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Free Comic Book Day recommends no anthologies for 2017

Started by Steve Green, 23 August, 2016, 04:07:59 PM

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Frank

Quote from: sheridan on 24 August, 2016, 12:43:37 PM
60,000 (FCBD) units in 2014 - I wonder how that translates into progs/megs sold each week/month?

Probably around 5-6 times the number of comics Tharg shifts each week (link). That's an indication of how many potential readers 2000ad could be reaching but for some reason doesn't.

Tharg should cut FCBD out of the loop by producing a stripped down version of 2000ad/The Meg for free monthly distribution round the nation's comic shops, to lure lapsed customers or nerds who think 2000ad's only Dredd or Slaine.

Our sub money seems to be keeping the Command Module lights on at the moment, but there may come a time when the free distribution/ad revenue model of Metro, the Standard, and the NME makes sense.

Imagine 300,000 - 3.5 million commuters reading Kingdom and Lawless every morning, on their way to work or school.



IndigoPrime

This would be the NME that's now full of vacuous tat and no actual journalism because it's produced on a shoestring and almost certainly going to go down the toilet soon? Just imagine: Judge Dredd followed by 20 pages of listicles.

Frank


IndigoPrime

Oh, give over. I'm not a huge fan of what the NME became, but it was at least a proper magazine before it went free. Now, it's barrel-scraping tat of the kind you get on endless clickbait websites. I'm not saying that some kind of targeted promotional 2000 AD wouldn't work (the Beano tried it a while back and got a big circulation bump), but as an ongoing concern, the comic would be dead in the water if it tried to ape freesheets.

The Enigmatic Dr X

I get the impression that the problem is that most anthologies for the free comics are excerpts of other continuing titles. The problem is that 2000ad is an anthology. The argument, surely, is to say that the 2000ad given away is one pure, unadultared, edition of 2000ad?
Lock up your spoons!

O Lucky Stevie!

Quote from: IndigoPrime on 25 August, 2016, 08:35:18 PM
Just imagine: Judge Dredd followed by 20 pages of listicles.

Wasn't that the Judge Dredd Mega-Specials with the ceaseless Dredd story indexes?
"We'll send all these nasty words to Aunt Jane. Don't you think that would be fun?"

Richard

No. The Mega-specials were three or four stories at 6 or 8 pages each, with maybe 6 or 8 pages of a story index (and in only one or maybe two specials, not all of them). And some of us appreciated having a story index.

sheridan

Quote from: Richard on 26 August, 2016, 02:01:05 PM
No. The Mega-specials were three or four stories at 6 or 8 pages each, with maybe 6 or 8 pages of a story index (and in only one or maybe two specials, not all of them). And some of us appreciated having a story index.
I quite liked the story index booklets that were given away with a few progs in the nineties (I have an image of one being attached to a Sean Phillips ensemble cover, with gold additions) though wasn't so keen on the ones appearing in other places.  All a moot point as we have the internet now and such things aren't really suited to print publications these days.

sheridan

Quote from: sheridan on 26 August, 2016, 05:51:44 PM
I quite liked the story index booklets that were given away with a few progs in the nineties (I have an image of one being attached to a Sean Phillips ensemble cover, with gold additions) though wasn't so keen on the ones appearing in other places.  All a moot point as we have the internet now and such things aren't really suited to print publications these days.
Especially when wikipedia has lists of stories for 2000AD and Judge Dredd.

dweezil2

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Dash Decent

No anthologies for 2017AD and
no apologies for 2000AD either.
- By Appointment -
Hero to Michael Carroll

"... rank amateurism and bad jokes." - JohnW.

dweezil2

Quote from: Dash Decent on 13 December, 2016, 11:42:38 AM
No anthologies for 2017AD and
no apologies for 2000AD either.

I thought I heard that there was a loophole that 2000AD could exploit?
Is this not the case?

If not, that's a right pisser!!!!  :thumbsdown:
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"He's The Law 45th anniversary music video"
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James Stacey

I thought the rule was no anthologies of comics not published as anthologies. If your entire comic is an anthology you are OK.

Jim_Campbell

Quote from: James Stacey on 13 December, 2016, 03:11:50 PM
I thought the rule was no anthologies of comics not published as anthologies. If your entire comic is an anthology you are OK.

It's still a bullshit move. I've worked on BOOM's FCBD book for the last three years, and they commission original, self-contained shorts to showcase three or four of their books. Black Mask's FCBD offering last year had two original 12-pagers tying into the Young Terrorists and We Can Never Go Home series.

Is this somehow less preferable than just re-printing something? I thought the point of FCBD was to get punters into comic shops...? Surely original content unavailable anywhere else is more likely to do that than a re-print of material at least some of the punters will have seen before?
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Leigh S

Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 13 December, 2016, 03:27:44 PM
Quote from: James Stacey on 13 December, 2016, 03:11:50 PM
I thought the rule was no anthologies of comics not published as anthologies. If your entire comic is an anthology you are OK.

It's still a bullshit move. I've worked on BOOM's FCBD book for the last three years, and they commission original, self-contained shorts to showcase three or four of their books. Black Mask's FCBD offering last year had two original 12-pagers tying into the Young Terrorists and We Can Never Go Home series.

Is this somehow less preferable than just re-printing something? I thought the point of FCBD was to get punters into comic shops...? Surely original content unavailable anywhere else is more likely to do that than a re-print of material at least some of the punters will have seen before?

Yes, it does feel as if it is a political move to benefit the big and lazy names - why do they care what the content is?  What justification have they given - confused and angry readers returning their free comics?