Editor’s note: DC Comics President Paul Levitz returns for his third post here on Blog@Newsarama; check out the first two here and here.
by Paul Levitz
We don’t stop to celebrate enough in our busy lives, and that’s particularly true in comics with the whirlwind of deadlines, and the increasing geographical diversity of the creative process. Film and television have a longstanding tradition of the wrap party celebrating the end of a project or a season, but we don’t have an equivalent. So last night we had a lovely evening in this celebratory spirit.
The high point of the evening was the uncorking of a bottle of THE SPIRIT OF CHARDONNAY, complete with Wildwood Cemetery Vintage label, which was originally presented by a vintner fan named Richard Pryor to Will Eisner, and then given by Will to me at his passing. I had set aside the moment to celebrate our completion of the portion of THE SPIRIT ARCHIVE project devoted to the original Sunday sections, the heart of the legendary material which established Will’s reputation, and taught several generations how good comics could be. The first copies of THE SPIRIT ARCHIVE #24 have now come off the press in China, so we gathered to pour out the libation and toast Will.
Joining my wife Jeanette (no, not Jenette Kahn) and I around the table for the toast (and a fine dinner) were Ann Eisner and a sizeable contingent of Will’s family, including nephew Carl Gropper, who now has the high honor of leading Will Eisner Studios. From the DC side, we brought the team responsible for the ARCHIVES creatively, including Richard Bruning (who launched the series so long ago), Georg Brewer, Bob Harras, Robbin Brosterman and current SPIRIT ARCHIVES editor Scott Nybakken, plus the original designer of the series, Amie Brockaway-Metcalf. Representing the business side of THE SPIRIT ARCHIVES was Bob Wayne, whose passion for the program began when the first possibility of the project emerged. And equally importantly, we had a key contingent of the people who have kept THE SPIRIT alive: Dennis Kitchen, who has been friend, agent, provocateur and publisher to Will, accompanied by his family (including daughter Alexa fresh from signing a graphic novel contract that afternoon); Judy Hansen, literary agent for the property; THE SPIRIT film producer Michael Uslan and director Frank Miller (armed with a set photo from my cameo moment).
Present only in spirit, but vital to the project, were original series editor and continuing contributor Dale Crain, who does much of the production work from China and was unable to return for the occasion, Bill Blackbeard, one of the great archivists and collectors, who has been invaluable in filling gaps in the project, and, of course, Will’s legion of talented collaborators.
Besides energetic discussion of Will’s qualities intermingled with toasts, there was a feisty diversion into current electoral politics, updates on families, recollections of moments when our lives crossed, and a general satisfaction on a job well done. The graying fans division in the room recalled the white envelope sets of SPIRIT reprints from the early ‘70s, and discovered that Will himself had printed them on a machine in his office, and that there were six of us at the dinner who had collected them in the hope of having the whole set…a hope our ARCHIVE project had finally fulfilled, decades later.
We really should do this sort of thing more often.
* * * * *
Question time II
Time doesn’t permit me to answer all the questions left over from previous blogging, but let me address a few:
OM asked “What would it take to get you to [write the LEGION regularly] again?” I’d probably have to give up the day job, and Jim would have to move on to something he’d enjoy more…I’ve been a fan of his LSH since I was 9 years old and wouldn’t want to push him off it.
Steve wanted to know what three things was I proudest of in my time in DC’s management, and what major decisions would I do differently with hindsight? It’s hard to pick three things out of three decades, but: I’m particularly proud of having written the first standard written contract for talent in our field in 1977—embodying basic concepts like return of original art, reprint fees, and laying out simple policies like the period of time in which the company was obliged to accept delivery. Up until then, most of these things were done at the discretion of the publisher, and could be suspended or withdrawn at will. Similarly, my part in establishing a royalty plan that covered all of DC’s freelance writers and artists in 1981 was a peak moment. There have been royalty deals back to at least 1940, but they generally affected only the talent who had the most negotiating leverage or savvy, and it was a critical event when any talent whose work sold enough copies could benefit—especially when Marvel followed suit in response a month or two later. Less a single moment, but equally proud an accomplishment has been my part in building the direct side of the distribution of comics. I came in at the literal beginning (being asked as the house fan if this idea of Phil Seuling’s had any merit), and have had the opportunity to do a number of things that built the system through the ‘80s onward. There are folks who disagree with some of those steps, of course, either because they’re not privy to information that only a few of us shared at the time, or because of legitimate differences of opinion of what was good for the field, but none the less I’ll stand by my record.
There’s a much longer list of things I’d hope we’d have done differently with the benefit of hindsight, since in many cases decisions have to be made on very imperfect information, or hastily to deal with circumstance. One non-controversial one is an easy example: when we introduced that first talent contract, it had a flat guaranteed reprint fee per page. In the pre-royalty days, that was an important step forward…but in the royalty era, it turned out to be cumbersome and uneconomical for some projects (most talent would rather receive a royalty stream than have a project not get published). This is the situation that’s limited our ability to a few SHOWCASE projects we planned last year, and we’ve successfully amended many of the relevant agreements since, so hopefully some of those projects will see the light of day.
A few people here and elsewhere seemed to take issue with my comment that manga was more “increasingly dominated by a handful of properties” than American graphic novels. I went back and checked a bit, and for the fourth quarter last year, something north of 20% of bookstore manga sales came from four properties, and over 40 of the top 50 titles were from those four. That seems pretty concentrated to me, and more so than our core business, so I’ll stand by the comment.
Scott King commented “Nice job avoiding any serious questions.” There are times when I’d love to invite the whole community into my office, spread out a decade or two’s worth of history, and make the case for whatever’s under debate; particularly when the debate’s about my competency, sanity or decency. Unfortunately, that’s not even remotely appropriate, practical, or likely to work. There’s a certain fair expectation of privacy, even in disputed situations, and while our fans’ curiosity sometimes knows no boundaries, we won’t always satisfy it…even at the price that we might look worse than if the facts were all available…because we want people we do business with to have comfort with our discretion and confidentiality. I hope this space permits some serious dialog, where some meaningful subject matter can be touched on, and where I can share with a later generation of fans some of the moments that I treasure about being in this business, and some observations from a vantage point that most fans don’t have. Some of the questions also brought up interesting subjects that deserve more than a two sentence answer (like the future impact of the digital world) and that I hope to address as we have interesting developments to talk about.
Editor’s update: David Hyde at DC sent us an update on the release schedule of The Spirit Archives; currently there are three volumes in the works that haven’t arrived in stores yet. They are:
–The color Sunday Spirit sections have all been collected in Will Eisner’s The Spirit Archives Vols. 1-24 — the section ended in October of 1952. (Paul referenced the last of these up top).
–From October 1941 to March 1944, there was also a daily, black and white newspaper strip of The Spirit, and Will Eisner’s The Spirit Archives Vol. 25 will collect all of these strips.
–Everything that Eisner did with The Spirit after the end of the weekly section in 1952 will be collected in Will Eisner’s The Spirit Archives Vol. 26, which will include his covers for the various Spirit reprints for Warren and Kitchen Sink.
Paul, an excellent summation of your responsibilities as a businessman.
What qualities do you think makes a successful comic shop?
Comment by John Smith — April 15, 2008 @ 8:50 pm
Paul,
Thanks for your time in doing this as well as your clear and respectful answers.
As for my question, what I would like to know is why the paper in the trades is of lesser quality than that of the the monthlies. Aren’t trades generally used more for put it on the bookshelf/repeated use activities? I was particularly taken back by the recent release of Captain Carrot and the Final Ark, a mini I greatly enjoyed (and feverishly anticipating the sequel and Showcase!). I know price has to be taken into consideration, but quality should be number one. I don’t want to have to always rely on the monthlies to enjoy the highest quality of a specific work. I don’t have the space.
What I’m even more annoyed by is the paper quality in the hardcovers, editions with even a greater bookshelf purpose. You don’t have to put them on glossy paper, but there are far better, whiter matte papers out there that DC could be using. I was even surprised that the paper in the New Gods books was of lesser quality than some of the original issues I have! I’d love to enjoy Starman and Gotham Central with their colors and inks unmuddied by low quality paper, so I’m hoping for their hardcovers to be like that, but I’m not holding my breath. I’d gladly pay an extra five to ten bucks for it.
In the end, I just want better paper (or at least matches the paper in the initial monthlies) in the trades, and most definitely in the hardcovers.
That’s my only complaint (except for the cancellation of Shadowpact). I like what DC is putting out and have so for years. Thanks for the comics.
P. S. If you’re looking for trade suggestions, I’d love a thick omnibus collecting Peter Milligan’s Human Target. They don’t have to be hardcover. They could be softcovers like the “Our Worlds at War” one that came out awhile ago.
Comment by Daniel M. — April 16, 2008 @ 4:26 am
The Spirit in Space inspired me like nothing else. It is the reason I love Sci-Fi Pulp. Eisner and Wood together! Man, that stuff is gorgeous. I have a beaten old copy of the Kitchen Sink reprint but can’t wait to get my hands on this.
Congrats on the wrap!
Rick
Comment by Rick Remender — April 16, 2008 @ 5:18 am
Paul
Thanks for everything you’ve done so far. But we want more LSH from you and Keith…
And is it not time to put your massive library online, in a more sensible way than your competition has done?
Comment by Paul Simmonds — April 16, 2008 @ 7:31 am
Paul,
thank you for taking the time out to reach out like this. It is still so very cool that a person can turn a passion like comic books into a career. I was one of your fanzine subscribers from way way back (even before you combined with another fanzine: now, memory is failing: The Comic Reader and The Comic Collecter? Yeeshh…where’s Rocket’s Blast?). I’m always amazed how so many fans then, the fanzine editors and letter page writers, did elevate themselves into the professional comics world. Belated congrats : )
Quick question: you mention “…the portion..” of this collection. Is there more to come? Any chance to collect the Harvey and Kitchen Sink (and any other pieces I may have forgotten or not known about) work in future (if there are) volumes?
Thanks again Paul.
Stuart
Comment by Stuart Nager — April 16, 2008 @ 7:35 am
Nice topic and great professional response to questions - we fans sometimes forget that we’re supposed to be enjoying the product and not embroiled in the personal developments & internal politics of the company producing that product.
I was first exposed to The Spirit through Darwyn Cooke’s recent brilliant run on the book. I’d love to read more, but don’t really want to make the investment in an archives edition. Is there any consideration to release a SHOWCASE edition or collection of trades now that the archive prints are complete?
Perhaps even a sample 50 cent comic (like what was done when Absolute Sandman was released) with a collection of stories to give readers like me a sampling of the books might make me consider the archives and introduce those books to a new audience.
Just a thought. Given the prominance The Spirit will have with the upcoming movie, I assume something must be in the works.
Comment by Jason — April 16, 2008 @ 7:44 am
He didnt answer my Plop! question.
Comment by genetic freak — April 16, 2008 @ 8:24 am
Paul,
Would you let Clark Kent and Bruce Wayne “move along” nicely in the main continuity and pass their legacies to the younger characters like Christ Kent and Damian Wayne?
And could you please make Tim Drake the glue that ties both Kid Super and Martial Robin (my pet names for those two
)
Comment by Zenstrive — April 16, 2008 @ 9:11 am
Mr. Levitz - thank you for taking the time to answer our questions. It is truly appreciated.
I heard John Byrne had a hissy fit at the Will Eisner memorial - a silly rant about late comics again - and basically made a fool of himself. Truly unprofessional on the part of Byrne but then again the man has little or no social graces so what do you expect.
Comment by Joe Zhang — April 16, 2008 @ 9:16 am
Paul,
Have you given some thought to different approaches on packaging SUPERMAN and BATMAN reprints? The current Archives approach appears to be limited by the chronological nature and set starting points of the series, as well as the sheer volume of stories featuring these most popular of characters. You would think that a “COMPLETE SUPERMAN” or “COMPLETE BATMAN” series — featuring the best-selling comics of their day with work by DC’s top talent –could be very popular and the tentpoles of the entire DC Reprint program … can it reasonably be done?
Comment by Lightning and Chemicals — April 16, 2008 @ 9:18 am
Mr. Levitz - What are your thoughts on the event driven nature of superhero comic storytelling? Necessary evil? Harmless fun? A barrier/entry way for new readers?
Comment by Evil Twin — April 16, 2008 @ 9:36 am
I bet you get this asked a billion times per day, but I had to ask… will we see a collection edition of The Great Darkness Saga? A “remastered” edition a la Killing Joke would be fenomenal
Comment by Phoenix_tetsu — April 16, 2008 @ 9:44 am
Just a note to Lightning and Chemicals-
It appears DC shares your opinion on the Archives project- we’ve seen a LOT less volumes this year. Once Spirit, Doom Patrol, Kamandi, and 7 Soldiers are done, I doubt we’ll see any more Archives in that format.
Looks like DC is retooling their reprint program.
For Paul:
How do you feel about DC’s relationship (or lack of one) with Alan Moore? Is there anything you think you could do to repair the relationship? Do you have any regrets about your dealings with Alan?
(And I still wish you’d write more comics…)
Comment by Ray Cornwall — April 16, 2008 @ 9:45 am
Byrne feels that readers who tolerate late comics are ruining the industry; with the rise of collected editions, timliness just doesn’t matter like it used to. His rants are similar to someone saying not to buy a cd or to see a movie because its release date was delayed. I don’t think any comic has been delayed as long as Brian Wilson’s Smile and I’m damn glad I didn’t miss out on that!
Anyway, Paul, thanks so much for this access to your perspective. It’s amazing to see the changes in the industry which have occured since your early days. Are there specific events or people which you feel were the biggest prime movers in making these changes happen? You can include yourself if you’d like to…
Comment by JeffZ — April 16, 2008 @ 9:50 am
Lightning: There are a series of trade paperbacks from DC called Batman Chronicles and Superman Chronicles - they are reprinting ALL of the Batman and Superman stories in the order they were published. These are much more affordable than the Archive series and contain about twice the material in each volume.
Comment by Rjackson — April 16, 2008 @ 10:04 am
“I went back and checked a bit, and for the fourth quarter last year, something north of 20% of bookstore manga sales came from four properties, and over 40 of the top 50 titles were from those four. That seems pretty concentrated to me, and more so than our core business, so I’ll stand by the comment.”
Paul,
I still want to know where your number of $800 million in sales for 2007 came from. For 2007, Bookscan only reports $95 million and I find it impossible to believe the direct market is accounting for $700 million in sales. Further, if you’re comparing Bookscan numbers to Diamond numbers when making your argument for diversity by DC, then you’re comparing apples to oranges.
When you say that 20% of bookstore manga sales are coming from four properties, I think the fault here is confusing titles with genres. I’m assuming the four manga properties you’re referring to are, in alphabetical order: Bleach, Death Note, Fruit Baskets, and Naruto. While two of those titles, Bleach and Naruto, could ostensibly be the same genre, Fruit Baskets and Death Note are in two very distinct genres of their own. What genre were the top four properties from DC in? Let’s take a look.
For the sake of this discussion, what were the top four properties from DC? (I can only quote numbers from all of 2007, as I don’t have access to the fourth quarter numbers) In order, Watchmen, Heroes, The Dark Knight Returns, and League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black Dossier. So, the top three DC properties are superheroes and the fourth is a comic about heroes from classic literature. It terms of overall sales, those four properties represent 30% of DC’s sales for 2007.
So, I think the question still stands, how do three superhero properties and one literary hero property representing 30% of DC’s sales “spread the readers around to the most titles?”
Comment by Kenny — April 16, 2008 @ 10:06 am
Mr. Levitz,
I agree with many readers that the paper quality of DC’s trades and hardcovers is often inexcusable. The Justice League International HC, for instance, demanded a better quality stock than the “phone book” paper it was printed on, and the recent Eye for an Eye Legion tpb paper quality was utter rubbish, esp. considering the original was printed on Baxter paper.
Your argument as to the economics of paper choice is easily disproven by the fact that Marvel consistently puts out trades and hc’s at comparable price points with far superior paper quality than DC. Look at the thick, glossy paper of the recent Iron Man Demon In A Bottle hc versus the lousy JLI HC stock, for instance. Both have the same price point and roughly equal page counts. Why didn’t we get glossy stock for JLI? I’m afraid to spend 50 bucks on the upcoming Starman HC if DC’s going to take me for a ride again. Call me crazy, but for 50 bucks you should be getting some darn good stock, not something you can see the opposite page through.
And please, add me to the clamoring for a Great Darkness hardcover…ON GLOSSY PAPER! I understand that you’re not too big on the aesthetics of glossy paper, but I respectfully disagree. I think comics are art, and art needs to be preserved and have the best presentation possible.
Comics demand the best paper stock, especially when we’re paying for it!
Thanks for reading,
Matt
Comment by Matt Huss — April 16, 2008 @ 10:27 am
Mr. Levitz,
I agree with many readers that the paper quality of DC’s trades and hardcovers is often inexcusable. The Justice League International HC, for instance, demanded a better quality stock than the “phone book” paper it was printed on, and the recent Eye for an Eye Legion tpb paper quality was utter rubbish, esp. considering the original was printed on Baxter paper.
Your argument as to the economics of paper choice is easily disproven by the fact that Marvel consistently puts out trades and hc’s at comparable price points with far superior paper quality than DC. Look at the thick, glossy paper of the recent Iron Man Demon In A Bottle hc versus the lousy JLI HC stock, for instance. Both have the same price point and roughly equal page counts. Why didn’t we get glossy stock for JLI? I’m afraid to spend 50 bucks on the upcoming Starman HC if DC’s going to take me for a ride again. Call me crazy, but for 50 bucks you should be getting some darn good stock, not something you can see the opposite page through.
And please, add me to the clamoring for a Great Darkness hardcover…ON GLOSSY PAPER! I understand that you’re not too big on the aesthetics of glossy paper, but I respectfully disagree. I think comics are art, and art needs to be preserved and have the best presentation possible.
Comics demand the best paper stock, especially when we’re paying for it!
Thanks for reading,
Matt
Comment by Matt Huss — April 16, 2008 @ 10:28 am
No, it isn’t. More fan impertinence and ignorance.
I think a far better way to approach this is to ask about price points, distribution plans and print capabilities. Certain book may have to be recolored in order to upgrade the paper; certain runs may have to be printed in larger numbers to be economical, but projected sales (which, after all, the companies are better at than readers) won’t support that. I think asking about those factors is far more fruitful and instructive than flatly saying this disproves that.
Comment by gwangung — April 16, 2008 @ 10:53 am
Most of the comics that I would like to see reprinted were the ones that I grew up reading in the late 70s and early 80s. Not everybody cares about that. But my point is that this does not have to be a thing for “everybody” or even “most readers” but about of enough potentially interested buyers.
Batman has most of what has been published after KNIGHTFALL reprinted in TPB and a lot of the early (Classical???, golden age) issues. How do you measure what will have a commercial success?? In the case of the Batman (and beyond Strange Apparitions) what are the chances of getting reprinted issues by Marshall Rogers, Don Newton, Gene Colan, David B. Reed, Len Wein, Jim Aparo, Gerry Conway, Irv Novick, Jose Luis Garcia Lopez….?
How could you measure what reprints would get a good reception?
Conway and Giffen’s Challengers of the Unknown.
A “best of World’s Finnest” (please, starting with the 70s.
Isabella and Von Edeen’s Black Lightning.
The Green Arrow back-ups (after being thrown out of GL/GA).
Micheline´s Aquaman.
Post Kirby NEW GODS (Return of New Gods, Mister Miracle, First Issue Special 13, Brave and Bold 112, 128, 138, DC Comics presents 12, Super Team Family 13, JLA 183-185)
I, Vampire
Grell’s Warlord
Fox and Crow
Staton’s Metal Men
Comment by Francisco xavier González Muñoz — April 16, 2008 @ 11:45 am
I’m really looking forward to the Starman hardcovers, but I’m not about to pay for those - at any price - if they are on the same terrible paper as the Jack Kirby books. Ugggh.
Paul, I’d like to second Francisco’s suggestion for Fox and the Crow reprints. I’d also love to see Stanley and His Monster, Inferior 5 and Angel and the Ape.
I’d really like to see a SHOWCASE PRESENTS SHOWCASE collection, with the full contents of the first 20 or so issues! That’d be great fun. But not as fun as Angel and the Ape.
Comment by The Hipster Dad — April 16, 2008 @ 12:11 pm
Hi Paul,
first of all I’m a great fan of your work in making comics friendly to creators, while pushing boundaries of the mainstream comics form. Much appreciated.
I have a specific question which I’d like answered, maybe you can mix it in with a few other ones about projects that were announced but never made it -
Back when 52 was going DC announced an ongoing GREAT TEN series (it may have been a mini, not sure). What happened with that?
also a fan of humour Showcases, Sugar and Spike and Stanley and his Monster are two that immediately spring to mind that the younger kids might like…
Comment by B Simpson — April 16, 2008 @ 12:16 pm
Hello Paul,
Thanks for answering our questions! It is very kind of you. I’m wondering if there are any plans to continue the Superman: Man of Tomorrow Archives, as well as the Dynamic Duo Archives. For me personally, I’m much more interested in high quality reprints of this Silver Age material than the Golden Age stuff.
Please continue the Man of Tomorrow Archives (and having Mark Waid do fan commentary would be a plus!).
Comment by J Edmondson — April 16, 2008 @ 1:19 pm
Mr Levitz,
I’ve a question for you regarding a major Batman project that was first announced quite a while ago….
Any word on when Frank Miller’s OGN “Holy Terror, Batman!” is coming out and what’s the latest news regarding this long awaited project?
Thanks for your time Mr. Levitz!
Comment by Bruce Talbot — April 16, 2008 @ 1:20 pm
I agree with Levitz on his praise of Jim Shooter’s LSH. In mere 2 issues, the book has finally gotten back to being a Legion book as it hasn’t since Giffen left back in the days.
But I remember that some years ago, an Elseworlds LSH hardcover with Giffen was in the plans. I wouldn’t mind that. Or the return of Adult Legion as one of these funky Earth-567849 things.
Comment by Ricardo Amaral — April 16, 2008 @ 1:23 pm
As someone who is trying to brainwash children into becoming comic fans, I would be curious at to what Mr. Levitz thinks are effective means to inspire new readers.
And as much as I enjoyed the Legion, the Levitz/Michelinie/Skeates/Aparo Aquaman also deserves to be collected!
Thanks!
Comment by Mylar Lad — April 16, 2008 @ 1:36 pm
Say, now that the Archives are done… any chance of a Showcase of the early Spirit? I know it’s not DC, but I also know I can’t shell out 60 clams per volume.
Also, what about the Spirit stuff that was done in later years, like The Spirit magazine? There’s some Byrne and others work there…
And, any chance of some Golden Age items going Showcase?
Comment by Lars — April 16, 2008 @ 2:33 pm
Speaking of archives again is there any chance of bringing the Justice League of America Archives up to issue 98 or so then continuing in the new format (like you are doing with Morrison’s JLA) with the later issues? I can’t imagine Justice League of America’s first Volume not being a money maker for DC.
Comment by John — April 16, 2008 @ 2:42 pm
I have some questions for you:
Why does it seem like you guys are always in second place and playing catch up to Marvel? They obviously plan things out years in advance and, as witnessed in the debacle that is Countdown to Final Crisis (which seems now to have nothing to do with Final Crisis, so thanks for making me waste my money on THAT due to false advertising), you guys are constantly changing things on the fly and have no direction at all. I doubt you address this as you are only taking softball questions, proving this is just a New Joe Fridays Lite.
Steven
Comment by Steven — April 16, 2008 @ 2:47 pm
I appreciate the continuing response. As someone who enjoyed your writing on Legion and on other series, I would like to say that while I have no desire to see you quit your day job, if you decide to do it, please return to writing, whether it be Legion or anything else.
With regards to paper choices, please remember that there are multiple opinions out there. I physically find it difficult to read things on glossy paper, and am pleased to see formats like that used in the Fourth World Omnibuses.
Trying to stick to publishing questions, rather than editorial questions:
Has any thought been given to publishing a collection of the various comics history articles that DC ran over the years - From the Wonderful World of Comics in the 1960s to “Behind the scenes” in the 1970s to the articles and interviews in Amazing World of DC Comics?
Any plans to publish more previously unreleased material by folks like Ditko or Kirby? I’m thinking about a collection of the Kirby magazine stories done for Spirit World and Days of the Mob, as well as the romance stories he did at the time, and a collection of Ditko’s Shade the Changing Man including the unpublished final issue or the Creeper Showcase story he did.
I should note that I am very pleased with the ongoing effort DC has made to put lots of Kirby and other great creators’ various works into print. But, being a comic fan, I can’t help but ask for more - I’d love to see a collection in some form (even digital) of work like The Newsboy Legion, Boy Commandos, and the Sandman. Non Kirby work I’d love to see would include Mayer’s Sugar and Spike and Scribbly, Tony Isabella’s Black Lightning, the Science Fiction series edited by Julius Schwartz, and Mike Sekowsky’s Supergirl.
Comment by Scott Rowland — April 16, 2008 @ 2:52 pm
It seems pretty obvious: now that the THE SPIRIT archive collection is finished, there should be cheaper editions (a la the Kirby Fourth World Omnibuses) to get this stuff out to as wide an audience as possible.
Comment by Mark Kardwell — April 16, 2008 @ 5:14 pm
I would love to see entire collections of DC titles on DVD’s like the late lamented Marvel discs from Gitcorp. I understand they would cost more because of royalty concerns, but I’d be willing to pay twice as much as the Gitcorp discs for complete runs of JLA, Legion, Flash, GL, etc.
Comment by parmoose — April 16, 2008 @ 5:14 pm
Paul,
Is there any possibility we could get a trade of the “New Adventures of the Spirit” anthology that came out from Kitchen Sink right before it went under? There were some incredible stories in that run. And I understand, there are likely a variety of nasty rights issues mixed in there.
Thanks for taking the time to talk to us here.
Comment by Michael Cohen — April 16, 2008 @ 5:18 pm
Paul, you are a true gentleman. I hope your patience doesn’t wear out because of some belligerant posters.
My question: How could an undergrad student get a job in DC?
Comment by Arion — April 16, 2008 @ 7:51 pm
Mr. Levitz comes across as a class act each time I read what he has to say.
Did I miss something that promted the Byrne bashing? I am pretty sure Joe Zhang is, or at least was, a regular poster at Byrne’s forums and I don’t see any relevance in his Byrne statement to the article above.
As far as what Byrne says about lateness in comics, he does make a valid point. I would venture to guess that no comic shop owner is happy when a very popular creator is late in getting comics out. Those late comics are cash the shop is unable to generate. As a fan you may not care about late books, but they do affect a comic shop owners bottom line and it is not like most of those guys are getting rich selling us our comics.
Comment by Michael Murphy — April 16, 2008 @ 11:37 pm
Joe Zhang, is that really you, or just someone who like Byrne bashing posing as one of Byrne’s board members?
Comment by Michael Murphy — April 16, 2008 @ 11:43 pm
Hi Paul,
I find a lot of your popular titles becoming increasingly dark and violent, and at times unenjoyable to read, what ever happened to innocent & uplifting stories, situations that look fictional, comics that are fun to read for the whole family such as Hanna Barbera! Get the hint “Hanna Barbera”!
Comment by Gazoo — April 17, 2008 @ 1:17 am
(Psst - day two of this feature and it still says ‘Paul LEVTIZ’ on the front page.)
Comment by Martin — April 17, 2008 @ 7:36 am
I’d like to second the call for DVD sets of complete comic series. I’ve also heard there are challenges with royalties or reprint fees, but I would really love to have these series available. Even if I’m not currently a fan of a particular property, I’m still likely to pick up a complete set because the value proposition is so great. Not only can I can search through key issues, but if I like it enough you may get me to start buying the current incarnation you’re publishing today.
Thanks for your consideration.
Comment by bpcho — April 17, 2008 @ 3:05 pm