Saving the Hobby - Peter David Has the Answers

[OldGuy]

Here are the paragraph headers from Peter Davids "But I Digress" article in the new CBG (you'll need to subscribe to get the full article):

 

People want what’s new:

 

People want what’s old:

 

People want low prices:

 

People want high prices:

 

People don’t care about prices:

 

We need books that have female leads and that cater to kids:

 

Women and kids aren’t coming into stores:

 

People want creators to stick around:

 

People don’t want creators sticking around too long:

 

People want the books out on time:

 

People are willing to wait:

 

People want revamps of classic characters:

 

People are sick of revamps of classic characters:

 

People want tightly woven continuity:

 

People are sick of stories hinging on continuity:

 

Don’t worry about the Internet:

 

Cater to the Internet:

 

So, to summarize:

What you want to do is produce a comic book that’s daring and innovative while comfortably familiar, priced low enough to be affordable but not so low that the retailers are being screwed and make it salable enough that price doesn’t matter, featuring a lead who is a teen girl white male in his 30s — ideally, a revamping of a classic character who’s brand spanking new — firmly established in continuity that’s never been seen before, at which point the creative team should turn it out intermittently on a monthly basis before quitting in a year or twoafter a six-year stint. And be sure to spend lots of time in doing nothing to interest people on computer boards. Happy publishing!

 

I think he sums it up very well. He's really onto something here.

 

 

[blowout]

Sounds like a summary of the threads we have had on the subject.

[supapimp]

peter david is actually joe_collector

[OldGuy]

That's why I posted it.