Friday, December 24, 2010
Office Christmas parties can be so uncomfortable when no one changes out of their work clothes. Panel from Justice League Task Force #37, 1996. Art by Ramon Bernado, Nick Napolitano, Dan Davis, Adrienne Roy, and Kevin Cunningham.
| | Tags: christmas holidays justice league task force
Superman posted on Dec. 25, 2010 at 2:26 AM
Might be uncomfortable, but look who's being close and intimate to Wonder Woman. Haha.
tiggerpete posted on Dec. 26, 2010 at 4:38 AM
though the way she's drawn, it appears that WW is a bit less endowed than normal, as in it appears she is far from filling out her costume if you catch my meaning, plus she seems to be the only one there without a drink, so she is obviously not in a party mood. point is, Booster doesn't stand much of a chance of doing anything with WW. also, 90's art is not very appealing in my mind and this is a more subtle instance of it, but still not my cup of tea.
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Those of you poor, unfortunate souls who read DC's advance solicitations got some disturbing news this week about upcoming issues of Justice League: Generation Lost. I won't reveal the spoilers here, because there is nothing, NOTHING, I hate more than a good plot-twist ruined. However, I think this raises an important question: Do comic readers want spoilers?
DC editorial is market-driven. If DC is teasing major plot twists in their spoilers, it's because they think it increases sales. Clearly, the DC powers that be believe that stirring up fan emotion will result in more books sold. Is this true?
"Buzz" surrounding a controversial event will certainly increase sales, especially with casual comic book fans ("Death of Superman", Obama/Spider-Man, etc.). But is the strategy of revealing in advance the ending of the story in order to increase short-term sales self-defeating in the long run? For the average comic book buyer, is the journey more important than the destination? If I told you how the ending for all the plot-lines you are currently reading, would you keep buying the books?
DC apparently thinks that the answer is yes.
| | Tags: spoiler warning
BoosterPowershot posted on Dec. 23, 2010 at 10:09 AM
Wow, I'm very thankful for this. I usually love to see the solicits when they emerge, mainly for the covers, but I have noticed that sometimes the solicits ruin a key plot moment in the series. As much as it pains me to not look at the covers, I'll hold off for now.
Superman posted on Dec. 23, 2010 at 12:27 PM
Too late for me. I saw that solicit on Tuesday and I completely freaked. Ugh!
Erin posted on Dec. 23, 2010 at 2:01 PM
I still find the spoilers in question hard to believe given how much it goes against the direction DC is pushing. But I've noticed that JLGL in particular has been spoiling their own story by revealing too much. Many of us guessed the Magog one but they outright said who lived in the solicits before the issue came out.
Boosterrific [Official Comment] posted on Dec. 23, 2010 at 4:27 PM
There's nothing new about DC's approach to spoilers. DC's been doing it for years and years. It's why I stopped reading PREVIEWS nearly a decade ago. If I miss a book here and there, so be it. DC doesn't care about me, a single buyer, so I don't care to buy the books that they spoil for me.
I've been reading comics long enough to know that every "shocking" story gets undone eventually. Barry Allen and Jason Todd are alive. Comic book heroics are all about maintaining the status quo, so why should I ever get bent out of shape about a temporary change to a marketable asset? That's why I hate spoilers so much: eventually it's all going to be undone anyway, so why spoil the story in a rush to reveal the ephemeral ending?
I'll buy the book in question because I was going to buy it anyway. I'm really enjoying the series, but this sort of thing really sours my enjoyment of it. There's not much reason for me to give so much of my limited income to a comic book company that makes a practice of diminishing my satisfaction of their increasingly expensive product.
Morgenstern posted on Dec. 24, 2010 at 2:28 PM
DC does what it consideres to be the best way of making a profit by selling comics...and should not the Fans of Booster Gold be among those with at least some understanding for questionable actions targeted at making money?
Though regarding the spoiler the question, if true (what I doubt), I do have to add the following to DC: Leckt mich
Boosterrific [Official Comment] posted on Dec. 24, 2010 at 8:37 PM
Heh. I appreciate the irony, Morgenstern. My point is not to disparage the free market. My point is that I am confident that DC's strategy of damaging the potential of maintaining an amenable by revealing story spoilers is sabotaging long term sales. Either DC is only thinking short term, or they believe that acts like this spoiler don't harm long-term sales. Certainly, they could have teased the event without giving away the spoiler info, as demonstrated by the company's very successful approach to COUNTDOWN TO INFINITE CRISIS. It was well teased without giving the secret away, and it sold very, very well (nearly a quarter of a million copies, a sum almost unheard of in today's market).
Kevin posted on Dec. 27, 2010 at 11:38 PM
Personally, I don't buy it. Considering alone how many times Max has made people see things, plus considering...well, there is no way to say this without spoiling it, so SPOILER! SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILERSPOILER! SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILERSPOILER! SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILERSPOILER! SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
considering the scarab already has brought Jaime back to life once...
SPOILER! SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILERSPOILER! SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILERSPOILER! SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILERSPOILER! SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
This will all turn out to be a plot twist.
More important is who is the former JLI member joining the team with Batman and Power Girl...personally...considering everything that has happened...I have tiny hopes it is Ted, finally back.
Boosterrific [Official Comment] posted on Dec. 28, 2010 at 12:36 AM
Gee whiz, Kevin. If you're going to spill the beans, at least have the decency to warn people that it is a spoiler.
tiggerpete posted on Dec. 28, 2010 at 1:49 AM
I have avoided the spoiler until now and I am not reading the post that says spoiler 50 times, that said, I only read reactionary articles about what has happened and avoid previews and spoilers until I can read something for myself, its not hard if you know what to avoid, and I know what titles are coming out which week due to an app on my Droid, so I don't need the previews book
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
There was quite a drought of "Gold Exchange" columns for awhile there, and now it seems they are coming fast and furious. Russ Burlingame's latest "Gold Exchange" column was posted late last week at Newsarama.com. (Erin starlight has already commented on it here.) DeMatteis, like Jurgens before him, tends to give few concrete answers to Burlingame's questions, but his responses on how he views Booster Gold are enlightening. I can't ever have too much problem with anyone who clearly likes the character as much as he does.
| | Tags: erin starlight j.m. dematteis newsarama.com russ burlingame
Monday, December 20, 2010
Comicsbeat.com finally released their number crunching for DC October sales last week, and it looks pretty much like what I expected. Of interest are the annual sales comparisons for Booster Gold:
- Sales down 10.2% over 6 months ago;
- Sales down 17.6% over 1 year ago;
- Sales down 40.5% over 2 years ago.
These declines are pretty much in line with the other mid-tier DC books. So surprise, surprise, despite the doom and gloom numbers I keep harping over, Booster Gold is about exactly where we should expect it to be. Booster fans can breathe easier!
Diamond has yet to release the sales numbers for Booster Gold for November, but I think I can probably venture a pretty good guess about where they will be. November wasn't a great month for DC sales in general, especially when compared to last year when DC offered the Blackest Night ring promotion. So I expect the sales slide to continue to about 17,025 issues. We'll see what we see when the real numbers arrive.
| | Tags: comicsbeat.com marc-oliver frisch sales
tiggerpete posted on Dec. 21, 2010 at 5:27 AM
do we think that 50 is possible? after all, its less than a year away given regular publication. hype up 50 make it double sized and throw in stories by Johns, Jurgens, Winick (on the strength of the JLI book) and Giffen and see where sales go from there.
Erin posted on Dec. 21, 2010 at 1:30 PM
Reading dropping sales always makes me sad. I'm hoping the Flashpoint stuff gives more life to the book.
Boosterrific [Official Comment] posted on Dec. 22, 2010 at 8:36 PM
If Booster's sales drop even 20% over the next year, his sales number for issue 50 will be about 14,000 copies. That's still a much, much higher number than Doom Patrol, Jonah Hex, and R.E.B.E.L.S. have been averaging for the past 6 months. So, yes, I'd say there is still plenty of hope for Booster Gold to make it to issue 50.
Kevin posted on Dec. 22, 2010 at 11:47 PM
It seems like, with the canceling of 3 Bat Books (and the rumor that Sirens sadly might get cut) that DC is trying to move away a bit from having all their books be only about the big hitters. In fact, it seems, to me, that they are interested in creating cult status characters (Power Girl, Zatanna, Booster Gold) to go along with the Big 3.
tiggerpete posted on Dec. 27, 2010 at 6:04 AM
as much as it sucks, I think Sirens ending is for the best, I like it sure, but it isn't the same as before Dini left, I guess its just time to move on.
