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| Copyright REBELLION |
Latest arrival at Castel Crivens, Volume Two of Treasury Of British Comics' Adam Eterno - Grunn The Grim, from the combined Lion & Thunder. In his introduction, Chris Lowder says the following:
"Ironically, Thunder itself was a massive con from the start, since it was by no means built to last but created solely as a weekly that, after six months or so, would be merged into another paper (In Thunder's case Lion), thus boosting the latter's readership. This neat trick had been practised by the Amalgamated Press/Fleetway/IPC since the 1900s and, in business terms, was usually highly effective."
Trouble with that is, it flies in the face of common sense. Sure, no new comic was ever published without the knowledge it would be merged with another title if it failed to live up to expectations, but it is seriously unlikely that a new periodical would ever see the light of day without the hope that it would be a smash hit that would run for years. Here's why: the sheer expense of launching a new comic was immense and usually took around two to three years to recoup its launch-costs, so going to all that time, trouble, and financial outlay simply isn't practical unless you have long-term aspirations for it.
A comic was usually only merged with another when its circulation was declining, so adding a shrinking readership to another comic may not have increased the circulation of the senior title by enough of a margin to make the financial investment worthwhile. It would make far more sense to have given Lion a boost by a run of free gift issues and new characters, than go to the expense of launching a new comic for the purpose of boosting the sales of another a few months down the line. After all, would the bigwigs really risk that approach, knowing that a new comic could be a dud from the start? Very much doubt it.
Anyway, this looks like a great book and I can't wait until I have a surge in energy so that I can settle down to reading it - I therefore heartily recommend it in advance.
6 comments:
The cover looks amazing, like an old issue of Gold Key's Mighty Samson. Speaking of reprints, I loved the new Fantagraphics Artist Edition of Al Williamson, a hefty tome of all his Atlas work from the 1950s. Which leads to a question, I don't recall if you have ever had an interest in the old EC artists. I collect Wally Wood, Frazetta, Crandall, et al, when I can, mostly in reprint form. My first comics. that I collected in 1967 was King Comics Flash Gordon 5 (and 6), Another book (changing the subject yet again!) I recently bought was PALEOART by Taschen, an unbelievable history of Dinosaur art from the 1800's to around 1990. It is simply one of the most amazing art books I've got this year! Both these reprint books are quite heavy and a nice workout lifting the blighters ! Anyway, I will try to get a copy of Eterno at some point. Thanks!
The cover is taken from the second Lion & Thunder Holiday Special from 1972, LM. (The covers to all three are on the blog somewhere.) I've got a few things by Wood, Crandell, and Williamson, but not much as I recently gave away a number of EC reprint issues just to clear some space. (Hadn't read them since acquiring them around 20 years or so ago.) Thing about those heavy reprint books is they make your thighs go numb when you're reading them while perched on the porcelain.
If I read them on the porcelain, other bits might go numb so I will stick to reading them (awkwardly) on the couch. I too haven't reread my EC reprints, but when has that ever stopped a collector?
Yeah, it's amazing what we'll buy just to have, not to read or use. I'm the world's worst for that, I think.
I nearly picked up a copy of Judge Dredd Magazine this week as it had Adam Eterno reprints in it advertising this book. At £6 99 an issue I thought I'll put that money towards buying the Adam Eterno book itself instead of the megazine
Good thinking, Bat-McS. You're right, far better buying the book. I've read the first adventure and much-enjoyed it.
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