AF #12 solicit + Cancellation notice

[cmdrkoenig67]

Ben : I enjoy when new things are tried, but nowadays, like AF, Duran Duran has more of a cult following than a mainstream one. If you alienate the main core of readers/listeners then sales are going to plummet. Marvel didn't promote the book so new readers didn't come aboard, old readers walked because they didn't get what they expected. Die-Hards (and I include myself in that) continue to support the series cos some form of AF is better than none at all.

Mokole : AF needs Heather, Shaman, Sas, Puck, Snowbird and a mixture of others from vol 2 and vol 3. Mac has had his day, Maddy Jeffries, Wildchild and to some degree Aurora are all as mad as march hares and Northstar is tainted by the X.

I'll join Cliff in that "Well said." I have to also include myself as a die-hard AF fan(not that there's anything wrong with that...LOL), who read their adventures from the first appearance in X-Men, but this series almost lost me(since money is tight and I wasn't getting anything from the book that made me happy).

I have to say Mac(Guardian I) is not one of my favorite Alphans, but you CAN'T cut him from the book completely...some folks will disagree with me here, but it wouldn't be truly AF without Mac and Heather around in some fashion(they founded the team, for pete's sake....they belong in the book....somewhere). I feel the same way about the twins, Shaman, Snowbird(if she's alive at the time...this also goes for MAC...GGGRRRRRR! They really need to stop that)...and even to an extent, Puck. IF the characters are alive(and are good characters)....use them. Marvel needs to stop force-feeding us an all new(or 85-99% new) cast with each series and expecting older readers to just lump it, if they don't like it.

Dana

[Cliff]

In our day it was about selling good stories.

Now its more about selling quantity over quality. If a crap book sells, then that's favored over the low sales numbers of a well written book.

[Scarlettspiderg]

Well I've emailed Marvel again (thanking the AF team for the great run) and letting Marvel know they are cancelling a great title.

[DelBubs]

I don't think Marvel have ever taken AF seriously. I couldn't see them allowing Lobdell to write a funny book involving the X. Marvel would never envisage an Alpha disassembled. Alpha has always been the poor cousin, kept on the fringes and used in cross-overs as an after thought. I agree fans are fickle, but I also believe fans are more knowledgeble these days. They can see that Marvel are never going to take anything outside the mainstream books seriously, Alpha will probably get a few guest appearences, but another series. I shan't hold my breath.

On that note, maybe you should run a poll and establish how many fans can see the next 'New Warriors' series getting past #12

[cmdrkoenig67]

No, I don't blame the readers for not liking it, but I do blame the overal inustry for making comic readers so fickle these days. Where once fans would have stuck it out during a spell they didn't like, now they just drop it. Not, it's not thier fault, books are expensive, and they are innondated with new titles on a regular basis, rather than having the publisher work on making existing ones work. The thing with those 42000 readers, they were probably only half made up of existing af fans. Lots of people who know about, and read some AF, but there is a world of fans out there that never would have heard about it. In running my site, you have no idea how often I get email to the effect of "wow I had no idea there was a new AF series".
Ben

This is not a personal attack, but I really disagree.

I doubt very much that half of the 42,000 readers were non-AF readers How could that be possible? Did they just pick the book up on a whim or did a friend suggest they buy it? I doubt it very much....that's a big reach.

I would more believe that almost 65-75% were established AF fans. Regardless....42,000 people KNEW the book was being published AND picked up the first issue....AND half that number dropped it by issue 8. They obviously found something quite important "wrong" with the series and couldn't continue to buy it. I don't want to fall into blaming Marvel for the lack of advertising.....the first issue sold 42000+ copies!!! Granted they should have promoted the book....period.

Who do I blame for alienating older fans and losing sales? Marvel...and rightly so.

Dana

Edited for mispellings and other assorted typoes.

[Cliff]

I don't think Marvel have ever taken AF seriously. I couldn't see them allowing Lobdell to write a funny book involving the X. Marvel would never envisage an Alpha disassembled. Alpha has always been the poor cousin, kept on the fringes and used in cross-overs as an after thought

Kinda like most Americans think of Canada in general, huh?

Seriously though, the 42,000 number is very close to Byrne's "Faithful 50", as he calls them. 50k copies sure to sell every time Byrne does an issue of any given title. I've long though that that was the general loyalty base number and the 42k numbers for AF here sort of bear that out, and I agree that those are your core, regular AF fan base mainly, not the casual reader.

But lets say for the sake opf argument that only have are the totally loyal, hard-core AF fans that will buy anything AF and the other half are casual, "pick it up and try it out" readers. If any given title does that poorly over the course of a year, the trouble can't possibly be lack of intrest. If it were simply down to lack of interest, sales wouldn't have declined, they would have just stopped. Marvel would have seen the numbers go from 42k to 21k in a matter of a month or two and not dwindle over an entire year. I think it 's short sighted of Marvel and it quite frankly makes me a little angry to see that they are shooting for Spiderman/X-men level sales or bust all the while knowing that AF is not going to be nor has ever been a main-stream title. Why even publish "fringe" books if you have no faith in them?

(title run - hiatus + writer/artist = shelf popularity & sales)?

[Scarlettspiderg]

I doubt very much that half of the 42,000 readers were non-AF readers How could that be possible? Did they just pick the book up on a whim or did a friend suggested they buy it? I doubt it very much....that's a big reach.

Just like to say I'm one of those "on a whim" people, I picked up issue 1 just to see what its like and got fixated on a team that was a laugh to read.

[Phil]

I've got nothing to add to this thread, but it seems to be where the "cool kids" are hanging out.

[cmdrkoenig67]

Well I've emailed Marvel again (thanking the AF team for the great run) and letting Marvel know they are cancelling a great title.

Could you post that email address, Scarlettspiderg....or anybody else that knows it(I've been having trouble finding it).

Dana

[Ben]

Write to:

Alpha Flight c/o Marvel Comics
10 East 40th st.
New York, Ny
10016

Email: officex@marvel.com


and yes, I agree that the blame is not only on advertising, most of it is in lack of reaction to falling sales.

Ben

[Cliff]

Well, they "reacted" alright...

[Ottawa Renegade]

Hey everybody, Rich Johnston who does his weekly "Lying In The Gutters" column over at comicbookresources has the e-mail Scott Lobdell sent to Ben today.

http://www.comicbookresources.com/columns/?column=13

MM

Whoa! Are we famous now? Glad I combed my hair and that I'm wearing nearly clean underwear...

[DelBubs]

Okay, hands in the air, how many here thought that when Alpha got the new series that it would get into double figures. Personally I didn't see it getting as far as it did. Now either Marvel try and figure out why second string books don't become first string or give up on the idea and just publish Silver age characters with periodic major changes that in the long run revert to the norm.
Onslaught, Disassembled etc.

AF could have worked and it was suggested that Marvel didn't expect the book to be selling 100,000 plus. However, that shouldn't have stopped them from making changes when sales figures started to fall. Then again Marvel have ben playing that game for as long as I care to remember.

[HappyCanuck]

Well, they "reacted" alright...

Too damned right: it's like cutting off a finger becuase of a cut because you're afraid of gangrene - instead of fixing it up, getting it better, they just euthanise it instead, chopping it off. Really premature. Also, comparing v.3 to She-Hulk is the same as comparing v.2 to Deadpool (a waste of paper for the most part, imo): they are promoting and helping She-Hulk, but not Alpha - AGAIN.

[Ottawa Renegade]

...if that group of characters and that type of story had appeared in a comic without AF on the cover, would you have still been here discussing it?

I sure as hell wouldn't. In fact, if there had been any indication that there would be no "classic" content I wouldn't have given it a second glance.