Two hundred (sort of) monthly issues of news, reviews and features, Britain’s answer to Comics Buyers Guide (well, without the Buyer’s Guide bit). It’s all been the vision of one Dez Skinn – the UK’s answer to Stan Lee (and I never realised that Stan Lee was a question) (Q: Stan Lee? A: Dez Skinn) (Hmmmm, doesn’t work, does it?) (But I Digress) (As does Peter David in this landmark issue).
Credits:
Publisher/Editor: Dez Skinn News: Mike Conroy Listings: Jim Hannah Ordering: Via your local comics shop or direct from Quality Comms’ website (www.qualitycommunications.co.uk) although this hasn’t been updated at time of posting this article.
Format:
It’s a 100-page, square-bound whopper of a celebration issue – it actually now looks and feels like a proper magazine should, presumably this has been the ultimate aim from day one and congrats to Dez for finally getting there. Nice paper, square-bound format, thick read, not overly loaded with adverts, and a reasonable price – job well done.
The Skip-Pages:
On the CI mailing list (groups.yahoo.com/groups/quality-comms), Dez often makes reference to minimising “skip pages” – those sections of a book or magazine or comic you just flip straight past without bothering to read. The theory is that skip pages contribute to an impression of a lack of value for money for a product – if you read a bunch of pages and think “I could’ve skipped those” or even just skipped them without reading, at some point you’ll figure it’s not worth continuing to purchase said product as too much is skippable. So, out of 100 CI pages in #200, how many are skippable – from the point of view of YOU sitting there, an internet-surfer (non-internet-surfers would get more from this issue, but then they are unlikely to be reading this).
The answer is: too much.
The News pages takes us up to page 25 of the issue, and almost all of it I’ve already read online – in greater depth usually. A fair portion is somewhat out-of-date, even for a four-weekly magazine (referencing events on Sept 6th, for example) – production issues meant this issue was delayed, but for the majority of the US audience, this section is well past its sell-by date. However, 25 pages out of 100 isn’t so bad (and there is the odd nugget worth digging out) – if it was 25 out of the old-style 64, then you’d be worried.
Novel Graphics is a couple of pages by Paul Gravett, mostly about comics-into-movies, but it’s one long block of text on a number of subjects, so nothing gets covered in any depth and the rest just meshes together (looks like too much text submitted to insert section headers, which would’ve broken it up nicely).
It’s Only A Comic, by Tony Lee – now, Tony is a great guy, but he makes two mistakes here: firstly, he goes on (although not for long) about the infamous tree incident at Bristol in 2006 and frankly it’s getting tired; and secondly, the column is a blatant Robert Kirkman “Buy My Books” ripoff, but without any of the graphics or subtle charm of Kirkman – Tony just comes across as a shyster here, a list of upcoming books with very little detail, when he could’ve just covered one or two in more depth and told us WHY they are worth buying, rather than the fact of their existence.
Civil War Sketchbook – Good if you like that sort of thing. I fully accept that whilst Sketchbook features aren't my cup of tea, a lot of people will like the insight into Steve McNiven's work here - and I do agree that Dez should be given credit for arranging this feature.
Beyond 2000 – David Bishop (ex 2000AD editor) returns for a one-off moan, and starts off by admitting he doesn’t really read many comics, especially not now that Gotham Central has been canned. What are you doing in this mag then, clear off.
Comics Economics lists the Top 100 US comics for May 2006. Why?
Two Comment columns from readers are not worth the paper they are written on. One is a set of lists of comic movies, and potential comic movies, and blah blah blah, it’s boring. The other is another age-old rant about too many Bat-books, too many Spidey books blah blah blah, also boring.
Advance Listings – six pages of books released in…October 2006. Oh dear.
Networks – I found this to be three lazy pages ripped from various websites. An internet-savvy reader would already have picked the good bits up, and the URLs are too unfriendly to a novice to mess with (tinyurls would've improved matters and used less space). There are other issues with this section, but they need not be gone into here.
Letters – at the end of five pages of letters, Dez says he didn’t want to be too self-indulgent in celebrating 200 issues. This is after five pages of letters of Pros saying congratulations on hitting 200. Sadly, after the first page (and with the exception of the art sent in), these are almost all tedious (Frazer Irving’s note is the standout exception), and look suspiciously like they’ve been solicited – a post-it note on a freebie copy of an earlier issue of CI sent out to a few dozen industry pros asking if they’d care to drop a short line about issue #200 is the definite feel. Might just have saved the space, and only run the interesting responses plus a list of who else said “well done on 200 issues, here’s to 200 more” (i.e. almost all of them). Who said originality in comics is dead?
The Good Stuff:
Doom and gloom out of the way, let’s list the good stuff – and some of this is very good:-
Sez Dez – the lead-off intro, only takes a third of the contents page and it screams out for more room. Dez could hold one’s attention for a dozen pages with his anecdotes (and sometimes does on the mailing list)…more, more, more.
Frame to Frame – Mike Conroy delves a little into Bryan Talbot’s experiences with getting Luther Arkwright onto the big screen…and it’s another feature that cries out for extra space, it feels curtailed, there’s more to tell and we want to read it.
Talking Shop – Stephen Holland, owner of the UK’s best retail outlet for comics, Page 45, rants (accurately) about rants about Civil War’s scheduling (although he mentions he has never missed a CI deadline, but I’m sure there was an issue he wasn’t in…).
Mark Millar Interview – five pages or so of vintage Millar…and again, you want more. The interview closes abruptly with Dez’s tape running out, just as it was veering into very interesting territory, a difference of opinion between two very opinionated people. Most of the interview is your bog-standard anodyne questions about Civil War, but it picks up considerably in the last two pages and then…ends.
Ranson Notes – Arthur Ranson (a hugely underrated yet hugely talented artist) returns for a one-off column prefaced with the best note yet written in CI: “I must admit really I do not have anything to say to your readers”. Whoever said honesty was the best policy should’ve added “except when it comes to writing a column.” However, Ranson instead suggests Pros should list ten comics from their shelves for the readers’ interest. This a great idea but missing one key component – the Pro should then explain WHY he’s chosen each particular book. Just listing ten books and featuring their covers is only giving us half the story. I’m much rather see just five books listed, but each one with a short explanatory text from the Pro concerned.
Major Digressions – Peter David is back for one column, and it’s superb (about why publishers should never try to give fans what they say they want). Top feature, two pages, never outstays its welcome, and we want him back every month.
Q&A – Always like this section, always annoyed at how short it is (less than two pages). Some fascinating questions (not only the questions themselves, but WHY people want to know), and the occasional excellent answer (see Mike Conroy’s answer on comic bloopers this time).
Reviews – I’ve gradually been coming around to these (only took me ten years to start to like them), as whilst they are mostly significantly out of date (covering DC’s 52 weeks 11-16 for example), each review is less than 100 words so they are easy to run through and so many are crammed into these pages that you can easily find a good review of a book you’ve inadvertently missed. Having said that, the guys who gave bad reviews to Ultimate FF #32 need a kicking.
Movers And Shakers – the original rumour column, which spawned Rich J and his ilk, is back for a one-off…and (once again) we just want more…
And Finally…:
If you’re not online, then frankly it’s an essential purchase, as it gets the information across without resorting to the overblown hyperbole and no content of Wizard or the snootiness and interminable interviews of The Comics Journal. For online readers, it’s more like a pair of comfortable socks – warm and familiar, but with a few holes and the odd suspicion it should be replaced. The features of most interest are generally too short, the features of no interest are too long (but ain’t that the way of the world) – there is, however, a lot here to like (and very little to actively dislike), and it’s a great way to dip ones toes into the CI waters.
Continual evolution of the magazine appears to be on the cards – here’s the rough cover to issue #201:
Some excellent diversity there. If the content can be sorted for future 100-page editions, if the time-sensitive features can be modified to make them more relevant (i.e. no Comics Economics six months old, no Advance Listings of books already released, less old News, better Networks) that could make every issue essential.
Outro:
The major UK comics show is back on next year, for the 9th year running: May 12th and 13th, 2007. The Bristol International Comic Expo 2007. It’ll have the Eagle Awards. It’ll have a rare charity auction. It’ll have the single largest collection of UK Comics available to buy. It’ll have back issues, graphic novels, trades and toys in abundance. It’ll have signings and free sketches from the best UK pros, plus special US guests…
It’ll have SBC, as always, standing around wondering how on earth you can promote a website at a Comic Expo.
-- Craig.
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