Over at The Engine, A. Dave Lewis is very interested in Platinum Studios:

I open up the Entertainment Weekly that came in today’s mail, pleasantly surprised to find, in place of its traditional Best-sellers List, a run-down of the top comic books and graphic novels for mid-December. And, also a nice surprise, this list is not entirely dominated by the superhero genre: There’s BKV’s Pride of Baghdad, Miller’s 300, and…ouch, Cowboys & Aliens.

What smarts most is that C&A is listed as the top-selling graphic novel. Yes, Entertainment Weekly crowns it as #1.

First, that’s crap. I think we all know that’s crap. And, by “we,” I mean people who actually go to comic book shops on an almost weekly basis to stock up on the newest, the best, and the guilty pleasures (not always mutually exclusive). Even folks who are only casually aware of the comic book industry — as either a consumer, a producer, or a critic (again, seldom mutually exclusive) — know that this is crap. Entertainment Weekly naming Cowboys & Aliens is the #1 graphic novel is like saying Girls Gone Wild Spring Break Sex Riot is the #1 DVD over Pirates of the Carribbean.

Oh, there’s much more to this than meets the eye. Click on that “more” below to find out what.

Lewis continues:

Numbers don’t lie, you say? Sure they do. Entertainment Weekly is quite clear that this report only comes from Midtown Comics in NYC; they list Midtown as the source at the bottom of the list as well as name-drop them at the top. For that matter, EW is actually quietly clear, not explaining to the mainstream reader exactly what Midtown is nor suggesting that, perhaps, this is one source of many. (Hell, why not ask Wizard, for that matter?)

This is the graphic novel that Midtown says they sold the most of that week — and I believe them, because that means very little, in fact. The 112-page yarn was marked down from $4.99 to $.75 in many stores. Think of it this way: If the cashier charged each customer an extra penny and shoved a “graphic novel” in their bag, how easy would it be for that book, even if it was a compilation of infant shitstains, to be the best-selling item that week? It’s simple, it’s sneaky, and it’s, sadly, legit. Worse, it’s practically what C&A did with, admittedly, a slightly higher price-point and (somewhat) better content. Platinum Comics Studios took a playbook from the ’90s spectator market, delivered a shiny product with a high page-count and a low — rather, a “reduced” — cover price, and foisted it upon the masses.

And we bought it. Because…why not? To quote Chris Sims:
Even considering the fact that your purchasing dollars may well go to fund the slightly unsavory business practices of Platinum Studios, that’s pretty much outweighed entirely by the fact that this is an original, 100-page graphic novel written by Fred Van Lente for less than five bucks.
Actually, it’s only $.75. I can’t play a video game or park a car for that little these days, though both of which would be a far wiser investment than Cowboys & Aliens. And, for that matter, during the week in question, at Midtown Comics it was free! Yes, it was the shitstain being shoved in people’s bags, but because it was so thick and shiny, who would say no?

In a way, I applaud comic shop customers for trying out this book and going beyond their normal, monthly pull list. That, in some sense, is a good sign. But it’s ridiculous for it to serve as an accurate temperature of the industry, especially in as high a profile magazine as EW. In fact, it’s quite suspect that the magazine chose this particular week on which to report as well as this particular store — one that was giving away C&A for free and keeping count.

Now, I don’t mean insult or injury to Andrew Foley, Dennis Calero, Fred Van Lente, or Luciano Lima. (Ok, to be honest, maybe just a little to Luciano — no offense, but I didn’t like the art. Just sayin’.) They did their jobs, they created a story, and they sold it. In fact, I hold Fred in high regard for an entirely separate work, the wonderful Action Philosophers! But I’m waiting for a rave review of C&A from anywhere. Is it worth reading because it’s been optioned? Because its from Fred & Co.? Because it’s free/$.75/$4.99? You can answer yes to any of those with a good conscience. Is it worth reading for the story, the art, the storytelling, the message, or even just the colors?

Hell no. Nope. All signs point to nay.

If EW wasn’t complicit in this scheme, then they’re been hoodwinked. Bamboozled. Run amok. Cowboys & Aliens didn’t land on the best-seller list, the best-seller list landed on Cowboys & Aliens — a world of tricky physics and questionable dealings run by Scott Rosenberg of Platinum Studios. Editor Lee Nordling has recently left Platinum, as has Barbara Kesel. It’s like the inverse of rats leaving a sinking ship.

So, in closing, let’s recount the factors:
Cowboys & Aliens was generally not sold for its $4.99 cover price. In many cases, including Midtown Comics, it was given away for free.
Entertainment Weekly chose this week and this location, for whatever reason, by which to gauge industry sales (not Diamond’s list, not Wizard, etc.). They chose to include promotional items in their tally and ignore price-point or sales in total dollar amount.
Platinum Studios paid retailers to order and sell the book. The company cut checks back to retailers for more than the cost of their orders as a ridiculous incentive to have it in stores.
C&A is being prepared for Hollywood treatment, largely based on these reported numbers and EW coverage. Beyond notoriety, there’s definite incentive for Scott Rosenberg and Platinum to undertake this course of action.
In short, this hurts the comic book industry. Like any industry, shady dealings take place every day — It’s the name of the game. But this is pure, unadulterated scheming for the benefit of nobody but Platinum. Readers of EW now get to enjoy an altogether false impression of comics, retailers are rewarded for valuing kick-backs over customers, and other publishers & creators are overshadowed by a straw man, a catspaw, a terrible abuse of the system.

Rosenberg, credited as the creator of C&A, has pulled a fast one on us. On EW (perhaps), on its readers, on Hollywood, on comic shops, on comic creators, and on the industry. There may be some people who liked the book — That’s fine, there’s no accounting for taste. But to suggest that C&A is the top of the industry in any category other than sleaziness is absurd.

Other professionals are somewhat less unforgiving. Steven Grant:

I don’t know that I’d exactly call it a scandal. It’s basically just another cheap marketing ploy, and it just points out that Platinum’s real intended target is Hollywood, not the comics market. The comics market is only a means to an end for them, and they’re relatively upfront about it. Neither are comics retailers amis for selling the book dirt cheap or for nothing, no matter what the perceived qualities or lack thereof of the product, and comics retailers getting paid by a publisher to sell comics is really nothing different than in the syndicated TV market, where often producers will pay local stations for the timeslot. Midtown Comics is arguably somewhat at fault for saying they moved more units of the book than any other graphic novel that week, since that’s likely not fabrication but it is deceptive.

Jackie Estrada:

I [...] love the folks at EW who have fought the good fight and tried their best to get mentions of comics and graphic novels in the magazine over the past few years (hi, Marc!). It was just unfortunate timing that the graphic novels top 10 list occurred on a week when this unusual promotion was going on at Midtown, but I’m sure it the folks at Platinum think it was great timing.

Of course, if you want to read the book for free, you can do so simply enough online…

This entry was posted on Monday, January 8th, 2007 at 8:53 am and is filed under Comic Books, Independent, Industry, News & Views, Retailers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.