(no subject)

[teddog]

Rick Green? Is a cool guy in real life.

I got to help interview him today. We were dissing the quality of the first season of Prisoners of Gravity together. I didn't speak up too much, but I was honestly in awe for most of it and generally felt like a nervous wreck. I was totally made of fail. D:

There are things said in that interview that are... big and interesting things! Like...
- How he got the job hosting the series.
- The reasons why the first season Prisoners of Gravity is "lost" (I now feel bad for digging it up).
- The future of History Bites.
- The possible future of Prisoners of Gravity.
- Some goofy bits with Rick Green acting as Commander Rick. If they keep the full opening... OMG... it's SO over the top. Rick also did the "Prisoners of Gravity" rant from season one.

As soon as it's posted, I'll be linking it. This was the secret thing I was working on, although word had gotten out a couple of days ago. It was also one of my big life goals - those who know me know that Rick Green was my media hero since grade 5 and one of the reasons I decided to chase an education and job in media. Not to recreate his stuff, but to do cool crap like what he did and still does. :)

I've also been welcomed into the staff of This Week in Geek. Heaven help me, I have no idea what I have done.

How did this happen? A couple of weeks back, I got an email from Mike, one of the hosts, thanking me for my site and asking me if I wanted to involved with the interview. Turns out that he had visited my site waaaaay back when I was probably back in high school and was shocked at how much it had grown. So, this somehow spun off into me actually being on the phone during the interview. 0_0

I'm still pretty dazed.

Comments

[vonandmoggy.livejournal.com]

Yes, I agree. Marketing right now is a massive, massive problem. For a great example of this, take a look at Craig Taillefer's experiences with his Free Comic Book Day edition of Wahoo Morris and and what the fallout has been.

Things are extremely difficult right now, for a variety of reasons, but I often think back to PoG and how it helped launch titles like Jeff Smith's Bone or even Neil Gaiman's Sandman.

Von

[commanderteddog.livejournal.com]

My issue with Free Comic Book Day as a marketing tool is, well... getting people into the stores. Yes, free stuff, wooo, but STEPPING into comic book is still a major chore for many people, let alone shopping. Joe Public is still freaked out by us. Your typical manga reader (who is "not a comic fan" in name only) will not buy from a comic store. From what I've seen, they usually shop at big chain bookstores because they can read before buying or, in the worst cases, read through the volume and NOT buy, which is a growing problem. And if you're a young female geek, I can tell you personally going into a comic book store (or any geek store) for the first time is one of the most unnerving moments of your life. So, you're pretty much only feeding the existing market of fans.

That and the whole movie tie-in idea doesn't quite work with me. If comic book movies lead to new comic fans, then why is it that I'm the only living member of my family who visits comic stores on a regular basis?

This is why I like the idea behind "Word on the Street" - it gets books out into the public and it's books for the sake of books. It probably could be done better, though, since I don't care to crowd surf in order to reach a booth. :(

Oh. Speaking of Bone, I think volume 6 of the coloured reprint is now out, but I promised myself "No geek spending until the dealer's room on Friday". The waiting is painful. I'm starting to get the shakes.

[mbehemoth.livejournal.com]

but STEPPING into comic book is still a major chore for many people,

Maybe its the comic book store that needs to change? I mean, I'm not one for mainstreaming my niche interests but I've never found the comic book store scene appealing. Holt Refrew meets Grey Region? I kid but actually I found Silver Snail to be much more approachable then say Comic Connection in Westdale however still there is something If you really want such fandom to become broader in appeal though there are things that will be lost. I sure I've ranted to you about the changing state of video games. Anyways its a difficult line to walk as much of these fandoms are a little too geeky (or introvertedly appealling) for the average Joe. So do you want status quo as a niche or to dilute and possible change just to appeal?

That's why we should open a gaming/geeky interest store. But we would do it with flare, style and sense of posh while still allowing those men of great girth to ogle Emma Frost or whoever.

[commanderteddog.livejournal.com]

It's an extremely thin line. I like the Silver Snail, but it has it's own group of haters that consider the store too commercial. If you're too niche, you shut off everyone and if you're too open, you've sold out.

At the same time, it's not all fault of the store. The manga problem is rooted in the fans and their sense of entitlement. The public, well, I can't really speak for them. I believe it's caused by both sides, although everyone points their fingers at each other; we aren't the most welcoming bunch and everyone on the "outside" thinks we're strange. The girl issue IS one rooted in the fan community. In a bad situation, everyone either stares at you, assumes that you know nothing or assumes that they have you already figured out.

Case in point: the HMV on Yonge has a decent anime section at good prices, depending on what you're looking for. I stopped in a couple of weeks ago to pick up a DVD from their basement-o-geek. The guy at the cash chatted a bit with me... and then started pushing yaoi on me. Heaven bless the fanbrats but I have no interest in romance stories of any colour. I wasn't even giving off any "fangirls vibes" or anything! I was picking up The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, which is closer to yuri then anything else. -_-

However, it's not everyone and every store that's the problem. While I was at 401 Games, I was treated the same as the male customers and was even asked by a clerk to help explain the local geek stores to an older tourist couple.

[vonandmoggy.livejournal.com]

FCBD does work in some markets, but the stores that have been doing well with it (creating new customers both you and old) are the ones that are already progressive. In Ottawa, FCBD is a horrible event - I could have participated at one store this past May (along with other artists) and turned it down as a result of how poorly they've been managed. At least IMNSHO.

The problem Craig has found that even the stores that ordered his FCBD version of Wahoo Morris didn't do anything to "put bums in seats" as a follow-up. A 32 copy conversion rate based on 10000 copies? That's a horrible conversion percentage no matter how you slice it. Ouch...

Comic shops are one of those "things" that really can vary, but most suffer from the same stereotypes that they've always had. A place for socially awkward boys and young men to hang out in. We need more really good ones (say like Comic Relief in Berkeley) that show the breadth and scope of what comics, as an art form and a medium, can offer. But this is a rant for another time.

The movie tie-in idea has failed mainly because there haven't been "entry level" titles for fans of the various movies to grab. This, to me, is one of the biggest mistake both Marvel and DC have made over the past 15 years. There was a time that there was only one X-Men title (or rather, mutant title) with an occassional mini-series to fill it out. If you like the X-Men movies, where do you start with the comic? Which one? Aside from regular continuity, there's also the Ultimate line that throws even more barriers up. Ditto for Spidey. Even if you're a lapsed fan, there is no simple way to get back into it. A real shame.

Bone: I'm actually a fan of the black and whites myself. But I'm weird that way.

Von