From: mss2@quads.uchicago.edu (Michael S. Schiffer)
Subject: Re: Bad Universes
Reply-To: mss2@midway.uchicago.edu
Organization: University of Chicago Computing Organizations
Date: Fri, 21 Aug 1992 02:09:21 GMT

In article <92230.163521ARTIGAS@EVALUN11.BITNET> <ARTIGAS@EVALUN11.BITNET> writes:
>
>First: The Marvel New Universe
>The last: The Impact Line from DC
>
>Why people don't want new lines from DC or MARVEL?

Some possible reasons: Both the New Universe and Impact were basically
new superhero lines.  Now, among those who read superhero comics,
there are a number of reasons for doing so (all generally under the
heading of "because they like to"-- I'm just looking at _why_ they
like to).  There are new readers, often fairly young.  These will
either come in looking for characters they've heard of (which will
lead them to Superman, Spider-Man, and the like) or they have friends
recommending titles to them (which will tend to lead them to titles
with an established following.  There are people who, when younger,
developed affection for and loyalty to particular characters or teams.
It's generally easier to bring such people to a new title by
establishing a connection to the older ones.  Hence the proliferation
of X-books, LSH spinoffs, crossovers, and the like.  Neither of these
is likely to try a completely new universe until and unless it's
established enough that their friends are telling them it's the best
thing since sliced bread.

Then, there are people who developed a liking (whether of the extreme
"fanboy" variety or simply an appreciation) for a particular writer or
artist.  These should be the easiest to convince to try a new
universe.  Problem is, they're not likely to sign on to the entire
line.  If someone likes Bill Messner-Loebs, _maybe_ they'll buy Jaguar
(that is the one he's doing, right?) but they're not going to read
anything else in the line without good reason.  And neither of the
"second universe" experiments had a high enough concentration of fan
favorites to get things going.

In my case, for example: I wasn't reading comics when the New Universe
came out, so I'll leave it aside.  But when Impact started, I saw an
ad campaign that seemed to imply stories long on action and short on
plot.  Then, there weren't any raves on the net about the books.  At
best the reviews indicated good, solid superhero books.  But if I want
those, I'll read about the characters who still have some nostalgia
value for me as well: Flash, Green Lantern, and such.  I like
superheroes enough to buy a few books, but not enough to expand my
purchases to include characters I've never heard of, done mostly by
people I don't have strong opinions about.  (Bill Messner-Loebs is an
exception, as I liked his work on Flash and Dr. Fate, but what I heard
about Jaguar suggested that I probably wouldn't be that interested in
the book.)

By now, half of what I like about superhero books is the sense of
connection to a tradition which the current writer has to deal with as
best he can, whether comedically (the old Substitute Heroes specials,
or the recent Angel and the Ape mini) or seriously (JSA, Flash, GL).
(The retcons which severed that sense of tradition probably have a lot
to do with my loss of interest in Superman or the LSH.)  I'm not
looking for anything complex in these books, but by the same token I'm
not really looking to "expand my horizons" or anything on the
superhero front.  (My reasons for liking books like Sandman or
Watchmen are different, of course, but there was no indication of
anything like that in the Impact line.)  I hardly claim to be the
typical comics buyer-- but basically if people are looking for
something different they'll try the mature titles or the independents,
and if they're looking for basic superhero stories they'll look in the
primary DC and Marvel lines.  There just isn't that much of a niche
for "just another superhero line" unless you have an extreme selling
point (like Image's stable of creators popular with the fans).

Mike
-- 
Michael S. Schiffer, LHN, FCS	"Workers of the world, forgive me.
mss2@midway.uchicago.edu	 You had more to lose than I thought."
mike.schiffer@um.cc.umich.edu	 -- Karl Marx (1990) as imagined by
mss2@usite-next.uchicago.edu     Jim Koncz (konc@midway.uchicago.edu)