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Spacewarp Presents Hellbreaker

Started by broodblik, 28 April, 2022, 07:07:24 PM

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broodblik

When I die, I want to die like my grandfather who died peacefully in his sleep. Not screaming like all the passengers in his car.

Old age is the Lord's way of telling us to step aside for something new. Death's in case we didn't take the hint.

IndigoPrime

Wow. The inference that mainstream British comics (which means, what, 2000 AD and maybe The Phoenix?) has "fast food" thinking and "cut corners". Hrnggg. (Also, apparently Spacewarp #1 was effectively a sampler; I thought it was originally mooted as an ongoing title.)

Funt Solo

This news should have been released on a Tuesday, which is the traditional Mills-bashing day. As I am currently ensconced in a Thor's Day, I will simply wish him well in his new venture.
++ A-Z ++  coma ++

The Mind of Wolfie Smith

i wish him well, too. but i read the thrilling news and then it descends into something irascible and unpleasant.

and then the thrill has gone.

Goosegash

Quote from: IndigoPrime on 28 April, 2022, 08:09:04 PM
Wow. The inference that mainstream British comics (which means, what, 2000 AD and maybe The Phoenix?) has "fast food" thinking and "cut corners". Hrnggg. (Also, apparently Spacewarp #1 was effectively a sampler; I thought it was originally mooted as an ongoing title.)

I'm prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt that it's financially risky to produce an anthology at the moment hence focussing on individual stories, but...I'm also sceptical the first issue was as a much of a success as he's claiming it was. Who's buying it, exactly? Is it all middle-aged 2000AD fans or has it actually found the intended younger audience? I remain to be convinced of the latter.

It's definitely possible there may've been a bit of a drastic rethink to the publishing model and he's covering his arse a bit.

broodblik

The other difference is that this is going to be a Kickstarter. This indicates to me that although there was interest in the first issue that it was not significant enough to do a second issue of Spacewarp. From my point good luck but I did not find the character or story interesting enough to invest in another Kickstarter.
When I die, I want to die like my grandfather who died peacefully in his sleep. Not screaming like all the passengers in his car.

Old age is the Lord's way of telling us to step aside for something new. Death's in case we didn't take the hint.

IndigoPrime

Quote from: Goosegash on 28 April, 2022, 11:39:34 PMI'm prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt that it's financially risky to produce an anthology at the moment hence focussing on individual stories
I'm 100% behind that. Publishing anything is risky at the best of times. Mag sales spiked during COVID and appear to have stayed quite healthy, but even so breaking on to the newsstand is horrifyingly difficult and expensive. On that basis, the Kickstarter route is a sound one – it enables a creator to see if there really are enough people to put their money where their mouths are. And assuming those behind the Kickstarter fully understand how the system works, it can be the best way to bring a new comic into being. (This, note, is no slight on Mills and his team. I've seen plenty of Kickstarters with the best intentions hit trouble because they overdid the extras, which then skyrocketed in price, or just failed entirely due to a range of reasons. It's somewhat easier if you cut down on the extra crap and just sell the thing you're producing, but then certain markets – including comic readers – seem to think a lot of the value is in the added tat.)

On that initial issue, we'll never know. He quite often quotes from kids, and I don't doubt there are children who have read and enjoyed Spacewarp. Even if they discovered it through parents, that's fair enough. My kid discovered The Beano, The Phoenix, Usagi Yojimbo and other comics through me. That's a natural path, and parents are often keen to share what they love with their children, in the hope they might find enjoyment from those things too. All of that is good. That he's trying his own thing is good. That he's putting his money where his mouth is, is good.

Again, my gripe comes down to him yet again making inferences about the UK industry. And, frankly, to take The Phoenix alone, accusing that publication of "fast food" thinking and cutting corners is ludicrous in the extreme. (He arguably has more of a point about its positioning – it can be a very middle-class comic at times. It's also quite safe. But his prior comments about price seem to have vanished as reality resulted in Spacewarp zipping from pocket-money friendly old-school working-class comic to being another expensive comic, even in its newsstand incarnation.) I suppose Mills is Mills, but it at best comes off as supremely arrogant and a little out of touch. Honestly, just Jamie Smart's output alone is enough to justify the entire existence of The Phoenix in my mind, but there's plenty of other great stuff in there, every single week, which feels like the opposite of "fast food" thinking and corner-cutting.

Jim_Campbell

Quote from: IndigoPrime on 29 April, 2022, 08:39:37 AM
I've seen plenty of Kickstarters with the best intentions hit trouble because they overdid the extras, which then skyrocketed in price, or just failed entirely due to a range of reasons. It's somewhat easier if you cut down on the extra crap and just sell the thing you're producing, but then certain markets – including comic readers – seem to think a lot of the value is in the added tat.

I've gone to numerous Kickstarter pages over the years with the intention of supporting a project, but given up because there doesn't seem to be an option to, y'know, just buy the fucking book.
Stupidly Busy Letterer: Samples. | Blog
Less-Awesome-Artist: Scribbles.

nxylas

I think a "fast-food" mentality is an inevitable consequence of producing a weekly or monthly comic on an ongoing basis, rather than every once in a blue moon. Or, y'know, spending ages creating a comic, editing it for 3 months, and then moving on to the next one.
AIEEEEEE! It's the...THING from the HELL PLANET!

broodblik

My problem with the now-and-then releases is that I lose interest and some cases forget about it.
When I die, I want to die like my grandfather who died peacefully in his sleep. Not screaming like all the passengers in his car.

Old age is the Lord's way of telling us to step aside for something new. Death's in case we didn't take the hint.

IndigoPrime

Quote from: nxylas on 29 April, 2022, 02:02:26 PMI think a "fast-food" mentality is an inevitable consequence of producing a weekly or monthly comic on an ongoing basis, rather than every once in a blue moon.
I disagree. The inference is that these comics are ill-considered, throwaway, cheap and inferior. But that's just bullshit. You can create great content at pace, if you have quality creators and a solid editorial team. That you spend a year or ten years on something doesn't make it inherently better than something that was produced far more rapidly.

broodblik

.....and if you look at the prog it is multiple great writers/artists contributing to the content
When I die, I want to die like my grandfather who died peacefully in his sleep. Not screaming like all the passengers in his car.

Old age is the Lord's way of telling us to step aside for something new. Death's in case we didn't take the hint.

Jim_Campbell

Quote from: broodblik on 29 April, 2022, 03:08:42 PM
My problem with the now-and-then releases is that I lose interest and some cases forget about it.

A lot of people seem to miss this point. With an anthology, especially, one of the key factors to success is metronomic regularity. Not enjoying one (or more) stories in the current issue? No problem — there's another issue only a week (or whatever) away, and a change in line-up is always only a few weeks (or whatever) away.

If people have to actively remember to seek out the next issue, you need them to be actively enthusiastic about pretty much all the content, or they just won't bother. And that's a tall order, for anyone.
Stupidly Busy Letterer: Samples. | Blog
Less-Awesome-Artist: Scribbles.

Richard

Just because 2000AD comes out every week doesn't mean that it doesn't contain stories into which a lot of time and effort has been invested. It takes longer than a week for an artist to draw one episode. Some stories are months or even years in the making.

IndigoPrime

Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 29 April, 2022, 03:31:56 PMIf people have to actively remember to seek out the next issue, you need them to be actively enthusiastic about pretty much all the content, or they just won't bother. And that's a tall order, for anyone.
This is where Monster Fun might run into trouble. Two months between episodes of an ongoing story is going to be tricky for my nipper. She just won't care when she's getting eight issues of The Phoenix in that time. (For one-off strips, it of course makes no odds.)

But then Mills seems to now be saying Spacewarp was intended to be a sampler (which I don't recall at the time), and that future multi-story issues may well be launchpads.