James Harvey
11-29-2001, 09:09 AM
This December (and January), both DC Comics and Marvel Comics will pit their flagship characters against each other. Batman will be headlining two of the most anticipated events in comics history, both <b>The Dark Knight Strikes Again #1</b> and <b>Batman: The 10 Cent Adventure</b>. The comic review website <a href="http://www.thefourthrail.com">The Fourth Rail</a> recently put up an article headlining this clash of titans, but in this clash the readers are the winners. Here is an excerpt:
Some have accused DC of standing still while Marvel grabbed the excitement and the talent in most of 2001, but DC has answered that challenge with a one-two punch of promotions genius in December and January. December sees the release of Frank Miller writing and drawing a new project for DC called The Dark Knight Strikes Again, a sequel to one of the most popular mainstream graphic novels of all time, The Dark Knight Returns. The orders on this one have broken all sorts of recent sales records even at $7.95 a pop, and DC is promoting it with retailer-friendly shipping schedules, a boiler-plate press release for local media and advertising in Entertainment Weekly, among other places.
<a href="http://www.toonzone.net/comics/covers/2002-01/batman/10cent.jpg"><img src="http://www.toonzone.net/comics/covers/2002-01/batman/10cent.jpg" height=207 width=134 border=0 vspace=3 hspace=3 align="right"></a> They're following up with an unprecedented project in January, Batman The 10-Cent Adventure, a standard sized comic which will cost ten cents a copy. That's if you need to buy it, as this is being produced as a loss-leader and marketing opportunity for retailers. It's cheap enough to buy and give away, and DC's marketing department has cooked up a promotion in which retailers can instead pay 17 cents a copy and get a paper overcover with the information directing readers to their stores for more comics. Many of the larger retailers, and even a few of the medium-sized ones, have seized on this opportunity to do an insert ad and have the comics put into their local papers for free. That means a wide distribution to the mainstream, who will know without a doubt where to get more of this kind of thing if they like their free comic. And I think they will like it, since it's written by Greg Rucka and drawn by Rick Burchett, two of the most accomplished creators on the Batman books right now.
The Dark Knight Strikes Again #1 hits December 5th, followed by Batman: The 10 Cent Adventure on January 2nd.
For the entire interesting article, click <a href="http://www.thefourthrail.com/features/1101/monitorduty6.shtml">HERE</a>.
Some have accused DC of standing still while Marvel grabbed the excitement and the talent in most of 2001, but DC has answered that challenge with a one-two punch of promotions genius in December and January. December sees the release of Frank Miller writing and drawing a new project for DC called The Dark Knight Strikes Again, a sequel to one of the most popular mainstream graphic novels of all time, The Dark Knight Returns. The orders on this one have broken all sorts of recent sales records even at $7.95 a pop, and DC is promoting it with retailer-friendly shipping schedules, a boiler-plate press release for local media and advertising in Entertainment Weekly, among other places.
<a href="http://www.toonzone.net/comics/covers/2002-01/batman/10cent.jpg"><img src="http://www.toonzone.net/comics/covers/2002-01/batman/10cent.jpg" height=207 width=134 border=0 vspace=3 hspace=3 align="right"></a> They're following up with an unprecedented project in January, Batman The 10-Cent Adventure, a standard sized comic which will cost ten cents a copy. That's if you need to buy it, as this is being produced as a loss-leader and marketing opportunity for retailers. It's cheap enough to buy and give away, and DC's marketing department has cooked up a promotion in which retailers can instead pay 17 cents a copy and get a paper overcover with the information directing readers to their stores for more comics. Many of the larger retailers, and even a few of the medium-sized ones, have seized on this opportunity to do an insert ad and have the comics put into their local papers for free. That means a wide distribution to the mainstream, who will know without a doubt where to get more of this kind of thing if they like their free comic. And I think they will like it, since it's written by Greg Rucka and drawn by Rick Burchett, two of the most accomplished creators on the Batman books right now.
The Dark Knight Strikes Again #1 hits December 5th, followed by Batman: The 10 Cent Adventure on January 2nd.
For the entire interesting article, click <a href="http://www.thefourthrail.com/features/1101/monitorduty6.shtml">HERE</a>.