Guy LeCharles Gonzalez

Numbers Game: Shuffling Deck Chairs on the Titanic

Post author:Guy LeCharles Gonzalez
Post published:January 29, 2007
Post category:Media
Post comments:2 Comments

Marc-Oliver Frisch's always enlightening sales analysis is now posted at The Beat, looking at DC's estimated numbers for December 2006, and buried towards the end is a very interesting breakdown of the Average Sales per Title of their three primary imprints. I've spotlighted the DCU as a point of interest:DC UNIVERSE12/2003: 29,26312/2004: 36,92512/2005: 44,99312/2006: 44,641---------------6 months: -12.6%1 year : - 0.8%2 years : +20.9%3 years : +52.6%As would be expected, the main DCU has seen some impressive growth over the past three years, fueled largely by Infinite Crisis and its numerous lead-ins, crossovers, tie-ins and spinoffs. What's hidden beneath that…

Marketing Monday: First Things First

Post author:Guy LeCharles Gonzalez
Post published:January 29, 2007
Post category:Media Personal Pop Culture Reviews
Post comments:4 Comments

Among the myriad challenges comics publishers of all sizes face, one of the biggest -- and most frustrating, personally -- is marketing. Way too many publishers believe that marketing is little more than sending out badly written press releases and snagging previews, reviews and interviews from Wizard, Newsarama, Comic Book Resources, et al. While some recognize industry trade shows and fan conventions as being a necessary part of any marketing plan, few understand what it takes to maximize their presence at such events. Perhaps most astoundingly, many publishers don't even have the sense to invest in a solid web site…

Blogaround Challenge 2007 Update

Post author:Guy LeCharles Gonzalez
Post published:January 26, 2007
Post category:Personal Pop Culture
Post comments:0 Comments

...and the Massive Archaia, Viper & Spider-Man Giveaway! 3 Prize Packs, 33 comic books...FREE SHIPPING!!! On your own blog, in a post titled "Blogaround Challenge 2007", write a brief review of three blogs that are not currently on your personal blogroll. Mine the blogrolls of your favorite blogs, Google's Blog Search, the Watchtower, or the all-new Comics Weblog Update; discover (or re-discover) three blogs that have piqued your interest and briefly review them. In that post, also link back to the original Giveaway post, and then leave me a comment with the link back to your post so I can…

Free Comic Book Day 2007

Post author:Guy LeCharles Gonzalez
Post published:January 25, 2007
Post category:Media Pop Culture
Post comments:0 Comments

This year's Free Comic Book Day is on Saturday, May 5 -- the same weekend Spider-Man 3 opens -- and the list of comics that will be available is pretty impressive. My initial thoughts on some of them:Archie Comics (Gold): Archie Comics Little Archie 2007 Archie Comics (Silver): Sonic the Hedgehog 2007My son loves Sonic, so I'll definitely grab one for him. I'm guessing Little Archies is something new?DC Comics (Gold): Legion of Super Heroes in the 31st Century 2007 DC Comics (Silver): Justice League of America # 0 2007Smart selection on the Gold title as all-ages accessibility should be…

Suburban Dysfunction & Blaxploitation

Post author:Guy LeCharles Gonzalez
Post published:January 24, 2007
Post category:Personal Pop Culture Reviews
Post comments:1 Comment

Ghost World By Daniel Clowes (Fantagraphics Books, 1998; $11.95) I skipped the movie version of Ghost World when it came out because I could tell from the previews that it wasn't my cup of tea; stories of suburban angst make my skin crawl (ie: I hated American Beauty), suburban teenage angst even more so. But, I convinced myself a while back, there's no way I could not read the critically acclaimed graphic novel it was based on, right? In retrospect, that was as silly as thinking I couldn't just skip House of M and Infinite Crisis, and in all three…

On The Shelves: 1/24/07

Post author:Guy LeCharles Gonzalez
Post published:January 23, 2007
Post category:Media Personal Pop Culture
Post comments:0 Comments

Reading is fundamental. Don't waste your time reading bad comics out of habit! My weekly look at select comic books being released Wednesday, 1/24/07. The full shipping list, as always, is available at ComicList. [NOTE: Not all of these titles will actually arrive in all stores. If your LCBS offers a pre-ordering service, be sure to take advantage of it. If not, find another one; or try Khepri.com or MidtownComics.com] PICK OF THE WEEKCover image to come... Fallen Angel #12ARCHAIA STUDIOS PRESS Mouse Guard #6 (Of 6), $3.50 Good news: Mouse Guard is a great read, and one of my…

Amazon POD Update: Raves for Sale!

Post author:Guy LeCharles Gonzalez
Post published:January 22, 2007
Post category:Media Personal Pop Culture Reviews
Post comments:0 Comments

Last month I posted a brief item about Amazon's Print-on-Demand services, offered in partnership with BookSurge, suggesting it might be "worthy of consideration for potential self- and micro-publishers." On Friday, Slate posted an interesting article entitled "Raves For Sale" that reveals one of the options available to its customers is "a personally crafted review written by 'New York Times bestselling author, Ellen Tanner Marsh.'"Amazon.com's recently acquired print-on-demand division, BookSurge.com, offers several tiers of publishing programs with menus of services starting at $99.The most interesting add-on BookSurge offers is, for $399, a personally crafted review written by "New York Times bestselling…