James Harvey
02-22-2002, 08:20 AM
The awesome website <a href="http://www.comicon.com/newsarama">Comic Newsarama</a> had a chance to talk to new President Paul Levitz about their upcoming plans for the company, as well as their current success. Below is an excerpt:
NRAMA: Okay, from here out, let’s just hit a variety of different topics in no particular order. First off, it’s still pretty early in the game, but are you pleased with the results of the Batman: Ten Cent Adventure?
<a href="http://www.toonzone.net/comics/"><img src="http://www.toonzone.net/comics/covers/2002-01/batman/t-10cent.jpg" align="right" border=0></a>PL: It’s been great. I have a letter on my desk from a high school principal in California who was a recent convert to comics. His brother is a long time comics fan, and this guy finally decided to try comics so he would have something to talk to his brother about. He talked about how Batman recognizes how Batman will always fail in his mission to keep everyone in Gotham City safe, but he’ll never give it up, and that’s how he feels about his mission to educate everybody.
It’s wonderful when you can touch people on a level like that. From a business standpoint, we got astounding support from the retail community in the number of copies they distributed, and the sales of the related Batman titles with the storyline that introduced have gone up 25%. One of the hardest tricks in this business is always to get people to come back to try any ongoing title, because they fell they know what it is, and they’ve made an intelligent decision whether to like it or not, so why should they check it out again? Clearly, it had some very good affect here.
To read the complete interview, where Paul also talks about Smallville, The Authority, and more, go <a href="http://www.comicon.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=12&t=000133">HERE</a>.
Discuss this comic news <a href="http://forums.toonzone.net/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=69">Here</a>. Stay tuned for more updates here at TZN!
NRAMA: Okay, from here out, let’s just hit a variety of different topics in no particular order. First off, it’s still pretty early in the game, but are you pleased with the results of the Batman: Ten Cent Adventure?
<a href="http://www.toonzone.net/comics/"><img src="http://www.toonzone.net/comics/covers/2002-01/batman/t-10cent.jpg" align="right" border=0></a>PL: It’s been great. I have a letter on my desk from a high school principal in California who was a recent convert to comics. His brother is a long time comics fan, and this guy finally decided to try comics so he would have something to talk to his brother about. He talked about how Batman recognizes how Batman will always fail in his mission to keep everyone in Gotham City safe, but he’ll never give it up, and that’s how he feels about his mission to educate everybody.
It’s wonderful when you can touch people on a level like that. From a business standpoint, we got astounding support from the retail community in the number of copies they distributed, and the sales of the related Batman titles with the storyline that introduced have gone up 25%. One of the hardest tricks in this business is always to get people to come back to try any ongoing title, because they fell they know what it is, and they’ve made an intelligent decision whether to like it or not, so why should they check it out again? Clearly, it had some very good affect here.
To read the complete interview, where Paul also talks about Smallville, The Authority, and more, go <a href="http://www.comicon.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=12&t=000133">HERE</a>.
Discuss this comic news <a href="http://forums.toonzone.net/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=69">Here</a>. Stay tuned for more updates here at TZN!