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Post by G on Sept 14, 2010 23:38:38 GMT -5
The "no name" art is one sign Dark Horse is being cheap. The poor advertising is another. Their requests for Jim to trim down his scripts is another. Their pushing of reprint material and hardbacks is another. The company really needs a flagship line to just stay where they are in the sales charts. Buffy is going away eventually. That's their biggest selling title. The newest number I heard is that Magnus #1 sold around 17,000 copies. That's only 2/3 rds what Solar did the month before. Magnus should theoretically be a better known character. It'll be interesting to see how bad sales dropped on Solar #2. In my opinion, the art was better on #1. Both are marginal at best for a Jim Shooter script. Man, all that almost reminds me of Charlton where everything was on the cheap except Charlton had one thing in their favor.....they printed their own books. Now that you mention it, that rundown was so bad that not only would I think that the Valiant titles are in danger, that was so bad it made it seem the company itself is in danger. A Valiant relaunch on the cheap was certainly not what everyone wanted. If it could have been done top shelf all the way, maybe I could see it doing well. But this has historic lameness written all over it.
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Post by defiant1 on Sept 15, 2010 0:56:07 GMT -5
The "no name" art is one sign Dark Horse is being cheap. The poor advertising is another. Their requests for Jim to trim down his scripts is another. Their pushing of reprint material and hardbacks is another. The company really needs a flagship line to just stay where they are in the sales charts. Buffy is going away eventually. That's their biggest selling title. The newest number I heard is that Magnus #1 sold around 17,000 copies. That's only 2/3 rds what Solar did the month before. Magnus should theoretically be a better known character. It'll be interesting to see how bad sales dropped on Solar #2. In my opinion, the art was better on #1. Both are marginal at best for a Jim Shooter script. Man, all that almost reminds me of Charlton where everything was on the cheap except Charlton had one thing in their favor.....they printed their own books. Now that you mention it, that rundown was so bad that not only would I think that the Valiant titles are in danger, that was so bad it made it seem the company itself is in danger. A Valiant relaunch on the cheap was certainly not what everyone wanted. If it could have been done top shelf all the way, maybe I could see it doing well. But this has historic lameness written all over it. I don't think any company is safe except Marvel & DC. Spiderman & Superman will always sell. Think about it. Daredevil is being canceled. They are willing to lose sales for a month or two just to boost sales on a return issue a little. In other words, they don't care about the lost sales while the book is canceled. I'm sorry, but that leads me to believe the book wasn't making the money they want it to make. If Daredevil isn't making enough money to keep Marvel happy, how would the feel about sales that were half that number? Daredevil had orders of roughly 41,000 copies in August. Magnus had less than half that with a #1. df1
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Post by G on Nov 28, 2010 20:05:51 GMT -5
Originally it wasn't bad, but I thought they might switch it up a little bit. Now I'm burned out on them and I think they kill any further chance of wanting them.
Im sick of the Dark Horse Valiant's having Raymond Swanland covers.
Although on a single look his covers are nice. When you compare them to the original Valiants, these have no personality at all. I think his covers are hurting things all that much more. Just one more thing wrong with this series of books.
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Post by cyberstrike on Nov 28, 2010 20:29:34 GMT -5
Originally it wasn't bad, but I thought they might switch it up a little bit. Now I'm burned out on them and I think they kill any further chance of wanting them. Im sick of the Dark Horse Valiant's having Raymond Swanland covers. Although on a single look his covers are nice. When you compare them to the original Valiants, these have no personality at all. I think his covers are hurting things all that much more. Just one more thing wrong with this series of books. I can't even tell what is going on those covers most of time but then I have the same problem with some of the Gold Key painted covers of Dr. Solar.
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Post by defiant1 on Nov 28, 2010 21:41:40 GMT -5
I still go lurk occasionally and read posts at the Dark-Key forum. A Dark Horse colorist "Donovan" challenged me to leave if I wasn't happy with the product. I deleted my profile and did just that. I no loger participate.
One of my last posts before leaving was that I'd prefer covers that were relevant to the contents inside the cover. I also have stated elsewhere that the thick glossy cover stock gives me flashbacks to bad marketing of the 90's when books looked like crap inside, but they relied on a nice thick glossy cover to sell the book.
I think they are flashy with action and poor lighting. Are their fans so shallow that these covers help market the books? Do they really help sell the comics? I kinda doubt it.
df1
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Post by G on Dec 4, 2010 9:52:10 GMT -5
I just noticed in my newest Previews that he did all the covers again. Man his covers just sicken me after awhile. It's always some fight scene with light emitting from something. I really wish they put some different artists on the covers. He's boring me to tears.
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Post by cyberstrike on Dec 4, 2010 10:17:10 GMT -5
I just noticed in my newest Previews that he did all the covers again. Man his covers just sicken me after awhile. It's always some fight scene with light emitting from something. I really wish they put some different artists on the covers. He's boring me to tears. I just wish he would how to draw to fight! When I first saw the cover to Turok, Son of Stone #1, I was wondering where Turok began and the dinosaur ended in the cover art.
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Post by defiant1 on Dec 4, 2010 15:44:00 GMT -5
I just noticed in my newest Previews that he did all the covers again. Man his covers just sicken me after awhile. It's always some fight scene with light emitting from something. I really wish they put some different artists on the covers. He's boring me to tears. I just wish he would how to draw to fight! When I first saw the cover to Turok, Son of Stone #1, I was wondering where Turok began and the dinosaur ended in the cover art. I don't care for the composition of his covers, but all I see is praise everywhere else. The phantom light sources with everything else dark gets very tiresome after awhile. df1
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Post by cyberstrike on Dec 8, 2010 15:55:44 GMT -5
Dr. Solar, Man of the Atom #1-2, Magnus: Robot Fighter #1-2, and Turok, Son of Stone #1 to be perfectly honest none of these books just aren't what books that I what I expected from Jim Shooter. I was expecting some fresh and exciting instead I feel like I'm reading a Jim Shooter rip off by Jim Shooter. I'm sorry but I'm not going to waste anymore of my money on these titles.
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Post by G on Dec 8, 2010 16:00:07 GMT -5
Dr. Solar, Man of the Atom #1-2, Magnus: Robot Fighter #1-2, and Turok, Son of Stone #1 to be perfectly honest none of these books just aren't what books that I what I expected from Jim Shooter. I was expecting some fresh and exciting instead I feel like I'm reading a Jim Shooter rip off by Jim Shooter. I'm sorry but I'm not going to waste anymore of my money on these titles. I stopped after #2 on both series as well. Exactly then and the only thing I've picked up since is Turok #1, another mistake. I'm also done with the Valiant relaunch. I'm sick of everything about it. Valiant fans need to just get over it. The thrill is gone and even if there is any thrill, Dark Horse ain't going to pull it off. And to be honest, I don't think Jim Shooter is either. I continue to wish Jim Shooter would just leave all this behind him and stop trying to recreate what he once had. He needs to go back to his life BEFORE Valiant and not since.
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