Marketing Failure 101 - Avengers: Season One

Yes, I bought the combo giftpack of The Avengers at Wal-Mart, partly just to get the Avengers: Season One graphic novel included. I was curious about the sort of book Marvel would put out to tie-in with the movie and to win over the casual fans who may go "Oh, what the hell, I'll get a comic, too!" when buying their Blu-Ray/DVD combo. Michelle was intrigued by the idea of the comic until she saw it and remember that she doesn't really want to read any comics. To say that I was biased heading in wouldn't be inaccurate. I knew that Marvel had taken the wrong approach pretty much from when it was announced (or, rather, 'discovered' by Bleeding Cool... because why would you want to promote something like this?) by doing the same dumb shit they usually do when there's a chance to actually reach new eyeballs. I was genuinely surprised when Peter David revealed himself as the writer of this, because he's a lot higher on the talent scale than I was expecting. But, it's still disappointing to a degree that he was who they tapped. I look at a project like this and wonder why Marvel doesn't hire their top writer and top artistic team. Why not give people their absolute best? After all, this comic isn't really meant to be 'good' or a 'work of art' like others may be: it's a marketing tool. It's part 'bonus feature' and part 'first taste' of what someone could expect from Marvel.

So, really, there are three things that Marvel is 'selling' readers on here to get them to buy more comics from them:

1. The characters.

2. The writer.

3. The artist.

Those are the three things that Marvel can use to say "If you enjoyed this, here are some other books you'd like..." Three things that could be used to promote their comics and they fuck it up. They absolutely fuck it up in an amateurish display of idiocy that only seems to exist in comics. There are exactly two pages promoting other Marvel comics and what are they? The other 'season one' comics. You might see the logic in promoting those books, but you'd be wrong. You're thinking "Oh, it's a line of books, so it makes sense to promote those," and that's wrong. That's typical dumb comics thinking. Who cares about those other books? They have zero connection to what I just read (aside from Hulk: Season One), because they don't feature the same characters, writer, or artist. Instead, this should have been a book with the top writer, the top artist, and three pages of recommendations: one for the Avengers, one for the writer, and one for the artist. All to easy to find, in-print books that, if someone went onto Amazon right now, they could buy with as little hassle as possible.

But, we get Peter David and four art teams, each blander and more mediocre than the one that came before it. This is an ugly, uninspired-looking comic. This is fill-in quality art clearly produced on a tight deadline, because no one thought to plan ahead at all. This is a book that didn't make me want to read another comic. David's writing is workmanlike with a story that (as the plot provided at the back of the book shows) was clearly designed with the limitation that the three Avengers spotlighted (Captain America, Thor, and Iron Man) must split up to allow for the different art teams. The story has the trio of Avengers go after the Hulk at the behest of General Ross and get stuck in a trap by Loki to make them not trust one another. The pages are full of bright, shiny characters that lack any substance and I found it hard to keep my focus as I went along.

Normally, I don't care about comics looking or seeming like the movies, but the utter lack of any attempt to make this fit in with the movie at all seems like a bad call, too. Why include a comic that's one concession to the movie is leaving Giant-Man and Wasp out? Why not try to bridge the gap between The Avengers and the Marvel Universe a bit more?

Hell, normally, I don't care about the 'right' approach to bringing in new readers so long as the comics are good. Unfortunately, this comic is both bad marketing and a bad comic. It really does seem like something thrown together because someone had the idea of putting a comic in with the Blu-Ray/DVD without actually thinking through what the right approach would be. I mean, I assume part of the goal here was to get people to buy more Avengers (and Marvel) comics, right? If not, what was the goal?

Spider-Man: The Clone Saga #1-6 Review

A while back, Christopher Allen of Trouble with Comics asked if I'd contribute to their guest reviewer month and that was quite flattering because it's always flattering when someone asks you to do something for them. Originally, I was going to do a piece on The Programme and Thomas Pynchon, but that got too big very quickly, so, instead, I wrote about Spider-Man: The Clone Saga #1-6. It's me just talking it through, figuring out why I bothered with the book. Also, Christopher says some very nice things about my writing at the beginning that have all gone to my head and made my ego that much bigger. Lucky for you.

So, yeah, go check out my review of Spider-Man: The Clone Saga #1-6 HERE!

American Widow

Steve here.

About a year ago I quit writing comic reviews for the website I used to write for, PlaybackSTL. I didn't choose to quit writing reviews for them, and it's not like they fired me either. In fact, my editor has been pestering me to come back for the year that I've been gone.

No, I quit writing for them because I hit a huge, tremendous block that I couldn't overcome. That block was the graphic novel American Widow, easily one of the worst graphic novels I've ever read. But I didn't know how to write the scathing review the book deserved and remain sensitive to its subject matter, the story of a woman who lost her husband on September 11.

But after living with this book in my headspace for a full year, I finally was able to overcome my mental block and finish the review. You can read the review at this link, if you wish. And in fact I wish you would read it, because even after finally getting it out there, I'm worried it might be a bit too negative, a bit too controversial in its criticism of a 9/11 widow's book. I'd like to hear your opinions, but be warned: it's long.

to entice you to read further, here's a paragraph out of the middle of the essay:

"The book as a whole is incredibly unclear. I asked the rhetorical question earlier, "Who am I to pass judgment on her reactions to this horrible event in her life when I don't know what she went through?" But that's just it. I wouldn't pass judgment if I did know what Torres was going through. But despite the fact that she wrote a book about the situations she encountered after her husband died, I still can't say I comprehend her perspective."

Reviews of Flight vol. 5 and Slow Storm

Hit the links below for two new reviews I've posted at Playback St. Louis.

The first was for the newest volume of Flight, comics' premier anthology.

The second is for a graphic novel published by First Second called Slow Storm.

I've been meaning to post two snippets too, which I should get around to soon. One is on the discontinuation of the Minx line and one is on a subject that came up in my British Literature course the other day, that of John Constantine as Byronic hero. Watch for those in the next week or so.

New Review

I reviewed Funeral of the Heart for Playback, and you can read the review here.

To entice you to read the review, let me tell you it contains the words "pretentious" and "nonsensical" and the phrase "college literary journal."

I really wanted it to contain the phrase "utter, utter bullshit" but I restrained myself and instead simply said those words out loud to myself while I read the book.

Two reviews

It's been a while. I took the summer off from writing reviews, basically. But now I'm back with two links: one to my review of Flight Explorer and one to a review of Life Sucks.

Catching up with Steve

I recently did a review of the DC/Vertigo book Incognegro for Playback St. Louis. Here's my introductory paragraph:

With their new book Incognegro, writer Mat Johnson and artist Warren Pleece weave a tale that is at once thrilling in its plot twists and thought-provoking in its exploration of the racial divide in our country at the turn of the 20th century. It is an insightful look at the themes of identity and prejudice wrapped within a gripping story of murder and wrongful accusation, and it is easily one of the best graphic novels of 2008 to date.

You can read the entire review at this link.

And have I mentioned here that I'm publishing mini-comics? Both the first and second issue are now available, with a third hopefully coming in June. The first issue features a 12-page relationship drama drawn by Nick Main, and the second is a 16-page children's fable illustrated by Stephanie Richardson.

Find more info, including details on how to order your own copies of the book, at the mini-site for my mini-comic.

Playback updates

Here are three reviews I've written recently for Playback St. Louis, as well as a feature article on teaching a class on comics.
Amulet by Kazu Kibuishi
White Rapids by Pascal Blanchet
Midnight Sun by Ben Towle
Bringing Comics into the Classroom

Exit Wounds

Read my review of Exit Wounds at this link.