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Wallace Sellars
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 01 May 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 17673
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| Posted: 21 January 2012 at 12:29pm | IP Logged | 1
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Then it became laboratory rats who had the intelligence of a team of
humans somehow trapped inside them.
---
That's an idea I hope you revisit someday.
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Stephen Churay
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 25 March 2009
Location: United States
Posts: 8369
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| Posted: 21 January 2012 at 12:35pm | IP Logged | 2
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JB-The book that was killed by the internet. Trashed, savaged,
shredded before the first issue had even come out. Retailers refusing
to order it even for customers standing there with money in their
hands.
May have been the worst book I have ever done -- but if so, very few
people even got the chance to discover this for themselves. (And,
curiously enough, those who actually read it seemed not to mind it too
much.)
====
That's pretty much how I missed this one. My LCS owner, had started
to allow one of his lackeys to do the order. The owner knew that if you
drew or wrote a series, I wanted it. His lackey knew as well, but just
didn't care and only ordered two copies for a few of his friends and
none for the racks. By the time I knew about it, the series had come
and gone and back issues weren't to be had. Over the years I've
managed to pick up most of them, but I'm still missing a few.
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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 132386
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| Posted: 21 January 2012 at 1:00pm | IP Logged | 3
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I have to wonder if some of its failure could be contributed to just lack of marketing on DC's part. I was buying quite a few comics at the time and I was completely unaware of this book coming out until I saw the first issue on the stands. Made me realize the companies really seemed out of touch with selling and marketing in order to grow business, thinking that just producing product will somehow lead people to find them.•• And yet, I said at the time that DC had given LAB RATS better promotion that Marvel had given HIDDEN YEARS. Scary, huh?
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Marcel Chenier
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 19 May 2006
Location: United States
Posts: 2723
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| Posted: 21 January 2012 at 1:27pm | IP Logged | 4
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This came out after I stopped buying comics. I was happy to find the entire run on eBay.
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Brad Brickley
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 29 April 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 8286
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| Posted: 21 January 2012 at 1:47pm | IP Logged | 5
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If you ever popped your head into the previous incarnation of this site on the old Magnus board, you would have read about as much hate and bile for this series as anywhere on the net. It's one thing to say that a particular series isn't your cup o' tea, but it takes a "special" kind of person to post on the board of a creator about how much their work sucks. Anonymity is such a wonderful thing...he said with sarcasm dialed up to 11.
****
It's one thing I appreciate about the JBF is that we do use our real names and are expected to be civil. Great idea, huh?
I've found over the years here that if JB doesn't want to talk about something, "yells" at me for some statement I post or does post something I disagree with, or does some work that maybe isn't my "cup of tea" (which hasn't happened), I simply ignore it and move on. It's JB's board, a great opportunity to interact with him and if he does something I don't like, who cares? Move on.
The benefits of this place far outweigh any perceived negatives. Besides, I've met some great people on here who appreciate comics the way I do.
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Juan Jose Colin Arciniega
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 16 April 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 6413
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| Posted: 21 January 2012 at 2:43pm | IP Logged | 6
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Shame that the series was killed so soon, it was good and the idea of a series owned by Mr. Byrne and published by DC seemed cool.
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Tim O Neill
Byrne Robotics Security
Joined: 16 April 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 10931
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| Posted: 21 January 2012 at 3:27pm | IP Logged | 7
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I think LAB RATS is a great book! I really enjoyed reading it, and I always thought it would make a wonderful all ages TV show. Even though it's a DC book, it evokes early Marvel to me -- young characters in peril, with some great twists and excellent art.
Looking back now, it was a time when any suggestion that comic books should be all ages and available everywhere was meeting stiff resistance from the most vocal online nerdery as well as the comic shop owners, who fully had the comic book companies by the balls. Factor in JB's being honest with his opinions online rather than kissing the ass of the most vocal nerds, and you have a perfect storm of people gunning for this title to fail.
It's interesting to think about the time of release of this book now - so many comic book artists and comic industry folks are saying things about the need to broaden the readership and expand the sales venues today, but back then JB was the only one saying it. And I remember how much it used to piss people off! I like how this book was showing a direction they should have moved towards. I still think we need to see books like this.
I was participating in the forum at the time, and i can attest that a bunch of us really enjoyed it on release. This is another example of JB not staying in the comfort zone and trying something new and unexpected. I like how you're always following your instincts and trying something new.
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Norman Hardy
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 02 May 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 189
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| Posted: 21 January 2012 at 3:44pm | IP Logged | 8
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I think, at the time, the only issue of Lab Rats I actually saw on the shelf at my LCS was #5. All of the issues, including #5, I had to order online. I do pretty much all of my comic buying through online subscription. I no longer miss out on John Byrne comics. Not anymore.
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Wallace Sellars
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 01 May 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 17673
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| Posted: 21 January 2012 at 4:15pm | IP Logged | 9
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The fact that a team member was killed so early in the series really drove
the point home that any of these characters could die at any time.
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Valmor J. Pedretti
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 14 October 2011
Location: Brazil
Posts: 786
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| Posted: 21 January 2012 at 5:54pm | IP Logged | 10
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I proudly own the whole run!
Fond memories of posting a drawing of the characters here around the time of the comic's publishing and getting a small praise from JB.
I think I printed screened it for my own private wall of achievements.. :-)
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Matthew Hansel
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 18 April 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 3469
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| Posted: 21 January 2012 at 6:37pm | IP Logged | 11
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I was honestly SAD to see this book cancelled. I LOVED IT. To this day it remains one of my favorite JB series and I'm sorry it did not last longer. So much potential with the settings and the characters. Literally ANY kind of story could have been told.
GREAT job on this series, JB.
MPH
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Wallace Sellars
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 01 May 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 17673
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| Posted: 21 January 2012 at 6:59pm | IP Logged | 12
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I proudly own the whole run!
---
I may pull mine out so that I can reread it next week.
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Topic Closed)
