"TKO Studios wants to revolutionize comics... and it just might do it"

Yeah, yeah, we've heard that kind of thing before. But this article/review by Oliver Sava does actually make it sound exciting.

[url]https://aux.avclub.com/tko-studios-wants-to-revolutionize-comics-and-it-jus-1832213585[/url]

[quote]when TKO Studios debuted at the end of last year with some genuinely ambitious ideas for publishing and distribution, the industry took notice. TKO says it wants to be “the first modern comic book company,” meaning it wants to create a publishing and distribution model that is tailored to how contemporary audiences engage with media. In regards to publishing, TKO is experimenting with a binge-reading model, giving readers complete six-issue stories all at once in three different formats: digital copies, box sets of single issues, and paperback collections. The first issues of each series are all available to download on TKO’s website, making it easier to commit to the multi-issue model by giving readers and retailers a free sample...

TKO’s CEO and co-publisher, Salvatore Simeone, comes from the world of tech start-ups, and while the details of TKO’s seed money aren’t public, the company has enough funding that it can handle distribution itself and bring in big-name creators for its titles. The distribution angle is perhaps the most intriguing...

TKO is side-stepping Diamond entirely, putting a retailer portal on its website where comic-shops can order books. TKO offers retailers a 50 percent discount on all purchases with free shipping to U.S. stores. International vendors pay for shipping, which varies on a case-by-case basis depending on weight. Books shipped in the U.S. typically arrive within two to five business days instead of weeks or months—eight to 12 business days for international shipping—and TKO uses its Twitter feed to promote stores that stock its books. Even though the publisher sells directly to readers, it recognizes how important it is to have its titles in comic shops and the role they play in marketing to new customers.[/quote]

And they've got some impressive creators on board... Garth Ennis, Jeff Lemire, and most exciting to my mind, Joshua Dysart. I'm a big evangelist for his [I]Harbinger[/I] and [I]Imperium[/I] runs at Valiant, but he doesn't actually publish that much, and I always sit up and take notice when he comes out with something new.

Sava gives their books high marks all around. Anyone else read any of these, and/or seen copies at their LCS?

The other co-publisher, Tze Chun, is a TV writer, and wrote several episodes of Once Upon a Time and Gotham, among other things. And he is actually a competent comics writer as well, proving that on two TKO-published titles: the pulpy adventure The Fearsome Doctor Fang, and western 7 Deadly Sins. Both Garth Ennis and Steve Epting have never been better than on Sara.

And no superheroes. TKO is not going to indulge in that genre, or so they've promised.

Too bad, the shipping costs to Europe are massive

[QUOTE=LukasG;4178980]Too bad, the shipping costs to Europe are massive[/QUOTE]

Various stores in the UK are now stocking them if thats any cheaper for you?
I got mine from OKComics. I see FP are taking orders too.

Really? Thanks! Gonna check it out ;)
What TKO is trying to do with publishing --> binge reading (6 issues releasing immediately) coule be disruptive for the industry and I really hope they succeed

I hope they succeed, too.

Somewhat linked to this, it has long been suggested doing arcs as 'seasons' (much like what the [I]All Star[/I] books originally seemed to be) but there is a lot of resistance in the industry to something like that.

[QUOTE=adkal;4180975]I hope they succeed, too.

Somewhat linked to this, it has long been suggested doing arcs as 'seasons' (much like what the [I]All Star[/I] books originally seemed to be) but there is a lot of resistance in the industry to something like that.[/QUOTE]

Where in particular is this resistance coming from? Is it coming from the creators, the publishing executives, the retailers?

It seems to me this is an absolutely necessary step if comics are going to survive and thrive as a mainstream entertainment medium (and they'll have to be at a lower price-point, too, at least in digital form). This is just my amateur and highly inexpert impression, but it seems to me there are two possible futures: 1) DC and Marvel and other more or less "major" publishers evolve to a more arc-focused, binge-reading model at lower prices that's mainly consumed digitally, or 2) readership just keeps sinking lower and lower until the comics publishers collapse. Of course, local comics shops, the bread and butter of the industry for 30 or so years, will gnash their teeth at the suggestion that the future is digital. I'm a physical book man myself. But I don't see an alternative.

I am struggling to see how this isnt just an OGN publisher, of which there are many already, just packaging their OGNs two ways rather than one.

Part of buying floppies is the wait between issues. The cliffhanger and the wait for the next issue is the experience people pay for. Or for those that prefer book format then there is the trade. There seems to be a lot of wooly theory behind what is just repackaging a trade in a box.

Line up looks good though - lets hope its a success

Interesting points, Iron Chimp - that's an angle I hadn't considered and is worth mulling over. But as for this...

[QUOTE=iron chimp;4182423]The cliffhanger and the wait for the next issue is the experience people pay for.[/QUOTE]

That's just the thing. Most people in the Netflix age [B]aren't[/B] paying for that experience and aren't interested in doing so, which is part of the problem with the state of the industry. I'm a Wednesday Warrior, but even I generally prefer reading books in trade when I can, given the long-form, serialized storytelling that most comics use these days - I often can't remember where the story left off by the time I pick up next month's issue. I buy floppies that I'm excited enough about to not want to wait for months to get the tpb.

I don't know much about these OGN publishers you mention - how many of them are publishing ongoing stories, like TKO is doing? And with major creators from the big time like Ennis and Lemire?

And on the other hand... when I decided to do a little research at Google U. on the topic, I saw that exactly how well or how badly the industry is doing is a much debated question, even among the people who know the most about the topic. This piece does a good job encapsulating the ambiguity:

[B]"Comics periodical sales have been flat for 20 years – or maybe they’re just stable"[/B]

[url]https://www.comicsbeat.com/comics-periodical-sales-have-been-flat-for-20-years-or-maybe-theyre-just-stable/[/url]

[QUOTE=Yohei72;4184053]Interesting points, Iron Chimp - that's an angle I hadn't considered and is worth mulling over. But as for this...



That's just the thing. Most people in the Netflix age [B]aren't[/B] paying for that experience and aren't interested in doing so, which is part of the problem with the state of the industry. I'm a Wednesday Warrior, but even I generally prefer reading books in trade when I can, given the long-form, serialized storytelling that most comics use these days - I often can't remember where the story left off by the time I pick up next month's issue. I buy floppies that I'm excited enough about to not want to wait for months to get the tpb.

I don't know much about these OGN publishers you mention - how many of them are publishing ongoing stories, like TKO is doing? And with major creators from the big time like Ennis and Lemire?[/QUOTE]

There were a number of companies who left the floppies market after the 90s crash to almost exclusively publish ogns - fantagraphics, slave labor, drawn and quarterly.

They were followed into that market by traditional literary publishers who established their own ogn imprints or divisions like first second.

Ongoing ones is not so easy to think of - volume 4 of love and rockets was all 96pg trades, charles burns did his sci fi trilogy as 3 hardbacks, and jim woodring has done his characters as ogns for a couple of decades. There is probably loads more but ongoing ogns seems far more popular in france with those big 48 pg hardbacks.

There is def a lot of virtues to ogns - you dont need to have the hook every 20 pages to keep reader buying a floppy - better production qualities over a stapled pamphlet etc,

However 150 years ago the serialised novel was a popular genre but that died out long before netflix to be replaced almost entirely by complete novels.

This is fascinating to me, as I've tried every format there is and like having options. This lineup of creators is an awesome start.

I wish they had one more format, an oversized hardcover which includes covers and supplemental features plus autographs or something, and comes with digital copies.

The wait for the cliffhanger works better when stories aren't decrompressed to hell or we get enough decent one and dones to mix it up. As is people are 6 weeks for a one issue opening then 3 weeks of filler then finally a middle/end.

[QUOTE=Yohei72;4177852]Yeah, yeah, we've heard that kind of thing before. But this article/review by Oliver Sava does actually make it sound exciting.

[url]https://aux.avclub.com/tko-studios-wants-to-revolutionize-comics-and-it-jus-1832213585[/url]



And they've got some impressive creators on board... Garth Ennis, Jeff Lemire, and most exciting to my mind, Joshua Dysart. I'm a big evangelist for his [I]Harbinger[/I] and [I]Imperium[/I] runs at Valiant, but he doesn't actually publish that much, and I always sit up and take notice when he comes out with something new.

Sava gives their books high marks all around. Anyone else read any of these, and/or seen copies at their LCS?[/QUOTE]


I didn't see any of these at my LCS (And I inquired about them), but I'll try to see if a couple others carry them, out of curiosity........That said, I ordered two of the books straight from the publisher last week (Sara & Goodnight Paradise). Sara was excellent. As Paradox_Nihil mentioned after your post, Ennis & Epting were in top form on this book. I'm hoping they collaborate more in the future (I'm also hoping Epting teams up with Brubaker for another round of Velvet via Image Comics).

I'm about to start on Goodnight Paradise right now. I've enjoyed the majority of Dysart's work in Valiant Comics (Harbinger, Imperium, and now The Life and Death of Toyo Harada), so I'm expecting good things.




[QUOTE=Paradox_Nihil;4178050]The other co-publisher, Tze Chun, is a TV writer, and wrote several episodes of Once Upon a Time and Gotham, among other things. And he is actually a competent comics writer as well, proving that on two TKO-published titles: the pulpy adventure The Fearsome Doctor Fang, and western 7 Deadly Sins. Both Garth Ennis and Steve Epting have never been better than on Sara.

And no superheroes. TKO is not going to indulge in that genre, or so they've promised.[/QUOTE]


Interesting on Tze Chun, I might need to check one of his books out the next time I do an order through TKO (Or I'll buy one at one of the other local comic shops if they carry it).

I wouldn't be surprised if TKO gets Warren Ellis to write a book or two for them. He seems to have books released through various publishers/companies, and he would be a good fit for this one.


[QUOTE=adkal;4180975]I hope they succeed, too.

Somewhat linked to this,[B] it has long been suggested doing arcs as 'seasons'[/B] (much like what the [I]All Star[/I] books originally seemed to be) but there is a lot of resistance in the industry to something like that.[/QUOTE]


There are a lot of people who prefer that. I don't mind buying floppies as it reduces the wait-time, and some comics have extra content not found in trades/HCs (Criminal, Fatale, Lazarus, etc...)

I have a recent ex who completely refused to read floppies, no matter how good I'd say a comic was. She was big into binging TV shows on Netflix, or watching my bluray sets of Game Of Thrones, Gotham, and Boardwalk Empire. When it came to comics, she would only read trades & hardcovers as she didn't have the patience to wait months for a complete story-arc. I mean, hell, she didn't have the patience to wait a week for the following episode of a current television series.