Over on The Beat, people were discussing the performance of Brand New Day Spider-Man when someone brought up the bet that Dan Slott had made with a fan about the book staying over 80k sold per issue four months after the launch.
"Somebody" provided links back to the old Newsarama boards where the bet was made.
justice~!
I'll take your bet - kind of. How about this:
4 months from now, I'll subscribe to Spider-Man if it has managed to keep itself above 80K copies per issue. If not, how about just a little bit of public humiliation or apologies in the way of an "Ode to me" from Dan Slott?
Sucker bet, man. Obviouisly since ASM has legs it should be well above 80K per issue right?
Dan Slott
I'll take that bet. And I will write an AWESOME "Ode to You" if we don't clear 80K on month four. PM me and we'll set this up.
Somebody
I've tried to do a Google search for Dan Slott and "ode to", but it turns up nothing other than references to the bet, with nothing about the outcome.
It has been about a month and a half since the bet was lost. How long does it take to write an ode? ;)
Posts
I actually asked if anyone remembered this bet back when it was reported ASM dropped under 80k back on the rama boards in April, but I must not have (had) any clout with regular rama readers because my question just got ignored.
ReplyDeleteIn their defense I tended to not post a lot, so I was (am) basically a nobody.
Yeah, you did ask about it before others. It just appears that the actual bettor didn't pop up in your thread to see it.
ReplyDeleteHmmm, based on your response I'm thinking my comment came off wrong then. I was merely saying I'm interested in the outcome. The pointing out that I had asked was merely my way of proving I was interested before, I wasn't trying to claim credit for asking about it first or anything.
ReplyDeleteThere was a huge implicit assumption on Slott's part that the whole marriage retcon would be accepted and everyone would pile on based on the creators names. I think that's been proven false and Slott has a bit of crow to eat for the statement he made.
At the same time, I feel a bit bad for Slott, he finally gets the gig he always wanted, but the character is tainted due to the setup that occurred before he got the it. I mean I still remember the pre BND interview he did where he "let slip" the Parker "can't get a date" thing that was basically a confirmation to everyone one where OMD was heading and everyone went nuts (I had never seen an article with that many comments on rama prior to that). So while I feel the lack of interest isn't necessarily his fault, I think he might have been a bit over enthusiastic in promoting the new status quo. Although I'm torn since it's not like he could have predicted sales would fall over time, that would end up being a self fulfilling prophecy, but he probably should have just not made predictions at all and let the work speak for itself.
It's too bad, I would have been on board had they handled it just about any other way than the crappy last minute deus ex machina devil deal. I never thought I would see the story that made the clone saga look like high brow literature, but that's One More Day in a nutshell.
Hmmm, I appear to have rambled on about this a lot longer than I originally intended, I must still be bitter. And yea, I know I probably need to just "get over it", but I can't.
I don't think I quite took it the way you think I took it. But clarification is never a bad thing.
ReplyDeleteI did feel bad for Slott for the same reasons as you state. Always thought Slott was a perfect pick for Spider-Man and he was the only announced BND writer that I was 100% behind before an issue even came out. Hadn't seen anything from Guggenheim that was of a style that matched up with Spidey previously. Thought Gale was an odd pick and Wells was getting a high profile gig before the world even knew who he was. From what I've seen, Guggs and Wells have acquitted themselves nicely, though.
Back to Slott: seeing how he responded to people who were criticizing OMD or anything related to Spider-Man before his run even started made him much less of a sympathetic character for me. Due to that, I believe that his own behavior is nearly as responsible for any hardship he is experiencing as the change in status quo is.
Still a shame that Slott got his crack at Spidey under these circumstances, though. Seeing how he bristled when asked by Matt Brady when he was asked how he felt about getting his shot under these circumstances and accused Brady of bias by asking that question, I have absolutely zero empathy for him.
It's possible that the bet was never made.
ReplyDeleteThe guy may have never PMed him.
According to the poster he supposedly made the bet with, it would seem the bet was made. If you follow the link back to the comment at The Beat, there is a link back to the old 'Rama where Justice says he won and is waiting for his ode.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.606studios.com/bendisboard/showthread.php?t=155997
ReplyDeleteJust posted this morning:
"And the eighth most requested question from PMs and e-mails: Yes, I will be writing an Ode to the Newsarama poster known as Justice."
Well, then...that's good to know. Can't wait to see it.
ReplyDeleteI was kinda surprised that he seems to be indicating he'll be writing New Ways To Die all the way through September. I had thought they'd have scripting done far ahead of that. Then again, the way he phrased it kind of left it open to interpretation that the Spidey-related name could fall off with the A:TI name carrying the rest of the way.
How long does it take to write an ode?
ReplyDeleteWell, first you have to learn to write.
Alan Coil
LOL, now *this* is hilarious. I remembered the bet and was just going through old posts of yours when I realized someone else acknowledged it!!
ReplyDeleteYes, I had Pmed Dan and we had it all set up. I didn't push it becuase, honestly, I felt a bit bad about the circumstances but if he is writing the ode i am all for it baby!!!
HA HA!!
Congrats to you, sir. Please make sure to let me know when you receive your ode. ;)
ReplyDelete