Just a comment

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abacus
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Just a comment

Post by abacus »

I think at my age I'm more an observer of the comic scene rather than a participant.
Although this is a U.K.comic forum I don't know whether members are regularly buying new U.S comics on a weekly basis.
Most people love bargains and I've noticed over the last couple of years fewer annuals are making it to the january sales which to me indicates a purposeful decrease in the production quantities.
A year or so ago ForbIdden Planet that I frequent always had four large boxes of 50p comics which they kept stocked and I chatted to a number of people who sifted through them.For several weeks now the boxes have been almost empty bar probably a dozen copies.
This could be an attempt to increase the sales of new comics or it could be a warning sign that all is not well with their sales profits.
Their hardback comic books are often priced around the £30 which I regard as expensive but no doubt the younger generation don't find them so.
Is everything on the comic front OK ? time will tell.

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koollectablz
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Re: Just a comment

Post by koollectablz »

£30 for a comic is pricey no matter how old you are.

I used to buy American comics on a very regular basis but (and I know I sound like a stick in the mud now) with the endless reboots and mass crossover events I’ve got to a point where I don’t know what version of what hero I’m reading and it’s become a bit dispiriting to try and work it out.

I think I’m at that stage with 2000ad now too. Judge Dredd Chaos Day was very much a turn off for me, it’s just got to the point where all the writers seem to be able to do is kill more and more of the mega city population with annual huge events, what was entertaining and interesting with the apocalypse war has become very mundane with everyone just thinking, how many will they kill this time. How many are left now? 55 mil?

What’s wrong with well written, well drawn (some really terrible art in 2000ad this year I must say) stories.

Like it or not comics are a niche product now and have been for years.

Here’s to a great 2018!

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abacus
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Re: Just a comment

Post by abacus »

With the success of the Wonder Woman movie film makers are said to be moving toward a less darker approach to their superhero movies and I think looking at the comics stacked along the walls of ForbIdden Planet to me there seems to be less of the grisly and bloodthirsty comics.
As a collector I get a number of the newer titles and some are OK.
Green Hornet teaming up with the Lone Ranger seemed a strange comic duo but it worked OK.
(SPOILER removed by colcool007)
I like the latest Tank Girl comics.
I found the latest Flintstone comics spoiled by the writer putting across some of his views instead of just telling a story.
I cannot cope with several superheroes in one storyline like Justice League.
Disney comics have fine storylines although some may be reprints.
There is one thing that can control the comic output and content and that is the buying public and for that reason I am optimistic that we will get the comics we want.
Last edited by abacus on 31 Dec 2017, 14:28, edited 2 times in total.

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starscape
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Re: Just a comment

Post by starscape »

That's a ridiculous spoiler by the way. There's no way anyone could stop themselves in time from reading the words after it. I'd suggest editing it out.

US comics have completely lost me. I'd love to have a regular one but they kept the characters names but changed the character. As if I'm that stupid not to have noticed? There's also nothing in a comic now. You pay 3 or 4 pounds for a floppy which could be condensed into 3 or 4 pages of a 60s-90s comic book. There's no joy in that. I just feel cheated.

I'll try the Fantastic Four when that re-appears (hopefully) but it'll have to have something more to it than the recent Two-In-One. Again, another comic where nothing really happens. Compare that to the original Two-In-One and there's only one winner.
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colcool007
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Re: Just a comment

Post by colcool007 »

Spoiler has been removed although it now intrigues me enough that I might end up looking out for that cross-over!
I started to say something sensible but my parents took over my brain!

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abacus
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Re: Just a comment

Post by abacus »

starscape wrote:That's a ridiculous spoiler by the way. There's no way anyone could stop themselves in time from reading the words after it. I'd suggest editing it out.
It was a jokey spoiler, with the comic no longer on sale it is unlikely to be read and I don't think anyone would care strongly enough anyway.
I agree the newer comics with the larger panels do seem to short change the reader storywise

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philcom55
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Re: Just a comment

Post by philcom55 »

I don't mind continued story arcs, but I hate it when even the 'graphic novel' collections end on a cliff-hanger. Having said that I usually find one or two American comics that appeal to me each week, though I admit that most of them now just leave me cold.

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paw broon
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Re: Just a comment

Post by paw broon »

I'd have to agree with much that's been said. Missed the spoiler and needless to say, I now want to know what it was :roll:
As rumours continue to circulate that Marvel comics are in trouble, despite Disney, and the state of a lot of the rubbish put out by DC nowadays, I get the feeling that the future might not be terribly rosy for these giants. That said, I do try a few mainstrem comics and Future Quest and the Space Ghost spin-offs are good entertainment. I enjoyed the Green Hornet/Lone Ranger title. The Batman '66 team up series were great fun. Also the Doctor Who collections from both Panini and Titan are regulars for me.
But the value for money in a floppy is very concerning, particularly Dynamite, who seem able to pack very little into 20 pages but manage to charge rather a lot for it.
By the way, abacus, I've always loved teams and team-ups and as a lad, it was exciting to find the oddest characters teamed up with each other. Don't get me started on the teams, except to say that there are a lot more than the JLA (showing my age here) and recently I've been re-reading The Seven Soldiers of Victory, or, Law's Legionnaires, from the GA - sorry starscape I know how you feel about GA heroes and comics. :wink:
As for back issues, FP up here doesn't have them but fortunately there is an excellent back issue shop in Glasgow, City Centre Comics.
As for British comics, I was in a couple of WHS shops before Christmas and apart from the American reprints - which are much better value than the original floppies - there was only 2000AD and a JD book, neither of which are of any interest to me , a bit like koollectablz. No Commando to be found there or the supermarkets. I remember, Beano was in Tesco.
I despair of British comics and British distribution.
I bought what I thought was a small press GN published by Sloth Comics titled Goblins as it looked much better than the usual poor quality local small press stuff, and it was a good, funny read. Only later did I read the indicia and discovered that it wasn't local, i.e. British, work, rather, it was a reprint of a French collection published by one of the better known French publishers, Editions Soleil.

big bad bri
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Re: Just a comment

Post by big bad bri »

what Was the spoiler i need to know :lol:

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abacus
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Re: Just a comment

Post by abacus »

Hopefully next year the charity shop I visit will still have the 4 boxes of 80's comics stocked up.
To me this was a time when art and storytelling was of an high standard.
When flicking through the pages of superhero comics I like to see ordinary city scenes with people going about their daily lives, what you might call grounded in reality.
When I have difficulty finding new character comics they usually have some CONAN comics to buy and here I enjoy the escapist damsel in distress tales.
They also normally have 2000AD PRESENTS comics (U.S. comic size ) plus Judge dredd, Halo Jones and other 2000AD characters.
On rare occasions I find the comic where art and story are unforgettable and that's what comic reading is all about.
Last edited by abacus on 26 Jan 2018, 10:43, edited 1 time in total.

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starscape
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Re: Just a comment

Post by starscape »

paw broon wrote:I've been re-reading The Seven Soldiers of Victory, or, Law's Legionnaires, from the GA - sorry starscape I know how you feel about GA heroes and comics. :wink:
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Re: Just a comment

Post by Lew Stringer »

paw broon wrote: As for British comics, I was in a couple of WHS shops before Christmas and apart from the American reprints - which are much better value than the original floppies - there was only 2000AD and a JD book, neither of which are of any interest to me , a bit like koollectablz. No Commando to be found there or the supermarkets. I remember, Beano was in Tesco.
I despair of British comics and British distribution.
As I've often said, newsagents are no longer a reliable indication of the UK comics market. For example, Titan Comics publish loads of comics by British creators (albeit tied in with licensed properties like Doctor Who) but you won't find them in newsagents or supermarkets. There are lots of originated British graphic novels by various publishers in bookshops and (the better) comic speciality shops but you won't find them in newsagents or supermarkets.

The UK comics industry isn't what it was, but it's still surviving, and there's far more to it than the few comics we see in newsagents.
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CharleyBourne
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Re: Just a comment

Post by CharleyBourne »

Afternoon All

The comics in the long boxes abacus was referring to in the Leicester Forbidden Planet are all Issues that they buy in bulk from the supplies some of them can be returned if they don't sell but other lines they can not return. This is why you have loads of copies of the same issues in the 50p boxes. I once asked the Manager in there why they had these boxes and this is what he told me. He also told me that its a bit of a ball ache because to for fill the order they had to buy a certain amount of these comics that they couldn't send back if didn't sell to keep the suppliers happy.

EG) The store knows it will sell 10 copies of the latest Batman comic so they order 10 copies of it but the supplier then say you also have to buy 20 issue of space monkeys from mars (not a real title I think :wink: ) to for fill your order. these comics will not sell as no one has heard of and no one is interested in they then can't return these issues and they end up in the 50p boxes.

In these boxes in both the Leicester and Nottingham stores in the past I have pulled out some great issues like a lot of the early walking dead comics most of the Battle of the planets quite a few star wars titles and a lot of the Transformers comics. But now it is mainly loads of issues mainly from some poor crossover or another epic event from Marvel etc.

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paw broon
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Re: Just a comment

Post by paw broon »

What CharleyBourne writes sounds about right. Although FP with their huge clout and buying power might not actually have to. Don't know which version of FP Leicester belongs to, but the scale of either operation should mean any of their stores can get round that requirement. But the E/B store doesn't have the 50p boxes and I can't remember seeing them in the GLW. store.
To go back to the part of my comment on the British industry, Lew is of course correct, and I should add that I bought the Goblins GN at a mini day con in E/B. There were no back issues, only a lot of small press publishers, gift tables and the usual artists selling their drawings of copyright material. So, this example of what the small press part of the British industry can produce was no great shakes. There were a couple of books/comics that looked well done but they were either very adult or/and sweary. The high point was having the chance to chat to Rachel Stott. Now she is a talent.
Also, recently, I've visited Blackwells in E/B and the big Waterstones on Princes St. No comics, G.N's or tpb in Blackwells that I could see. Waterstones had a selection of books, mostly American with Marvel, DC and some DH etc. Not a lot of British material and that mostly 2000AD reprints.
At the E/B FP, I noticed a decent selection - both in store and in the window - of local small press books but most of them just do not appeal to me, either because of poor quality or being too graphically violent, and, I find some of them offensive. And it's the same titles and creators that have tables at local marts and cons.
I'm sure there is a fair bit of work out there in places other than newsagents etc., it's simply that very little of it is very appealing. And please don't say look online, 'cos I like and much prefer to see a book on a shelf that I can take a look at and decide to buy it or not. On line is fine for back issues, apart from the occasional problem of condition.
Let's have more Leopard and, fingers crossed, DCT might someday issue reprints of their classic strips. Yes, I'm dreaming again.
Sorry to go on.

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koollectablz
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Re: Just a comment

Post by koollectablz »

Actually I’d have to agree here on the bit about the small press offerings at FP.

I actually really used to enjoy seeing what the local talent could persuade their LCS to stock - nowadays, even though the production values have really shot up pretty much across the board, the actual quality (as in story and art) of small press items really seems to have decreased. Some of it really is quite offensive - and not even well drawn offensive!

And it’s not even at a price where you could think “hmmmm it’s only 99p I’ll give it a go” one 16 page comic I picked up was £3.50!

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