Countdown To The Dwindling Page Count

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Countdown To The Dwindling Page Count
By Philip Schweier
July 31, 2007 - 12:10

Thursday, July 26, 7:20 a.m. I’ve got 40 minutes before I go to work. Probably ought to go in early since it’s deadline day at the newspaper. Then again, why should I put in extra time simply because other people can’t get their work done on time?

Maybe I can read a few of the comics I got yesterday. Would’ve read them last night, but we had that birthday party to go to.

Let’s see, Action Comics #852. A new story begins, as the Geoff Johns and Richard Donner’s long-awaited epic concludes in the Action Comics Annual. When that’s supposed to come out, who knows? A search of the DC website gave no indication.

Hmmm. It’s a tie-in to Countdown. That’s disappointing. I hate it when they link an ongoing title into a mini-series that I may not be reading. Oh well, it will make sense when I pick up the trade, I guess. It’s the origin of Jimmy Olsen’s signal watch... again. But I must admit, the drunk Scottish robots is a nice touch.

7:40 a.m. Do I have time for another? Sure. I may be a few minutes late, but since I’m likely to work through lunch, what they hey?

Here’s Green Arrow: Year One #2. Another origin retelling. Ollie looks a lot younger and hipper, with his long hair and Los Lobos-style goatee. Green Arrow for a new generation. While I’m in favor of keeping up with the times, part of what makes timeless heroes timeless is that their circumstances don’t change much. The Wayne’s getting gunned down by a mugger could happen in any era.

Lots of big panels in this one. Lots of internal monologue too. Remember when publishers use to use scalloped thought balloons? Apparently Kurt Busiek does, seeing as how he used them in Action #852. Kinda sad that I actually noticed them. It makes me realize how uncommon they are, like dialogue on a cover.

Well, that went quickly. Ollie finds a settlement, vomits up a fish, makes a
bow, finds a grave and gets attacked by an airplane.

And the time now is: 7:45.

Hu-wha?!

Twenty minutes to read one comic (98 total panels); five minutes to read another (70 total panels). The Lord loves infinite variety, and so do I, but I can’t help feeling that more panels means greater variety.

In fairness, I can’t blame Andy Diggle. He’s got six issues to fill with a story that probably has never been told in more than 10 pages (DC Super Stars #17, Dec., 1977). While there’s many different ways to flesh it out, some details just aren’t germane to the gist of the story. Otherwise it loses that timeless quality I mentioned.

Maybe it’s the editor, Mike Carlin, or Dan Didio. “Fill six issues so we can do a trade,” someone may have said. Or maybe DC could have done a double sized, prestige format book, thereby eliminating the production costs on a trade.

For $2.99, I’m buying 22 pages of story and art. Quite a far cry from when I bought my first comic (Batman #250) for 20¢. It featured three tales spread out over 23 pages of story, plus a letter column featuring comments from future comic book pros Bob Rozakis and Mike W. Barr.

In fairness, that issue also featured seven paid ads between the covers, which undoubtedly helped defray the modest production costs. Back in 1973, artists were paid by the page, period. No incentives, no profit share, not even health insurance. They weren’t even given the art back. As far as the publishers were concerned, it was bought and paid for and belonged to them. It often went into a pile, only to be eventually dumped in a furnace somewhere.

But production is more complex these days, printing is more expensive and comic book creators these days usually negotiate a bigger share of the profits. This, of course, drives the price up. Nevertheless, as a consumer, I expect a bit more for my $2.99 than a five-minute read, consisting of 21 pages of story, five house ads, five paid ads, and a DC nation column.

I find fault with the creative teams. Many writers seem inclined to have several pages with very little dialogue. Artists often confine themselves to three or four panels per page, with minimal backgrounds. But it’s nothing new; it’s been going on for years, as creative teams have taken a more cinematic approach to storytelling, complete with voiceovers, extended camera angles and dramatic pauses.

It is my hope editors will encourage their freelancers to take a different approach, and challenge them to tell stories that are bursting with action, adventure and sound character development. Speaking for myself, I’d rather not see a whole issue go to waste as the hero journeys off somewhere to find himself in the aftermath of some failure. I expect more for my $2.99.

Which is why I’m waiting for the trade version of Countdown.

Praise and adulation? Scorn and ridicule? E-mail me at philip@comicbookbin.com

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