WYTCHES - Scott Snyder & Jock 0

[Ninja of Physics]

Well, strung along for over 3 months with the possibility of a variant for this and now he answers no. Think I'll cancel my rather large order tonight.

 

Sorry to read that Branget. I heard somewhere that a store variant is done a little over a month before release, but you have to be on the list much earlier than that. Still sucks to have something awesome cancelled on you. Did you have an artist lined up for it before it didn't happen? Either way, that's just terrible.

 

 

[dupont2005]

Man, I freakin' hope they stop at 3 variants (they won't I don't think). My being excited about this book is slightly diminished if this is all true. I'll still buy though.

 

I love variants, but it can get ridiculous (see Avatar for goodness sakes). Uber is a bad mamma jamma but not for speculating with its 300 variant covers.

 

Damn. Just. Damn.

I hate variants. Not because I'm tempted to buy them, not in the least, but because in my experience the more variants a comic has, the worse a comic actually is.

 

I read the preview for this and liked it, but if they're already variant pimping I don't have as high hopes as I once did.

[N/A]

Well, strung along for over 3 months with the possibility of a variant for this and now he answers no. Think I'll cancel my rather large order tonight.

 

Sorry to read that Branget. I heard somewhere that a store variant is done a little over a month before release, but you have to be on the list much earlier than that. Still sucks to have something awesome cancelled on you. Did you have an artist lined up for it before it didn't happen? Either way, that's just terrible.

 

 

My LCS does quite a few variants with Image. I suspect Image believes it has a potential hit so they're keeping all variants in-house. In other words if my LCS is willing to take all the risk on a new title they can have a variant but if Image sees potential then they don't allow store variants. Makes me think I should never request another variant.

[Brodie91]

four variant covers so far for this title, only one LCS will have a variant, because the store is one of the creators local shop and he asked for them. Not counting Mid town because to me they aren't a local shop, they are a wal-mart of comic shops.

[N/A]

Both of which is a slap in the face given I was advised not to ask the creators directly.

[N/A]

And midtown isn't that big.

[Ninja of Physics]

Well, strung along for over 3 months with the possibility of a variant for this and now he answers no. Think I'll cancel my rather large order tonight.

 

Sorry to read that Branget. I heard somewhere that a store variant is done a little over a month before release, but you have to be on the list much earlier than that. Still sucks to have something awesome cancelled on you. Did you have an artist lined up for it before it didn't happen? Either way, that's just terrible.

 

 

My LCS does quite a few variants with Image. I suspect Image believes it has a potential hit so they're keeping all variants in-house. In other words if my LCS is willing to take all the risk on a new title they can have a variant but if Image sees potential then they don't allow store variants. Makes me think I should never request another variant.

 

I'd be REALLY upset as well. Do you mind saying the shop's name? You've probably been asked this a lot. I'm simply curious since I'm relatively new to forum-posting.

[Ninja of Physics]

four variant covers so far for this title, only one LCS will have a variant, because the store is one of the creators local shop and he asked for them. Not counting Mid town because to me they aren't a local shop, they are a wal-mart of comic shops.

 

Four? I'm only aware of the Murphy, Francavilla, and Chiang variants. Would be cool if there happened to be one by Greg Capullo. Wishful thinking.

 

My only concern with variants are their over-abundance, especially offenders like The Amazing Spider-Man and Guardians of the Galaxy, of which there are definitely more titles to add to the list and are not strictly confined to just Marvel. I understand it is a tool for promotion to bring more readers in with the cover or how rare they are. In the end, I just buy comics for their entertaining value, assuming that the story AND art are any good.

[Vikingreed]

Just catching up.

Man, I figured one, maybe two variants at the most.

 

Oh well.

[dupont2005]

I understand it is a tool for promotion to bring more readers in with the cover or how rare they are.

"Readers" aren't influenced by rare covers, speculators are. This is not a tactic to bring in new readers, it's a tactic to get speculators to buy multiples of the same thing.

 

It works though. Always has.

[Flatliner1313]

Well, strung along for over 3 months with the possibility of a variant for this and now he answers no. Think I'll cancel my rather large order tonight.

 

You're being emotional.

How could canceling your entire order for this title benefit your business in any way?

You may feel like you're "Sticking it to the man", but it's not improving your business at all.

 

Who knows who made the decision, or why, or what is happening behind the curtain. At the end of the day, that isn't for you to worry about. Your concern is if customers come in looking for this book, and get dejected because you straight up didn't order it. You could lose them to local competition, or even online competition, if they feel they need to go elsewhere to be assured they will find the books they seek.

 

Yeah, it sucks when you have been working on a deal for a while and it falls through.

But it happens all the time in business. The last thing you want to do is sour a relationship and potential future collaborations with a vendor.

[rjrjr]

I understand it is a tool for promotion to bring more readers in with the cover or how rare they are.

"Readers" aren't influenced by rare covers, speculators are. This is not a tactic to bring in new readers, it's a tactic to get speculators to buy multiples of the same thing.

 

It works though. Always has.

 

To a certain extend. But, I think there has been a backlash against variant covers as well, at least from the non-big 2 which seem immune to almost any bad practice. They have a large loyal fan base that seems to not care what they do. (New number 1s, variants, loose continuity, etc.) Variants definitely haven't helped any book coming out of Avatar (in fact, Avatar's incessant need to keep reprinting issues has actually been the butt of many jokes here and in the LCS) and I suspect variants is one reason Valiant hasn't take off like they should have by this point. (Here's a new universe you can get in on the ground floor, but we are going to make sure any attempt to get all of the issues is an expensive endeavor.) There is also a mini-series stigma now and Marvel, DC, and a few other publishers have taken notice and cut back dramatically on mini-series. IDW and Dark Horse moved many of the mini-series within a series titles to ongoings and stabilized the readership for those titles in the past few years.

 

Image has shown a publisher can put out good comics and grow market share without needing to rely on the variant crutch to "just get by." Unfortunately, many of the other publishers seem content with just getting by and milking their current audiences. I won't be surprised if Image ends up with 15-20% of the market share in a year if they don't make any missteps with their current prestige.

 

Wytches is the Image title I'm looking forward to the most out of the new titles announce this summer. The preview they showed for this title was really strong and has me wanting to read more. There is no way this is not one of Images top 5 books monthly.

Edited September 7, 2014 by rjrjr

[N/A]

Well, strung along for over 3 months with the possibility of a variant for this and now he answers no. Think I'll cancel my rather large order tonight.

 

You're being emotional.

How could canceling your entire order for this title benefit your business in any way?

You may feel like you're "Sticking it to the man", but it's not improving your business at all.

 

Who knows who made the decision, or why, or what is happening behind the curtain. At the end of the day, that isn't for you to worry about. Your concern is if customers come in looking for this book, and get dejected because you straight up didn't order it. You could lose them to local competition, or even online competition, if they feel they need to go elsewhere to be assured they will find the books they seek.

 

Yeah, it sucks when you have been working on a deal for a while and it falls through.

But it happens all the time in business. The last thing you want to do is sour a relationship and potential future collaborations with a vendor.

 

My business is purely online but your analysis is correct which is why I haven't cancelled.

[dupont2005]

There is also a mini-series stigma now

The only place I've ever seen that is here, and only among speculators. I think a lot of readers actually like miniseries. Edited September 7, 2014 by dupont2005

[Holden Caulfield]

There is also a mini-series stigma now

The only place I've ever seen that is here, and only among speculators. I think a lot of readers actually like miniseries.

Does it really qualify as a mini just because he is writing in 5 or 6 issue story arcs?

[dupont2005]

There is also a mini-series stigma now

The only place I've ever seen that is here, and only among speculators. I think a lot of readers actually like miniseries.

Does it really qualify as a mini just because he is writing in 5 or 6 issue story arcs?

I'm just saying, no stigma against Watchmen, 30 Days Of Night, The Crow, ect. Readers love minis, speculators don't, because if the series never gets a glittery chromium issue #700, issue #1 might not ever be worth a million dollars.

[rjrjr]

There is also a mini-series stigma now

The only place I've ever seen that is here, and only among speculators. I think a lot of readers actually like miniseries.

Does it really qualify as a mini just because he is writing in 5 or 6 issue story arcs?

 

 

I'm not talking about story arcs. I'm talking about comics that put out a new number 1 with every story arc. Marvel and DC have cut way back on the mini-series outside of their event books and I do remember an interview with one of the big 2s editor in the past year that mentioned mini-series are a harder sell. Dark Horse moved several of their series within a series to ongoings (Hellboy, BPRD, etc.) along with IDW (Star Trek, Transformers, GI Joe, Ghostbusters, etc.) I do think the publisher have noticed they hold readers better when they have an ongoing versus a series of mini-series. Minimum, it provides sales predictability from issue to issue.

 

Image mini-series are almost all DOA. You'll notice in many listings, they don't even announce the first issue as a mini-series anymore, I suspect because of the stigma. They know their readers are looking for ongoing books.

Edited September 8, 2014 by rjrjr

[Ninja of Physics]

I understand it is a tool for promotion to bring more readers in with the cover or how rare they are.

"Readers" aren't influenced by rare covers, speculators are. This is not a tactic to bring in new readers, it's a tactic to get speculators to buy multiples of the same thing.

 

It works though. Always has.

 

Not being a speculator, I purchase in the hope for stories I like. There are moments when the cover art catches my eye and I take a risk. Happened to me at Emerald City Comic Con this year. I never had an interest for The Sandman series. At the DC Booth The Sandman: Overture #1 3D cover looked tempting, and after having bought and read it, I'm planning to get all the volumes by the end of the year. Worked on me.

 

I do agree though that it does not pan out that way all the time.

[Ninja of Physics]

This tweet by Jock (

) can be for either:

 

A). The cover art.

B). The number of covers.

C). Both.

[VEI Reborn]

This tweet by Jock (

) can be for either:

 

A). The cover art.

B). The number of covers.

C). Both.

 

 

I bet its C.

 

Im in for one copy to read.