And I think we'll end it there. One hundred is such a nice, round number and really, if you didn't make your comment by now, you're probably not going to make one. Thanks everyone for participating, and I hope you'll all be back for the release of the trade later this fall. So long!Yes, that was him inviting everyone back.
And yes, that was him telling us they'd release this pile of horseshit in a collected edition in just a few months.
Heh, you can't accuse him of lack of balls?
ReplyDeleteKali -- Actually, this makes me like him a lot more. I can't wait to watch what happens when the trade comes out.
ReplyDeleteActually, AMAZONS ATTACK is being released as a hardcover in December.
ReplyDeleteDave -- Who on earth would buy it in hardcover?
ReplyDeleteI've never thought much of Pfeifer as a writer (not particularly bad or good, his work generally just doesn't connet), but MAN he is a good sport.
ReplyDeleteRagnell -- Fans of Pete Woods? I dunno. Despite actually liking AA, I'm waiting for the softcover edition -- ditto Picoult's LOVE AND WAR arc. (Again, which I liked.)
ReplyDeleteI can understand why DC elected the hardcover route though. DC's been trying to put out more Wonder Woman product and the character, sadly, hasn't had much in the way of hardcovers over the years (Archives excluded) in the way that both Batman and Superman have had. So with both the WHO IS WONDER WOMAN? and LOVE AND WAR hardcovers coming out, it makes some sense to release AMAZONS ATTACK in the same manner.
Mind you, the decision was probably made long before the series was released and the fandom reacted to it. So, yeah.
You know, I've been thinking about this a lot lately, and I'm wondering if DC currently structures things with writers at the outset to guarantee particular books get collected and released as trades. Because there seem to be an awful lot of books which either don't sell well at all that automatically get collected into trades, or which sell okay, but which are so reviled that when you see that they're in trade at all, you think, WHO WOULD BUY THAT?!
ReplyDeleteI don't know the answer, but I suspect that maybe when a Bilson and Demeo sign up for a run on Flash, for example, their contract says something about DC releasing a trade.
Does anyone know for sure?
Caleb -- Standard DC work-for-hire contracts don't contain clauses regarding collections; aside from the usual royalty provisions outlining what percentage a creator is paid for collected editions, foreign reprints, etc. Exclusive contracts may or may not have such a clause, but that would probably only occur if a creator requested it and DC agreed to it.
ReplyDeleteAnd sometimes low-selling books benefit from trade sales. MANHUNTER sure did and most of the Vertigo titles sustain themselves based on trade sales. Of course, if sales on the collections are disappointing, DC may scrap plans for further collections. Such was the case for the planned second volume of AQUAMAN: SWORD OF ATLANTIS. DC had the trade scheduled for December, but when sales of the first trade were below expectations and the series was eventually cancelled, they dumped plans to publish the second volume.
There are a variety of factors that go into deciding what gets published and what does. It doesn't surprise me that the Bilson/Demeo FLASH run was collected. It was a high-profile relaunch that had some pretty good initial orders for the first few issues, so a trade was all but a given. (Plus, it's THE FLASH, one of DC's more well-known characters, of course DC's going to collect it.)
(And just because you wouldn't buy a particular collection doesn't mean that someone else isn't looking forward to purchasing it themselves.)
I am buying champagne. It shall be one of the greatest fanwanks ever.
ReplyDeleteIs Hawkman in it?...
ReplyDeleteAn Amazon Attacks trade collection? But that'll ruin Wonder Woman forever!
ReplyDelete