Next KBAC TPB (was Re: Got DD 1/2 in the mail today)
Jason Fliegel
KurtBusiek <kurtb...@aol.comics> wrote:
Crossposted to misc, follow-ups set there.
>I agree. Sometimes it drives me just bananas that we've never had an ASTRO
>CITY trade paperback come out when solicited -- they're all reprint books, for
>Pete's sake. But they've never once been through the production department in
>time (that's the wishful thinking bit again; the idea that if you give an
>overworked production department thirty more one-day jobs to do, they'll be
>done the next day...). John Layman's much more on top of the schedule, though,
>so I have hopes that the next one will appear on time.
Out of curiosity, has the next KBAC been put on the schedule yet? I'm
dying to read this Steeljack storyline everyone's been talking about!
--
Jason Fliegel
j-fl...@uchicago.edu
University of Chicago Law School '99
KurtBusiek
to read this Steeljack storyline everyone's been talking about!>>
That's why we wait -- to encourage fine folks like you to buy the comics. If
you want to wait for the TPBs, that's cool -- we just don't want to make it too
easy to, or we'd wind up with no comics to make TPBs out of.
I think the plan this time is to get the hardcover out next June, with the TPB
following a few months later. But I'm not sure, and with DC in the mix these
things are less casual than they used to be.
kurt
GusNYT
comics. If you want to wait for the TPBs, that's cool -- we just don't want to
make it
too easy to, or we'd wind up with no comics to make TPBs out of.
if the book was on a steady monthly schedule, i think i'd be seriously tempted
to pick up astro city each month. but waiting for the paperback, at least for
me, means that i have one heck of a fantastic afternoon reading the latest
chunk all at once.
it is interesting (and valid) that you wait a little bit before unleashing the
paperback (though i doubt most fans would have the patience to ignore the
monthly books and wait for the paperback -- that's one of the problems i'm
trying to figure out on "Dark Victory." I want to have the collection, but i
also want to read the story. Which side will win out?). How much time do you
normally wait?
I ask 'cause I've been reading the Preacher in paperback form since a friend
introduced me to the series. And those paperbacks seem to be cutting the time
down from regular monthly issue to paperback pretty damn short. I think the
latest Preacher paperback gets us within two issues of the regular series.
Gus
***e-mail me for my moving sale comics list: highlights include $.25-$.50
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KurtBusiek
It used to be a strict rule at Marvel that nothing could be collected into a
TPB until it was at least a year old, for just that reason -- they didn't want
to erode the periodical audience.
That's clearly gone by the wayside, as the need to boost profits has come to
outweigh that fear of eroding the audience, but I always thought it was a
pretty good rule of thumb. With ASTRO CITY, I wanted to get TPBs out on the
shelves so that potential new readers would know that the beginnings of the
series were available -- so the first one came out 8 months after the last
issue collected, and the second and third ones were a little faster, I think (I
don't remember off-hand, and could be wrong). With the fourth one, I think
we'll be back to about 7 months after the last chapter for the hardcover, and
maybe 10 months for the TPB, and after that, we'll have enough of a large chunk
of material in print that if we can wait a year before releasing the fifth,
I'll be all for it.
I love the trade paperbacks -- I've been a book guy all my life, and it's my
preferred format -- but I don't want them to come too soon after the periodical
release. I understand the impulse to wait for the books, and don't quibble
with those who choose to do so, but I don't want to encourage people who are
currently buying the periodicals to quit because the TPBs'll be along real
soon.
It's a balancing act...
kurt
John Northey
>I ask 'cause I've been reading the Preacher in paperback form since a friend
>introduced me to the series. And those paperbacks seem to be cutting the time
>down from regular monthly issue to paperback pretty damn short. I think the
>latest Preacher paperback gets us within two issues of the regular series.
It is an interesting dilemma for comic companies. Do you bring out a
tpb as soon as possible (thus getting revenue from it quicker) or
delay a few months to make it harder for fans to wait for it? Also,
if you bring a tpb out within an issue or two of the last story being
printed you might make it easier for fans to switch from tpb to
regular comic buying (as I did with Cerebus, although I'm thinking of
switching back to the tpb's only).
I guess a really good question is how long until we see comics move
the way books did decades ago? From being regular installments in a
magazine format to just a bookshelf (hard or soft cover) format. I've
been debating dropping many titles I feel are going to bring out tpb's
come hell or high water as I enjoy tpb's more than the regular sized
comic. I've reread my Preacher collection many times as it is tpb's
only, similar with Battle Angel Alita and a few others, but with stuff
like Cerebus once I switched from tpb's to comics I find myself
rereading the tpb's while the comics sit in boxes.
Should be interesting to see what form comics are in 10 years from
now.
John Northey.
Crazy Canadian and creator of the Fans of Teri Sue Wood site.
http://www.sentex.net/~jnorthey/TSW
My original art collection can be seen at
http://www.monsterfighters.com/don/Northey.html
Wombat God
periodical and also the TPB (I'm starting to with Transmet; I've been
considering it for a while with KBAC & Q&W). I do this mainly because with
books I read over a lot, the TPB is such a more convenient format. Plus, I've
dropped so many books (well, most of them were cancelled, sadly) my comics
budget can afford it.
GusNYT
bring out tpb's come hell or high water as I enjoy tpb's more than the regular
sized
comic.
yup. i felt the same way about starman. the first couple of tradepaperbacks got
me into the book (in the brilliant Starman Month Promotion at DC), And then I
started getting the monthly. But thanks to this very long Jack-in-space
storyline, i'm back to wondering if i should just pick up the series in
paperback form.
the same holds true for me and No Man's Land. The buzz made me pick up the
first two arcs, and now they are released in paperback back form. i'd much
rather have comics as a trade than get them in monthly installments, these
days. i just like having "meatier" stories to read all at once.
whenever i go to the comic shop, i always browse the trade paperbacks. i've
been tempted to get alan moore's two wildcats collection (again, meaty story
with characters i'm vaguely familiar with) and the stormwatch paperbacks are a
perfect compliment to my enjoyment of "the authority."
i guess it's just a crap shoot and a matter of how patient we are. like the jla
books get reprinted in nice chunks, so there's always that option (i hope that
keeps up with waid's run), but then a book like, i don't know, stars and
stripes will never get that treatment... i don't think i'm making any sense
anymore so i'll stop now.
gus
Lawrence Watt-Evans
>yup. i felt the same way about starman. the first couple of tradepaperbacks got
>me into the book (in the brilliant Starman Month Promotion at DC), And then I
>started getting the monthly. But thanks to this very long Jack-in-space
>storyline, i'm back to wondering if i should just pick up the series in
>paperback form.
Good heavens, he's still in space? I dropped the series months ago
because it was getting tedious.
--
The Misenchanted Page: http://www.sff.net/people/LWE/ Last update 7/24/99
Michael Alan Chary
Lawrence Watt-Evans <lawr...@clark.net> wrote:
>On 19 Sep 1999 21:37:24 GMT, gus...@aol.com (GusNYT) wrote:
>
>>yup. i felt the same way about starman. the first couple of tradepaperbacks got
>>me into the book (in the brilliant Starman Month Promotion at DC), And then I
>>started getting the monthly. But thanks to this very long Jack-in-space
>>storyline, i'm back to wondering if i should just pick up the series in
>>paperback form.
>
>Good heavens, he's still in space? I dropped the series months ago
>because it was getting tedious.
>
It's spiraled right past tedious into insipidly awful. The later Gor
books are better.
--
Court Philosopher and Barbarian, Dogbert's New Ruling Class.
Goodbye Don "The Bear" Haskins, head basketball coach at UTEP, and coach
of the 1966 Texas Western championship team.
"Ipsa scientia potestas est." - Roger Bacon
Dwayne McDuffie
>books are better.
Okay, I like a good one-liner as much as the next guy but that was downright
*mean.*
May I quote you?
Dwayne McDuffie,
Milestone Media, Inc.
Lisa Webster
> > It's spiraled right past tedious into insipidly awful. The
> > later Gor books are better.
Dwayne said:
> Okay, I like a good one-liner as much as the next guy but
> that was downright *mean.*
That is exactly what I said when I read it. Next thing you know we'll be
talking about all the awful Thieves' World books...
Lisa
----------------------------------------------------------------
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Michael Alan Chary
Dwayne McDuffie <dwayn...@aol.com> wrote:
>>It's spiraled right past tedious into insipidly awful. The later Gor
>>books are better.
>
>*mean.*
So were the last five issues of Starman.
>May I quote you?
Surely :) I think about how I tried to champion the book years ago, and I
wonder why I bothered.
Michael Alan Chary
>Chary said:
>> > It's spiraled right past tedious into insipidly awful. The
>> > later Gor books are better.
>
>
>> Okay, I like a good one-liner as much as the next guy but
>> that was downright *mean.*
>
>talking about all the awful Thieves' World books...
Actually, Starman is still better than that. About at the level of Lin
Carter when not at his *worst*.
Pfpsquared
From: dwayn...@aol.com (Dwayne McDuffie)
Date: Mon, 20 September 1999 04:38 PM EDT
Message-id: <19990920163856...@ng-cn1.aol.com>
>It's spiraled right past tedious into insipidly awful. The later Gor
>books are better.
Okay, I like a good one-liner as much as the next guy but that was downright
*mean.*
May I quote you?
Dwayne McDuffie,
Milestone Media, Inc.
>>
Tell me about it. I'm a movie and theatre critic, and it just kills me that I
can't use that comparison now that I've seen it somewhere else (not a written
rule or anything; just a prudent self-imposed policy.)
At any rate, I probably couldn't have used it because the mass-market
audiences wouldn't get it. It'd be pretty instructive and entertaining to see
how many people here got it, though.
Paul F.P. (got it)