[B5JMS] Is "Supreme Power" going anywhere?...

[b5jms at cs.columbia.edu]

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From: "Inanimate Carbon Rod" <rocketdoglv at earthlink.net>
Lines: 36
Date: Mon, 29 Dec 2003 02:14:00 GMT


"Scott Dubin" <scott34494 at yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:887734a2.0312281540.23853233 at posting.google.com...
> "Inanimate Carbon Rod" <rocketdoglv at earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:<mfGHb.9338$lo3.4755 at newsread2.news.pas.earthlink.net>...
> > "stace" <amp_charlie at hotmail.corm> wrote in message
> > news:vut3sgok1anm0d at corp.supernews.com...
> > >
> > > "Joemovie" <joemovie at aol.com> wrote in message
> > > news:20031228005626.29446.00001364 at mb-m02.aol.com...
> > > > Since the first issue, I've been reading "Supreme Power"...And
enjoying
> > > I really don't like Marvel's tendency to take a 2 issue arc and make
it
> > 10.
> >
> > They're doing it on purpose to get 10 issues worth of profit out of you
> > instead of only 2. Only way to break them of this tendency is to simply
not
> > buy the books. And complain with real paper letters (not e-mail).
>
> An argument which makes entirely no sense, since the profit is
> determined by how often the book comes out, not the pacing.

Makes a lot of sense if you've got any intelligence at all: Selling 10 books
at $4.95 is $49.50 as opposed to 2 books at $4.95 is only $9.90. Simple
math. Stretch the story out and you'll make more money, unless you screw
over the audience and put out crap. Which is the whole point. If Joemovie
doesn't like the way Marvel takes a 2 issue arc and makes it into 10, then
simply don't buy the books.

DC and Marvel are both guilty of this practice. Granted, some writers take
longer to get the story out, JMS being one of them, but the publishers have
a great deal of say in this sort of thing.



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Lines: 51
From: jmsatb5 at aol.com (Jms at B5)
Date: 29 Dec 2003 23:04:25 GMT

>Makes a lot of sense if you've got any intelligence at all: Selling 10 books
>at $4.95 is $49.50 as opposed to 2 books at $4.95 is only $9.90. Simple
>math. Stretch the story out and you'll make more money, unless you screw
>over the audience and put out crap. Which is the whole point. If Joemovie
>doesn't like the way Marvel takes a 2 issue arc and makes it into 10, then
>simply don't buy the books.

I'm sorry, but as everyone else here has pointed out, your math simply doesn't
work.

On ASM, they collect together about every six issues for graphic novels. 
Doesn't matter if I do one, two, three, four, five or six issue arcs, the size
of the GN is the same.  More to the point, the people who buy ASM are the
people who buy ASM.  Every month it sells about the same number of books, give
or take.  We're pretty consistent.  Writing big arcs doesn't make Marvel any
more money than small arcs.  Or no arcs.  

And, in truth, I get yelled at no matter *what* I do on arc stuff.  If I do a
three-issue arc, I get yelled at for padding...if I do a one-issue stand-alone,
I get yelled at for writing "filler."  

But understand, straight from the horse's mouth (or the opposite end if you're
so inclined)... there is no pressure to do any length in my story arcs, they
let me tell the stories at the pace I feel works best for the structure.  And
there is no more money made by Marvel if I do a long arc as opposed to a short
one.  Zip.  The sales are the sales, the GNs are the GNs.

>DC and Marvel are both guilty of this practice. Granted, some writers take
>longer to get the story out, JMS being one of them, but the publishers have
>a great deal of say in this sort of thing.

Again, they haven't said boo to me on this thing.  Not once.

Finally, as for Supreme Power...I gave everybody fair warning in every
interview I did on this book: it's not going to be a conventional book, it's
not going to be plot driven, its going to be a strong character story and it's
going to develop over time into something extremely intense.  There's some
serious action coming up very soon, but it's not aimed at stopping Doctor
Destructo before he can unleash his Whammo ray and turn Chicago into gold so he
can clean up.  It ain't that kind of book.  It's kind of an experiment, which
is why it's under the Max label.  Some dig it, some don't, no harm, no foul.

 jms

(jmsatb5 at aol.com)
(all message content (c) 2003 by synthetic worlds, ltd., 
permission to reprint specifically denied to SFX Magazine 
and don't send me story ideas)