posted February 10, 2003 10:47 PM            

quote:

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Originally posted by datalore:

Incredibly good taste of schatzie to have mentioned this!

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Thanks!

posted February 11, 2003 02:42 AM               

I am sure you don't remember me.
It was been 17-18 years ago.
You publish two letters that I wrote that appear in Batman #391 and #399.

You made that 16 year old comic book geek very HAPYY!!

posted February 11, 2003 06:21 AM               

The DC Direct CSA just rekindled my interest in them, and they were probably my favorite villain team as a young'un.

-Thor

posted February 11, 2003 07:02 AM            

few questions

1.any new batman trades that isn't of any work of the past 2 to 3 years? like further back.i know contagion is getting re-released but surely there's gotta be some material further back that's worth collecting.

2.was there a tpb of The Final Night and if so any chance of it being brought back.if not any possibility of getting one done

posted February 11, 2003 09:23 AM               

The digest size is fun but these days it's either comic sized, oversized or, as CrossGen and Dark Horse have tried, "manga" sized. Of course, there's no one size for the Japanese material and some are small enough to be digests, but you get my point. Will we do something like the "traveller" edition? Who knows.

Sales on the Archives have been steady, depending upon the character theyhave been good or okay. No stinkers.

There's been precious little work with our characters done by foreign publishers. The Batman book you mention was actually coordinated through Andy Helfer's office here in the states.

Just Imagine did okay, not as well as we had hoped and there are few people to match Stan Lee's stature to even make a similar offer.

A few Bronze Age titles come up at Archive meetings but the focus really remains on the Golden and Silver Ages.

The sampler notion is to offer people a low-priced way to read Golden Age or Silver Age stories that may lead people to the Archives themselves.

Yeah, we're counting Blackhawk as a war title since that was the focus of his stories from the beginning.

The idea of post-Wein/Wrightson and pre-Moore Swamp Things stories has never really been explored.

The non-Azzarello HELLBLAZER is set for later this year.

DNewton, since I've made it clear the trades need to work on their own, collecting a strong story, how does shoe-horning in an unrelated story help? It certainly won't lead enough people to a monthly comic to either save the comic's poor sales or withstand the criticism from readers (and potential our bookstore buyers) for the plan. While it makes perfect sense to you, it's not at all commercially viable.

Funny, just this last week we were talking about some Batman material from the last few years. Nothing decided yet, but we'll see. I also may have to come back here and admit I was wrong about something I stated more than once.

Nope, nothing planned for FINAL NIGHT.

posted February 11, 2003 09:42 AM               

quote:

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Originally posted by Bob Greenberger:
DNewton, since I've made it clear the trades need to work on their own, collecting a strong story, how does shoe-horning in an unrelated story help? It certainly won't lead enough people to a monthly comic to either save the comic's poor sales or withstand the criticism from readers (and potential our bookstore buyers) for the plan. While it makes perfect sense to you, it's not at all commercially viable.

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After all, the essence of collected editions program is to reprint Batman comics in a Batman trade, and Wonder Woman comics in a Wonder Woman trade. The idea that the whole program has to serve a dual purpose to save one particular floppy sales dog makes little practical sense.

posted February 11, 2003 09:45 AM               

quote:

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Originally posted by Bob Greenberger: quote:
The war stuff has done all right, but not enough for us to schedule anything more as of today.

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quote:

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Originally posted by Mike Falcon:
quote:

Darn, I really enjoyed Enemy Ace and Blackhawk (I haven't tried Sgt. Rock yet).
Looking forwar to future volumes of these series and of course the inclusion of the Unknown Soldier and Haunted Tank.

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Hmmm, pity to hear this, While I have mild interest in Enemy Ace and Blackhawk [and not a lot of interest in Sgt. Rock] and thus haven't picked them up, I'd love an Unknown Soldier collection [probably the only war series that ever really got my attention].

posted February 11, 2003 10:42 AM            

I've got just one quick question for you.

Question:
1)Will there be a trade paperback for Zero Hour again? If so, when can it be expected to come out?

posted February 11, 2003 01:01 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by Bob Greenberger:
The non-Azzarello HELLBLAZER is set for later this year.

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Thank you, sir, for responding!
If I may get greedy for a while:
I've only discovered Hellblazer with all the tpbs that're out now. I like this book.
I see you only mentioned "non-Azzarello". Does that mean it will be a collection of Carey's current work, or will it be another Ennis (maybe Jenkins)?

posted February 11, 2003 01:42 PM               

quote:

---

Originally posted by Bob Greenberger:
The digest size is fun but these days it's either comic sized, oversized or, as CrossGen and Dark Horse have tried, "manga" sized. Of course, there's no one size for the Japanese material and some are small enough to be digests, but you get my point. Will we do something like the "traveller" edition? Who knows.

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I love the archives. Unfortunately, I can't afford them (I own less than 10). I would love to see them reprinted in the smaller, "traveller," size like the CrossGen (Forge and Edge) books with a similar price point.

I would purchase the entire line-up produced to date in that format if the price was in line with what CrossGen charges for theirs.

I'd also love to see the "Best of DC Blue Ribbon Digest" return to the monthly schedule in that format with collected stories for a certain theme or character. It would be a lot of fun and would probably go over well in the bookstores.

posted February 11, 2003 03:21 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by Bob Greenberger:
There's been precious little work with our characters done by foreign publishers. The Batman book you mention was actually coordinated through Andy Helfer's office here in the states.

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This likely wouldn't interest anyone other than as a curiousity, but Egmont published a Superman special originated for Europe about ten years ago. I'm trying to remember the details - it was a new take on either Superman Red and Blue, or the Sword of Superman. Perhaps by Len Wein and Alex Saviuk (though I'm seeing Gil Kane in my head).

posted February 11, 2003 04:23 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by Bob Greenberger:
Just Imagine did okay, not as well as we had hoped and there are few people to match Stan Lee's stature to even make a similar offer.

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The only person of sufficient stature I can think of is Will Eisner, and I doubt that he'd be interested at this point in his career. Pity the offer was never made to Kirby.

quote:

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Originally posted by Bob Greenberger:
Yeah, we're counting Blackhawk as a war title since that was the focus of his stories from the beginning.

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I was afraid you'd say that. I don't suppose there's much point in asking how long, at current rates of sale, it's likely to be....

posted February 11, 2003 04:32 PM               

Just Imagine: Batman created by art spiegelman

Just Imagine: Wonder Woman created by S.Clay Wilson

Just Imagine: Plastic Man created by Gilbert Shelton

posted February 11, 2003 04:54 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by James Friel:
The only person of sufficient stature I can think of is Will Eisner, and I doubt that he'd be interested at this point in his career. Pity the offer was never made to Kirby.

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Sorry to go off course a little here, but I think the novelty of the Just Imagine premise was entirely in having a name synonymous with *The* rival publisher (and a very different style of comics, at least at first) consorting with the enemy, so to speak. So I can see Eisner, who managed to become a legend while steering clear of the Big 2 completely (although I do love that pin-up in Superman #400)--but Kirby? He did a substantial body of work at DC, and we've already seen his take on a number of DC's high profile concepts, even if only in the pitiful Super Powers mini-series. Same goes for ditko, although he managed to keep to himself more in his DC work.

I'm more interested in the concept in reverse, using a creator associated almost exclusively with DC for decades--i.e. Just Imagine Joe Kubert creating Sgt. Fury, Daredevil, Namor, Ka-Zar, etc...although Joe has said that he has little interest in working on anybody else's characters anymore. Carmine Infantino and Jim Aparo would also be interesting on a number of Marvel characters. Just Imagine Julie Schwartz *editing* the Marvel Universe would be fascinating to me, but not exactly an easy sell. Too many of the top-level creators still with us jumped back and forth between Marvel and DC to make their interpretations very novel.

In the realm of *real* just imagining, think about Seigel and Shuster on, say, the FF or Thor.

posted February 11, 2003 04:56 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by James Friel:
The only person of sufficient stature I can think of is Will Eisner, and I doubt that he'd be interested at this point in his career. Pity the offer was never made to Kirby.

---

Sorry to go off course a little here, but I think the novelty of the Just Imagine premise was entirely in having a name synonymous with *The* rival publisher (and a very different style of comics, at least at first) consorting with the enemy, so to speak. So I can see Eisner, who managed to become a legend while steering clear of the Big 2 completely (although I do love that pin-up in Superman #400)--but Kirby? He did a substantial body of work at DC, and we've already seen his take on a number of DC's high profile concepts, even if only in the pitiful Super Powers mini-series. Same goes for ditko, although he managed to keep to himself more in his DC work.

I'm more interested in the concept in reverse, using a creator associated almost exclusively with DC for decades--i.e. Just Imagine Joe Kubert creating Sgt. Fury, Daredevil, Namor, Ka-Zar, etc...although Joe has said that he has little interest in working on anybody else's characters anymore. Carmine Infantino and Jim Aparo would also be interesting on a number of Marvel characters. Just Imagine Julie Schwartz *editing* the Marvel Universe would be fascinating to me, but not exactly an easy sell. Too many of the top-level creators still with us jumped back and forth between Marvel and DC to make their interpretations very novel.

In the realm of *real* just imagining, think about Seigel and Shuster on, say, the FF or Thor.

posted February 11, 2003 07:05 PM            

quote:

---

Since I've made it clear the trades need to work on their own, collecting a strong story, how does shoe-horning in an unrelated story help? It certainly won't lead enough people to a monthly comic to either save the comic's poor sales or withstand the criticism from readers (and potential our bookstore buyers) for the plan. While it makes perfect sense to you, it's not at all commercially viable.

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posted February 11, 2003 07:18 PM               

Bob, let me invite you not to engage this matter further since I think most people see the pointlessness of that path.

DNewton, Bob Greenberger is here to give us what insight he can into the Collected Edition publishing schedule. He is not here to defend DC's publishing policies to you or anyone else nor is here to be held accountable for titles you like that no one else does. Please try to conduct yourself in a manner consistent with others you see on this board.

posted February 11, 2003 07:32 PM               

-

quote:

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Originally posted by segaboi24:
2.was there a tpb of The Final Night and if so any chance of it being brought back.if not any possibility of getting one done

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-Just to add to bob's comment of no final night plans. There WAS a final night tpb. Couldnt have gone out of print too long ago, since i ordered it from previews about 2 yrs ago. Actually, to summarize the annual company wide crossovers (which thnk gd seem to be dying, i mean i like them, but they seem to do more harm than good), crisis (thoe dc original), zero hour (94), underworld unleashed (95), final night (96), and dc one million (98) have been reprinted. Genesis (97), day of judgment (99), and last laugh (01) have not been reprinted. I think there's a market for day of judgment, though, as its geoff johns first high profile gig, and reintroes hal jordan into a pivotal dcu role, and some are hal loyalists (although that doesnt explain spectre's poor sales)

-Also, bob, is it assured that every original hc, once sold out in that form, will be released in sc? I ask b/c ive bought some recent hc's for fear they wont make it to sc, and i personally greatly cherish the $10 over the hc treatment.

Over the last few yrs ive noticed, however, that seemignyl every original hc makes it to softcover eventually, such as the jla hc's and the batman hc's of the past few yrs. Can we assume this will continue for such titles as absolution and selinas big score? (although i would understand if child of dreams remained in hc, since thats a bit of an exception, and at 24.95, generally a sc reprinting that amount of monthly material would only go for $5 less, in fact id be surprised if its released in sc)

posted February 11, 2003 07:54 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by gothcityfan:

-Also, bob, is it assured that every original hc, once sold out in that form, will be released in sc? I ask b/c ive bought some recent hc's for fear they wont make it to sc, and i personally greatly cherish the $10 over the hc treatment.

Over the last few yrs ive noticed, however, that seemignyl every original hc makes it to softcover eventually, such as the jla hc's and the batman hc's of the past few yrs. Can we assume this will continue for such titles as absolution and selinas big score? (although i would understand if child of dreams remained in hc, since thats a bit of an exception, and at 24.95, generally a sc reprinting that amount of monthly material would only go for $5 less, in fact id be surprised if its released in sc)

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I would think at this point its a fair assumption to say that as soon as DC sells out of the HC editions plans are made for SC editions to soon hit the market. It's just a matter of how long it takes. Look how long it took Crimson Mist to come out in SC.