PREVIEW: Darth Vader #1

[SXVA]

I buy DC, Marvel, Image, and a couple Boom and IDW, and right now it seems that DC and Image is where the real "bang for your buck" is.

Image, IDW, Boom and Dark Horse seem to be the best value to me at the moment, and even Dynamite seems to be revamping themselves a bit. DC is hit and miss, they have some very good quality like Superman Unchained for example was superb quality... and then stuff that's similar to Marvel.

Marvel's quality of entertainment/artists/stories are at the top but the quality of the actual product is at the lowest of the bottom, not to mention they charge the most for variants which is almost insulting since they're near the bottom of quality where better quality publishers gives a much more fair value [usually equal price of the main cover] for their variants, and some of those other publishers put the ads in the back to where they don't intrude on the comic unlike Marvel where there's ads poking you at every turn.

If any of these publishers started going with virgin cover art, i'd probably increase my spending budget by at least 60-100 dollars a month more. I don't know why they continue with all of that ghastly writing over the cover art instead of putting it on the inside.

[Diamond]

Fans who buy more than a handful of books care, believe me. And LOTS of DC's books have succeeded at $2.99 (Aquaman, Batman and Robin, Suicide Squad, Wonder Woman, Earth 2). Harley Quinn outsells almost everything Marvel puts outs and it's still $2.99. The new Batgirl sold like hot cakes and DC kept it at $2.99. Could DC jack up the price? Sure. But they haven't and I LOVE THEM FOR IT. Meanwhile Marvel tries to edge us closer to accepting the $4.99 book, with extra pages that are almost always filler. And I NEVER count that Marvel recap page or things like the god-awful two page TITLE/CREDITS in Axis which I have now dropped. Axis #4 was just terrible. Also getting real tired of the "Marvel Now" red bar on every title. Covers shouldn't have a "uniform" IMO. Marvel has a few good things things going for them that I'll buy at $3.99 (Hickman's Avengers, Bendis' X-Men, Slot's Spider-Man). I still buy some Marvel books and probably always will, but I've been passing on a lot of things too that I would have once bought at $3 but not $4 (Deathlok, Mighty Avengers, Winter Soldier). I buy DC, Marvel, Image, and a couple Boom and IDW, and right now it seems that DC and Image is where the real "bang for your buck" is.

I'd be a fool to deny that DC has a much better price policy, but my point is that a lot of readers don't care for the price as long as they get their favorite characters/authors/whatever, and that's why Marvel is getting away with their pricing. They know that the people who buy, let's say, Hulk will keep buying it even if the price goes up. Of course they care about prices, but damn, they'll keep buying it. It's like the supposed crossover fatigue: for all the comlaints, people keep buying them!

You could also argue that books like Batman, Wonder Woman and Suicide Squad already had a fanbase. And their sales are falling down, too. Aquaman, for example, has gone from 70'000 units a month to les than 35'000 a month.

I guess the red bar is divisive. Personally, I don't mind and think it's better than many of DC's covers, which resemble a 90s cover with the fixed logo and those sentences. But that's just my opinion.

EDIT: I'm not going to comment which offers more value becuase I only buy trades on internet, were both publishers have the same prices and bad paper.

[Hypestyle]

.... Is Jabba resistant to Darth's jedi powers?

[Knight of DC]

Yep. $5 for 48 pages: http://marvel.com/news/comics/23672/...at_darth_vader then back down to $4.

And yowza does Larocca's art look great.

[Biff Pow!]

That's the point. It is an homage to what Luke will do in Episode VI. Notice the way Vader gets in is not through mind trickery but rather intimidation (brandishing his saber), showcases their different mentalities.

It's a fine line between an homage and a rehash. The third page looks exactly like Fortuna waking up Jabba like in Jedi.

[RobinFan4880]

So is this a Star Wars "Elseworlds" type of book? I guess I don't see Vader having much of a reason to visit Jabba.

Disney threw out the old Expanded Universe and is now, slowly, building a new body of canon. Right now we have the six movies, the Clone Wars, Star Wars: Rebels and two novels (one about the heroes from Rebels and another about Tarkin). Marvel's three new comics (Star Wars, Vader and Leia) are all going to focus on establishing the canon for what happened between Episodes 4 and 5.

These comics are all 100% official canon. So why is Vader hanging with Jabba? Who knows. Probably wants to get some revenge on Han.

[devinofthedead]

Well I just dropped all my Marvel books, but now I'm Gonna have to pick this up. Hopefully we get lots of the Fett man in this, or his own solo series.

[Arundel Armor Hunter]

Disney threw out the old Expanded Universe and is now, slowly, building a new body of canon. Right now we have the six movies, the Clone Wars, Star Wars: Rebels and two novels (one about the heroes from Rebels and another about Tarkin). Marvel's three new comics (Star Wars, Vader and Leia) are all going to focus on establishing the canon for what happened between Episodes 4 and 5.

These comics are all 100% official canon. So why is Vader hanging with Jabba? Who knows. Probably wants to get some revenge on Han.

In the new canon he was a significant galactic player even during the Clone Wars.

.... Is Jabba resistant to Darth's jedi powers?

Hutts can resist mind tricks.

[RobinFan4880]

Well I just dropped all my Marvel books, but now I'm Gonna have to pick this up. Hopefully we get lots of the Fett man in this, or his own solo series.

It is rumored that Boba will be getting his own movie, so there will definitely be a Fett comic someday.

[Geralt of Rivia]

Image, IDW, Boom and Dark Horse seem to be the best value to me at the moment, and even Dynamite seems to be revamping themselves a bit. DC is hit and miss, they have some very good quality like Superman Unchained for example was superb quality... and then stuff that's similar to Marvel.

Marvel's quality of entertainment/artists/stories are at the top but the quality of the actual product is at the lowest of the bottom, not to mention they charge the most for variants which is almost insulting since they're near the bottom of quality where better quality publishers gives a much more fair value [usually equal price of the main cover] for their variants, and some of those other publishers put the ads in the back to where they don't intrude on the comic unlike Marvel where there's ads poking you at every turn.

If any of these publishers started going with virgin cover art, i'd probably increase my spending budget by at least 60-100 dollars a month more. I don't know why they continue with all of that ghastly writing over the cover art instead of putting it on the inside.

Quoted for absolute f-ing truth on the bolded. Im not a variant buyer so the rest really doesn't apply to me.

I have brought the quality (or lack thereof) point about Marvel's physical product quite a few times, even trying to engage the most public of the publisher's senior staff such as Alonso and Brevoort only to get absolute silence from them.

Its actually quite appalling really, given their cover prices. And very frustrating considering I personally find quite a few of their books really enjoyable story and art wise; but the second that changes I will be making significant cuts to that section of my pull list.

On DC's print quality, I have found it consistent for the most part on the books I pull from them. Strictly middle of the publisher pack.

[Batman#22]

Kieron Gillen written Darth Vader ongoing??? YES! YES! YES!

FIVE BUCKS??? You bastards.

That better be for just the first issue and it better be oversized. For chrissakes Marvel... Disney owns you and you make a ton of money off of movies and licensing yet you can't cut your old school comic readers a break with all these $4.99 books and NO $2.99 AT ALL after She-Hulk??? There's just no excuse anymore with well over half of DC's line still at $2.99, and almost all of their new books (Deathstroke, Gotham Academy, Lobo, Arkham Manor) starting at $2.99. On top of that all of DC's weeklies are $2.99, and the weekly Marvel announced (Wolverines) is $3.99. C'Mon Marvel, you can do us better than that.

What's worse is that were mostly likely paying that price for a 36 paged comic book. Those jerks at Marvel will Make any excuse to make an extra buck.

[RobinFan4880]

People are so negative. Sheesh. Can't we just be happy that we're getting more Star Wars comics with A-list creators?

[Batman#22]

People are so negative. Sheesh. Can't we just be happy that we're getting more Star Wars comics with A-list creators?

In my mind, this would have been more welcoming news if it was only $3. Like what Floyd Fenris said, Marvel already has a lot of money. They don't need to rip us off on comics as well. Imagine the other things we could be buying if Marvel didn't have those stupid dollar signs stuck in their sockets. They need to do right by the fans, or at least if they want to keep our business.

[Arundel Armor Hunter]

People are so negative. Sheesh. Can't we just be happy that we're getting more Star Wars comics with A-list creators?

We will be getting less and let's gutsy. The franchise was just fine at DH and destroying everything not just the post ROTJ stuff was unecessary barbarity. I would take DH's daredevil aproach over Marvel's A listers.

[RobinFan4880]

We will be getting less and let's gutsy. The franchise was just fine at DH and destroying everything not just the post ROTJ stuff was unecessary barbarity. I would take DH's daredevil aproach over Marvel's A listers.

It was completely necessary for the franchise to move forward now that Lucas is out of the picture. There is absolutely no way Disney could make a movie set post-RotJ that would a) have the original cast, b) be a brand new story, c) not involve telling people about what happened in hundreds of books, games and comics and d) could create a good story that would not trip all over itself as it stumbles through the myriad of EU content. Just look at the "atrocities" the Clone Wars TV show committed. It completely altered the established EU content for the war, the Mandalorians, the clones and the Jedi. Disney's movie would have been ten times worse.

It is far better to put the beautiful EU content out to pasture, rather than allow it to be fumbled, bumbled and utterly ruined by well-intentioned creators and money grubbing suits.

In my mind, this would have been more welcoming news if it was only $3. Like what Floyd Fenris said, Marvel already has a lot of money. They don't need to rip us off on comics as well. Imagine the other things we could be buying if Marvel didn't have those stupid dollar signs stuck in their sockets. They need to do right by the fans, or at least if they want to keep our business.

Axis #1 was 5 dollars. Batman #35 was 5 dollars. Three issues of Zero Year were 5 dollars. All four issues in the Death of Wolverine mini-series were 5 dollars. Star Wars #1 - which comes out one month before this - is 5 dollars. It is an accepted industry standard to charge more for above average page count. Both Marvel and DC have been doing this for years. The market has decided it is acceptable to pay 5 dollars for a comic. Period, end of story. Complaining about it in a preview thread solves absolutely nothing. Not buying five dollar comics, that proves something. Coming onto a forum and truncating people's enthusiasm for a new comic because you don't like the price tag (which is well within the norm for the industry) is absolutely silly.

Seriously, why don't you start an entire thread dedicated to your dislike of the price tag rather than co-opt the preview thread? Seems far more reasonable to me.

Also, side note, in the past the comic would have been increased by say fifty cents for the additional content. Marvel cannot charge 4.50 for a comic because Apple demands that everything sold through their web store end in .99 cents.* Charging more for a digital version of a comic will not earn Marvel any friends. Offering a "digital plus" version of the comic is not a bad idea but I guarantee you people on both sides if the print and digital divide would feel cheated because the grass is always greener on the other side.

*ComiXology no longer sells comics through the webstore but there are still Marvel (and DC) apps that do go through the app store.