Tom Brevoort Against Fight For The Flight

[Switchgearman]

To all of you out there who've read Tom's blog, Ben's original response & have been following this thread, I think Ben has conducted himself with a lot of dignity, intelligence & grace throughout it all. Not many people would've reacted so well moreso when the criticisms laid on one is very incorrect & unfounded.

So, pls join me in giving him a hearty round of applause...

Obviously we don't know what's been communicated between Ben & TB but I'm still unsure about it being "tongue-in-cheek". I've re-read the blog again with this in mind after seeing Ben's note above & I'm sorry to say that, you can read his blog in many ways but tongue-in-cheek ain't one of 'em. So, at least to me & probably to many others out there, it just doesn't wash.

I'm hopeful for OF, that it will take off. But realistically speaking & sadly so, I see mainly hardcore fans buying them with a small percentage of newcomers jumping in. I do wonder how many of us are out there & I do fear there won't be enough of us.

There've also been a lot of criticisms laid on Marvel over this whole incident which I feel, to a high extent, is not fair. Marvel is where they are because they've given a lot of fans hours & hours of enjoyment & thrill over many decades. It doesn't come with disrespect to or of fans. It is merely the conduct & attitude of one or several people within a large company. So, let's keep it in perspective. Don't know about you all but I have to say that since Joe Q took over as EIC, things have never been so good at Marvel for a long long time (although... the X-Men & Uncanny titles had suffered for many years until only recently) with some hits and misses which are inevitable.

Anyway, April & OF #1 release will be bitter-sweet - I'm really really getting impatient to get my hands on it but also sad it's going to be 5 issues only. With a small possibility it'd get an ongoing release.

[Le Messor]

In discussions I had with Quesada, he quoted some pieces of emails that when you put it all in a pile could be considered rude, though from a fan's perspective it appears more frustrated

Which is how Tom's post came across.

So, pls join me in giving him a hearty round of applause...

Applause!

I'm sorry to say that, you can read his blog in many ways but tongue-in-cheek ain't one of 'em. So, at least to me & probably to many others out there, it just doesn't wash.

Yep.

Marvel is where they are because they've given a lot of fans hours & hours of enjoyment & thrill over many decades. It doesn't come with disrespect to or of fans. It is merely the conduct & attitude of one or several people within a large company.

1) Technically, they haven't 'given' us anything ('cept recently, at Free Comic Book Day events). They've SOLD it to us. In return for which, we have given them dollars & dollars of currency & bills over many decades.

2) Those people represent the company. Joe Q's response that there's nothing disrespectful in Tom's post is disrespectful in itself. Rather than listening to us, he tells us we're not insulted by it. My own council will I keep on when I'm insulted.

And they don't just whine about it, as most of these fan protestors do--
it doesn't matter how many times you say it, if you care enough about OMEGA FLIGHT to send in an irate, venom-filled letter, then you're not going to not buy it simply because it's a limited series. It's ridiculous to believe we're likely to be bullied or intimidated by so transparent a threat.

OMEGA FLIGHT to be ordered into stores well, and to make it sell through well. Because that's the bottom line--we're a publisher, and we're in the business of making titles that people want to read. Anything else is just pissing in the wind.

He also called Spider-Girl fans intelligent and organised, with the implication that OF fans are not. So, to him, we're whiners and bullies worth nothing more than whatever money of ours OF gets him. It's honest, I'll give it that. It ain't tongue-in-cheek; at least, there's no way an already 'irate, venom-filled' fan would read the above that way.
Point is, there was a time I felt like Marvel cared about comics. Maybe it was true, once. Stuff like this tells me they care only about money.
And he's telling us: "Give me your money. I don't care about you beyond that." It's right there in the subtext.

That's what fans find unbelievable. That's what fans find disrespectful.
We're people, not wallets. (Okay, maybe Alan. )

Oh, that and he didn't think it was worth telling us about the downgrade; we had to find out through solicitations: "New Ongoing! New Ongoing! New Ongoing! Coming soon: 5-issue limited".
How much bitterness would Marvel have deflected if they'd just made an announcement? Especially one that gave us *reasons*!

- Le Messor
"Your subtext is rapidly becoming, uh, text."
- Giles

[Barnacle13]

I've been reading this line and trying to stay neutral. I tend not to wear my feelings on my sleeves, so TB's comments don't bug me a whole lot. We're not doomed here folks. We do have some pull. We do have an opportunity to make our voices heard. We might even be able to change the way us fanboys and girls are looked at a bit. But it'll take intelligent action. Hurt feelings get us nothing. Making Omega Flight a success will. The Fight for the Flight is a simple enough campaign aimed at sales, but as already stated here it won't be enough. We're 150-200 strong! Not enough! What we have to do is get others on board. That means we talk the series up at other sites and get folks to check it out. Get the X-fans, Spidey fans, Shell head fans, etc. and we might win. Get creative! Anything that'll sell another copy and convert another fan is what we're looking for.

I'm currently lobbying for something thusfar unheard of....subscriptions for mini-series. Maybe folks would buy a half year sub. It might seem like less of an investment, both monetarily and emotionally. I'm sure Marvel makes more money when they go direct, than through a dealer. Fans would be able to pick and choose their minis this way, without having to have a comic store nearby, and not having to worry about missing an issue. Can't hurt to try!

So think out of the box! How can we be Marvel's best salesmen of Alpha Flight/Omega Flight? I know lots of you have a bad taste in your mouth. You're not alone! But that taste will only get worse if Brevort is right and our efforts fail to get an ongoing! Show him he's wrong! I'm sure he'll be happy to be proven wrong, but at least we'll get the satisfaction of an ongoing if we do!

[SmurfInABlender]

I actually am very much for subscription of minis aswell, I also thought of maybe a Mini-pack.. where you buy a mini and when it is over it transfers to another mine or something..