Another perspective on the comic...

[pandorasblog]

While delving through my comics/feminism RSS feeds, I ran across an article: Why The Anita Blake Comic Won't Succeed (And Trust Me, I Want To Be Wrong). It turns out to be less an article on the likelihood of that particular comic doing well, and more one on why the author doesn't seem to think that many women read comics at all (began commenting, then realised it was turning into an essay; life's too short, yadda yadda yadda). Nevertheless, I thought it was interesting to have a line on the comic from outside the immediate fandom, and this is a particularly ironic one since LKH seems to have added First Ever Bringer Of Comics To Wimminkind to her list of imagined accomplishments...

Comments

[larathia.livejournal.com]

Why should a working woman/mom (and yes, I’m being a bit stereotypical here) who does most of the shopping for her household plunk down $3.95 (minimum) for a comic that will provide her 30-45 minutes of escape when she can buy an Anita Blake novel for $6.99 and get 4-8 hours of pleasure, with more detail, not to mention the sex scenes which will most likely be cut out?

Really? PROMISE? I will so buy the comic just for that. Oh yes. Yes please. Sex-free AB? And no ten pages of what she's fucking wearing because it's ON THE PAGE ALREADY?

...I wasn't a big fan of this idea, but now I'm thinking I just might give it a go.

[zgirl714.livejournal.com]

Damn that is a good point!

[pandorasblog]

Firstly, my understanding is that it's an adaption of Guilty Pleasures, which didn't have any sex in it. The writer mentions disliking the early books, so she may not have read enough of them to realise the content of that first story.

As for if/when they adapt the later books... it's hard to say. On the one hand, there are more comics featuring explicit sexual stuff than there used to be, particularly since the Comics Code stopped being the be-all and end-all for mainstream publishers. On the other hand, comics are a different medium, and there's a lot to get through in a small number of pages per installment. I'd willingly sacrifice having to *see* nekkid Anita embracing whoever, just so long as I didn't have to read repititious stuff about how hot! wet! and tight! it was for the six pages it seems to take in prose...

[scarbie.livejournal.com]

And no ten pages of what she's fucking wearing because it's ON THE PAGE ALREADY?

*ROFL!* Maybe LKH should've gone the graphic novel route sooner. *lol* That is a great point. It's like, "Damn! I know your Nikes have the swoosh that matches the tank top you're wearing under your short-sleeved black rayon dress shirt." By it already being on the page that cuts out a 1/4 of the book. :)

I'm not too worried about the sex scenes for Guilty Pleasures because that book was tame by current AB standards.

[pandorasblog]

I know; I was bemused! She does say that she's generalising based on romance readers, and seems to use the term 'women' when she means only middle-aged mothers. Had I posted my extra-large comment (it's really awful that typing the words 'extra large' on this community brings up an involuntary mental image of Micah 's schlong), I would have pointed out that:

a) fans in their teens and early twenties, the generation which I'm part of, tend to have higher disposable incomes and therefore to buy more comics (though my general cash-drought leads me to opt for more trade paperbacks: better value);

b) I've always been welcomed with open arms in any fanboy environment, based on the fact that geek guys really dig it when they find women who can converse with them on their favourite subject; and

c) I'd guess that most women even in the age/lifestage group she mentions avoid buying comics not because of the cost or the fanboys, but because as a group they are unlikely to be aware that there might be comics out there to interest them. Comics have come a long way since that generation's childhood, and even so, many people in the mainstream of both sexes and various ages are simply unaware of them because assumptions about the nature of comics tend to be made based on a passing or assumed knowledge of the most famous superhero books.

I do think you're right on the money when you mention the books being marketed to the 'porny end of the romance market' - it would certainly explain how people are gravitating to them who wouldn't previously have been involved with a sci-fi/fantasy/horror fandom. Probably there are a lot of newer fans for whom the books are their token vampire/monster fantasy, rather than one expression of the concept of vampires and monsters. And that's okay; it'd be a dull world if we all had the same background. But it does strike me that there must be a lot more misunderstandings out there...

so, yeah, I commented:

[mneiai.livejournal.com]

I’m a female who has been reading comic books for over a decade. I don’t read romances often, but when I do the average romance novel takes me about 30 minutes to read. And I find them far less interesting than comic books, as well as far more finite, so that I have nothing to look forward to afterward. I think the idea that women won’t spend the money on comic books, because of how quickly they go, but will spend money on romance novels, is probably not quite true.

Also, I’m confused by the fact that you think that comic books start at $3.95? The average comic I read starts at $2.99 an issue. If a person reads comics in TPBs, then they can potentially save more money.

And I think the majority of your generalizations can easily be said about men, too, and why many males I know don’t read comics.

I think the ABVH books will flop because they’re off of a series that, while it would have made an awesome comic book in the beginning with the mystery plots and fight seens, is now little more than erotica. From what I’ve seen of the comic, they’re trying to mix the “sexy” Anita with a more action-filled comic, but not succeeding.

[scarbie.livejournal.com]

*sighs* One reason why I think the comic won't sell well is because the art is terrible. I've seen comics with good stories go down the drain because the art team was crap. There are plenty of women that read comics. I've been reading them since I was a little girl.

Nevertheless, I thought it was interesting to have a line on the comic from outside the immediate fandom, and this is a particularly ironic one since LKH seems to have added First Ever Bringer Of Comics To Wimminkind to her list of imagined accomplishments...

*LOL* Someone just needs to make her a certificate listing all of these things she's a so called pioneer in because that list is just getting longer and longer.

Re: so, yeah, I commented:

[pandorasblog]

Good reply. :) I wonder if she'll reply to that...

And yeah, I was a little puzzled by the price thing, but didn't like to mention it since on the rare occasions that I buy new comics, I'm paying UK prices anyway; about �2.50... $3.95 did sound rather unlikely, though, even to me.

[dwg.livejournal.com]

Personally, I think it won't sell well becasue fans of the series who would otherwise go, "OMG COMIC! YAY!" will see the art and just go, "WTF? Um. EWG." and not buy it.

I don't think LKH will gain very many new fans via the comic arena simply because there are way better things out there to read. Alan Moore, she is most decidedly not. Not to mention, the porny and/or violent things tend to have a disturbing amount of plot - which is something that comic readers who venture into Anita Blake-dom will probably be very picky about as the series progresses.

Naw, I see this whole wymyn 4 k0mix thing as a really big failure.

[ravenhaley.livejournal.com]

I still hold the only reason why Marvel picked up on Anita Blake Vampire Humper is because of this:

Dark Horse Comics will publish a new series of Buffy the Vampire Slayer comics that will pick up the story of the cult TV show and act as a de facto eighth season, Comics Continuum reported.

The new Buffy series is targeted for a March launch, and the first story arc will be a four-part series that will chronicle events after the Buffy television series' finale, which aired in 2003. Buffy creator Joss Whedon will write, with art by Georges Jeanty.

Buffy already has a following as it is. Not to mention this is going to be over the next season. Many fans were upset there wasn't going to be another season to explain what happens next. Anita will only be the ugly step-sister to Buffy.

[pandorasblog]

Yeah, and I can just imagine how people will react to it. Buffy is still way more well-known than Anita, specially among people who aren't dyed-in-the-wool geeks per se, or who are very into the TV/movie side of horror/fantasy fandom, but don't know a lot of authors doing this type of thing. A lot of people will assume it's a Buffy rip-off.

[frabjously.livejournal.com]

Maybe it'll branch into an alternative universe, like so many other Marvel fandoms?

...Hopefully?

[pandorasblog]

I don't think it'd happen, because it's not an original Marvel fandom like, say, X-Men. They wouldn't have the creative control to be able to do that; I can't imagine LKH having allowed the comic to be produced unless there was little to no leeway for anyone to change anything.

Though... in a way, the novel canon is now its own alternate universe...

[ravenhaley.livejournal.com]

The comic book people from Dabel Brothers Productions are on LKH's board. I asked if they had any plans to make alternative universes.

Some LKH lover came back to tell one that LKH doesn't share/play well with others. It doesn't matter if she does or doesn't if she wants to branch her piece of crap out to other people. (The Earth is Doomed)

Anyways, I finally got an answer that they only are going to do "Guilty Pleasures". Of course depending on how well the comics do, is if there will be another book of "Laughing Corpse" and so on.

Marvel has signed on as the exclusive publisher for Dabel Brothers Productions, obtaining the marketing, print and distribution rights. The first project under the agreement is an adaptation of Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter novel "Guilty Pleasures".

[pandorasblog]

Interesting; so this is as much a stepping stone for Dabel as anything else: get a known license, then if you do well with that, maybe you get the chance to produce your original concepts under Marvel's auspices. Which is nice for them, and a reason for them to work hard on the comic. I guess it's just too little, too late for me... hard to get excited about developments with AB:VH stuff when the main canon is such a clusterfuck. In both the literal and metaphorical senses.