CRK!
CRKK!
CRRAKKK!
That's the sound about fifty feet of tree makes when it's buffeted by ridiculous winds, snaps, and takes out your chainlink fence. Or it would be if the last "Crrakkk!" was about five times the size.
On the upside, nobody was parked in the spot traditionally used for parking next to the house. Nobody's going to for awhile, either, as there's a bloody great tree parked there at the moment.
According to a neighbour out surveying the carnage, the cloud-covered sky was lit pink an hour or so back. "That's not a good sign," he said, and given that a good portion of the fence is now roughly parallel with the ground, I believe him. It calmed down for awhile, but the lightning and thunder picked up a few minutes ago and are currently blasting the sky to shreds. The real damage in the neighbourhood seems to have come almost entirely from the wind. Sounds like someone had a branch blast through their window down the street, and a van got taken out by another falling tree a few blocks down.
Tiina's going to have a big surprise when she gets back from the Harry Potter movie in half an hour or so...
***
NOTES
A couple follow-ups on this last few days' postings.
First, the TYRESE GIBSON'S MAYHEM! promotional train keeps on rolling, with Gibson's efforts being both successful (at least in terms of first issue sales, which is the metric all the PR's focusing on--personally, I'll be more interested in seeing how the second to fourth issues sell. The problem with selling 20k copies of a #1 is that unless your fans are really, really fanatical, you're likely facing a pretty steep drop when it comes time to order #2...)
That was a long parenthetical. Let me try that again: The TYRESE GIBSON'S MAYHEM! promotional train keeps on rolling, with Gibson's "grassroots" efforts being both successful and not terribly appreciated by retailer Brian Hibbs.
Something about the whole "make #1 sales look huge" scheme seemed off to me, and it took me awhile to put my finger on it. The whole thing was clarified somewhat--hey, I do believe it's hailing now. Real Wrath of God stuff. Man, that is something.
OK, the whole thing was clarified somewhat when it was pointed out to me that Platinum's attempts to manipulate sales numbers for Cowboys & Aliens didn't fool anyone in the comics industry and almost certainly wasn't intended to. Rather, it was likely aimed at getting the attention of Hollywood in general, and quite possibly at two of the three current screenwriters attached to the film (Orci and Kurtzman) in particular. Granted, the attempt to have the #1-selling graphic novel of December 2006 was foiled when Diamond reclassified the book as something other than a graphic novel. Fortunately (from Platinum's point of view), by that point it had already appeared as a #1 seller (for a specific store) in Entertainment Weekly. Sure, in the next EW the editors made a point of mentioning that the book was really more of a promotional item, but as far as I can tell, Platinum doesn't mention that in the PR.
Anyway, the point I'm trying to get at, in my own ramblingly incoherent way, is that Platinum's manipulation didn't fool anyone in the comics industry, and the "sales" numbers of TYRESE GIBSON'S MAYHEM! #1 isn't going to fool anyone in the comic industry either. I'm really not sure who those numbers are intended to fool--the "hater" in me is tempted to believe the person they're really fooling is Gibson himself, based on his really hammering what's pretty obviously an inflated number in the interviews I've read. But Gibson is a "2.0 celebrity", and rightly or wrongly, my kneejerk instinct is to associate the attachment of "2.0" to anything that's not a computer program with attempts to artificially create the kind of multimedia sensation that can't really be artificially created. So I wouldn't be surprised if there are plans to try and develop TYRESE GIBSON'S MAYHEM! as a film or TV vehicle almost certainly starring Tyrese Gibson. I wonder if the film would still be called TYRESE GIBSON'S MAYHEM!...? And, giving Gibson the benefit of the doubt, maybe his attempts to portray the direct market sales of the first issue as an indicator of actual wide interest are for the benefit of someone who'd actually believe it. The whole thing's just weird to me, is all.
Also: yes, for a good portion of high school I thought condoms were apartments you owned like a house.
A
Showing posts with label Tyrese Gibson. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tyrese Gibson. Show all posts
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
It's a quote. It's a day. It's not the quote of the day.
"It's standard for comic book shops to pre-order two or three copies of a comic book. Well, we sold over 10,000 comic books from just one store after one month of effort." "2.o celebrity" Tyrese Gibson.
I can't imagine this press release touting presales of 10,000 copies of TYRESE GIBSON'S MAYHEM! #1 to LA's Meltdown Comics is going to go long before someone starts seriously examining it (Heidi Macdonald's already promised to give it some ink at The Beat), if not ridiculing it outright.
I've got mixed emotions about it, myself, but the emotions in that mix are all exceedingly mild, like the mixed emotions I have over whether I should wear matching socks. Hey, it's not my book. My big concern is how this could impact the comics industry overall, and I tend to think that'll come down to whether the comic's a fun, original, accessible idea with an established celebrity behind it (like Gerard Way's UMBRELLA ACADEMY), or whether it isn't (like pretty much every other comic "created" by a media celebrity.)
Let's assume for the moment that Gibson's as big a draw for current non-comics readers as he's being made out to be. Let's assume those 10,000 copies are put on the shelves and sold to actual customers--presumably some new ones, coming in to Meltdown in response to Gibson's admirably single-minded promotion of the book--rather than a retailer "partner"*. That's potentially great for the medium, if the book is good and/or appealing. New comics readers are much needed in North America. If they're being brought into a store each month to buy MAYHEM!, that's a chance to sell them not just on Giibson's book, but other titles and, ideally, the medium itself.
However.
If the audience response to the book is "Eh.", then all that's happened is a bunch of people have been brought into a comic shop one time, bought a single comic, many of them for something other than the actual quality of the book itself, found it to be nothing special, and if this is an example of the best the industry has to offer (and obviously it is, why else is it "selling" in record-breaking quantities), well, maybe they'll save the money they would've spent on other comics for the widescreen Blu-Ray edition of Transformers 2.
To my mind, that wouldn't just be a missed opportunity--it's any number of future opportunities strangled in their crib, before they have a chance to grow into something that could benefit everyone along the chain, from creator to retailer to reader. Because the next time they hear something good about that My Chemical Romance Guy's comic, or Avril Lavigne's MAKE 5 WISHES, or whatever celebrity spearheaded comic that's actually got something going for it other than a name they've heard before, they'll have every reason not to believe the hype.
So, for the sake of the industry, I really, really hope TYRESE GIBSON'S MAYHEM! is an awesome book. And if it isn't, I hope it won't be held against THE ANONYMOUS 2.0 CELEBRITY'S ADJECTIVE! comic I'm writing.
Because that book's gonna be awesome.
A
*I seem to recall Platinum Studios getting absolutely crucified for working in concert with specific retailers to ensure Cowboys & Aliens was the highest-ordered graphic novel for December, 2006.
As I understand it, this is a goal they were a hair's breadth from achieving, only to have defeat snatched from the jaws of victory. At the last minute--beyond the last minute, really, it was after the book was solicited--Diamond, who as I understand it {and I wasn't exactly in the loop for the company's promo efforts outside of the interview or two I did} determined what the price of the book was actually going to be in order to qualify as a "graphic novel", unilaterally elected to reclassify it as...something other than a graphic novel (promotional item...? I don't remember...) so it wouldn't appear in the GN sales charts.
Between you and me, I'm of the mind that if the book had managed to be what everyone involved wanted it to be but for a whole raft of reasons just wasn't, the backlash wouldn't have been so extreme. While I don't believe the efforts made on the book's behalf actually brought anyone new into a comic shop, I still see that one as a lost opportunity, albeit one that primarily damaged only those directly involved in the book and Entertainment Weekly, if it damaged anyone at all.
I can't imagine this press release touting presales of 10,000 copies of TYRESE GIBSON'S MAYHEM! #1 to LA's Meltdown Comics is going to go long before someone starts seriously examining it (Heidi Macdonald's already promised to give it some ink at The Beat), if not ridiculing it outright.
I've got mixed emotions about it, myself, but the emotions in that mix are all exceedingly mild, like the mixed emotions I have over whether I should wear matching socks. Hey, it's not my book. My big concern is how this could impact the comics industry overall, and I tend to think that'll come down to whether the comic's a fun, original, accessible idea with an established celebrity behind it (like Gerard Way's UMBRELLA ACADEMY), or whether it isn't (like pretty much every other comic "created" by a media celebrity.)
Let's assume for the moment that Gibson's as big a draw for current non-comics readers as he's being made out to be. Let's assume those 10,000 copies are put on the shelves and sold to actual customers--presumably some new ones, coming in to Meltdown in response to Gibson's admirably single-minded promotion of the book--rather than a retailer "partner"*. That's potentially great for the medium, if the book is good and/or appealing. New comics readers are much needed in North America. If they're being brought into a store each month to buy MAYHEM!, that's a chance to sell them not just on Giibson's book, but other titles and, ideally, the medium itself.
However.
If the audience response to the book is "Eh.", then all that's happened is a bunch of people have been brought into a comic shop one time, bought a single comic, many of them for something other than the actual quality of the book itself, found it to be nothing special, and if this is an example of the best the industry has to offer (and obviously it is, why else is it "selling" in record-breaking quantities), well, maybe they'll save the money they would've spent on other comics for the widescreen Blu-Ray edition of Transformers 2.
To my mind, that wouldn't just be a missed opportunity--it's any number of future opportunities strangled in their crib, before they have a chance to grow into something that could benefit everyone along the chain, from creator to retailer to reader. Because the next time they hear something good about that My Chemical Romance Guy's comic, or Avril Lavigne's MAKE 5 WISHES, or whatever celebrity spearheaded comic that's actually got something going for it other than a name they've heard before, they'll have every reason not to believe the hype.
So, for the sake of the industry, I really, really hope TYRESE GIBSON'S MAYHEM! is an awesome book. And if it isn't, I hope it won't be held against THE ANONYMOUS 2.0 CELEBRITY'S ADJECTIVE! comic I'm writing.
Because that book's gonna be awesome.
A
*I seem to recall Platinum Studios getting absolutely crucified for working in concert with specific retailers to ensure Cowboys & Aliens was the highest-ordered graphic novel for December, 2006.
As I understand it, this is a goal they were a hair's breadth from achieving, only to have defeat snatched from the jaws of victory. At the last minute--beyond the last minute, really, it was after the book was solicited--Diamond, who as I understand it {and I wasn't exactly in the loop for the company's promo efforts outside of the interview or two I did} determined what the price of the book was actually going to be in order to qualify as a "graphic novel", unilaterally elected to reclassify it as...something other than a graphic novel (promotional item...? I don't remember...) so it wouldn't appear in the GN sales charts.
Between you and me, I'm of the mind that if the book had managed to be what everyone involved wanted it to be but for a whole raft of reasons just wasn't, the backlash wouldn't have been so extreme. While I don't believe the efforts made on the book's behalf actually brought anyone new into a comic shop, I still see that one as a lost opportunity, albeit one that primarily damaged only those directly involved in the book and Entertainment Weekly, if it damaged anyone at all.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
