The future of Dynamite's pulp line.

[comixfan1980]

So, what kind of things do you think we will see over the next few years from Dynamite within their pulp line of booms? What kind of attainable goals and milestones as well as future titles and character may come it's way?

[Chadster]

Sadly I see Dynamite moving forward with more random crossovers and putting effort into the gold key stuff with little to no effort being put into the pulp stuff after next year.

They love to leave their fans handing and cancel series left and right and the sympathetic "business disctates this" BS crowd chimes in and the publisher thinks its okay to can a series that has a dedicated fanbase. I see the pulp line dead within a year and a half.

[TheRetroVideoGameAddict]

I want to say Dynamite will flesh it out with more titles and will continue to publish fan favorites like The Spider and Black Bat, but I think we all know we're kidding ourselves thinking that. Unfortunately I can see Dynamite publishing Doc Savage, The Shadow, and maybe a few books centered around team ups or possibly something similar to Masks and that's it. Great characters like Black Bat, Miss Fury, and The Spider will be lost to the sands of time despite their vocal readers demanding stories.

Who knows what the future brings, all I know is that I'm 1000% invested into this PulpX line of books and I really don't want to see any of them go away anytime soon. I love them.

[Blinky McQuade]

I want to say Dynamite will flesh it out with more titles and will continue to publish fan favorites like The Spider and Black Bat, but I think we all know we're kidding ourselves thinking that. Unfortunately I can see Dynamite publishing Doc Savage, The Shadow, and maybe a few books centered around team ups or possibly something similar to Masks and that's it. Great characters like Black Bat, Miss Fury, and The Spider will be lost to the sands of time despite their vocal readers demanding stories.

Who knows what the future brings, all I know is that I'm 1000% invested into this PulpX line of books and I really don't want to see any of them go away anytime soon. I love them.

I see a much more confident future for the DE pulp line. However, DE might want to abandon the "regular on-going title" format for mini series and 48 page graphic novels (one-shots) of the characters. Elsewhere posted, someone mentioned that the editors of DE, like myself, loved the magazine format adventures of Doc Savage (at the time published by Marvel). I found that 1970s magazine era very approachable for new readers. Each 48 plus adventure of Doc Savage was a graphic novel of epic adventure. I also enjoyed the self-contained adventures of Deadly Hands of Kung Fu and the Savage Sword of Conan the Barbarian. Perhaps DE needs to focus on that graphic novel approach in these economic times. It seems the market loves new #1s and a series of mini-series should be the correct method to build a fan base on certain characters. I want to see more adventures of the Spider, the Shadow, The Green Hornet, the Black Bat, Miss Fury and others. The efforts to transplant these iconic pulp heroes to the present day is another good path (Green Hornet Legacy, The Spider, The Shadow Now, and the upcoming Doc Savage). I think the crossovers are great (Masks should be a series of mini-series featuring different team up combinations! How about a Masks Now?). Maybe crossovers over time would be a good story (like Prince Valiant or Red Sonja to the early Phantom to Zorro to the Lone Ranger to Green Hornet to Doc Savage mini for example). Introducing the Gold Key characters and the Kings Feature characters is a great idea. There are other gems to gleam from the Pulp-magazine/comic-strip/movie-serial/radio-show era and DE is doing the best in bringing great talent and cool stories to light! Keep it up DE!

[TheRetroVideoGameAddict]

As a reader I was more and constant content that the monthly series can provide. If DE wanted to limit each series to a 4-6 issue mini than that's cool as long as we're treated to 8-10 issues worth a year, I hate constany mini's that see 4 issues a year and that's it, as a reader I feel abandoned and forgotten that way.

48 page specials could work, but again.....give us at least one for each characters every other month or for several months in a row.

[comixfan1980]

I wouldn't mind seeing the entire line of Dynamite pulp heroes go to a burst of mini's, similar to how Francavilla does Black Beetle for Dark Horse just as long as ALL of the characters we've been exposed to enjoy recurring mini's.

IE: Jan-April The Spider (insert series name here) 1-4, The Shadow (insert series name here) 1-4, Black Bat (insert series name here) 1-4, Miss Fury (insert series name here) 1-4, Doc Savage (insert series name here) 1-4, and Green Hornet (insert series name here) 1-4, and then whatever characters they want to add to the list.

Then come around July/August we see them all come back for another 4-6 issues mini, rinse and repeat. Also, I'd love to see some kind of branding denoting that the specific books are a part of the "pulp" line of comics.

[Ghornet2]

If they go to minis I'd like to see four pair's of rotating titles
Spider starting in January with the Shadow starting in May followed by another Spider and then a Shadow mini
February do say Doc Savage followed four months later by a Green Hornet set in the 30's or 40's. Then back to Doc etc.
In March do the same for Black Bat and say Miss Fury. Then a fourth pair in April (maybe a pair of crossover/team-up titles).
That way you'd get 2 Spider series and 1 Shadow series the first year and then it would be reversed. They could even throw in the occasional odd ball like the Mysterious Dr. Satan etc. to see how fans react. If they assign an editor to over see everything (or each pair) They could keep things consistant even if the writer and artist change.

[pulphero]

Sadly I see Dynamite moving forward with more random crossovers and putting effort into the gold key stuff with little to no effort being put into the pulp stuff after next year.

They love to leave their fans handing and cancel series left and right and the sympathetic "business disctates this" BS crowd chimes in and the publisher thinks its okay to can a series that has a dedicated fanbase. I see the pulp line dead within a year and a half.

Chad, you've got to be realistic. Regardless of the high levels of passion we hardcore devotees of pulp heroes have for these titles, the business accountants can't pay the bills with "love". Both Dynamite, and you and I, are victims of the relentless tyranny of cold numbers. The only thing we as fans can do is continue to support the books that ARE made available for our reading pleasure, and try to "infect" as many other people with our passion as possible. Here on these forums, you're preaching to the already converted. What it boils down to is that you're suggesting that Dynamite should ignore dwindling revenues and continue to publish unprofitable titles "for the fans" until they are forced to declare bankruptcy. Then we'll all be able to look back wistfully and admire their dedication.

Now, are there any better ways that they can arrange their publishing plans and marketing to improve the chances of a title's success? I'd say yes, and I think some other folks here are correct in that they should concentrate on putting out the best quality books they can, even if that means less frequency and regularity (i.e. largely abandoning the ongoing monthly format). But even with the best possible material, you can't *force* the marketplace to buy anything. Marvel and DC have a huge metaphorical club that they can use to beat a captive audience into submission. When you're the 5th or 6th largest publisher with a fraction of those kind of overall sales, your influence on the marketplace at large is correspondingly small.

[pulphero]

I see a much more confident future for the DE pulp line. However, DE might want to abandon the "regular on-going title" format for mini series and 48 page graphic novels (one-shots) of the characters. Elsewhere posted, someone mentioned that the editors of DE, like myself, loved the magazine format adventures of Doc Savage (at the time published by Marvel). I found that 1970s magazine era very approachable for new readers. Each 48 plus adventure of Doc Savage was a graphic novel of epic adventure. I also enjoyed the self-contained adventures of Deadly Hands of Kung Fu and the Savage Sword of Conan the Barbarian. Perhaps DE needs to focus on that graphic novel approach in these economic times. It seems the market loves new #1s and a series of mini-series should be the correct method to build a fan base on certain characters. I want to see more adventures of the Spider, the Shadow, The Green Hornet, the Black Bat, Miss Fury and others. The efforts to transplant these iconic pulp heroes to the present day is another good path (Green Hornet Legacy, The Spider, The Shadow Now, and the upcoming Doc Savage). I think the crossovers are great (Masks should be a series of mini-series featuring different team up combinations! How about a Masks Now?). Maybe crossovers over time would be a good story (like Prince Valiant or Red Sonja to the early Phantom to Zorro to the Lone Ranger to Green Hornet to Doc Savage mini for example). Introducing the Gold Key characters and the Kings Feature characters is a great idea. There are other gems to gleam from the Pulp-magazine/comic-strip/movie-serial/radio-show era and DE is doing the best in bringing great talent and cool stories to light! Keep it up DE!

The magazine format just won't work for comics in the direct market (comic shops, that comprise the bulk of DE's income). That said, they could do a quarterly or bimonthly (comic book size) "faux-pulp" format with more pages (maybe even black & white with gray tones, to keep printing costs down) that concentrates on a self-contained story of 48-64 pages (with maybe one or two short backup features, or short magazine-like text articles). Maybe even go for the better-quality cardboard covers. Alternatively, they could do either a true anthology title featuring several pulp heroes in serialized stories, or a 'double feature' title with two main characters sharing alternating covers.

[Son of Tarzan]

i hope that characters like The Spider, Black Bat and Miss Fury continue to get face time in minis. i think an ongoing team up book would be good. kind of like Brave and the Bold or Marvel Team Up. have Green Hornet and Shadow alternate with other characters who maybe can't support an ongoing. i think the team up/crossover events are necessary for Dynamite to turn a profit. they can be fun too. i 'd read Zorro/Phantom. or Tarzan/Doc Savage.

someone mentioned Dr. Satan. i too would like to see more obscure characters given a chance. maybe Dynamite could give G8 and His Battle Aces a go. or The Avenger.