Comic Artists Direct

Diamond Comic Distributor's handy online press kit at freecomicbookday.com was not only a great reference for quick article building by the mainstream press, it was also an indication that the people running this huge project gave thought to how best bring news about it to a mass audience.

The day was created to bring more readers into the world of comic books by exposing them to the product. Anyone in marketing knows the stakes are high and twice removed from actual comic book sales. The stakes are high because of the massive reduction in comic book sales over the last decade. Sales are twice removed because stores giving comics away are hoping it will translate into customers returning to buy product.

Sales are THRICE removed for the companies donating comics to this enterprise. They not only need the customers to return to the comic book store but to buy their specific title. Many would argue that what's good for the comic industry is good for everyone in the industry. Try telling that to some independent company (or individual) who dumped tons of money supplying the nation with comics hoping to recover costs in sales.

Reviewed here are, I believe, every comic offered for Free Comic Book Day 2003 (Although I might have missed a couple). We'll pretend we're people new to comics or coming back to comics after a long while and see how these "products" look from a marketing perspective. Here they are, in no particular order.

Batman Adventures number one - DC Comics, part of the Time-Warner empire, knows marketing. They also know how to write comics! This is one of the more successful offerings. Drawn in the "adventure" style to appeal to all ages, Batman Adventures has everything people love about Batman: cool gadgets, the best rogues gallery (all of Arkham Asylum, really) and comedy relief with Alfred. It's all ages without losing that dark feel. It even brings in a current storyline so new readers can think, "Wow, Batman is now outside of the law?" Writer Ty Templeton and Penciller Rich Burchett pack this comic with good things without it appearing choppy or condensed. There's plenty of personality to the people. And fighting. Plus, there's a backup story that retells the origin (also all ages style) inside of an actual plot. Yes, everyone, if THIS free comic doesn't interest people in Batman, nothing will.

Ultimate X-Men number one - Marvel is a close second with writer Mark Millar rewriting the X-Men history. It has well rounded characters galore, a great Sentinel attack, a team everyone should recognize from the movie and a back story. Adam Kubert and the art team also present the best in well-produced comic book artwork, moving from traditional into more painterly pages with impressive effect. It is all-ages enough, but certain elements would bother younger kids. All in all a great intro to comics for those interested in the movie (X-Men Two, for those of you living in caves, opened Friday, May 1). We're not being fans here, so we won't go into the continuity problem posed by the Ultimate titles. What is this, Earth-U or something? At least DC had the guts to go Crisis and restart their titles.

Transformers Armada number one from Dreamwave Studios does it right. A self-contained Transformers story featuring two kids readers can relate to. It has the teams from the first cartoon series, fighting and a major personality discovery by one of the characters. I just wish the colors were'nt so dark and muddy. The kids kind of appear from nowhere, too, and since it's my first exposure to the new series I would have liked some explanation of their connection to the Transformers. But sufficient space is devoted to selling and talking about Dreamwave comics so I claim this comic a successful marketing tool.

Rocket Comics - Offered from Dark Horse, three self-contained stories from Keith Giffen, Stuart Moore and Tom Peyers, giants in the comic business, make this one of the best offerings. They made me want to read all three monthlies. Three genres - sci fi, apocalyptic western and comedy superhero - cover all interests. This comic also shows new readers what choices are out there past what they know.

On the other end of the spectrum is the Avatar Graphic Novel Sampler. This comic should have succeeded, since it features Warren Ellis, Garth Ennis, Alan Moore and Steven Grant, more giants in the field. But it rates a big, fat zero on my marketing scale. The sampler has no self-contained stories, just snippets from existing works. If I was a comic book dealer ordering this to turn new customers (adults only) on to work by these great writers, I would be disappointed. If I was someone new to comics who picked this up as my free comic, I would also be disappointed. I can hear them now, "Lousy unknown comic book. I should have gotten the Batman."

Donald Duck Adventures from the returning Gemstone line of Disney comics is a keeper. This one has everything we love about duck adventures: Carl Barks, vast riches at stake, Huey, Dewey and Louie figuring everything out. Wonderful! Plus, there's a subscription page right inside for follow up. A+

Oni's contribution is Courtney Crumrin and the Night Things by Ted Naifeh. The fiesty Courtney is just what is needed for preteen and teenage girls. A simple babysitting job leads to supernatural complications (all explained on a great cover). Sure, it seems similar to Scarey Godmother by Jill Thompson, but Jill doesn't produce enough of these to keep us in comics and Oni's book has the unflappable Courtney - annoyed, bordering on rude and strong. An interesting, needed character. A+ for girls and anyone who likes a good story.

Oni also has Skinwalker number one of four, written by Nunzio DeFilippis and Christina Weir. A tense, well plotted crime drama, Skinwalker is a great adult offering. Two point-of-view narratives converge at the end, a nice storytelling technique. I personally love stories that are told from the inside out. It falls short with the production values, though. The greyscales are too dark, leaving many pages quite muddy, and the lettering is just too damn small. When will comic letterers learn that six point type in capitals reads well, but upper and lower case letters need to be nine point? New comic readers might just give up trying to read it - remember, they're not all that interested in the first place.

Crossgen introduces the Way of the Rat, a martial arts epic that, thankfully, reads without the Japanese habit of no-plot posturing. This is a perfect introductory comic, with some of the best writing I've seen from Chuck Dixon in ages, Jeff Johnson's graceful illustrations and Crossgen's famous production values. It's big! After reading the story, there's more to hook newbies, with ways to buy Crossgen graphic novels, interviews with everyone from the artist to a monkey character in the series, and Kung Fu Comics and movies through history. It's not filler, people, it's well written stuff!

The Best of Dork Storm offers a taste of four different Dork Storm Publishing titles. I've been turning friends on to John Kovalic's Dork Storm for years, a humorous look at "gamers" and their world. Also included here are Snap Dragons by Kovalic and Liz Rathke and Aaron Williams' Nodwick and PS238. I get the jokes about gamers and geeks because I know some (no, I don't play). Whether this comic will result in new converts to comic books is debatable, but it might perk up sales for Dork Tower pubs among those who already hang out at comic book stores. Plus these are self-contained stories. For these reasons I'm labeling this book a marketing success, but don't expect new comic readers to "get it."

Free Comic Book Day Archie number one - Angelo Decesare delivers a typical Archie story with a twist, as an Archie comics reader fixes Archie's world with disasterous affects. Fairly lifeless pencils by Jeff Schultz are typical for Archie comics - loose and quick, although some care seems to have been taken with backgrounds for this issue. I'm declaring this book a success. Why? Picture this. You're walking into a comic book store with your little boy or girl, surrounded by pictures of testosteroned heroes. You heard it's Free Comic Book Day but you're nervous and hesitant. But look, on the rack! It's Archie! A comfortable, known choice. Kid turned on to comic books. Marketing success.

We now come to some capital A alternative offerings. These unknowns are always a gamble. Why would anyone new to comic shops even ask for these? Why would owners even order them? It takes guts and real money to put yourself out there like this. Let's have a look.

Peanut Butter and Jeremy by James Kochalka is, to use one of my mom's words, just charming. Without this book in the stack there would be absolutely nothing for very little children. I thoroughly enjoyed this happy romp with a business tie wearing cat and a French fry loving bird. The drawings nearly look like something a kid would draw. The gentle twists and turns are clever and funny in a happy way. I wish Mr. Kochalka the very best because, from a marketing standpoint, this book will be a hard sell, because there are tons of things to read to preschoolers that are not comics and you're not going to get the crossover, adult readership from something like an Uncle Scrooge comic. He included ways to buy his books in the comic and it IS a unique niche, so I guess I'll declare Peanut Butter and Jeremy a Free Comic Book Day success. Will it translate to sales for Mr. Kolchalka?

Then there's Keenspace.com 2003 and Keenspot Spotlight 2003. I have to personally admire these online cartoonists who join keenspace.com. Apparently there is a huge community of wannabe cartoonists at this site. They want a comic strip voice and they have nowhere else to go. But, as you might suspect, so much of the work in these two anthologies is poor, it didn't make me want to run home and go to the website. I kept hoping, hoping some point of light would shine through, some wonderful, undiscovered talent would emerge I could follow online. Nope. These people just can not tell a one or two page comic or dramatic story well. The production values were also often poor. Some look like the same resolution used on web sites, way too low for printing. Hey, guys, I tried!

Another anthology that has better results is Alternative Comics number one featuring a 15 creators, including James Kochalka from the Peanut Butter book above. These all have that weird quality I remember from '60s underground comics, slice of life strips with some deeper meaning, if only they could be understood. Production qualities here are top notch. If you want to go exploring alternative, this is the one to pick up. However, it is too convoluted to pass the marketing test. I don't imagine too many customers will walk into a shop on Free Comic Book Day and ask for the most obscure, unfocused comic they have. Might play well in college towns.

Christa Shermot's 100 Percent Guaranteed How-to Manual for Getting Anyone to Read Comic Books is a hoot. These guys knows how to tell stories, how to market comics and how to produce them. A little wordy to be really gripping, but good stuff. Writer Myatt Murphy and artis Scott Dalrymple go through four different personality types and present takes on stories that would pull these people into buying comics. From a marketing standpoint, these two should have spent a little more space promoting their existing comics and Second To Some Studios.

Did you load up your car with neighborhood kids and drive them to your local comic book store? Buy something while you were there? Read something to the kids when you were back home? We've screamed for years about publishers not doing enough to promote the medium. Now comic book publishers large and small are gearing up to bring more people into our hobby. The time is now! They need your support! Read a kid a comic today!

BACK TO COMIC ARTISTS DIRECT