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Post by cyberstrike on Jul 23, 2008 7:59:53 GMT -5
They don't produce comics that I'm interested in. After watching the prequels and playing the great video game Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and it's less than stellar sequal quite honestly I'm sick of Star Wars. Buffy, the Vampire Slayer and Serenity I find only slightly interesting, but not enough to convince me to buy an issue of them.
I'm not a big fan of Mingola's art so the various Hellboy mini-series and various spin-offs don't appeal to me.
The linences that do interest me are at IDW.
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AC
Standout Worker
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Post by AC on Apr 7, 2009 0:28:36 GMT -5
I can't think of any point in time where I had any sort of excitement about Dark Horse.
Whoever made the points about their flat appearance next to other indies and the fact that they're so license-heavy instead of owning properties was spot-on. Those are Dark Horse's primary weaknesses in my opinion.
Of course, this being me... I'd have to mention their manga-line. It's decent, at best... nothing to get excited about. Their "phonebook style" re-releases of Akira back in 2000-2001 were awesome... now, they're too belabored with scheduling conflicts... delays and whatnot. Not sure if their main-line is affected, tho, it wouldn't surprise me, I suppose.
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Post by G on Sept 19, 2009 12:19:56 GMT -5
Just looking back on this thread, it caught my eye. It seems there was some great defense of some of their titles, but overall the majority here felt the company was not grabbing their attention. I wonder if peoples views towards Dark Horse have changed since the Shooter/Gold Key characters announcement?
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Post by defiant1 on Sept 19, 2009 15:35:10 GMT -5
Just looking back on this thread, it caught my eye. It seems there was some great defense of some of their titles, but overall the majority here felt the company was not grabbing their attention. I wonder if peoples views towards Dark Horse have changed since the Shooter/Gold Key characters announcement? I think they are all poor at marketing. Not just Dark Horse... but all publishers. I subscribe to the Dark Horse Twitter feed. I get 5 or 6 updates at a time occasionally and it's utter crap that they are sending me. Typical ad fodder that is nothing but a turn off. They've already announced Jim Shooter is revamping the line in San Diego. Is it too difficult to give some freakin' teasers, art or otherwise to let the attention keep building steam. Are all marketing people morons these days just pencil pushing through their jobs. If they had some enthusiasm about this it MIGHT be contagious. I'm at the "rolling my eyes" stage. On Twitter, they are pushing Umbrella Accademy, Robots and Donuts, Age of Reptiles. 3 Story, etc. I guess their comics are too artsy and cool for me because nothing they have out now excites me in the least. If this is what "We like Comic Books Too" means... then I must not not know what liking comics is even about. Everything they promote is filler and fluff. This is like waiting patiently for dinner and you look back and see the cook staff squirting the empty griil with a water bottle amusing himself. At least have someone bring a drink to the table... maybe a salad. Defiant1
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Post by G on Sept 20, 2009 10:47:50 GMT -5
It does seem like comic companies miss the boat when it comes to promotion. They seem to have crossover promotion down, but any other event, its just drivel at best.
You don't expect Dark Horse to release preview pages at this point, but you could see their line of thinking in terms of who they are going to put on what book and maybe some leaks in concepts or character designs. Something to get the masses spoon fed. Its clear they are waiting for info with baited breath and while they have the comic world a buzz, they are wasting it with mindless chatter about their other floundering comics. I dont think because Dark Horse has Jim Shooter, its going to make you read other titles they've had out or are coming out with it right away. You're going to have to suck people in with the bait you brought and maybe if you keep baiting them with what they want, then they might look elsewhere within your company.
It is true though, comic companies just dont know how to market comic books. Its amazing because that is their business. And when I see how poorly it is done (its done like everyone is just sheep), it makes me think the books they are advertising just aint that good.
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Post by defiant1 on Sept 20, 2009 12:02:11 GMT -5
It does seem like comic companies miss the boat when it comes to promotion. They seem to have crossover promotion down, but any other event, its just drivel at best. You don't expect Dark Horse to release preview pages at this point, but you could see their line of thinking in terms of who they are going to put on what book and maybe some leaks in concepts or character designs. Something to get the masses spoon fed. Its clear they are waiting for info with baited breath and while they have the comic world a buzz, they are wasting it with mindless chatter about their other floundering comics. I dont think because Dark Horse has Jim Shooter, its going to make you read other titles they've had out or are coming out with it right away. You're going to have to suck people in with the bait you brought and maybe if you keep baiting them with what they want, then they might look elsewhere within your company. It is true though, comic companies just dont know how to market comic books. Its amazing because that is their business. And when I see how poorly it is done (its done like everyone is just sheep), it makes me think the books they are advertising just aint that good. In my opinion they aren't that good. Dark Horse appears to be aiming for a niche that Top Shelf & Slave Labor Graphics already have sewn up. Let's say they bump SLG and steal their market share. That's a pretty low standard to target. They have no chance of bumping Top Shelf's business plan. To dominate that niche, they'd have to abandon the licensed properties. Dark Horse has too may faces. You can't run a successful health food store by filling it up with processed food that has chemical additives, You have to design a goal and work towards it. If Jim Shooter's line is a new goal for them, they need to start working towards it and quit filling up the ad solicitations with products Top Shelf would have rejected. Defiant1
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Post by cyberstrike on Sept 21, 2009 16:21:39 GMT -5
TBPH Jim Shooter writing and overseeing the revivals of the GK characters quite honestly hasn't really interested me. It feels like a bad nostalgia act to me as much as I loved Shooter's work at Defiant, Valiant, and Broadway having him write new stories isn't appealing to me anymore. Some of it's that I've out grown his overall style of writing and nothing about this revival feels fresh and exciting to me, to me it feels cliched, old, and tied.
The whole "Jim Shooter revives the GK characters again this time for Dark Horse" I'm sorry but I've been there and done that. I'm just not interested in a repeat performance.
Now DH does have a title that I've very interested in and that is Mass Effect: Redemption because I've a HUGE fan of Mass Effect video game and novels.
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Post by defiant1 on Sept 21, 2009 17:16:21 GMT -5
I'm not a huge fan of the Gold Key characters, and Jim's writing likes to target prepubescent males with the risque sexual tone it has. Despite that, it is his writing that definitely attracts me to the project. I don't utterly detest the characters like I did with Teen Titans, and I trust Jim to inject some intelligent content that goes beyond just showing us a clone of Marvel or DC. Maybe I have outgrown superheroes in general, I don't honestly know. I do know that the comics made today don't have the charm that made me a dedicated Marvel zombie. Valiant did. Hopefully Jim will throw out a completely different twist that makes it different from Valiant. Of all the titles that interest me, his take on Mighty Samson will interest me the most. I can imagine that Mighty Samson and Magnus will work best together. I'm skepical about Turok and simply don't care about Turok anyway. An indian chasing dinosaurs just sounds stupid to me. I'm not sure which direction Jim will take it, but I'm optimistic. There's a chance I won't even buy the books, but I probably will. I like 'not' buying new comics. I think they are too expensive for what you get even if it's a great story.
Defiant1
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Post by G on Sept 21, 2009 17:37:12 GMT -5
Way more than I am sick of Jim Shooter (which Im not and never have been) I am sick of the overabundant love for any and all things related to Valiant, Defiant and Broadway and acting like the 2nd coming of Christ is here if we get anything related to these characters.
Once again, I will fully admit, those were great years, great stories, great art, great concepts, great times. But I've never seen comics get so stuck on a period and not progress like we have since then.
I am still firmly under the belief that nothing truly great has happened since Valiant. But I also feel like we need to let it go. It's almost like if Marvel got stuck on the Fantastic Four.
To me its almost a shame that the Valiant characters are tied into Jim Shooter coming back. I'd probably be more excited if they weren't involved. But I realize its the only way half the comic world gets a woody anymore. So I guess I understand why it has to be.
Still, Im more excited about Shooter and what he brings to the table rather than the characters themselves.
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Post by defiant1 on Sept 23, 2009 6:12:05 GMT -5
Way more than I am sick of Jim Shooter (which Im not and never have been) I am sick of the overabundant love for any and all things related to Valiant, Defiant and Broadway and acting like the 2nd coming of Christ is here if we get anything related to these characters. Once again, I will fully admit, those were great years, great stories, great art, great concepts, great times. But I've never seen comics get so stuck on a period and not progress like we have since then. I am still firmly under the belief that nothing truly great has happened since Valiant. But I also feel like we need to let it go. It's almost like if Marvel got stuck on the Fantastic Four. To me its almost a shame that the Valiant characters are tied into Jim Shooter coming back. I'd probably be more excited if they weren't involved. But I realize its the only way half the comic world gets a woody anymore. So I guess I understand why it has to be. Still, Im more excited about Shooter and what he brings to the table rather than the characters themselves. A good writer could tell a story about a pile of dog s#!+ and make it interesting. The question becomes "What do you want to read about?" Originally I wanted to see Jim back at Valiant, but Valiant was more than just Jim. Jim was the counterbalance to all the rest of the talent. Just like the fact that many supergroups in music overcame their internal fighting and bickering to become something bigger than what the individuals could do alone, that is the way I feel about Valiant. When they found a way to get along, the individuals each drove the product to a higher level. They all had a vested interest in the success and they needed it to do good. I'm not so sure you could ever regain that driving sense of commitment and the desperation of needing to succeed. defiant1
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