Today’s quote of the day is from Newsarama’s Matt Brady: “[A]s far as the Diamond Top 300 [the list of the best-selling comics in the Direct Market] goes, diversity roughly means superheroes with capes versus superheroes without capes.”
Meanwhile, Dirk Deppey extrapolates on Brady’s simultaneously optimistic and pessimistic reading of the Direct Market tea leaves.
Is Franklin right? Did Blogosphere Kill The Pseudonym Star? John Jakala thinks it was a good idea to stop before the Lemon went sour for good. (Actually, Lemon’s final (?) column is a decent one, praising Watchmen (the analysis is rather perfunctory, but that’s because everyone’s read the damn book already anyway) and rightfully taking the mainstream comics industry to task for not being able to equal it over two decades’ worth of attempts.)
Speaking of people Mr. Harris thinks are better off hangin’ up the spurs, former Marvel President Bill Jemas gets a once-over from Franklin. Like most people (see links here), Franklin thinks Jemas made (or helped make) a lot of changes for the good, but was threatening a lot of the work he’d done with his recent, less productive decisions and decrees. I had actually worried more than once that Jemas’s drawbacks–the trash-talking, the armchair-editing, the occasional tasteless shock tactics–would actually tempt the Marvel higher-ups to undo everything new that happened under Jemas’s watch–you know, the whole “hiring good creators to tell good stories and take risks in doing so” thing. But unfortunately for the fanboys, it looks like this move has headed that possibility off at the pass.
More comments on The Jemas Ouster come from Steven Grant (who argues that it don’t really make much difference: Marvel is Marvel is Marvel. I think he’s greatly underestimating how good the good Marvel books are, and is applying a standard to what constitutes a good franchise superhero book that’s never been applicable even when the books were/are at their freshest and best, but still, some decent points are made), Alan David Doane (who mainly agrees with Steven and otherwise claims apathy), and Chris Allen (who, in something of a public service, recalls Jemas’s proposal for the Ultimate Daredevil/Elektra ongoing series which never materialized; thank Christ, because the miniseries that was produced sucked all the mystery and tragedy out of the characters in favor of playing like a Lifetime Movie of the Week). I’ll just say it again: I’m not sure who was responsible for what, but in the course of Bill Jemas’s presidency I went from not reading maybe three new comics in four or five years to wanting to write them for a living, and his “New Marvel” was a direct contributor to this. So thanks again, Mr. Jemas.
Another debate making the rounds is over the Peanuts cover announced by Fantagraphics. Johnny Bacardi is the latest person to defend it (sorta), but it’s worth noting that so far everyone who has done so has conceded my point that the cover is not going to appeal to the casual buyer. Guys, I agree that it looks nice, but so what? A cover with a picture of Monica Vitti on it would look nice, too, but how would that help sell the book to fans of It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown? I don’t care what the price point is or that the collection’s from the “off-model” years–that’s your market, and you should do your damndest to make the book as buyable as you can.
(And David, I agree with you that the strip is about frustration, but a) It’s the funniness that sells it, and b) I’m not sure that everyone does realize that. I don’t think it would be egregiously lowest-common-denominator-exploiting of Fanta to realize that fact and design the book accordingly.)
Finally, thanks, Jason!