Oh, The Possibilities
I know we've been teasing with this "King" thing, but it truly is an initiative that will help everyone's future in comics. You'll understand more of course when we can truly begin to talk about it.
-- Joe Quesada at Newsarama
How many posts can I get out of the last "Joe Fridays"? It looks like at least two.
On the off chance that this isn't hucksterism of the "internet cracking" variety, what could Joey DaQ be talking about? Marvel teased an image with the word "King", and this will somehow help everyone's future in comics? Rumors and clues have started to leak, and all signs point to Stephen King writing for Marvel. But how is one writer an "initiative"?
Stephen King has already done some interesting things in publishing by trading off the strength of his name - the serializations of The Green Mile and the Dark Tower both come to mind. These were experiments in publishing that were only greenlit off the strength of King's name. He was so massively popular that his books would sell even in unusual formats. So imagine a series of graphic novels penned by King, published in a tankubon-like format (like the new Sin City reprints). In that format, with good marketing and distribution, when those get released they would go straight to the front display table at your local Borders or Barnes & Noble. Right? This would even hit Target and WalMart. Though it's a comic, and though King's name isn't what it was ... a new King is a new King.
However, this means eschewing the Direct Market and aiming a OGN missile straight at the heart of "The Mainstream". If this gets serialized as a comic .... it's just another comic. Stephen King writing a comic book won't be that big. From distribution outlets to exorbidant cost to sheer unfamiliarity with monthly releases ... it'll just be another comic book, cannibalizing the die-hard without increasing the fanbase. Perhaps there will be a slight uptick from the King die-hards, but Marvel won't be tapping into the airplane reader that makes up the bulk of his sales. Once the eventual trade paperback comes out, it'll go straight to the back of the store in the tiny shelf next to the manga aisles. It's release in "floppies" would dilute the punch of a release, and keep it off those front display tables, and therefore off the bestseller lists.
I can't see many other ways a rumored Stephen King signing would "help everyone's future in comics". Though comics continues it's climb to the mainstream, Chris Ware is one thing ... Stephen King another. If Marvel plays it's cards right, this could be something special ... or it could be "just another comic book". We'll see.
Tags: Comics, Stephen+King
4 comments:
I think that if it's originally released in "floppy" format, the book industry buzz goes from "the new Stephen King Novel" to "a reprint of his comics side-project". It will still be shelved, but with only a fraction of the buzz.
But didn't Joe Quesada say it didn't make financial sense to release graphic novels?
"inevitable hardcover"
"financial sense to release graphic novels"
... It's that kind of "business as usual" that I would want to avoid. "Business as usual" won't "help everyone's future in comics".
Though I worked in book retailing for a few years, I'm no expert. It's just a feeling I have that a "business as usual" trade collection would not generate near the level of buzz as an original release. It certainly wouldn't be showing up at Target, WalMart, supermarkets, airport newsstands and the like. A new King novel (even if it included pictures) might.
"New King novels are always first published in a format that's expensive and rarely appears in supermarkets or newstands. "
Not The Green Mile, which appeared as a monthly series of mass-market paperback novellas.
I thought that some others had appeared in paperback first, but my research isn't turning up any confirmation of that.
But with at least The Green Mile, King's name proved enough to change the way business is usually done.
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