John Stewart: Green Lantern Appreciation 2021

[Sodam Yat]

Hey everyone, I got a question. Does digital sales matter as much as regular comic sales in the comic industry? I'm familiar with hard copies on sales, but I hardly analyze the value of digital comics. I'm asking this because, apparently, Green Lantern #9 is in the top 10 sales of the week. Y'all can check here.

And to be really honest, I don't really buy hard copies anymore at my local comic book shop, mainly because of COVID. I currently subscribe to new digital comics on Comixology. I only buy HC trades and omnibus (which is what I've been collecting as of late).

[SecretWarrior]

According to the Watchtower Database, Bruce Timm and Co. wanted to use John Stewart as their Green Lantern as early as the pre-production period for Superman: The Animated Series. Before S:TAS, the team thought they couldn't pull off something on the quality of the Fleischer cartoons, so they were toying with the idea of jumping from Batman: The Animated Series straight into Justice League or something like Justice League. They weren't expecting to be able to use Batman in that version of the idea, since his rights were tied up at Fox. That's why this art exists:







Maybe DC mandated Kyle Rayner on S:TAS? Who knows.

More details in the video below--



More info on the Pre-Season 1 Justice League: https://jl.popgeeks.com/001/001.htm

[Vordan]

Hey everyone, I got a question. Does digital sales matter as much as regular comic sales in the comic industry? I'm familiar with hard copies on sales, but I hardly analyze the value of digital comics. I'm asking this because, apparently, Green Lantern #9 is in the top 10 sales of the week. Y'all can check here.

And to be really honest, I don't really buy hard copies anymore at my local comic book shop, mainly because of COVID. I currently subscribe to new digital comics on Comixology. I only buy HC trades and omnibus (which is what I've been collecting as of late).

DC takes them into account but the bulk of profit still comes from physical sales usually. It being in the top 10 is a good sign because ComiXology at least tells you what is and isn’t selling to customers.

[HsssH]

Few years ago I remember seeing somewhere that digital accounts for around 10% of print sales. Maybe with pandemic that number has gone up a bit.

[Frontier]

According to the Watchtower Database, Bruce Timm and Co. wanted to use John Stewart as their Green Lantern as early as the pre-production period for Superman: The Animated Series. Before S:TAS, the team thought they couldn't pull off something on the quality of the Fleischer cartoons, so they were toying with the idea of jumping from Batman: The Animated Series straight into Justice League or something like Justice League. They weren't expecting to be able to use Batman in that version of the idea, since his rights were tied up at Fox. That's why this art exists:







Maybe DC mandated Kyle Rayner on S:TAS? Who knows.

More details in the video below--



More info on the Pre-Season 1 Justice League: https://jl.popgeeks.com/001/001.htm

I guess it would make sense since Kyle was the main GL at the time of S:TAS like they used Tim Drake as Robin (even though he was more like Jason Todd).

I think John at least had his powers back by JL.

[Sodam Yat]

Thanks, y'all. Yeah, although printed copies are still more valuable, it's still impressive this book managed to be in the top 10 week of sales when this book has been around more than some of the other newer books that reached in the top 10.

From what I read last year, was that digital copies were ranging around 12%, which gave it a boost, due to the pandemic. I'm sure some who felt like they were forced to read comics in digital format may get attached to it. Digital copies is still new in some ways, but I wonder does it have a bright future, especially for new readers going forward. We'll see.

[HandofPrometheus]

Hey everyone, I got a question. Does digital sales matter as much as regular comic sales in the comic industry? I'm familiar with hard copies on sales, but I hardly analyze the value of digital comics. I'm asking this because, apparently, Green Lantern #9 is in the top 10 sales of the week. Y'all can check here.

And to be really honest, I don't really buy hard copies anymore at my local comic book shop, mainly because of COVID. I currently subscribe to new digital comics on Comixology. I only buy HC trades and omnibus (which is what I've been collecting as of late).

Same for me. I do not buy floppies besides a short mini to support it. Other than that I stick to HC, Omni's, or fat trades. I would like to know where these three factors in sales because cancellations seem based on floppies which is total bullcrap imo.

[Vordan]

Same for me. I do not buy floppies besides a short mini to support it. Other than that I stick to HC, Omni's, or fat trades. I would like to know where these three factors in sales because cancellations seem based on floppies which is total bullcrap imo.

Unfortunately yes, books get cancelled based on floppy sales. If your book doesn’t sell well in the monthly format, and it’s not BL, it’s probably DOA.

[Sodam Yat]

Same for me. I do not buy floppies besides a short mini to support it. Other than that I stick to HC, Omni's, or fat trades. I would like to know where these three factors in sales because cancellations seem based on floppies which is total bullcrap imo.

Right. I actually like ordering comics in digital format, so I'll stick to it even after this whole pandemic thing is over. The good thing is that I get to read on same-day release at an earlier period and save a little on gas money lol. So digital copies do have some benefits over floppies.

Those three are most likely based off of floppies, so it comes right after a few floppies has been released. Especially Omnis, which can take years to create. So I'm sure that's why it doesn't play a big role on a deciding factor whether DC wants to continue with a comic book series. Probably the only exception would be those graphic novels that aren't based off of floppies like the Earth One series.

[John Venus]

I agree that sometimes people overstate McDuffie's influence on JL especially when it comes to John. He came on board after the roster was already decided and joined in after the success of Static. His work on the later seasons of JLU did impact B:TAS, S:TAS and Batman Beyond, that's probably why people think he worked on those shows as well.

Dwayne didn't even write most of John's most pivotal stories:

In Blackest Night- Stan Berkowitz

The Enemy Below - Kevin Hopps

War World - Stan Berkowitz

Legends - Andrew Krisenberg

The Savage Time - Stan Berkotwitz

Heats & Mind - Keith Damron

Secret Society - Stan Berkowitz

Fallen Hero (the Static Shock cross over episode) - Stan Berkowitz

Initiation - Stan Berkowtiz

Kid Stuff - Henry Gilroy

The Return - Stan Berkowitz Teleplay by JM DeMattis

Whereas Dwayne seemed more focus on Trinity + Hawkgirl but bolstered by guest characters like Billy Batson, Deadman, Steel, Mr Terrific, Vixen and Vigilante.

[Sodam Yat]

[Frontier]

I agree that sometimes people overstate McDuffie's influence on JL especially when it comes to John. He came on board after the roster was already decided and joined in after the success of Static. His work on the later seasons of JLU did impact B:TAS, S:TAS and Batman Beyond, that's probably why people think he worked on those shows as well.

Dwayne didn't even write most of John's most pivotal stories:

In Blackest Night- Stan Berkowitz

The Enemy Below - Kevin Hopps

War World - Stan Berkowitz

Legends - Andrew Krisenberg

The Savage Time - Stan Berkotwitz

Heats & Mind - Keith Damron

Secret Society - Stan Berkowitz

Fallen Hero (the Static Shock cross over episode) - Stan Berkowitz

Initiation - Stan Berkowtiz

Kid Stuff - Henry Gilroy

The Return - Stan Berkowitz Teleplay by JM DeMattis

Whereas Dwayne seemed more focus on Trinity + Hawkgirl but bolstered by guest characters like Billy Batson, Deadman, Steel, Mr Terrific, Vixen and Vigilante.

Stan Berkowitz is a pretty cool dude .

[SecretWarrior]

Berkowitz definitely deserves more credit for apparently including John more than any other writer on the show did, but McDuffie was showrunner or lead editor, right? That would mean he had say in what happened each episode, accepting and denying pitches.

I remember him saying the following:

Dwayne McDuffie on “In Blackest Night” (circa 2004): [“In Blackest Night”] was based on an old seventies comic. In both the comic and the show—as opposed to Cosmic Odyssey, [where] Green Lantern was an arrogant ****-up—he was tricked into believing he did something wrong and honorably agreed to take his punishment. […] I’d never punk out John Stewart like [they did in Cosmic Odyssey]. I’m still mad.”

https://jl.popgeeks.com/episode2/episode2.htm

I do think Dwayne liked John.

[Redjack]

Berkowitz definitely deserves more credit for apparently including John more than any other writer on the show did, but McDuffie was showrunner or lead editor, right? That would mean he had say in what happened each episode, accepting and denying pitches.

I remember him saying the following:



https://jl.popgeeks.com/episode2/episode2.htm

I do think Dwayne liked John.

Point of clarification.

When one is the SHOWRUNNER- whether called STORY EDITOR in animation or, in my case, SUPERVISING PRODUCER, 100% of what goes on the screen goes through your hands. That is, every script undergoes changes, sometimes small, sometimes very large, and it is the STORY EDITOR/SUPERVISING PRODUCER/SHOWRUNNER who makes those changes, according to what they deem is most effective for the episode or the series. It is also that person who decides which stories get bought and made. Every script. Every word.

Dwayne McDuffie's participation has never been overstated. If anything, due to his basic humility, his influence has been understated, repeatedly.

[skyvolt2000]

Same for me. I do not buy floppies besides a short mini to support it. Other than that I stick to HC, Omni's, or fat trades. I would like to know where these three factors in sales because cancellations seem based on floppies which is total bullcrap imo.

The issues with the floppies is you are at the MERCY of that comic book store. The store owner decides.

It's not like Target where even if you don't see a copy of Aqualad's book on the shelf (an issue MANY of DC OGNS have with that place)-you can still order it online from them.

With comic book stores you have three types of owners.

Those who won't pick up a title because they honestly believe they can't sell copies. They generally change their tune if there is interest (ie hype or folks asking)

Then you have those who would rather go out of business than sell certain books. Even if you ask for them. Archie Comics are generally a victim of this. As do books starring POC or done by POC. Chuck Dixon complained about this back in the late 80s. He did a book called Strike with the late Tom Lyle (right before both got a hold of Batman and someone named Tim Drake). Store would not sell the book because it starred a black guy.

The final owner is the one who orders X number and that is all he will order. Because those copies will SELL out. Image's Savage Dragon and for a time Spawn was like this. And Milestone and Static were experts on this.

Does digital sales matter as much as regular comic sales in the comic industry?

The issue with digital is those numbers FLUX.

Shuri, Moon Girl, Ms Marvel, Cyborg, Riri Williams, Squirrel Girl, Naomi and America Chavez have all on comixology and Amazon Kindle have beaten Batman in sales. MULTIPLE times. At one point Shuri's book beat every single DC Comic title for a good two weeks.

Digital at best tells you SOMEONE is reading them.

Why DC and others rely on floppies is because that store is BUYING the books to sell. Batman gets 100K- Dc does not care if only 50K get bought. They already got their money for the 100K. Look at all these reprints or variants.

How many times have we all walked into a comic book store and saw all 7 printings of a book NOT named Stray Dogs? Don't get me started on Star Wars.

Go on Ebay and search Miles Morales, Boom's Dark Ages. How variants do you see that LOL you could not order on Final Order Cutoff? Going for $100.