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From: moriarty@fluke.UUCP (Henry Vogel)
Newsgroups: net.comics
Subject: Comics news and opinions from Henry Vogel (Big News!)
Message-ID: <788@vax2.fluke.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 4-Jul-85 05:37:43 EDT
Article-I.D.: vax2.788
Posted: Thu Jul  4 05:37:43 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 6-Jul-85 09:30:53 EDT
Reply-To: henry%clemson.csnet@csnet-relay
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Organization: Remotely posting via Moriarty
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Okay folks, gather 'round for news and rumors from the comics industry! I
picked up these tidbits from David Kraft of Comics Interview and he picked
some of them up from discussions with the people at Fantagraphics. So here
goes...

First of all, Chayken (sp?) is leaving - or has left - First Comics. It seems
he's gotten tired of not getting paid. Yes, First Comics is about three months
behind in paying people. Timothy Truman is said to have one and a half feet out
the door up there, too. As an interesting side note, how many of you thought
that when Chayken left First, American Flagg would too (raise your hands)? I'm
glad to see that I wasn't alone in thinking American Flagg was creator owned.
It seems First Comics owns AF - for all I know First owns all of the books they
publish (and I would expect they do, now). All that hype about creator owned
books may have been just that - hype and nothing else.

One of the big things Both Dave Kraft and Fantagraphics try to keep up with is
what publishers seem to be on the financial tight-rope. Needless to say, First
is taking their first few steps on the rope although I wouldn't yet say they're
in danger of falling off, yet. However, there are others who aren't so fortu-
nate. Eclipse is suffering. Kraft has been trying to get them to pay for some
of the ads he's ALREADY RUN for them and, so far, is having no success. This
is an excellent barometer as to how well off a company is. Pacific continued
to order books for distribution (including copies of the Southern Knights that
they had no intention of paying for - they folded owing us several hundred
dollars (I know others got hit worse, but we only had $2000 to start with))
and to take out advertising (or try to) up until the end. Another company to
watch for potential problems is Renegade Press (Deni Loubert's - formerly
Deni Sim - company). According to Fantagraphic, Deni doens't have any money
available to weather a storm - and you can be sure one is brewing. The poten-
tially most disturbing info concerns DC. DC has recently pulled out of large
advertising contract with Fantagraphics - one where the papers had been signed
and some money placed to secure the agreement. Obviously, DC felt they could
afford to lose the money more than they could afford to pay for the ads. The
reports are that DC is running scared. Advertising or marketing will decide to
do one thing and the upper level management will reverse the decision.

What's causing all of this? Lack of sales, of course. Marvel is selling, but
that's about it. (To make matters worse, Marvel is dumping 80 titles on the
market next month - really, EIGHTY titles!) Why is this? Part of DC's problem,
I think, is they doomed themselves in the 70's when they put out such trash
and it still sold. Then Marvel passed them by and kept pulling away and DC 
finally decided they needed to do something. They began publishing good stories
but it's going to take YEARS to reverse the bad image they built for themselves
back then. That's fine as far as DC goes, but why aren't the independants
selling? I really don't have an answer for that. Sure, American Flagg isn't
the kind of book most kids would buy, but we like to think there are lots of
adults in the market that would buy it. Maybe we're wrong. Maybe there aren't
nearly as many adults as we think there are. Or, maybe the adults are buying
the same stuff as the kids... I've heard from people who won't buy alternative
books because of the price. They seem to think the price is too high, that the
independant publishers have higher prices so they can make more profit. That is
100% WRONG (and I'll send in another article on the cost of publishing a comic
book based on my experience with the Southern Knights).

Maybe the fault is ours. How many of you hide the fact that you read comics? I
used to do that, too. A lot of people do. There's nothing worse than having
your peers laugh at you for reading kid stuff. Nothing worse, that is, except
having the entire field fall apart for lack of readers! It's up to us to try
to get people to read comics. However, it's important to use your judgement
in this matter. Try to figure out what they would enjoy (you might find out
what else they read for entertainment and loan them comics that fall - more
or less - into the area their "regular" reading tastes follow). Someone who
is outside of comics will not, most likely, read one issue of the X-Men and
decide it's great - even if you were to loan them the truly great issues
(#94-150). Is the person into mysteries? Try Jon Sable or Ms. Tree. Fantasy?
How about Elfquest? You get the idea. It's up to us to cultivate new readers.

One last thing and then I'll shut up. If you know someone who reads comics but
isn't reading a book you particularly like, try loaning them issues of it. At
least try to talk them into buying the book. From the other side of the issue,
if you hear lots of good things about a book, give it a try! I had been hearing
many good things about Zot! but hadn't picked it up. I decided to try it and
I would have to list Zot! as one of my 5 favorite titles now. It doesn't even
matter if you continue to buy the book, though. Just give the book a try. To
forestll the complaints of those who have a limited budget, I'll tell you that
I have one too. When I find a book I really like, though, I'll add it to my
list even if it means dropping something else (and the something else is almost
always published by Marvel or DC). 

Well, that's it. I'll shut up now.

Henry Vogel
henry%clemson.csnet@csnet-relay