Donald Ducks - Update By Alan Donald Bloody hell, is it that time already? More on the Dononvan & McGarrigle Show:
hello, im writing in response to something i saw on your website. I am hotrebelliouschk1. And what I gather from what was said, it seems to me that some people think I'm younger than I truly am. I am 18 years of age. So, legally I can flirt with a 22 year old man, if i wanted to. Im not trying to send hate mail or anything, just trying to clear up some bad information. thank you for your consideration hotrebelliouschk1 This Has A “Hot Rebellious Chick” Value Of Eight Out Of Ten
More Follow Up Phil emailed us to let us know that he isn’t aware of any deal with DC to keep American Century running (but God bless them for doing it) but that he did know they were negotiating with Chaykin for the rights to reprint American Flagg in a series of books due around 2004. I have emailed DC for a comment but they didn’t get back to me. This Has A “Quid Pro Quo” Value Of Six Out Of Ten
Yet More Follow Up Grant emailed us to say that Adam Phillips of DC Marketing contacted him regarding the DK2 returnability thing in ATR this week. This is what he had to say...
That said, the following email arrived from Pete just before my deadline:
UPDATE... I've just got word from Eide's Enertainment in Pittsburgh. They have full returnability, BUT they aren't getting full credit. DC's only giving them $4.00 on each book, and the shop has to pay its own shipping & handling charges. By the clerks calculation, it worked out to about $3.60 credit per book. This Has A “Return ‘Em All” Value Of Four Out Of Ten
Wizard Out To Destroy The Future? The following arrived from Doctor Legg just before my deadline not giving me time to seek the opinions of those concerned so I invite Wizard, Mr Quesada, Future Comics and anyone else affected by this to email in a response that I’ll print in full next week:
So is Marvel controlling Wizard? Are Wizard out to get Future Comics? What is the real story? I’ll get back to you with any comments I get sent during the week. This Has A “Wheels Within Wheels” Value Of Six Out Of Ten
Peter David: A For English, F For Geography Personal gripe here. The following comes from the Peter David site:
This Has A “Secret Service Knocking At My Door” Value Of Five Out Of Ten
Hasbro Vs Diamond, Round 2 After last week’s reports that Hasbro were coming down hard on Diamond and Dreamwave for selling the Transformers comics outside of North America (a story broken in All The Rage) we have had further details sent to us. The big question of course is why it took Hasbro so long to stop this “illegal” activity. On the surface the official answer is probably that they just didn’t know what Diamond were up to, and Diamond didn’t know they shouldn’t ship outside North America because Dreamwave didn’t tell them. Doesn’t say much for Hasbro protecting their interests, though, does it? Some have suggested, however, that the answer may lie in their recent sales figures. The toy giant’s sales have dropped by 8% this quarter with the only big gains for licensed products being big rises for … GI Joe and Transformers. Hasbro’s chief rival Mattel had a 40% increase in profits. So why potentially reduce their income by cutting off the international market for some of their products? Marketing, plain and simple. Ricky has passed us information that leads us to believe this current enforcement is nothing short of a marketing ploy. 1) Sites such as this one raise the awareness of the product in question by running the story. Mainstream news companies often pick up such stories if they are deemed interesting, further increasing the publicity. 2) They, in theory, could then claim for damages on top of their cut of the profit. 3) They can renegotiate (or rather actually negotiate) the international licenses to be far more in their favor based on the established markets. We approached Hasbro to comment on the above, they answered:
The Dreamwave comic is available at the moment in the US only, however there will be a children’s Transformers comic released in January 2003. Also, they can refer to www.Hasbro.co.uk for range information. Regards, Hasbro This Has A “Money, Money, Money” Value Of Four Out Of Ten
More Pulse/CrossGen The following is from the Pulse, you know the first bit bear with us until the end though:
This Has An “Impartial?” Value Of Four Out Of Ten
Unclaimed Treasure It is (for me) the single most important comic book in the history of publishing. It is either the most expensive or second most expensive comic book in the world (depending on the status of Action Comics #1). It is the Christmas present the SBC staff are getting me this year. AND… it is unclaimed! A copy of Detective Comics #27, that featured THE FIRST APPEARANCE of BAT-MAN is apparently lying unclaimed in a safety deposit box that has been abandoned for years in Missouri. Apparently the State Treasury department has tried to contact the box’s owner but to no avail. All I can say is that if he doesn’t want it... Thanks to Willy for spotting that in the Wall Street Journal for me. This Has A “What A Berk” Value Of Nine Out Of Ten
Repeating The Mistakes Of History I’m afraid this is another one of those stories where I didn’t have time to seek a comment from those involved. Retailers received an open letter from Bill Jemas at Marvel comics. Mr. Jemas discusses Marvels policy re: overshipping, and he also gives details about future “Marvel Must Haves” and that many will be shipping only a few weeks after the original comic and that they will be available to order at that time (i.e. they’ll print more than the original orders allowing retailers to reorder, overshipping). His reasons for this are simple, to give readers a chance to catch up on hot titles that retailers may not have ordered enough of. It also means that retailers don’t have to take such a risk by over ordering on these titles just in case they become hot. Then why don’t Marvel just overship the original comic? Simple. If they did there would be no collectors market. No books would be so hot they sold out. Retailers and savvy collectors couldn’t make a mint by buying up/holding back hot comics, bagging them and either ebaying them or just selling them in shops at hugely inflated prices. Like Mr. Jemas himself says “Dirty Money”. Fair play to Marvel for doing the Must Haves. It makes sense that everyone who wants to read a story is given the opportunity to do so, it creates future sales. But not every title is going to become a hot one. Not every title will be a Must Have. Not every retailer gets it right. So if a retailer cocks up he’ll either be left with disappointed customers or too much stock. Either one is bad for business, I know from experience. Frankly I am disappointed that we still have companies pandering to this kind of market. I would have hoped that the speculators boom and bust would have taught everyone a lesson. Marvel doesn’t profit from the huge mark-ups that some retailers make on hot books (except if they ebay a few themselves) and their safest market is to hook readers with good stories and good art, these are the readers who will return week in week out. Collectors are a poor market to pander to, they are parasites that will suck a commodity dry and then move on to the next thing. This Has A “Can’t We Actually Care About The Real Readers For Once” Value Of Seven Out Of Ten
We Love JMS Day Man, this is a story that won’t go away. During the week I received the following email from Mark, a comic book insider; I quote only the pertinent section to avoid anything that may give away his/her identity:
This Has A “Hey, I’m A Fan Of Rising Stars And Midnight Nation, Too” Value Of Nine Out Of Ten
More Moore...Just Kidding Every bloody week I seem to have an Alan Moore or Neil Gaiman story. You’d think they were important to the comic book industry or something! This week it is Gaiman again. Pauline spotted the following on the Neil Gaiman site. Gaiman was questioned about the format for the up coming Endless stories he was doing, this was his reply:
This Has A “Reserve My Copy Now” Value Of Nine Out Of Ten
Inhumans, The Movie? Bianca has sent me information that Gene Simmons of Kiss fame may be producing an Inhumans film, from a script by Jon and Erich Hoeber. I’ll get back to you when I have more info on this. This Has A “One Word Could Destroy The Universe” Value Of Seven Out Of Ten The Watchmen Film, Just Wait! Ain’t it Cool News has published a review of the latest Watchmen script to be bandied around. The script by David Hayter receives the highest praise I have ever heard for any comic book adaptation, ever. I’ve not seen the script myself but Moriarty’s review of it has got me so buzzed I want to knock down Universal Studio’s doors myself and demand the film is made as per this script. For those of you who have been living in a blast-proof bunker with ten thousand cans of baked beans for the last fifteen years, Watchmen is generally considered to be the single most important work in comic book history. While some believe it hasn’t aged well (I’m not one of those) it’s effect on the industry and its influence on creators is undeniable. So complex is the story telling style that even the great Python himself, Terry Gilliam walked away from this project. According to Moriarty’s review this script works because it treats the original with respect, as if it is a work of literature (which many consider it to be). Well... whatda know? I’ve gone and done an Alan Moore story after all. This Has A “Let’s Start The Campaign To Get It Made” Value Of Ten Out Of Ten
Rebellion In Trouble? Rebellion, the computer game company who currently own the rights to 2000AD and associated Judge Dredd material have finally announced a release date for their long awaited Judge Dredd game:
This isn’t the only strife at Rebellion. Apparently the company has now demanded that all creators sign away their right to contest ownership of or to attempt to gain any returns from any and all properties they may have created or worked on for 2000AD for nothing. This means no money from films, graphic novel collections, games or any other type of reprint. Our source, Sharon, has told us that if the creators don’t sign they can’t work for Rebellion. So we could be denied the work of some of the best creators in the comic book industry at the moment such as Alan Grant or John Wagner. We can only speculate as to the reasons behind this. As you may recall there were problems with the Zenith collections, and at that time I pondered if it would open up the floodgates to similar problems. None of 2000AD’s various owners have exactly been patrons of creator rights (for more on this see Dave Bishop’s history of 2000AD in the Megazine) but this is pretty bad. Are Rebellion merely covering their asses? Have they heard rumours about planned legal action? My guess as to the answer to question one is that perhaps most computer games aren't publicised until they are nearly ready, whereas information about the Rebellion Dredd game was made public from the outset. Wasn't there something in the first computer mag preview about how unusual is was to have a feature on a game so early in its development? I don't think they've ever said it would be ready before 2003. Perhaps Rebellion are due praise rather than scorn for letting us in on the details of their computer game so early but the impression all those I spoke to was that it was very late (but hey, that doesn’t mean they were right). No new news on the whole contract thing, other than a brief statement that the dodgy contracts in question were only meant to be discussion documents, rather than proper “please sign me” letters… wonder what would happen if anyone actually signed, would Rebellion turn around and say “no, no, only kidding”? This Has A “Thrill Sucker” Value Of Six Out Of Ten Hulk/Wolvie Rematch The following was sent in by Dot:
This Has A “SMASH!” Value Of Ten Out Of Ten
Marvel T-Shirt News Yet another late-breaking story that was sent to me just before my deadline. This time Angie was the sneaky little Rage-mite who spotted it. Apparently the licensing arrangement for t-shirts between Graphitti Designs and Marvel Comics is at an end and they will not be able to supply any more Marvel based T-shirts, even those from their back list. It is not clear why Marvel has taken this decision. Some speculate that this is a further example of the company consolidating its assets and licenses in preparation for being sold off. The future of any Marvel based T-shirts is just as unclear with many possibilities being on the table. Until then don’t wear your Marvel T’s too much, you don’t want to wear them out! This Has A “Let’s Hope It’s Sorted By Summer” Value Of Six Out Of Ten
Star Warts Now there’s a title to catch anyone’s interest. Quick snippet from an interview with the artist Cam Kennedy on the 2000AD site. Spotted by Dirty Den:
Well, no. The thing was when I was first offered DARK EMPIRE, I'd never actually seen the films. I'd been living in France and got into a way of life where watching these things wasn't important. So I'd never seen them and had to watch them on video before I started. Some of the designs were good but they weren't my best. I kept the best stuff for myself. I'd be sketching and I'd come up with something and I'd think "Oooh that's good! I'll keep that design for myself". That way I could make a bit of money off it. George Lucas doesn't need more money but I do. I was explaining this to TOM (VEITCH) on the phone and he said "My God, Cam, how can you not give your best stuff to George?" and I replied "But when has George ever given his best for me?" This Has A “What A Dark Horse, Mr. Kennedy Is” Value Of Seven Out Of Ten
Journey Into Speculation - OP/ED - Not The REAL Reason Hibbs Is Suing Marvel From Brian Hibbs’ two interviews in Brandon’s lovely Ambidextrous column, I am left with, to quote someone famous “a bad feeling about this”. I just don’t buy it. I don’t buy the timing of the lawsuit (what a coincidence it happened as the Spidey movie opened). I don’t buy it being done for financial reasons. It’s all very well saying the motivation behind the lawsuit is to make Marvel meet their contractual obligations, but why then launch it to gain the maximum publicity for the case and the maximum embarrassment for Marvel? I can only think of one reason for this…skip to it at the end of the article if you like, but keep this Rumor Barrier in mind… it’s only my opinion of what I’ve read and heard. Why don’t I think it’s about money? Well, a little mole, Little Mo, sent me a post by Hibbs stating that superheroes form roughly one-third of his business - that's all forms of superhero comics - Marvel, DC, Image, Dark Horse, and so on. It would seem reasonable to assume that Marvel form one-third of this portion of his business, making Marvel responsible for 11% of his takings. Figure into this how many Marvel books should've been made returnable, and out of these, how many he actually would have wanted to return through not being able to sell? This month, Marvel has fifty regular books solicited; let's take that as a reasonable average. How many of this fifty would need to be returned? Five books? Ten per cent? Sound fair? Therefore just 1% of his business each month should have been returnable and wasn't. But how much would he actually have returned? Just because a book is late doesn't mean that every single sale is lost - it doesn't seem reasonable to me to assume that more than 25% of sales are lost (given that everyone who has a copy of a late comic put in their pull box will buy it, and that casual buyers will see it on the shelves when it finally does come in and buy it anyway). The argument that if a comic is late people drop it from their lists is, excuse my french, a load of dingo’s kidneys. People who drop comics like that are hardly reliable customers, in my book anyway, so couldn’t be counted on to buy anything… you drop a quality comic because it’s a couple of months late? You drop a book you enjoy because it’s a bit tardy? Rubbish. So, to my mind, Hibbs has been losing just one-quarter of one-per-cent of his business via this Marvel situation - so it ain't about the money, baby. If it's not about the money, is it purely self-promotion? Is Hibbs such an egotist that he needs to see his name in lights? Certainly you can enter his name into a web search and see him and quotes from him all over the place, would he start a sure-fire win case just to boost his own ego? I don’t think so, but it brings to mind the question of why set the case in motion simultaneously with the release of the Spider-Man movie? I reject utterly the argument that cases that time to prepare so it was coincidence, as the release date of the movie was set and publicised well in advance. If he didn't want to exploit the movie's opening then he could easily have delayed the case by a couple of weeks. Is that it, then? A boost to his self-esteem? Bit of a silly thing to do, spend the money on a lawsuit just to promote oneself, though if you’re sure you’re going to win, and you’ll have your costs recouped, and maybe some compensation for your time, then… On the other hand, said search on the net reveals some tensions between Hibbs and the dynamic duo of Bill Jemas and Joe Quesada. Some serious sniping from both sides, some real criticism from Hibbs of Marvel’s policies under these two, and of JQ’s performance at a keynote speech at a recent con. It seems blindingly obvious that they don’t like him, and he doesn’t like them… So putting it all together, what could be the motivation behind this case, if the (denied) assumption that the case was timed to coincide with the opening of the Spider-Man movie is taken as true? One theory leaps to mind. One possible motivation. If Marvel’s thunder from the Spider-Man opening is stolen by a court case, if the people at Marvel responsible for this situation are deemed to have embarrassed The Company, then the usual way forward is for those in power to make a scapegoat of those responsible – to whit, the dismissal of Bill Jemas and/or Joe Quesada from Marvel. I don’t believe a word of it. This Has A “Once Again, What The Hell Do You Think The Rumor Barrier Means, Anyway?” Value Of One Out Of Ten
Ennis & Fabry On Thor In case you hadn’t picked it up, the Thor mini-series by Garth Ennis and Glenn Fabry is to be called VIKINGS – presumably to keep it in line with ORIGIN, TRUTH and the upcoming BORN. Minimalism is obviously back in vogue at Marvel. This Has A “Just Squeezed In Under The Wire” Value Of Ten Out Of Ten
A Voice From Beyond The Grave Follow up to a story last week. Just in on time. The following comes from a ghost at Last Gasp:
ALWAYS WELCOMING A NECRATIC VISIT, RONALD E. TURNER (RONZO) DECEASED. This Has A “Spooky” Value Of Nine Out Of Ten
That’s it for another week. If I’ve offended you (then I’ve done my job properly), if I have made a mistake (then that would make a change, right?) or if you’ve got info for me (come one, come all), then get off your backside and e-mail me the details! Just remember that telling on me to teacher – you and I know who I mean – is a very poor show and abuse of position. Many thanks to all those Rage-mites who have helped to put the column together, the rest of you bear in mind there’s always room at Rage Towers for more moles… Until next time TTFN. Alan Donald, signing off, from an increasingly cold island. |
