To People Recommending Comics on Tumblr

[redfiona99]

(In case you're wondering why I'm posting this over here, it's to get opinions and to get shouted at if I'm horribly over-offensive.)

I get it, you're excited about shiny new comic X. And you want everyone else to read it because it is awesome. This is good. Please feel free to recommend shiny new comic X to me at all times.

But so many of you are doing it wrong.

The major mistake most of you are making is not telling me why it is good. Shouting at me and telling me it has a female writer, or artist or character (for female read also non-straight) doesn't tell me whether it's any good. It just tells me what's in it and who it's by.

Tell me that the art is pretty, that it's well-written, that I'll love the characters because of whatever reason, tell me not to worry that the first two issues are a bit wobbly because it hits its stride in issue 4, give me details.

Because it's details as to why something is good that I'm after, because I do not have the time, money or effort to waste on bad comics*.

The other major mistake I see is the following opening gambit - "It's better than Batman".

Now, it's entirely possible that this is true, but again, no proof is given and it's going to get the back up of any Bat-fan in the vicinity. And I am a Bat-fan. I have been batty about Bats since before I can remember. I can remember the first time I read a Sherlock Holmes or heard about Doctor Who but not the first time I saw anything Batman-related. That puts him in some rarefied company with Postman Pat, Fireman Sam and Thomas the Tank Engine. So why are you dissing my mate Bruce?

It's a really poor sales strategy. Be confident in the product you are advertising, do not mention the opposition (unless it's in a, "if you liked storyline x, you might like this" way).

You'll probably be able to get more people reading shiny new comic X with these two tips, and that's the aim, isn't it.

* I cannot speak of crack but I have it on good authority that four or five years ago in the UK, heroin was cheaper than a Marvel habit.

Comments

[lilacsigil.livejournal.com]

I just tried calculating the comic:black market oxycontin ratio, and in Australian prices you can get about 5mg oxycontin (the lowest strength) for the price of a single digital comic, but to keep up the average illegal habit you'd have to be buying about 8 digital or 6 physical comics a day. So right now I think comics is slightly cheaper...at the moment.

Also "Batman" is such a wide range of comics, that "better than Batman" could perfectly well mean "marginally better than the worst comic I have ever read".

[redfiona99.livejournal.com]

Very good point. I *ahem*ed All Star Batman and Robin to see if it was as bad as I'd been told and it was worse. It'd be very hard not to be better than that.