NostoNews, November 1, 2011
by Tommy Jasmin
Dumb as a Blog fact check
Here's the problem with blogs: anyone can have one now, and people think they
are experts on material they are not. This month, I do a fact check on Nick Nadel's
10 dumb things comic book fans do blog, which for the most part is a
huge swing and a miss. To cut him some slack, it's gotta be tough to come up withh a
Top 10 dumb list every day.
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FALSE
10.) Think superhero comics are a financial investment
Sorry stude, you could not be more wrong on this one. Of course, like
any investment, you have to be smart about it. Yes, we all know about
the glut years and how they almost ruined comics.
And pointing to high sales of #1 issues does not imply a correlation
to investment sales - #1 issues have always sold better.
But the proof is in the pudding - one glance at
the Nostomania
Top 100 list
shows clear evidence that had you been
buying key books in the past 5 years, yes, you could have retired! Some comic books have produced
among the best return on investment ever.
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FALSE
9.) Store their comics in protective mylar bags
Again, way off. Sure, storing all your comics in mylar is both cost
prohibitive and not the brightest idea, but for those items in your
collection that are truly collectible, why would you not want to use
the same inert preservation material the Library of Congress uses?
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FALSE
8.) Freak out over the smallest change
I don't know what your sampling market is for this info, but nobody
freaks out over anything in comics any more. If Superman gets killed
off, shrug, we know he'll be back soon. That said, yes, there are some
things that should not change. Spider-Man is Peter Parker. You can mess
with that short-term if you like, but in the long run, that's carved in stone.
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FALSE
7.) Buy overpriced single issues
The kiddies, unlike you believe, are not buying it any more. Go read my
sales in the toilet
news.
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FALSE
6.) Complain when their favorite character is killed off...and then buy the comic where he comes back
He gets a FALSE for this one for two reasons, 1) Why should we not complain
when our favorite character is killed off? 2) Again, we are not buying anything
shoved in our face any more. See answer to #7, comic book sales overall are
lower than they've ever been.
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FALSE
5.) Insist that every superhero be a boring white dude
Implying the vast majority of comic book fans are racist? Get real.
Idris Elba being cast as Heimdall was great. That said, while he was
great in The Wire, he's not that great an actor. Check out his feeble
British accent in the Guy Ritchie flick RocknRolla. Would I have given a rip
if some of my favorite characters ever (say for example, Sandman, Starman,
or Nexus) were black? Hell no, would make no difference at all to me.
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NEUTRAL
4.) Dress up as Comedian and Silk Spectre from
Ok, knowing the relationship between the two does make the idea creepy, I give
him that. But hey, The Comedian is an awesome costume. Very cool and gritty,
along the lines of Mad Max. And if you got the bod to pull it off, who am I
to complain if the woman goes as Silk Spectre?
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NEUTRAL
3.) Scare off female readers
Yes, the comic book industry has always been predominantly teen-male-centric.
But nobody is intentionally scaring away female readers. I know many female
readers who love certain titles (like Sandman) and for good reason, it's
quality reading for any person, maybe not any age.
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FALSE
2.) Allow quality comics to die
Hey, this is a business, remember? The publishers need to stay profitable
to keep churning out books. The sad reality is, often the best comics have
low circulation, they are just not marketed well and usually just don't have
the sales numbers for staying power. In addition, the best writers know
it's best to go out on a high note (e.g. Gaiman ending Sandman at #75 and
Robinson ending Starman at #80).
-
TRUE
1.) Argue over who is fastest, Superman or The Flash
I'll give him this one. It is, after all, The Flash's specialty.
Thanks, we'll see you all next month.
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