Being an internet refuge for Graeme McMillan
She’ll be writing two as-yet-untitled graphic novels which will be YA prose fiction, in the same vein as the aforementioned Fangirl and Printz Honor winner Eleanor & Park.
Entertainment Weekly either doesn’t understand what a graphic novel is, or else is confused about the meaning of “prose fiction.”
(The books will be graphic novels, not prose.)
To be totally honest, I never expected the Icon sales to be so low. I love the line of books and have been buying them from Issue 1, but the orders after Issue #1 (of Painkiller Jane) were extremely low and I am not sure why.
I think a lot of websites have been ignoring the books they are putting out and spending a lot of time looking elsewhere or at only the superhero books that Marvel has put out.
That’s Painkiller Jane writer and co-creator (with Marvel CCO Joe Quesada), Jimmy Palmiotti, talking about low sales on the book’s relaunch with Marvel’s Icon imprint. A quick glance at Comichron suggests that the Marvel issues sold on par with the series’ run with Dynamite Entertainment (which is to say, U.S. orders in the low 6000s).
Palmiotti seems to be squarely blaming the low orders on websites not covering the Icon books. I’m wondering whether that would change if Marvel put any marketing or promotional muscle behind the line whatsoever (I suspect that it would). As it is, Icon feels like an imprint that Marvel tolerates, not one that Marvel promotes.
HAWKEYE #17 will now feature interior art by Chris Eliopoulos. This title was originally solicited with art by David Aja.
HAWKEYE #18 will now feature interior art by Annie Wu. This title was originally solicited with art by Chris Eliopoulos.
HAWKEYE #19 will now feature interior art by David Aja. This title was originally solicited with art by Annie Wu.
Breaking: Marvel to re-title Hawkeye “How Long Can We Keep Your Interest Without David Aja?”
Given that they just skipped #15 for now because Aja wasn’t finished with the issue and just jumped from #14 to #16, it’s worth wondering whether #17 and #18 will also be released before #15, depending on how late Aja is.
In that this is one of the few – maybe the only? – remaining $2.99 book at Marvel these days, you have to wonder how strong the desire is over there to relaunch it with a new #1, new (higher) price point and new, more reliable, artist sooner rather than later. Sure, it’s Marvel’s biggest critical success in years, but it’s also turned out to be Marvel’s least reliably published, most problematic (in terms of schedule) book in recent memory, as well.
US fans are barely exposed to the comics produced in the UK. Sorry, but it’s true! Outside of Captain Britain, I can’t think of a single Marvel UK character that popped up in the comics produced over here.
But worry not! Rob Kirby is writing a book just for you:
http://a-distant-beacon.blogspot.com/2013/07/fine-tuning-from-cents-to-pence.html
As far as WATCHMEN…well, there are a ton of excellent DC titles that aren’t referenced in the book. There’s only so much you can fit into 500 pages.
Man, I want to read that Marvel UK book more than is healthy. Those comics – especially the early 1980s reprints – were weirdly omnipresent as a kid, and because of that, an important part of my childhood.
That’s the really super-cynical way of looking at it, I realize, and I’m exaggerating to some extent. But a lot of these relaunches and re-relaunches and ridiculous numbering schemes aren’t helping any. That recent Avengers comic that was actually #24 but tried to kick off a soft-relaunch by emphasizing the beginning of a brand new storyline with big ol’ “#1″ on the cover? I actually sold less of those than I did of previous issues. But I did bump my orders up slightly because I thought maybe sales would go up a bit, so Marvel got more money out of me, therefore this was a success for them, I guess.
But for a lot of these new Marvel relaunches I’m not ordering much more than what I’m already selling. Judging by Marvel’s…enthusiastic sales plateaus for the multiple variants they’re offering, it looks like they want me to order a lot more than what I have been, but I don’t see how a new Secret Avengers #1 is going to sell any more than the current Secret Avengers series which just debuted a few months ago.
