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Thread: Alpha Discussion at Fan Expo '13

  1. #1

    Default Alpha Discussion at Fan Expo '13

    The panel ended on a high note with a fan asking if the panelists disliked Canadian superhero teams. The room rolled with hearty laughter, and Brevoort said, "I guess it's no surprise that this is the show in which we get more Alpha Flight questions than any other."

    "No there's no dislike for Canadian super teams or for Alpha Flight in particular," Brevoort explained. "What there is unfortunately though is a difficulty that we've had in keeping Alpha Flight viable as a series for the long term. We've tried a bunch of times now, and every time it could just be that we didn't hit it right. We didn't have the right creators. We didn't have the right idea. We didn't market it effectively. For one reason or another we've just not had any success at making a long term go function with Alpha Flight, but we love the characters."


    "It's not impossible that we would do another Alpha Flight series," he added. "I tend to think myself that I would be more likely to try and do something else. I'd be more likely to try some other character in Canada or another character that comes out of Canada rather than trying to do the same thing again that I haven't been able to make work three or four times already. I don't think the reason Alpha Flight didn't work is because it was a Canadian team. I just think there has been something about it that hasn't caught, and it's not the only Marvel thing that hasn't caught. We just have to hit on the right kind of thing."
    http://www.comicbookresources.com/?p...ticle&id=47543

  2. #2

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    At least he knew his audience enough to shoulder the blame as a company instead of turning into a no-fan-support problem. Excepting the most recent series, which didn't get a fair enough chance to succeed in my opinion, AF has been treated as a joke by Marvel for far too many years.

  3. #3

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    We just have to hit on the right kind of thing.
    For his own health and safety, i'd avoiding hitting on this Thing...

    http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...1_coverart.jpg

    ...and maybe go with the following "Sharon Ventura" edition, instead?

    http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi.../She-Thing.jpg
    Support Artists, Not Companies! Creator-owned comics are where the real art is at!

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  4. #4

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    If they could find a writer and artist committed to the characters over the long haul, and actually give it time to grow, they could have the best of both worlds. An Alpha Flight series using some, if not all, of the originals, then gradually add in new dynamic characters. They don't seem to be giving series enough time anymore... if they're not a consistent best seller, they're canceled and replaced with a new "Issue 1" of something just to garner more sales.
    The Flight Forever !

  5. #5

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    I like your ideas Alphan but will Marvel ever do what they did with She-Hulk and Spider-Girl, let them have a run and keep plugging?
    Keep your stick on the ice.

    Live it.

  6. #6
    Harvester of Sorrows Department H
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    On the other side of things, they seem to have only three hit teams: The X-Men, The Avengers, and The Fantastic Four.
    It'd be nice if they could sustain more niche books, but something just doesn't seem to be hitting with that.

    Quote Originally Posted by Flightpath07 View Post
    For his own health and safety, i'd avoiding hitting on this Thing...
    http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...1_coverart.jpg
    ...and maybe go with the following "Sharon Ventura" edition, instead?
    http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi.../She-Thing.jpg
    Could be worse:
    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	thing.jpg 
Views:	74 
Size:	10.2 KB 
ID:	3199
    or:
    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	the-thing3.jpg 
Views:	73 
Size:	727.5 KB 
ID:	3200
    Now what for he goin' hittin' on that thing?

    ~ Le Messor
    "Life is far too important a thing ever to talk seriously about."

  7. #7

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    Quote Originally Posted by Alphan East View Post
    They don't seem to be giving series enough time anymore... if they're not a consistent best seller, they're canceled and replaced with a new "Issue 1" of something just to garner more sales.
    Could you afford to lose your own money each month just to make less than 20,000 people happy?

    Quote Originally Posted by Mokole View Post
    I like your ideas Alphan but will Marvel ever do what they did with She-Hulk and Spider-Girl, let them have a run and keep plugging?
    They still sold more than AF did, though...

  8. #8

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    Q: If we are going to compare apples with things that sound, taste, and smell like apples...WHEN did She-Hulk and Spider-Girl sell more than Alpha Flight? And how does that time period compare to nowadays, when talking about sales overall?

    I hate to always throw a monkey-wrench into things ("but sometimes the monkey just won't let go! ba-da-boom! thank you, i'll be here all night! all you vegans, try the vegetables; all you non-vegans, try the vegans!")...

    ...but if we are going to compare sales from different eras/time-periods/years, then number of items sold mean far less than percentage of that time's market does.

    (Stupid monkey! Why can't you just let go!)
    Support Artists, Not Companies! Creator-owned comics are where the real art is at!

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    Also 'occasionally' ranting Alpha Flight related stuff at http://canadas-own-the-flight.blogspot.com/

  9. #9

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    She-Hulk & Spider-Girl were concurrent with Vol.3

    I'll try and drag the numbers up but there's a lot to go back through.

  10. #10

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    Quote Originally Posted by Phil View Post
    She-Hulk & Spider-Girl were concurrent with Vol.3

    I'll try and drag the numbers up but there's a lot to go back through.
    Sorry Phil, its the monkey's fault, I swear! Besides, facts interest me.
    Support Artists, Not Companies! Creator-owned comics are where the real art is at!

    My new website! http://lifelessordinarywebnovel.com/home.html Follow my super-powered web-novel adventures, "Life Less Ordinary"!

    Twitter (1) = @RealWyldeChild
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    Also 'occasionally' ranting Alpha Flight related stuff at http://canadas-own-the-flight.blogspot.com/

  11. #11
    Harvester of Sorrows Department H
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    Quote Originally Posted by Tom Brevoort View Post
    We've tried a bunch of times now, and every time it could just be that we didn't hit it right. We didn't have the right creators. We didn't have the right idea. We didn't market it effectively.
    Quote Originally Posted by Phil View Post
    They still sold more than AF did, though...
    The things that keep coming up again and again, though, when we have this discussion, are:
    They didn't market it effectively (barely at all), which is on them.
    And that, iirc, they cut v4 from ongoing to limited before issue #1 was out. Which makes it hard to believe that was a decision based on sales.
    (Not impossible - I know of pre-orders - but how would people know about it if it wasn't marketed, and they hadn't seen it on shelves yet?)

    ~ Le Messor

  12. #12

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    They marketed the heck out of Volume 4 though.

    And Volume 4 was originally a mini-series, which was upgraded to an ongoing circa #4 based on the sales of #1 and then downgraded to its original mini-series length circa #6 based on the sales of #2-3.

  13. #13

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    Yeah I was sad that it got downgraded again, but I don't blame Marvel. Didn't it pretty much have a 20,000 unit drop from #1 sales to #8 sales? It was still doing better then several other Marvel on-goings, so I was confused why AF was cancelled and not them. However, those other titles soon were on the chopping block after Alpha
    Last edited by -K-M-; 09-01-2013 at 03:35 PM.

  14. #14
    Harvester of Sorrows Department H
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    Quote Originally Posted by Phil View Post
    They marketed the heck out of Volume 4 though.
    And Volume 4 was originally a mini-series, which was upgraded to an ongoing circa #4 based on the sales of #1 and then downgraded to its original mini-series length circa #6 based on the sales of #2-3.
    Okay. That wasn't my recollection, but those aren't things I pay a huge amount of attention to, so me being wrong is as shocking as the scene in the end where the guy in the wheelchair stands up saying 'I could walk the whole time!'.

    ~ Le Messor
    Calvin: Look, Hobbes, I need you to come to school with me and show Moe a little fang, OK? You don't need to kill him or anything. Just give 'im something to think about on the way to surgery. He usually comes after me during recess, so we'll get him then. Hey, you don't have rabies do you?
    Hobbes: Certainly not!
    Calvin: Rats. Well I suppose he'd at least have to get a tetanus shot.

  15. #15

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    Quote Originally Posted by -K-M- View Post
    Didn't it pretty much have a 20,000 unit drop from #1 sales to #8 sales?
    http://alphaflight.net/content.php?5...-Sales-Figures

    #1 - 46,851
    #2 - 26,862
    #3 - 24,872
    #4 - 23,242
    #5 - 20,731
    #6 - 19,316
    #7 - 18,416
    #8 - 18,408

    so a 28,443 drop between 1-8.

    Had it carried on around the 40,000 mark (like Uncanny X-Force is) it would have kept ongoing.

    Looking at it, by #5 it had reached the point that Astonishing X-Men is at now and that too is being cancelled.

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