Will Boom! Studios Make It The "Big Three"?

If you've been paying attention to numbers lately, you'd have noticed that sales estimates indicate that neither Marvel nor DC Comics had an issue that broke 100k.

That's just a few months into the Dark Reign event and with Batman: Battle For The Cowl debuting in this month's estimates. It's hard to imagine anything in the near future (other than maybe Blackest Night) charting higher than the Big Two's current offerings. Sales are a bit down all over, so I'm not trying to point to these sales as any indicator of the job DC and Marvel are doing (feel free to argue that in the comments).

Enter BOOM! Studios.

If you haven't noticed all the sellout notices from BOOM! Studios regarding their Muppet Show and Incredibles books, you might guffaw at this suggestion. OK, plenty of books sellout, so you might still have a chuckle. I'll give you two words that should quiet that laughter:

Newstand distribution.

BOOM!'s kids line will be getting broad distribution. It should already be available in Barnes & Noble, if not in other venues. These are properties with amazing mainstream recognition being put in places where mainstream eyes will see them.

Yes, I know that they aren't the only company with newstand distribution. But can you name a property that has a better chance of selling at the supermarket, bookstore or newstand than the Muppets or Incredibles?

I know it probably sounds like quite a leap from about eighth place to third place, but the Disney/Pixar/Muppets product has only just hit the shelves. While IDW has a potential cash cow this summer in their GI Joe product, they have a higher price point ($3.99 vs. $2.99) and are geared to a consumer that has many other options for entertainment when talking about the mainstream audience. While I'm sure BOOM! is selling more than a few copies to adults, they're putting out a product that parents can feel comfortable handing to their child that might just be learning to read.

This isn't to try to minimize the impact of the regular product that BOOM! is putting out. I'm sure the WARHAMMER product has been doing well for them in trades sold outside of the direct market. They're putting out stuff like UNTHINKABLE, UNKNOWN and IRREDEEMABLE. One can always hope for more HERO SQUARED, as well. Can't forget being impressed by COVER GIRL (which Kevin Church, of BeaucoupKevin.com, contributed to).

What I'm saying is: the moves that Waid, Richie, Mosher and company are making could reap great rewards for the company and a significant vault up the publisher rankings.

(originally composed via e-mail; apologies for misspelling Ross Richie's last name prior to touch up editing this evening)

CBR Relaunch: Too Early To Call

Taking a look at it, the increase in staffing is ambitious, the design change is counter-intuitive, and the difference in template between the forums and the front page lead the carpet to not match the drapes.

One of the interesting bumps in the adjustment period? Hannibal Tabu:

JUST ONE MORE THING ...
Apparently, my co-worker Augie is now riding herd on four new writers in CBR's new reviews section (which this writer learned about in the new site's launch manifesto).

Welcome to Fight Club. Since this is your first night, you're gonna have to fight .

Just in case that gets edited out:

So...add a bunch of reviewers, but don't tell your dedicated one-man-review-team (scorned, though he may be) that you're diluting his unique place in your business? Would seem a touch douchey, would it not? I'm not a fan of his work, but I'd think the man who many comic readers apparently love to hate would deserve being made aware that his role was about to become a bit less special on the site beforehand.

Join The Efforts To Get TWADOHH To Relinquish Control Of BeaucoupKevin.com

Over at the offending hackers' site (Thor With A Dick On His Head), I'm trying to rally people to motivate them to give Kevin Church control of his site back. The more responses, the more likely they will give up this charade instead of Kevin having to wait for legal or administrative action.

Please post a comment in the same thread as my statement, in hopes that we can right this wrong.

Why Didn't Anyone Tell Me????

(Editor's note: this is republished from 2008. I had taken it offline as a draft, but put it live again because I think there's some revisionist history going on with the D'Orazio/Sims thing. I might try to restore the proper date if I can track it down.)

Originally ran on 3/20/2008.

I missed the pissing match between SOMEONE ELSE (Kevin Church, accomplished comic book writer and the blogger of Beaucoup Kevin) and Valerie D'Orazio? Revealing that there are so many other voices out there that find the way she handles discourse to be deplorable and dishonest? Who knew?

By the way...great person to have the face of ANY organization (cough...Friends of Lulu...cough), especially when she can show she's open-minded enough to be able to denounce sexism & misogyny AND promote the products of sexist/misogynist companies or persons. I'm pretty sure he doesn't have male poker players strip down for a photo shoot to discuss how they play the game, like this female player did.

Edit: You know...because this is the sort of thing Calvin Ayre has on his site.

Bodog Cat Fight
Barely Clothed at the Club
Girls of Bodog Fight
Kimberly Likes the Beach
And countless other examples.


Doesn't seem to me like this is the sort of company that the head of Friends of Lulu should be shilling for the vanity graphic novel of, regardless of the proceeds going to charity. Seems like something designed to be done for a loss to help out at tax time, while satisfying the ego of a billionaire, no?

Edit 2: Dontcha know...sometime after I pointed out that she was shilling for a flesh peddler in a previous blog she pulled the offending blog down. I guess that whole "personal blog vs. professional responsibilities" thing does come into play sometimes. Too bad she had to drop publicizing a friend's work like a hot potato for it, though.

Edit 3: Lest you think I made this up: the cached blog! God Bless Google (for their searches AND Blogger.com)