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Eric Jansen
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 27 October 2013
Location: United States
Posts: 2292
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| Posted: 19 March 2018 at 3:57pm | IP Logged | 1
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A few years ago, they did it the other way around--they kept the numbering and changed the titles! THE INCREDIBLE HULK became THE INCREDIBLE HERCULES and DAREDEVIL turned into BLACK PANTHER, THE MAN WITHOUT FEAR! Apparently, they wanted us to think that T'Challa had over 500 issues under his belt and Hercules had 113. (Yeah, that one was a retitling of a renumbering!)
I guess I can understand them wanting to give a new creative team or new direction the little bit of the boost a new #1 might give, but it was really perplexing when they cancelled the Mark Waid/Chris Samnee DAREDEVIL at issue #36 only to issue a new #1...by Mark Waid and Chris Samnee!
DC did something similar when Neal Adams' 13-part BATMAN ODYSSEY ran for six issues then had a new #1 and ran for seven more issues--ONE limited series, a single story had two #1's! I might blame DC for that, but Adams did the same perplexing thing back in his Continuity Comics days; I had a heck of a time trying to track down all the CYBERRAD and MEGALITH issues! I blame that confusion for being one of the reasons the line failed.
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Brandon Carter
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 16 April 2004
Location: United States
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| Posted: 19 March 2018 at 4:52pm | IP Logged | 2
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To make it even more difficult to figure out which WOLVERINE #1 (for example) you have, Marvel doesn't even put the month and year on the covers anymore.
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Robbie Parry
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 17 June 2007
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 12186
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| Posted: 19 March 2018 at 4:56pm | IP Logged | 3
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It gets worse...
I know I labour the point about comiXology a lot, but for ease of access, I want to be able to search for an issue (I can sometimes, if busy, buy comics 2-3 weeks after their on-sale date). I want to be able to find stuff easily.
Eric Jansen wrote:
| A few years ago, they did it the other way around--they kept the numbering and changed the titles! THE INCREDIBLE HULK became THE INCREDIBLE HERCULES and DAREDEVIL turned into BLACK PANTHER, THE MAN WITHOUT FEAR! Apparently, they wanted us to think that T'Challa had over 500 issues under his belt and Hercules had 113. (Yeah, that one was a retitling of a renumbering!) |
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Blimey!
I had no idea. Sounds fucked up to me. Why didn't they just give Hercules his own title or mini-series? Or keep him in the book but keep the title of THE INCREDIBLE HULK.
Certain British strips had periods where a hero was absent for a while, but they kept the title. There's a UK strip called "Doomlord" (EAGLE) and I am sure there were periods where he was absent, but his son, Enok, was centre-stage. They didn't retitle the strip as "Enok".
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Brian Hague
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 14 November 2006
Posts: 8515
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| Posted: 19 March 2018 at 7:31pm | IP Logged | 4
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Stores buy #1 issues. Orders fall off with #2, and drop off even more with #3. Very quickly, a homeostasis is reached for certain titles that reflects the number of copies the store believes it can sell. With a great many titles, those issues numbered 1, 2, and 3 are the only ones the store will ever order. If those titles stop and start over again with a new number one, stores are likely to order it.
Why do publishers make so many number one issues? Because stores buy them.
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Mike Norris
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 16 April 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 4274
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| Posted: 19 March 2018 at 8:39pm | IP Logged | 5
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The should just go by month and year Captain Fonebone January 2018 Captain Fonebone February 2018 Captain Fonebone March 2018
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Robbie Parry
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 17 June 2007
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 12186
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| Posted: 20 March 2018 at 3:28am | IP Logged | 6
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Mike, they should do that instead of dicking around with renumbering. It'd make searching for issues a hell of a lot easier, too!
Yes, I buy issues when they come out, so it's not hard to find them, but I'm talking about back issues. Issues will slip under the radar as will complete runs. So if someone tells me that a particular title was good, but it was released in 2010, I want to be able to locate it quickly via eBay or comiXology.
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Dave Phelps
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Joined: 16 April 2004
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| Posted: 20 March 2018 at 5:00am | IP Logged | 7
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Eric Jansen wrote:
| A few years ago, they did it the other way around--they kept the numbering and changed the titles! THE INCREDIBLE HULK became THE INCREDIBLE HERCULES and DAREDEVIL turned into BLACK PANTHER, THE MAN WITHOUT FEAR! Apparently, they wanted us to think that T'Challa had over 500 issues under his belt and Hercules had 113. (Yeah, that one was a retitling of a renumbering!) |
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And then they cancelled Hercules with #141, did a two issue "epilogue mini" and then restarted the series with a new #1. Naturally.
QUOTE:
| I guess I can understand them wanting to give a new creative team or new direction the little bit of the boost a new #1 might give, but it was really perplexing when they cancelled the Mark Waid/Chris Samnee DAREDEVIL at issue #36 only to issue a new #1...by Mark Waid and Chris Samnee! |
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Yeah, that one drives me nuts. I'm learning to accept the notion that major creative changes = new #1, and even embrace it for series where the creative team is as much (if not more) of a reason to buy a series as the character (helps with my completionism problem), but enough's enough.
I think the June Marvel solicits will include Jason Aaron's fourth Thor #1. So anyone looking to track it down would looking for:
Thor #1-25
Thor #1-8
Thor #1-23
Thor #700-706
Thor #1+
(Not to mention Thors #1-4 (Secret Wars tie-in); Original Sin: Thor/Loki - The Tenth Realm #1-5; Generations - Thor/Thor and The Unworthy Thor #1-5)
Makes perfect sense...
Mike Norris wrote:
The should just go by month and year
Captain Fonebone January 2018
Captain Fonebone February 2018
Captain Fonebone March 2018 |
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Unfortunately, that would cause issues with the series published 18-24 times a year. I know you could just do "Early Feb", "Late Feb", etc. for the months affected, but that doesn't necessarily help people keep track of whether or not they've missed an issue. Especially with the 18 books:
Early Jan
Late Jan
Feb
Early Mar
Late Mar
April
Early May
etc.
And then if someone's running late and they skip a month...
The real answer is to stop using the number on the cover as your one and only marketing tool, but I guess that's just crazy talk.
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Robbie Parry
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 17 June 2007
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 12186
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| Posted: 20 March 2018 at 5:37am | IP Logged | 8
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Dave Phelps wrote:
I think the June Marvel solicits will include Jason Aaron's fourth Thor #1. So anyone looking to track it down would looking for:
Thor #1-25
Thor #1-8
Thor #1-23
Thor #700-706
Thor #1+
(Not to mention Thors #1-4 (Secret Wars tie-in); Original Sin: Thor/Loki - The Tenth Realm #1-5; Generations - Thor/Thor and The Unworthy Thor #1-5)
Makes perfect sense... |
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I predict there'll be two further #1 issues of THOR before 2025. You read it here first.
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Rebecca Jansen
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 12 February 2018
Location: Canada
Posts: 4517
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| Posted: 20 March 2018 at 11:26am | IP Logged | 9
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I think they could keep the total number in the indicia (fine print) and for covers use either month/week/issue-number-for-the-year numbers large like the Japanese do... or they could use of the cover Part 1,2,3, etc. of a story title, which was done sometimes. Bury the large number and put the sub-number large upfront if that is what grabs some... best of both worlds. But as I wrote earlier it's actually something to do with automated pre-orders some use so that any #1 gets more orders automatically. I seem to remember some guys coming out of comic shops complaining about how they had to buy six issues of Annie #1 because they had committed somehow to multiple copies of all Marvel #1s lest they miss another Wolverine or Alpha Flight #1 (but still miss Spider-Man #252, Hulk #271 and Thor #337, while I grabbed up newsstand multiples to sell to them, oh well). :^D
Edited by Rebecca Jansen on 20 March 2018 at 11:27am
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Robbie Parry
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 17 June 2007
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 12186
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| Posted: 22 March 2018 at 10:46am | IP Logged | 10
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Rebecca Jansen wrote:
| But as I wrote earlier it's actually something to do with automated pre-orders some use so that any #1 gets more orders automatically. |
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A policy like that is bizarre.
It has a certain logic to it, but perhaps that is why automated systems will never replicate human logic.
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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 132269
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| Posted: 22 March 2018 at 12:23pm | IP Logged | 11
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I have often said DANGER UNLIMITED was killed by the DSM. Retailers ordered XXX of the first issue, then XX of the second, then X of the third. WITHOUT HAVING SEEN THE FIRST ISSUE. No way to build a following like that!
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Gundars Berzins
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Joined: 14 March 2012
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Posts: 1559
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| Posted: 22 March 2018 at 12:37pm | IP Logged | 12
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Yeah, sad JB. The fans and possible fans lost out.
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