The Spot That Would Have Plugged HAUNT

HAUNT is coming out tomorrow (and with that, I guess I still did plug it here in some way). McFarlane's company sent out an e-mail to press/bloggers with a link to a media kit.

The media kit was over 50mb large. Given how high speed access is becoming more and more common (and probably even more so with people bothering to blog on a regular basis), not so bad.

But why was it so large? .psd files. (Edit: While the .psd files were larger than the rest, they weren't as huge as I would have thought. Still completely useless for posting on many blogs.)

What are .psd files? They are PhotoShop Documents. They are not compressed, so an image in a .psd takes up more memory than a .jpg, for example.

They, also, aren't possible to display on a web page without PHP coding, as far as I know.

If you want the unwashed masses of the blogosphere (like myself) to try to talk up your new release, you'd be best served giving them the goods in a format that will easily work for them.

(Above Haunt cover image included just because I'm a fan of Ottley, dammit!)

DC Comics Are A Stubborn Bunch

(this is inspired by Matt over at AlertNerd.com)

So, when DC Comics did their Sunday Conversation/For The Love Of Comics panels, Marvel had no problem co-opting it to create their Marvel: Your Universe panels.

You see, they're comfortable enough recognizing a good idea that originates from outside of their offices and put it to good use. That's smart. They even give credit where due, as Brevoort has admitted the inspiration came from witnessing the DC Comics panel.

But DC seems to have a bit of an inferiority complex when it comes to such things. Have they started to get editors blogging with regularity? No. Make in-house articles publicizing their stuff instead of just relying on what they do with big comic-related sites? Nope. Do they have a regular video log like The Weekly Watcher? Non. Does DC Comics have someone Twittering to bring attention to their projects? Nein.

I know it means possibly hiring another person or two, but I'm pretty sure it would be a worthwhile investment. Think about it: how many more readers are aware of the existence of Marvel or DC Comics online than they are of CBR or Newsarama? Yet DC Comics doesn't even have an easily found section that links to all the articles across the 'net about their products. If it exists, I haven't found it.

Now, don't get me wrong, recording their panels and podcasting them through iTunes is great and all. But how often does that happen...versus the year 'round work Marvel's PR department does? Agent M gets more and more Marvel folks on to Twitter and encourages everyone to follow them. Marvel's new best writer, Matt Fraction, is a Twittering fool.

Marvel embraces new ideas on how to connect with their consumer and grow their base. DC seems to resist many new ways, especially the ones they didn't come up with first. That's a crying shame.