have to come back to it. Think i read the first 24 then switched to trade waiting (think it went into an every other month schedule?) And then forgot. I think i got to the point where McKay went on some sort of soul quest and had just reunited with his daughter? It was definitely getting hard to follow at the time.

How many books does remender still have as ongoings? Is "low" still on the go?Then there was the fantasy one. I really like his books and the artists but found them hard to keep into on a monthly basis.

The Harley book was ok. The artwork was nice but it felt not a lot happened over a lot of pages. The origin of the harley name is a bit odd unless she only appropriates the name later in the story it seems odd that's the name she takes on.

Yeah, Low is still going. That one and Seven To Eternity both seem go on a hiatus too often though. And both are actually in the home stretch of being finished. There’s also Deadly Class, which is about his only book that consistently comes out on time, and then Death or Glory. I read the first arc of that one, but it didn’t really grab me. 

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10 hours ago, Nictarion said:

Yeah, Low is still going. That one and Seven To Eternity both seem go on a hiatus too often though. And both are actually in the home stretch of being finished. There’s also Deadly Class, which is about his only book that consistently comes out on time, and then Death or Glory. I read the first arc of that one, but it didn’t really grab me. 

It's the rub with image titles. Seven to eternity was crippled out the door by delays and an artist change.

I wonder if remender has some new things cooking or might be tempted back to marvel/dc? I'm not sure which characters he'd be a good fit for at DC but I'd be curious what he'd do with anyone there. Maybe a bat family character where there's more room to play with the character than say batman. Maybe titans/outsiders.

POX felt a bit thin this week. More about filling out some elements from last week's HOX. I found the infographic about the mutant council annoying to be honest as the redacted elements made it feel like speculation bait instead of being informative or useful to the story.

While the phalanx stuff is interesting SF I'm not entirely sure what it's bringing to the world of x-men and how it will inform the new series. Feels like Hickman is just setting up how his run will end it what seems to be a mutant based blackhole phalanx empire which is fine and all. I miss Nimrod - something i never thought I'd type.

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HOX #6 really has established a new status quo not just for the X-Men but the marvel universe as a whole. I'm interested to see how other books will reflect these developments.

I also wonder who the antagonists will be going forward when all mutants appear to be on one side now? I can envision political antagonists in apocalypse and sinister but in terms of actual fighting I'm guessing it will have to be aliens and human villains. Guess we'll have the silly "marvel characters instinctively know whether someone is a mutant vs getting their powers via accident/meddling".

The council reveal seemed solid besides the good guy choices. Storm, i see as a leader (especially with her weird lion king rebirth role) but jean and nightcrawler not so much. Maybe the Beast has been so badly handled over the last decade that they won't touch him but he would seem a good choice and counter balance to sinister. Unless there's a lot of Catholic mutants i just don't get the inclusion of nightcrawler. Hopefully the new series going forward will justify all the council positions.

At first i was angry that Cyclops had been side-lined until i realised he is captain/commander for military action and will be defacto leader of the krakoan nation in times of war. Can't wait to see that one unfold down the line. Cyclops was badass when he had the "heroic/good" mutant nation - imagine what he could do with all mutants and krakoa.

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Storm, Jean and Nightcrawler (and Kitty, who seems to be the final member) are there to be moral counterpoints to nihilistic or downright evil ones like Sinister, Apocalypse, Shaw and Mystique (the Kurt/Raven dynamic was well established). 

As it stands, we have 4 good guys, 4 evil ones, and 4 that sit in the middle. Plus, Doug and Krakoa have a voice. 

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12 hours ago, Winterfell is Burning said:

Storm, Jean and Nightcrawler (and Kitty, who seems to be the final member) are there to be moral counterpoints to nihilistic or downright evil ones like Sinister, Apocalypse, Shaw and Mystique (the Kurt/Raven dynamic was well established). 

As it stands, we have 4 good guys, 4 evil ones, and 4 that sit in the middle. Plus, Doug and Krakoa have a voice. 

Moral compass works more than leadership i guess. Which are the four in the middle? Exodus was an acolyte of magneto and apocalypse - unless he's been retconned significantly I'd put him in the evil camp.

Is X-man nate grey still around? I know he was the focus of the pre Hickman run but not sure what the outcome was for him.

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On 9/25/2019 at 3:32 PM, red snow said:

But i think marvel and DC have about 90% (especially with walking dead finished and saga on hiatus by image) so being fourth is still a tiny share. 

Which books are being cancelled? I know they do a lot of licensed books which reduces the profit margin but may still be their best sellers meaning less money/support for non licensed books.

 

The whole black crown line has been canceled. I believe the Magic the Gathering line as well. Marvel and DC own roughly 75-80% of the US direct market market share. They do not own as much as the trade market though. For evidence of the latter, go look at this weeks’ NYT bestseller list and what is the number one book this week. 
 

While IDW doesn’t own a significant portion of the direct market or trade market, they still own roughly 4% of the direct market. IDW’s bankruptcy would not be good for the direct market. 
 

I know they are trying to pursue a sale and got bridge financing, but there doesn’t seem to be a buyer yet. Basing your business model on licensing is going to mean your comics are going to have to sell more to make up for the licensing fee. I believe an Exec over at IDW did a panel this week at NYCC where he even said that he would like to see IDW focus more on creator owned books and less on licensing. 
 

it’s just interesting to see a company whose bread and butter is TMNT, GI Joe, and Transformers fail because of lack of demand. No one is going to prefer doing creator owned work with them: I think they take a cut of the media rights whereas Image does not. 

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4 hours ago, Garlan the Gallant said:

The whole black crown line has been canceled. I believe the Magic the Gathering line as well. Marvel and DC own roughly 75-80% of the US direct market market share. They do not own as much as the trade market though. For evidence of the latter, go look at this weeks’ NYT bestseller list and what is the number one book this week. 
 

While IDW doesn’t own a significant portion of the direct market or trade market, they still own roughly 4% of the direct market. IDW’s bankruptcy would not be good for the direct market. 
 

I know they are trying to pursue a sale and got bridge financing, but there doesn’t seem to be a buyer yet. Basing your business model on licensing is going to mean your comics are going to have to sell more to make up for the licensing fee. I believe an Exec over at IDW did a panel this week at NYCC where he even said that he would like to see IDW focus more on creator owned books and less on licensing. 
 

it’s just interesting to see a company whose bread and butter is TMNT, GI Joe, and Transformers fail because of lack of demand. No one is going to prefer doing creator owned work with them: I think they take a cut of the media rights whereas Image does not. 

I guess the 80s nostalgia bubble will eventually burst or will at least flatline in terms of growth as i guess it's a niche market that after a certain time won't grow (it's not like more people who grew up in the 80s will appear).

Creator owned is tricky when image currently provides the most lucrative gains. However, IDW could overcome that by offering more editorial help. Creator owned image titles require the creative team to form on their own and produce an entire comic as the pitch. I could see new talent giving up a cut of profits if IDW helped with putting the creative team and book together - moreso if they were active in promoting the comic.

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