Newsgroups: rec.arts.comics.misc
Date: Tue, 29 Sep 1992 23:57:21 -0400 
From: John Hamilton Slye <jsbr+@andrew.cmu.edu>
Subject: Re: What's up with !mage??
	<1a9ogpINN59n@usenet.INS.CWRU.Edu>


>In a previous article, cfalls@gucis.cit.gu.edu.au (Craig Falls) says:
> 
>>ac985@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Joel Tscherne) writes:
>>
>>>In a previous article, c60b-3fe@web-3f.berkeley.edu (Mikel Bancroft) says:
>>>>
>>>>Have all the image comics except for Spawn decided to go
>>>>bimonthly on us or what???  Seems like the only person trying
>>>>to keep up Image's image is McFly.
>>
>>>What do you expect?  When you spend most of your time doing book
>>>signings and blowing your own horn, when do you have time to do a book?
>>
>>	That's not fair, personal opinion if fine, but it give me that sh*ts
>>	to see alot of _personal attacks_.  Image is just new, give them a
>>	chance to get everything in order (say 6-12 months) and then things
>>	may get a bit more regular.  IMHO some of the comics may be a bit
>>	average (Youngblood, Brigade, Shadowhawk) but some are enjoyable.
> 
>I'm not sure of your point.  One of the reasons the books are late
>is because they are making so many appearances and are therefore not
>working on the books.  One of the things that can cause a book (or
>company for that matter) to fail is if it doesn't come out on time...
>-- 
>===============Joel Tscherne:  ac985@cleveland.freenet.edu===============

The funny thing is that they aren't impressing many retailers out there.
At the Baltimore Diamond Seminar, Malibu comics had a very unimpressive
speech, which appeared to be last minute. On top of that, Liefield did
not show up, even if he had an excuse he should have at least had his
buddy McFarlane stand up and apologize. There was at least one retailer
there which said that she would no longer carry Liefield's books because
he didn't seem to care about the public.

Now for a side note:

   I am going to take this opportunity to educate those out there who
don't know how the retail business works...I'm going to assume that the
typical retailer uses Diamond Distributers to get his shipments. (This
may not be true, there are other distributers, but I know how Diamond
ordering works.) 
   To order a comic book, a retailer has to sit down and determine how
many books to order based on previous sales and a small paragraph
description in Diamond Previews. This all takes place THREE MONTHS
before the book is scheduled to come out. At this time the retailer has
to determine if he can afford to order a particular title or not. (This
is leading somewhere.) What gets under my skin is when people like
McFarlane (who actually had a comic shop I believe) and others get off
on accusing the retailer when his book doesn't do well.
    McFarlane said in Wizard that the retailers don't know what a good
book is and they get stuck with shit because they don't order right and
that the retailer then complains about the book not selling! I worked in
a comic store for the past 2 summers and when we read this we were
furious! Where does he (the artist) get off telling a retailer, who is
always on the edge of bankruptcy, how to run a business!
    Needless to say we lost a lot of respect for McFarlane and Malibu
comics. Most retailers give Malibu 6 months at the rate they ae going. I
hope it's less so I can see McFarlane and Liefield crawl back to Marvel
and have Marvel laugh at them!

That's my $0.02 worth on Malibu/Image. (About all it's worth)



=========================================================================
J. Hamilton Slye (jsbr@andrew.cmu.edu) 1071 Morewood Ave., Pgh, Pa. 15213

The opinions stated above do not necessarily reflect those of the author!

"Oooohhhh no! Forget that stuff!"  -  Ren Hoek, "The Ren & Stimpy Show"
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