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Query: Why isn't there a monthly Dredd reprint title?

Started by SmallBlueThing(Reborn), 30 May, 2019, 06:36:24 PM

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Frank

Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 31 May, 2019, 11:20:42 AM
All of this stuff lives in the TPB market

In her recent Megazine interview, Abigail Bulmer* said she thought the future of comics was original graphic novels, since that's what actually sells to kids.

Maybe Tharg could look at making more recent stories available in that form, although the equivalent of the Case Files for modern Dredd stories might cannibalise UK readership of 2000ad itself.


* Comic retailer as well as creator

Frank

Quote from: sheridan on 31 May, 2019, 11:16:02 AM
Has Rogue Trooper failed?  Wasn't that original series from IDW cancelled before the first issue had even been published?  That isn't a comment on the comic itself.

I assume that decision was based on pre-orders. Readership usually only declines after the first issue.



JOE SOAP


I'd prefer the Megazine as a quarterly trade featuring one long story.





Frank

Quote from: JOE SOAP on 31 May, 2019, 09:44:20 PM
I'd prefer the Megazine as a quarterly trade featuring one long story.

That's (sort of) the format of the new Roy Of The Rovers.

I suppose if that proves successful, Tharg might think about trying it out for other characters. I like the idea of hardbacks, but he'd need to charge £18 per book for a quarterly to bring in the same revenue as the monthly Megazine. *


* £30 for a quarterly 2000ad. Not that I'm sure a quarterly anthology would work - it'd probably have to be a different series in each book.

JOE SOAP

#19
Quote from: IndigoPrime on 31 May, 2019, 11:03:24 AM
It's taken as read that other countries (at least, Western ones) will embrace stories set in the US, and media created in the US. Much of our cultural intake is TV, movies, and music from American sources. But the reverse is much less the case. Sure, there are, for example, breakthrough British bands in the US, but even taking into account the relative population sizes, far fewer have historically made that leap. That's even more evident regarding television. Our networks are saturated with US fare. The reverse just isn't true. And it's especially sad when you see great indie fare like Attack the Block and Shaun of the Dead being ignored in the US because of "difficult accents" or, more often, just because the films are set somewhere other than the USA.


It's like selling Hollywood made Kaiju films to the Japanese – hard but can be done with a modicum of success.

Dredd has somewhat found a level in the US that is more in-line with how it's received globally: does ok as a niche at home –still not exactly mainstream– and enjoys a simlar niche following everywhere else on the planet. It's a little better now and both JD films still made more money at the box-office in the US, then did a lot better in retail, than anywhere else, and the comics have consistently averaged 4000-5000 monthly sales. Unless some new strategy in another format breaks that ceiling it will likely remain in place.

Selling Dredd to Americans is something I don't think can be reduced to them not getting or liking it. I think plenty of modern Americans have no aversion to critiques or sardonic takes on an 'America' that's failing/failed but it's easier for them to accept when it's done by their own talent and through familiar touchstones – that probably applies in every country and is as much about cutural recognition and familiarity as the quality of the content itself.

Selling Dredd, Attack the Block and Shaun of the Dead worldwide seems to be just as tough as trying to sell it in the US. American Superheroes (and Manga) have been the best-selling comics worldwide for decades so it's no surprise they're accepted so readily by the world in multiple formats/platforms as well as at home.

Dash Decent

If the MC1 TV series gets made and takes off as a futuristic precinct drama, it will be interesting to see if it translates into any extra interest in the print titles. 
- By Appointment -
Hero to Michael Carroll

"... rank amateurism and bad jokes." - JohnW.

rs_jr

no need for a reprint issues but the complete case files should include a full years worth of everything dredd and come out quarterly i feel would be ideal

CalHab

That would be about 450+ pages every quarter, wouldn't it? Seems a bit much, both from a publisher's and a reader's  perspective.