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Vanilla is a product of Lussumo:
Documentation and Support.
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Having just grabbed Viking #1 and #2, this is a step in the right direction. Quality stock, inks and cover make it interesting.. Even if i haven't figured out what the hell is going on yet.
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- CommentAuthorcornelius.urquhart
- CommentTimeJul 9th 2009
What used to be comic book intellectual property is now going straight to video games instead.
Games such as Infamous and Prototype are two fairly recent examples that I can think of.
Since video game buyers are used to paying US$ 50 - 60 for a new game, so why not put a similar price tag on single issue comics?
Again, in order for this to be successful, some custom market research would have to be conducted. -
- CommentAuthorhelloMuller
- CommentTimeJul 9th 2009
Since video game buyers are used to paying US$ 50 - 60 for a new game, so why not put a similar price tag on single issue comics?
A single issue comic doesn't take a few hours to read. (Yes, I know you can REread it many times, but the initial emotional investment in it takes less time than an average game. Also, games are much more expensive to produce) -
- CommentAuthorcornelius.urquhart
- CommentTimeJul 9th 2009 edited
A single issue comic doesn't take a few hours to read. (Yes, I know you can REread it many times, but the initial emotional investment in it takes less time than an average game. Also, games are much more expensive to produce)
You are correct.
What I meant was that video games consumers are used to buying content in the US $ 50-60 price range as opposed to comic book buyers who are used to buying content in the US $ 2-4 price range.
And video games consumers are younger and less likely to care about money, especially if it's their parents' money.
It has nothing to do with how expensive something is to produce.
It's more about conditioning than anything else.
Transformers 2 cost US$ 200 million to produce and a ticket to see it costs US $ 9.
An average video game costs a lot less to produce and sells for US $ 50-60.
And if the metric of how valuable something should be based on how many hours one spends on it, a Rubik's cube, a Chinese finger trap, or even a cardboard box would cost a lot more than they do today. -
Your average videogame development costs are comparable to that of the average Hollywood film now. We're not up to the crazy blockbuster level yet, but costs are spiralling out of control for games devs at the moment. (well, those devs working in the 'big flashy games' space rather than the 'casual games' space)
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- CommentAuthorcornelius.urquhart
- CommentTimeJul 9th 2009
Your average videogame development costs are comparable to that of the average Hollywood film now. We're not up to the crazy blockbuster level yet, but costs are spiralling out of control for games devs at the moment.
You are right, but I'm talking more about how consumers perceive value as opposed to defining value as a specific metric, such as the amount of hours that can be spent on something.
And video game consumers accept content being sold at a higher price than comic book consumers.
Would video game consumers be willing to buy expensive single issue comics if they were repackaged and maybe used as an exclusive tie-in to video games?
I don't know.
Maybe someone at Marvel and/or DC did commission a study and decided that there was no money there.
Or maybe Marvel and/or DC are flailing around in the dark, trying to appeal to a rapidly shrinking and aging comic book audience. -
It also helps that he has a great publisher in IDW who back him all the way.
IDW and Adhouse Books consistently put out some of the best designed books (Comics or otherwise) on the Market. With IDW, I feel that price complaints go away once people have the books in had, and at Adhouse they always just do that one 'extra' thing (Like the silver ink in Project Telstar). -
I say, let's take it all the way: Why must a comic look like anything at all? I want to go the other way: cheap newsprint.
Putting POD aside for a second, consider the Metro, that free McPaper that is distributed in subways around the world. The comics in there are terrible, but the content is somewhat customized for each of its local markets. There are still a few comics-only free weeklies you can find regionally in the U.S., but again the content is mostly tired old syndicated newspaper stuff, maybe some political cartoons, but not webcomics or other comics for the most part. What I'd love is to be able to grab a free, daily printed web/comic printed paper, something free or cheap enough I don't mind abandoning/recycling/giving it away at the end of the day.
If it were 100% POD and I could subscribe to my favorite feeds, all the better. But it seems that you could do a fairly good job with today's existing print and distribution free-paper channel. granted, today's economy probably isn't the best time to be starting a free paper, but I'm just considering that it seems the technology and channel is there to do something better than the standard American syndicated cartoons.
Creators would probably have to be willing to make a lot of compromises in the precise manner and quality with which their work is produced. -
- CommentAuthorJames Cunningham
- CommentTimeJul 11th 2009
Would video game consumers be willing to buy expensive single issue comics if they were repackaged and maybe used as an exclusive tie-in to video games?
Video game consumers are actually much cheaper than you'd think. Sure, they'll spend $60 on a game, but they're going to want it so tricked out with features that it lasts a minimum of 12-15 hours, or potentially hundreds if you add in online play. Additionally, I don't really see a lot of crossover in the needs of the two markets. A video game only succeeds when it gives the player control, while in a comic (or any other traditional storytelling media) the control is completely in the hands of the writer/director. Finally, any media tie-in has such a bad reputation both in gaming and comics that the only hope the product has is novelty value.
The other problem is that gaming packaging is generally awful. There's almost no design sense going on there, at all. There are games out there with a signature art style, like Keito Takahashi's Katamari Damacy and Nobi Nobi Boy, Sega's Valkyria Chronicles, or anything Jeff Minter does, but for the most part it's a sea of bad cartoon graphics or another poor attempt at realism that bears no resemblance to anything in the outside world. Video games desperately need to borrow from comics, not the other way around. -
There have been a few comics recently that are tie-ins to videogames. No idea how well they've sold, but Marvel did a Halo one and Wildstorm (I think) did Gears of War and Mirror's Edge recently.
There's definitely a reasonable amount of demographic crossover between comics and certain kinds of videogame. -
These days videogames (especially the bigger titles) are designed keeping crossovers in mind from the get-go. Movies, comics, soundtrack albums. Toys. Customized faceplates for consoles.
I'm actually surprised at the lack of soundtracks for comics. Certainly doing an actual print run (or several) for physical CD's would get pretty expensive pretty fast, but how about including just the booklet and back label with the issues? Or suggest using a slimline case and forgo the back label entirely. Add a sticker for the CD itself and get people to download the songs themselves. (Basically exactly what Paul Sizer's done with BPM, taken a step further with the physical prints.)
(Kevin Church's post about comic book design got a thread here as well a while back, but might be worth a gander.) -
Bringing back an old thread:
I finally finished putting together a magazine of shorts and illustration for SPX. I went through MagCloud because a) They could actually turn it around within two weeks and b) I wanted to try them out.
Designing through them was a breeze. InDesign template with bleeds all set up, which meant most of the heavy lifting was already done. I got the proof 3 days later (I made for the best shipping) and the paper stock had a good weight and a nice sheen to it. I tend to like matte stocks better, but I like the way it felt. The inks were vibrant and colors really popped.
Passing the proof around the office got a good response and setting it at a $7 price point means I won't make much on it, but with the little amount of work I had to do, that's alright with me for this first issue.
I'll see how it goes, but I'm definitely going to do more issues through them. I want to bump the page count up to 48 solid pages of content as opposed to 38.
Potboiler Issue One: http://magcloud.com/browse/Issue/28178