- Amazon buys popular comic book app platform Comixology
- Can drones deliver my comics? Six thoughts on the Amazon/comiXology deal

So... this was kind of a big deal. Until we know the ins and outs of how Amazon will handle it, it's tough to really speculate if it'll be good, bad, or business as usual. I think comics probably have a lot of the same old concerns they've had for the past couple of decades and this plays into them for better or worse.

It's been a long time since I was involved enough to be looking at sales data, so it was kind of a shock to the system to see only 1 issue cross 100k in the March direct market sales. The drop off from Batman #29 is pretty alarming, down to 65k by the bottom of the Top 5.

Digital platforms have a part to play in all of this, but a decade and a half out from that first X-Men film, I still cannot believe how little the industry has done to sell itself on the back of some of the biggest major motion picture blockbusters/cultural touchstones of our age. I don't know if it's more or less surprising that comics still aren't at the fore now that the business model of the day [for the big 2] is to work in service of the films [and assorted other weaknesses].

Amazon can only help tie things together, I'm sure. I wonder what the effect on paper trade will be, though. By and large I prefer physical media. Reading digital comics is a cumbersome drag, if you ask me. I hope any success the Amazon incarnation has doesn't further diminish the paper branch. A decline many are obviously resigned to.

The thought occurs that comics have just the kind of dedicated and motivated demographic that suits developing technologies. Weekly comics delivers might be good testing ground if those Amazon Drones ever get in the air.

Sales are the way they are because comics became a thing you buy in isolated hobby shops, you rarely see them in places where normal people shop like grocery stores anymore.

There's nothing Marvel or DC can do about that, it's Diamond's fault, they've got a monopoly and a stranglehold on the distribution end of the industry.

Digital should, if anything, save comics...but the problem is who the fuck has ever heard of "ComiXology" except people who are ALREADY buying comics? They SHOULD be sold on iTunes like everything else in the world is.

Well, gamers have become aware, which is one of the reasons Injustice blew up as one of the biggest digital sellers. I think that says a few things, and one of those is that its an issue of promotion and actively connecting one cross-media product to the source [medium]. I don't know that Injustice has done huge things for DC's digital sales in general, but it makes that first step that isn't made by the cartoons or films.

As far as I know, nothing Diamond does has prevented initiatives to, say, get spinner racks in theatre chains for the last 10 years. It certainly hasn't stopped more aggressive marketing campaigns in theatres and during cartoon blocks etc. Dedicated stores may have facilitated isolation -- but they were entrenched in the biggest sale period in modern history. The existence of specialty stores is not a source problem. It's getting people to want to go to them and then continue going.

Which obviously unfolds into a lot of other incremental issues. I don't think the product itself is without blame, these days. Marketing and creative can both answer for that.

The speculator boom was an artificial construct though, a million issues sold doesn't necessarily mean a million separate, unique people each bought a single issue.

It was a fad spawned by a small amount of people throwing large amounts of money away buying multiple copies of stories because they don't understand the concepts of supply-and-demand or rarity, and thought that issues of X-Force would one day be an investment that could make them millionaires the way an Action Comics #1 from 1938 can, just because the cover is made of some shiny new material.

Rest of the post speaks to the fact that it doesn't matter how or why the numbers were huge. There was enough business and foot traffic to facilitate bricks and mortar stores. Not just one or two in highly populated cities -- but everywhere. It was ingrained in the culture, it was a business that supported itself. The existence of specialty retail isn't the problem. Motivating people to enter is. A major failing on the part of the corporates.

Comic shops weren't all there was in the 90's. They've just gradually disappeared from everywhere else over the years such that now LCSs are all that's left carrying them.

Shit, remember when you used to be able to subscribe to a book and it'd come in the mail like a magazine?

Yep. People fed families well, even with all those other available avenues.

The long term viability of what drove some of that foot traffic is subject to debate, but the principle of it is simple. Like any business, direct market retail is a logical, central part of the infrastructure. Mail order and drug stores were a means to a logical end. In a conversation about digital sales, you aren't going to ignore the fact that the pendulum has swung heavily back in the direction of "mail order" equivalency. In review of the last 15 years, though, you're talking about the development of a multi-[m/b]illion dollar industry and a direct market branch that has been left to atrophy. Not because it hasn't been viable, but because industry leaders haven't made any effort to connect the dots to everybody's gain.

On the subject:

- The Retailer Side of ComiXology Acquisition By Amazon

Asked whether the Amazon acquisition will affect the comiXology Retailer Tools, which include Online Pull List, Comic Shop Websites, and Cover Gallery, comiXology Vice President-Marketing Chip Mosher told ICv2, "There are no changes planned."

We also asked specifically about Digital Storefronts, the comiXology program by which brick and mortar retailers can sell and receive commissions on digital comics, "Will comiXology continue to offer its Digital Storefronts for retailers (everywhere)?" Mosher responded, "We changed our terms a couple of weeks ago. There are no new changes."

And we also asked about possible conflicts between the mission of comiXology and that of its soon-to-be new parent, "Will Amazon use comiXology Online Pull List customer and order information to target Pull List customers with Amazon offers?" To this, Mosher gave a firm, "No."

There's a human element that says this is good news. Obviously there's an argument -- implicit in the conversation thus far -- that retaining, sustaining and developing the culture around material infrastructure is a good thing. Websites are all well and good, but to tap back into nostalgia, I'm not sure anything can top walking into an environment filled with merch.

- EXCLUSIVE: Morrison, DC Unleash "The Multiversity" in August



How things have changed in just a few years. When this was first discussed I couldn't have been more excited. Final Crisis had just wrapped. It was, in my opinion, one of the best company events of the last decade and a half. It was the perfect platform to launch more Morrison multiverse mayhem... and then Multiversity got delayed... and then the kingdom came tumbling down. Now I'm not sure how I feel.

The long awaited arrival is arguably the return of one of the best writers to a type of superhero story we don't seem to have from DC anymore. This promises all the sincere complication the current model (theoretically) works to avoid. It's a literal vestige of better days since gone. Here's hoping it hits big!

- ABE SAPIEN #13



Nothing too fancy. Just a straight forward, moody Abe Sapien cover! Dig it!

- Preview: All-New Invaders #4



Really don't enjoy this art direction for the Invaders. I don't think the style compliments the distinction of the series. That said, in a world where you won't even find a legit JSA book on the shelves, seeing Cap go up against Master Man is probably blessing enough. As modern takes on Golden Age classics go, I'm missing the New Invaders series of the mid-2000s. It had a lot more going for it than anybody knew, at the time.

- Preview: Daredevil #2



DD, on the other hand, does not suffer from any art issues. Loving the present era. Could've done without the number reset, but content wins out easily over bogus business. Good stuff.

- Meet SUPERDOOM the Monster of Steel In July's ACTION COMICS #33



This is simultaneously everything wrong with the state of comics, and everything right with what comics can be. I can't help but think it would be infinitely more effective in the world before the reboot. It seems like the brief existence by New 52 standards has afford Superman so little time to exist and develop and be part of the world. At least before the reboot, this would be an exciting, hyper-spastic sci-fi adventure that's a pebble in the pond of a universe where all the important stuff is established.

Here -- it's the worst of the 90s on crack. Which probably isn't the argument to make on a Mortal Kombat forum, but hey. Why not?

I enjoy the image. The concept isn't without its merits. The percentage of space it occupies in the universe, though... I'm not convinced. I may never be convinced.

I'm looking for something new. Ongoing series, finished series, GN, it doesn't matter.

I'd like something a little more somber, more serious, and more realistic than I usually read. Something that I can, kind of, get engrossed by that touches the heart. Preferably nothing too bleak, I'd prefer something that feels more human.

I know this is weird criteria for a request but it's hard to write desire.

My position, when I can be bothered to feel any emotion at all over a New52 book, is generally to be offended at things like them doing stories about other people turning INTO Doomsday, as a sequel to Doomsday stories that were NEVER WRITTEN because we're reading about a world where the REAL Doomsday's debut has still never actually been shown on-panel and their writers and editors can't even give a straight answer about whether or not Superman's death and return ever happened in the New52.

Storytelling isn't supposed to work like that, you can't just have these things happen without the context that makes them relevant, unless you're flatout admitting "We know the stories from the old continuity are way more meaningful to the readers than anything we're doing now, so we're referencing your fond nostalgic memories of stuff that technically never happened, instead of the actual canon we've spent the past three years building as deliberately-halfassed as we possibly can."

I wanted to take a break to give this some good thought, but I haven't made the time, so I'm gonna shotgun it. My connection to comics has never been reality-based, so I'm probably not the best guy to ask for things like this. The superhero dominance in the thread (and my collection), coupled with your suggestion of "more reality" -- rather than strict reality -- makes me look to something like previous years of Daredevil. A more realistic setting, with a continuum to be absorbed in, and a sombre, serious tone without being too grim. If Brian Bendis has done anything worth recommending - his contributions are up there.

Really, I think you gave perfectly good criteria. I have to feel I'm living up to an ugly stereotype by not having something better to say. Maybe if you have something more specific in mind that would help narrow it done, at least. Hopefully someone else might like to chime in, too. We got a lotta folks coming through sitting on their hands.

Really what stands out for me as a quality I really like is the way Busiek wrote Marvels. In the Marvelverse, a man like Phil Sheldon doesn't matter. It wasn't focusing on Cap or the Fantastic Four performing re-written accounts of battles we've heard time and time again; it was some poor shlub who, part of the time, only heard the action second hand. He didn't become a super hero, he didn't save a super hero, and it doesn't conclude in a really happy ending, but you're still emotionally invested in the character because he sort of occupies a realm between the book and the reader.

So, while I love superheroes, I'd maybe like something about folks who aren't the heroes or villains.

Okay, but Marvels is still entrenched in that world, so are you saying you're interested in pedestrian corners of fantastic universes? (As opposed to every day, pedestrian stories from pedestrian worlds).

If that's the case: Gotham Central leaps to mind. You can certainly find stories that match the Marvels premise and/or aesthetic in issues of Daredevil. Phil Sheldon and NY reporter Ben Urich have shared comparable perspectives. If I'm sticking with my own enjoyments, I'd have to throw in Sandman Mystery Theatre -- pulp atmosphere, barely superhero fringe with chances for JSA crossover story here or there.

Kurt Busiek created his own series of superhero stories in Astro City which might be worth investigating. Some stories are in the thick of superheroics, but as I understand it, there are some series and stories in the vein of Marvels. Powers is somewhere in this neighbourhood, more on the superhero end of town than Gotham Central.

There are a couple of Marvels adjacent stories: Ruins and Marvels: Eye of the Camera. For my distanced memory, neither lived up to the original. You might like to investigate The Marvels Project. Unrelated; superhero heavy; but with some tonal qualities you might respond to.

I don't know if this helps. Even if it's what you aren't looking for, that's progress. I'm sure there are some brilliantly obvious stories I've overlooked that someone might be able to drop. I definitely wasn't thinking Marvels, despite your many Alex Ross drops, so that helped. (Just not one of my go-tos).

- Preview: Silver Surfer #2





Wooo!

Thanks Mick. I've actually considered Mystery Theatre a few times, but I never pulled the trigger on it. I think I might actually do that now. I know my inquery has been rather complicated - I want normality but like superheroes - but I think you really struck into what I'm looking for atmospherically. I don't necessarily want a world devoid of fantastical things, but more of a world where those fantastical things are still amazing and confusing. After so many times seeing the world blown half to hell (quite recently) you sort of lose a grand connection to the universe.

The most recent story arc in Thor: God of Thunder has the settings zipping between present day and a future where Thor, as the all-father, is still carrying a torch for the Earth- which is at point nothing more than an uninhabited, dead, dust-ball. Between the two sections, I'm much more interested in the sections that take place on the dead Earth, because you get a sense of permanency- all is done and it has been for sometime (although I'm sure they'll find a way to alter the future or something). When the story returns to present day Earth, It has the standard feel of, invincibility, I guess.

In that same vein, I've become a little disappointed in Remender's Cap. I really liked the Dimension Z story arc and I was really hoping for more of a drastic impact. It looked like it was going to be a pretty big impact for a while, but it just sort of petered off. I hope they're planning something big up ahead, but how little mention there has been of Ian or Sharon bothers me. Even Cap is going to take losing the woman he loves and his son extremely hard, but like 3 issues more and it's old news.

I feel like there's a growing sense of the comic world being self-aware, and I don't like that. It was a fan's joke that they all die and come back, but when it feels like that universe aware of it's own invulnerability it's troubling. God of Thunder was able to make me feel a little of Thor's pain - the Earth is dead, and he wants to die. With Cap, I was heartbroken when Ian got shot and Sharon sacrificed herself, and I cheered when it's revealed Ian became the Nomad in Dimension Z -- I would like some more acknowledgement of all of that emotion. I have feelings and I know Cap has feelings. I don't want the writers to just say "They know Sharon will be alive again eventually, don't bother too much with mourning in the story." I want to sympathize with the character because they feel that whatever has happened has happened and there is no changing it all. Where is the sense that things have changed forever? For God's sake, the DC universe was just invaded by an Evil Justice League, and the world can just move on from that? Where is the acknowledgment that sometimes events beyond anyone's control?

That might be part of why I liked Marvels. I can identify with Phil's sense of helplessness or powerlessness, because I'm a normal person and I have to accept that there is so much beyond my control. I like to see that in comics I'm not a supersoldier or an asgardian but I can recognize the pain of loss.

Crikey, gee whiz! Haven't heard a lot about it, this year. HEADS UP:



http://www.freecomicbookday.com

Some of the freebies that catchy my eye:
- Archie Digest #1
- Guardians of the Galaxy
- 2000 AD FCBD Special
- All Rocket Raccoon
- Atomic Robo & Friends
- Bleeding Cool Magazine
- Buck Rogers
- Project Black Sky
- Hip Hop Family Tree Two-in-One
- Street Fighter #0
- The Tick

Always pays to know what to look for, just in case your store has restrictions etc. More FCBD 2014 Freebies on the site.

- The History of Street Fighter Comics

When you think about the habits of Street Fighter players, I guess it isn't surprising that a lot of these comics don't seem to be in the common knowledge. Nice article to demystify what's out there, if not the complete range of subjects covered in their pages.

Masahiko Nakahira's work is definitive. I like the Tokuma series, even though it was obviously in its own little world. (I like Street Fighter II V for what it is, too). UDON gave the world quantity of experience and, for the most part, that's enough. Looking forward to what they do with the new series. Was very surprised by its return. Hadn't heard anything before FCBD. (Missed out on #0! Darr!)

- EXCLUSIVE: MIKE ALLRED’S Variant Cover Commentary





Ugh. Mike Allred is so good it hurts. If in no small part because his work harkens back to things the New 52 is philosophically opposed to. It breaks my heart to see the classic JSA assembled on that Earth-2 cover, operating under the assumption that no such material exists in today's DC line-up. It's a clumsy mixed message, but you don't necessarily expect better of DC, these days.

More tears in rain for Mike Allred and the DC Universe.

You've probably read it, then, but you're literally looking for Death of Captain Marvel. Bonus is that of course as we all know he's actually stayed dead (with a few hiccups here and there).

- All the DC 'BOMBSHELL' Variants (So Far)





Really digging some of these "Bombshells" alt covers.

I gather there's been a bit of a kerfuffle about them. Sounds like the usual sex-obsessed/sexless Middle-American hysterics. My only quandary - these are more (wonderfully) retro promo images that seem in complete opposition to the New 52 philosophy. Can you have your history burning cake and eat retro delights, too?

Yeah...I saw those and just got sad that there's never been a Supergirl book where she wears that outfit.

It also makes me wish New Frontier was a whole publishing line. Like, Marvel has the Ultimate universe, I'd like to see the same but DC sets theirs in the past instead of the present 'cause their characters might actually work WAY better in such a setting than they do all gritty and "modern".