What IDW is doing wrong

[yojoebro82]

In another thread I mentioned how I thought IDW was mishandeling GI Joe, but I digressed because I didn't want to hijack the thread. Then someone else commented:

"Don't be shy. I have been very vocal about how IDW has basically destroyed G.I. Joe, (yes that's right, I said "destroyed" and I'm standing by it)."

So I thought I'd just make a new thread for my 2 cents.

1. Too many titles! Right off the bat, IDW launches their GI Joe line with a whopping three titles. That's too much for a series that is basically only being done for the pre-existing fan base. Now they're up to SIX titles: GI Joe, Cobra, Origins, ARAH, and whatever mini-series they're running at the time (yes, I will count the mini-series as a "regular" title because as soon as one ends, there's at least one more to take its place. Operation HISS, Hearts and Minds, Future Noir, Infestation......) There can be too much of a good thing. I can be perfectly happy reading ONE comic a month that's really GOOD than a bunch that are medioquer (sp?) I actually think it's FUN having to wait a month for the next instalment of your favorite book. The deluge of titles sucks.

2. Price vs content! $4 books also suck, but it is more than likely a reality of the future of comics. What they COULD be doing is, since we're paying a ridiculous price, give us more meat to the story and dialogue. I'm not talking more pages, I'm talking more words, more to READ. Example: I just read the Hearts and Minds hardcover, good story, don't get me wrong, but I breezed through one issue in less than 5 minutes! These writers are stretching their story lines out so thin to make the mandatory 4-5 issue mark for the TPB, that they're putting MAYBE one sentence of dialogue in a pannel. The result is, the reader is finished with their comic in minutes and they're left wondering where their $4 went. Right now I'm re reading my early Chris Claremont X Men books and WOW...when you compare the amount of actual story content....I'll still be reading page three of one of those stories while in that time i'd have an IDW GI Joe book finished (lucky for me, with HEarts and Minds, my store was doing 50% off all hardcovers, so I got it for $12, I probably would not have paid more than that.) Writers, give us more meat in a single issue! Editors, LET the writers write and don't be worried about stretching a storyline out to make more issues to make more money on a TPB!

3. Which continuity do I read?! Ideally, I'd probably have gone for the Hama continuation right off the bat. By this time I have too much invested in the "new" continuity to just drop it. "Just buy both", you say? Yeah. I'm sure IDW would love that. In fact, if you told me it never dawned on IDW that a Hama continuation of the original Marvel run is what fans really wanted right off the bat, I'd say, "Yeah, right." They waited for just the right time. Weak.

4. Silly numbering gimmics! Hey, pretty soon all GI Joe books will start over with a NEW #1! Retailers like #1s lots more than boring old #27s or #33s. Just STOP! Just keep the numbering going like it is!

In all fairness, a lot of this is saddly prevalant in all of comics today; a deluge of titles, Miniseries after miniseries, high price/low content, numbering gimmics, you see this all in DC and Marvel too. It's why comics, for the most part, suck now. I guess I just notice it more in GI Joe because I love GI Joe.

What would I like? ONE title, done by a talented writer/artist team that love the characters. I don't really care if you continue Marvel or go wit something new. We may HAVE to pay $4 but give us some MEAT in one issue, make it last, give us our money's worth. Thank you !

[Horst25]

1. Too many titles! ... Have to agree to an extent. With all the titles it does feel that they're trying to rake in as much as they can, particularly at $4 an issue. GI Joe/Cobra and Hearts & Minds have been two of my favorites, but the main titles have left me indifferent, while Operation Hiss was just plain bad.

2. Price vs content! ... This is a problem with the comic industry as a whole. The early 90s saw the rise of TPBs and a change in art style to larger panels and more splashpages. Chris Claremont's 80s X-Men were a good example of getting a lot in a single issue. You can even look at the change in Larry Hama's GI Joe. Compare the amount of storyline in #52 for example with the slow slog that the silent castle storyline was in the #120s. Wish we had tighter stories and multiple storylines occurring in a single issue.

3. Which continuity do I read?! ... This isn't as much a concern for me. I'd rather have my choice of continuity than be stuck with one I don't care for.

4. Silly numbering gimmics! ... Agree with you 100%. Hate the constant renumbering of what should be an ongoing just for the novelty of slapping a #1 on the cover.

I'd also add the annoyance of multiple covers for a single issue. I can understand it if it's for a reprint but otherwise it's just a way to take advantage of diehard fans who will pick up the different versions.

Overall I like IDW's take more than DDP's but it hasn't come close to the enjoyment I get from the Marvel run of the early and mid 80s.

[grunt 4 mvp]

I agree completely. The reasons you outlined are why I stopped buying the comics.
I have the full Marvel run and all the issues from every publisher, right through the declassified lines. But I haven't bought a comic since then, and probably never will again.

[cardensb]

Wow, I thought I was alone. I can't keep up with the different titles, varied publishing dates, alternate covers, and trying to keep the stories straight.
I really like the various storylines but it is tough to keep them straight in my head.
I like how the picked up the original story but so far in the last 5 or 6 comics it has really dragged out...
I love the Cobra storyline that had Chuckles as the key figure and the origins of Cobra (it is an origins story right?)
HISS is lame, I missed several of them and don't feel like I lost out on anything.
Absolutely love the new Origins line.

Bottom line, I now carry a sheet in my wallet that lists all the comics I have bought in the last few years and the few Marvels I am missing so I do not end up with extras because of the different covers.

[yojoebro82]

I'd also add the annoyance of multiple covers for a single issue. I can understand it if it's for a reprint but otherwise it's just a way to take advantage of diehard fans who will pick up the different versions.

BING! Correct. Multiple covers are done to take advantage of the "completeists" who have the need to buy everything no matter what. And, again, this is a gimmick that is alive and well throughout the industry with variant covers coming out on a monthly basis with nearly all titles!

I left this off my list however because IDW actually stoped doing the 50/50 cover ratio for a few of their Joe books. Somthing I've been wanting them to do since day 1.

[skinny]

Not just IDW but the industry as a whole are doing trade paperbacks, now that would be fine except that they are writing stories to fit that format and not doing one shots or longer stories that weave throughout. It's 6 issues and the story is done, stuck with a new cover, and on to a new six issue arc. You always know that by the fifth issue number 6 will wrap everything in the main arc up.
I don't like multiple covers either. I buy them read one cover I don't like and bag and store the other I do like. It is one reason I quit reading transformers, well that and the art was crisp but hard to follow sometimes (early issues)
the season 2 thing bothers me it smacks of when DDP did the same thing, I don't like having that unnecessary divider in my comic box.

[breakernarms]

I like the new books. I like the old books. If you think it's to many title only buy the ones you like. I don't see how the numbering is messed up at all. Varient covers are number and lettered. The only complaint I had was the main book was real slow for the 1st year.

[skinny]

I like the new books. I like the old books. If you think it's to many title only buy the ones you like. I don't see how the numbering is messed up at all. Varient covers are number and lettered. The only complaint I had was the main book was real slow for the 1st year.

the current run is ending with issue twenty something and when infestation starts the numbering will start all over again for season 2 with one or zero, even though it is the same book and not a reboot. that is the concern being addressed here.
Origins will end and Snake Eyes will begin in April along with the joe titles of infestation. hundred penny press will begin reprinting issues for a dollar each also starting with a 32 page number one with an interpretation of the classic marvel cover..

I ran into trouble with variant covers on Transformers when I wasnt totally engrossed in the story and sometimes bought an issue twice if I wasnt sure I had it already. I quit getting transformers a long time ago.
I dont have that problem with gijoe though. I just buy every title every week I dont go gaga over store variant covers like graham cracker etc. I will buy both covers if my comic shop gets both, which they rarely do there are only 6 people (there used to be many more) that get GIJOE here not enough to get the variant retailer incentive covers.

[Jomo]

I know that I'm in the minority especially at the IDW forums, but I enjoy the IDW Joe line. Issue 13 of the main series is one of my favorite Joe stories of all time it just felt like great military/action story.

[yojoebro82]

Yeah, don't get me wrong, I'm enjoying the stories put out by Dixon and Co., if I wan't I wouldn't be buying. I like Rob Atkins' art and Cobra has been pretty enjoyable. But the way it's being handled by IDW is all wrong for the reasons I stated.

And again, it's mostly the same money making gimmicks that are prevalant in all of comics today. I could make a thread titled "Why comics suck now" and just copy and paste most of my arguments from my original post.