Pulp......

The ongoing series of many of our Pulp favourites seem to be struggling to survive. I'm sure this is because of sales figures and we all know this is a business, irrelevant of what our hearts scream out. Is it because there are so many different Pulp titles and characters? They all deserve their moment in the sun but are they all slowly killing each other?

My suggestion is that Dynamite roll the Pulp genre into one comic. Not a team up but a comic that may be contains two individual stories using seperate characters each fortnight or month and an ongoing arc that could be a selection of mini series.

I know this would mean a larger comic to accommodate, but I would rather pay a higher copy price than split my money on ever decreasing titles.

There are enough Pulp charecters to keep this going for a while and giving the Pulp lovers what they deserve.

just a thought.....

[bluedevil2002]

Or everyone that is only buying one or two characters decides to not get a new anthology because it's $5 for only 8-16 pages of story that they actually want...

[pulphero]

Or everyone that is only buying one or two characters decides to not get a new anthology because it's $5 for only 8-16 pages of story that they actually want...

$5? I was thinking more like $8. Essentially about 3 comics worth of story pages for twice the price. True, you run the risk of the guy who's only interested in that one story or one character just passing altogether. But I guess whether something like a higher-priced anthology comic combining a bunch of characters from cancelled titles (wouldn't be the first time someone's tried it, I can remember DC's "Dollar Comics" in the 1970s) works for you or not depends on whether there is a significant crossover of interest between the fans of one character and the fans of another, or if you can get fans of one character interested in the others.

I take your point, however. I usually *don't* get Dark Horse Presents because it has only one or two short chapters of characters I'm interested in, with say, about 2/3 to 3/4 of the features taking up space being things I'm not interested in. For this sort of thing to work, I think the perception needs to be that about 2/3 to 3/4 of the features in an anthology title are things you *want* to read. Then you go along for the ride on the other 1/4 or 1/3.

So let's say your $8 anthology comic has a particular issue with 5 stories featuring The Shadow, The Spider, Green Hornet, Miss Fury, and a Black Terror/American Crusader team-up story. Well, you've got to like more than just one or two of those characters to want to spend the money. Or maybe it's a question of 'how badly do you want these characters back?' - otherwise, it's rereading your old back issues or TPBs.

But I really do like the basic concept of a Big Fat Comic Book with a variety of different characters (as long as they're mostly characters I like). On another thread I suggested the idea of doing something like this as a flip book, with 2 covers highlighting 2 different characters. You could do it up all design-y on one cover to make it look like a faux pulp magazine; on the other cover, it looks like a Golden Age-style anthology comic book. You probably want to throw some cover copy and smaller inset images on there to give a shout-out to the other characters in the book that aren't part of the main cover images.

[Tubebar_rich]

I think if you're into Pulp as a genre then you wouldn't mind taking a chance with different characters. I missed out on a few titles because of the expence. At one point there seemed to be about 7 or 8 titles all with Pulp connotations. I take on board the possible negatives but I suppose I'm just looking for ideas to keep some of those characters going.

It seems Dynamite have had a bit of a Pulp massacre recently which for me is a massive shame.

I am going to give 'The Six Million Dollar Man' a whirl for my childhood days sake, with all the cash i'm saving at the moment!

[comixfan1980]

I still think each character could survive in their own series if they were rolled out as mini's and published under a special "pulp" banner to identify that the books all fall within the same imprint.

[Guest]

For me it completely hinges on the writers.

[Chadster]

A imprint logo that notates that it's pulp would be great. They could relaunch as minis and we would all be happy!

[Guest]

For me it completely hinges on the writers.

And the artists. I have seen bad art harm good writing.

[Guest]

Just Thinking Out Loud

I am wondering if we, as readers, need to change our mindset. We just need to assume that any title that comes out is not going to last for an extended period of time. Limited run titles are ok when the series is billed as finite (ie The Owl was billed as 4 issues only). I guess if I know it is limited, I can be more "shallow" and not get so emotionally invested in the title.

It seems Dynamite is moving more towards short run titles. Almost as if they want a more transient list of titles.

The DANGER for Dynamite, however, is that the less engaged readers are likely going to be less passionate and loyal. That could hurt their sales even more.

[manga4life]

No. We don't have to change our minds as readers when we buy something promoted as an ongoing series only to have it end on us. If books were promoted as mini's than I would buy them with the mindset of books being mini's and then expect the end to be near. But when I'm hooked in and have fallen in love with a book and a character it's hard to let go when I'm told I won't have to.

[pulphero]

@Britt68 : I've been assuming that mindset for the last couple of years now. It's not Dynamite per se, it's just that I've been reading comics too long and seen far too many beloved series end.

@manga4life : What's been unspoken is that "ongoing" has ALWAYS meant "ongoing as long as enough people keep buying it".

The Dark Horse concept of "a series of miniseries" is still the most workable model for titles that fall into a particular zone where they don't sell a LOT of copies, but maybe enough to keep an interested audience buying just above the level of cancellation. Breaks in between miniseries also allow the publisher to line up the best talent, and make sure the issues ship on time. Each new miniseries in the "series of miniseries" is kind of like getting an extension on your unemployment insurance.