From: jchokey@leland.Stanford.EDU (James Alexander Chokey)
Subject: Re: Superman, Superman, Everybody's talking about Superman ...
Organization: DSG, Stanford University, CA 94305, USA
Date: Sun, 22 Nov 92 06:06:16 GMT

In article <21NOV199223205987@lims01.lerc.nasa.gov> sewon@lims01.lerc.nasa.gov (WAYNE WONG) writes:
>I've been to three different comics shops this week and Superman has 
>everyone in an uproar.  I have never seen the shops as busy as they have 
>been this past week.  The phones were ringing, literally, off the hook.  Two 
>of the shops left their phones off the hook for a while just to get some 
>peace.  One owner was afraid to run my credit card through, because he would 
>have to use his phone line.  Sure enough - *RING.*

	Same experience here.  Phones ringing, people flooding in, nary a
parking place in site. . .
>
>I think most people underestimated the impact the media would have on the 
>Superman/Doomsday storyline.  All the news coverage has drawn in a LOT of 
>non-comics people into the shops.  More than anyone expected I think.  Quite 
>a few people said that the Doomsday storyline would be of no speculative 
>value; millions of copies of Superman #75 were printed.  It's all supply and 
>demand.  Very true, but right now, the demand is much higher than the supply.  
>Overnight, the book is already being sold for at least triple cover price.  
>People on the net have quoted amounts as high as $25 (I'm in shock).
>The "value" of the book may drop within a few months, but right now, the 
>entire storyline is making some serious money for the speculators.
>
>The thing that bothers me, and apparently many other netters, the most is 
>that the story was substandard rubbish.  I hate to think about how much the 
>creators and DC are going to rake in with this little fiasco.  We have 2nd, 
>and 3rd printings already, we have a TPB on the way, we have trading cards, 
>we have T-shirts, we have limited edition signed and numbered comics ... did 
>I miss anything?  On such a high profile project, I would have expected the 
>creators to put in a little more effort and to produce something a little 
>more worthwhile.
>

	I agree with you--  and I think that this whole Death of Superman hype
is only going to backfire on DC.  
	I don't think DC is going to hook any new customers from the Doomsday/
Death of Superman saga.  I can't imagine that anyone who doesn't normally
read comics is going to start reading them as a result of this.  The story,
the artwork, etc. was, at best, mediocre.  A lot of people may buy this
because of the hype, but I don't there's going to be any signficant long-term
market expansion, as a result of this.
	Just curious--  does any one know how much DC is expecting to gross/
net on this issue?  The reason I ask is that the people who are probably 
making the most money on #75 is not the folks at DC, but the "speculators"--
the comic shop owners who raised prices to reflect demand, the purchases who
bought several copies, etc.
	In short, I think that this will turn out to be a failed marketing 
ploy.  I hope I'm wrong, though.  DC is my favorite comics company and I would
like to see them get more of the market share--  if they did, then maybe they
wouldn't have to cancel some of my favorite series.  Maybe time will prove
me wrong, but I doubt it.

	--  Jim C. <jchokey@leland.stanford.edu>