One full month in and I'm finding myself a HUGE fan of Brand New Day. Not so much the actual stories so far, although they've been good. But the acceleration of the series. The three-times-a-month and you-get-a-whole-story-in-three-weeks pacing. Every issue feels sped up to me, and maybe it's because Steve Wacker knows what the hell he's doing (he does) or because you know another issue is coming right out the very next week (it will), but I'm having a lot of fun reading Amazing Spider-Man and that is something I haven't said since that issue with the McFarlane-drawn Paladin on the cover.Yet my local retailer tells me that sales are way down on Amazing. I scoffed at that information, confident that he was mistaken, or he was comparing it to the inflated "One More Day" numbers.
"No," he assured me. "Everyone dropped it. They're refusing to read it."
"But it must be selling better than a year or so ago?" I ventured.
"No, it's way down," he said.
"But...but it's really good now! It hasn't been this good in...forever."
"They aren't even giving it a chance."
Now I don't actually care if sales go up or down, really. But do you think he's right? Will the sales numbers eventually bear out the fact that this "boycott" has lowered sales even though the art and stories in Amazing Spider-Man are qualitatively better than they were a year ago? I highly doubt it. I can't imagine even the most stubborn fanboy saying, "I don't care if it's ten times better and highly accelerated. I'm still pissed off that those bad issues I didn't even really like anyway are not as important to continuity anymore."
Really?
By the way, EVERY super-hero series should be three-times-a-month from now on. Start drawing faster, kids!
He's right, Tim. A friend of mine says that his retailer says the same thing and places as big as Jim Hanley's have gotten stuck with a couple of hundred copies of the BND.
ReplyDeleteIt just makes me wish the convention was at the same time it was the last two years. There would have been a lynching.
Now, I'm not condoning either side in this mess. But continuity DOES mean a lot to people and it seems that not only did they not consider them, but they also have been dissembling on their defenses.
My LCS doesn't make their main money off comics; they actually sell ALL back issues at 50% off. I bought the 3rd and 2nd to last McDuffie FFs at 1/2 price the same day I bought the last one at cover (- 10%). At this rate, all I have to do is wait for the next arc to buy the last one at 1/2 price.
It's a shame, all in all, especially now that Marvel is really heading somewhere.
I was going to buy the first arc so I'd know what was what with the most recent issue, but they didn't have any copies of the first BND issue. Plenty of OMD and the oher BND ones, though.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed the issue I read, though. Might pick up the rest of this arc just because.
Well considering we shop at the same place tim, I can say, I'm on of the people who isn't touching it.
ReplyDeleteWhy?
I just don't care anymore. After OMD (which I dropped after 2 issues), its not so much a boycott, as much as I just don't care. I've been cutting back as frankly I was buying too much crap.
Good to hear BND is good, but count me out, constant pointless events and no real lasting story ramifications...well I juts don't care about the 616 Peter Parker anymore.
Ult Spidey is good enough for me...and New Avengers has consistently had the wisecracking spidey I like. (Gasp, could it be Bendis has had a grasp on him all along?)
Also, I like Spider-Girl, because its a fun read every month and its by far some of the msot classic-styled superheroics on the market.