Saga #19 Sells Out, on Verge of Beating The Walking Dead in Sales. Kirkman to Shave Beard.

[Deviancy]

While I'm all for Saga selling well, I have to disagree with those who want to see it outsell TWD for one reason.

It can lead to over saturation.

We're already seeing it with the zombie thing. Kirkman's success with zombies has cause the zombie bubble to grow in a big way, I mean there were random zombie games before TWD but now there seems to be a new zombie game every few months, and I don't know how many zombie comics are out there, but there are far more zombie books now, and toys, and other things. Over saturation is bad.. and over saturation played a big role in 80's metal getting owned by grunge, people burn out when there's over saturation and start looking for something new, and well, there was Nirvana and Pearl Jam. If 80's metal had just remained Poison, Warrant, and maybe two or three more bands, I don't think people would have burnt out as fast as they did, but there were so many 80's metal bands doing the same thing...

Here's a list of just the ones I can remember at the moment, I know I'm forgetting quite a few.

Poison, Winger, Warrant, Def Leppard, Ratt, Guns N' Roses, Bon Jovi, Slaughter, Steelheart, Firehouse, Tuff, Bang Tango, Skid Row (they got more aggressive later), Kix, Dangerous Toys, Bullet Boys, Faster Pussycat, LA Guns, Love/Hate, Europe, Nelson, Tiger Tailz, and those are just the ones I can think of at the moment. Sure, some of those bands didn't deserve to be lumped in with the rest but they were.

Funny thing.. out of all those bands mentioned above, one of them is still actually just as popular as they were in the 80's, and when it comes to ticket sales, they're one of the biggest ticket sellers, they're right up there with U2.

Can you guess which one? I know I was shocked when I found out.

In short, Saga selling well is good.. but over saturation would be bad.. very bad. And yes, I do think it did play a minor role in the bubble bursting in the 90's, I think a lot got sick of the over saturation of superhero books. But many things factor into why the bubble burst in the 90's.. or should I say.. there's many theories as to why.

[Groo Odyssey]

In short, Saga selling well is good.. but over saturation would be bad.. very bad. And yes, I do think it did play a minor role in the bubble bursting in the 90's, I think a lot got sick of the over saturation of superhero books. But many things factor into why the bubble burst in the 90's.. or should I say.. there's many theories as to why.

I just came across this today and this is a super read on what really happened behind the scenes on why the bubble burst in the 90's from Chuck Rozanski of Mile High Comics. He talked openly about how the speculator crash that many thought almost killed the industry was a myth. I had stopped collecting comics at that time but I'd always thought that it didn't all add up. I just didn't think there were enough neophyte comic fans entering the market that would cause the whole industry to collapse. It made more sense to me that it was the poor decisions made within Marvel to appease its shareholders that drove away long time fans in droves.

Chuck Rozanski details the situation back in the early 90s very well from his observations in his retail stores and in the industry as well as his involvement with investors to actually purchase Marvel. It's quite shocking and quite informative. Highly recommended reading for anyone who wants to know the scoop on how Marvel almost went to bankruptcy and killing the industry.

Part 1
http://www.milehighcomics.com/tales/cbg36.html
Part 2
http://www.milehighcomics.com/tales/cbg37.html
Part 3
http://www.milehighcomics.com/tales/cbg38.html
Part 4
http://www.milehighcomics.com/tales/cbg39.html

Chuck and investors making a bid for Marvel
Part 1
http://www.milehighcomics.com/tales/cbg40.html
Part 2
http://www.milehighcomics.com/tales/cbg41.html

[Geaux]

Very good news for the series, excited to see it selling well. Saga is one of my favorite books so I'm always happy to see it doing well. I can understand why people don't like it though. BKV's style isn't for everyone. For me, his dialogue has a really natural feel to it, as opposed to forced or trying to be cool, but if people are used to an environment where people don't speak like that I can understand how it could come off as vulgar for shock value. So far, all of the shock value esque stuff in Saga has had a purpose though, as opposed to totally tasteless stuff like Crossed or the recently published Revenger. Also saga isn't really a book to be worried about oversaturation. A large portion of its numbers are from actual readers as opposed to speculators so it's not like it's just going to bust anytime soon.

[Jim Purcell]

I legitimately don't believe you can over-saturate the market with weird books like Saga. As they are too varied to truly be categorized together.

Unless you think we're going to see a surge of romance comics...

[Ramsay Snow]

I legitimately don't believe you can over-saturate the market with weird books like Saga. As they are too varied to truly be categorized together.

Unless you think we're going to see a surge of romance comics...

Yeah, I'm with you on that......The hair metal bands/Saga oversaturation comparison was a bit reaching, in my humble opinion.

[RKitch]

If you seriously think the stigma's gone, you're either in denial or you spend every waking hour of your day in a dork commune.......In the past 10 years, comics have gotten a little more accepted in America, but the genre is still predominantly looked down upon.

I needed to rephrase that actually. But the saddest part is that saying I spent time in a "dork commune" isn't too far off. My roommate was an awful decorator. Hanging action figures from the wall was a bit much and it was incredibly tacky, not to mention everything else.

And what I meant to say was that the superhero fan stigma's gone. Wearing a shirt is one thing and reading a comic is completely different.

[DIVINITY]

Saga is EPIC!! I'm proud to say, I put my homegirl on, (she likes SpiderMan) she recently went on vacation and texted me a pick of her Dad reading the issue's I let her borrow, so, the readership will definitely continue to grow, hopefully surpassing the almighty TWD, (I'm not a fan, although I've caught a few episodes of the show) so Brian can shave Rob's beard off...

[Ramsay Snow]

I needed to rephrase that actually. But the saddest part is that saying I spent time in a "dork commune" isn't too far off. My roommate was an awful decorator. Hanging action figures from the wall was a bit much and it was incredibly tacky, not to mention everything else.

And what I meant to say was that the superhero fan stigma's gone. Wearing a shirt is one thing and reading a comic is completely different.

True, that does seem to mostly be diminished. I've worn a Red Son t-shirt, as well as a blue lantern t-shirt, to the gym. I've seen some built guys at the gym wearing comic book-based shirts, as well (For example, a built Black guy with a Punisher shirt, and a medium-built Black guy with a Deadpool shirt).

[saul_on_the_road_to_damascus]

I needed to rephrase that actually. But the saddest part is that saying I spent time in a "dork commune" isn't too far off. My roommate was an awful decorator. Hanging action figures from the wall was a bit much and it was incredibly tacky, not to mention everything else.

And what I meant to say was that the superhero fan stigma's gone. Wearing a shirt is one thing and reading a comic is completely different.

How is displaying action figures any tackier than other so called art out there. have you seen the cast iron trees with glass bottles on the spokes. that's tacky.

[Deviancy]

If he has a few hanging in his room, big deal. If he has them hanging all over the apartment, that's taking the Peter Pan thing too far.

If one still reads comics, they're suffering from ppd a little, but some suffer from more severe cases of ppd, I'd say I have a medium case of ppd since I have a few action figures and read one comic. But those who have toys hanging on the walls of their entire home, and still are reading Aquaman and dressing up like cartoon characters at conventions, they have a severe case of ppd. Is ppd bad? It depends. If they can function in the everyday world and not be socially awkward, then no. But if they're at work and see an attractive fellow co-worker in the next cubicle and imagine what they'd look like dressed like Princess Leia in Return of the Jedi, then they probably should seek help.

Yes, the post above is just me being sarcastic.. but there's also a little truth in it as well.

[Groo Odyssey]

Nothing wrong with imagining your coworker dressing up as Princess Leia imo

[Prisoner 6655321]

I don't understand the love of this series. It seems gratuitus and vulgar for the sake of being gratuitus and vulgar. And yes I did read some of it. (The first two issues)

Maybe, a bit, sometimes.... It's for adults though and while you're entitled to that view point I don't think (keeping in mind that it's made for adults) that any but the most culturally conservative folks would really be offended. And then, they ought to realize that not everyone shares those same standards. There may have been a naked giant but Saga isn't a GG Allen album.

[LoneNecromancer]

While I'm all for Saga selling well, I have to disagree with those who want to see it outsell TWD for one reason.

It can lead to over saturation.

We're already seeing it with the zombie thing. Kirkman's success with zombies has cause the zombie bubble to grow in a big way, I mean there were random zombie games before TWD but now there seems to be a new zombie game every few months, and I don't know how many zombie comics are out there, but there are far more zombie books now, and toys, and other things. Over saturation is bad.. and over saturation played a big role in 80's metal getting owned by grunge, people burn out when there's over saturation and start looking for something new, and well, there was Nirvana and Pearl Jam. If 80's metal had just remained Poison, Warrant, and maybe two or three more bands, I don't think people would have burnt out as fast as they did, but there were so many 80's metal bands doing the same thing...

Here's a list of just the ones I can remember at the moment, I know I'm forgetting quite a few.

Poison, Winger, Warrant, Def Leppard, Ratt, Guns N' Roses, Bon Jovi, Slaughter, Steelheart, Firehouse, Tuff, Bang Tango, Skid Row (they got more aggressive later), Kix, Dangerous Toys, Bullet Boys, Faster Pussycat, LA Guns, Love/Hate, Europe, Nelson, Tiger Tailz, and those are just the ones I can think of at the moment. Sure, some of those bands didn't deserve to be lumped in with the rest but they were.

Funny thing.. out of all those bands mentioned above, one of them is still actually just as popular as they were in the 80's, and when it comes to ticket sales, they're one of the biggest ticket sellers, they're right up there with U2.

Can you guess which one? I know I was shocked when I found out.

In short, Saga selling well is good.. but over saturation would be bad.. very bad. And yes, I do think it did play a minor role in the bubble bursting in the 90's, I think a lot got sick of the over saturation of superhero books. But many things factor into why the bubble burst in the 90's.. or should I say.. there's many theories as to why.

Uh, people have been obsessed with zombies since before The Walking Dead became really mainstream.

[Deviancy]

Nothing wrong with imagining your coworker dressing up as Princess Leia imo

Well like I said, I was for the most part just being sarcastic. But seriously, I'll take the Linda Hamilton look in T2 over the Princess Leia look.

Hamilton was bad ass in T2.. which is why the Sarah Connors show was such a let down, the person they cast was such a strawberry in comparison.

As for the strawberry thing, this Asian guy I know said young people today are such strawberries, even his own sons. I assume he meant they're creampuffs or pussies, and didn't realize that it's actually slang for a girl who sells pussy for crack.

I assume he didn't know that, and he probably had no idea why I almost fell over laughing. But well the Tea party at first obviously wasn't aware what tea bagging meant back in the day, since they referred to themselves as tea baggers at first.

Urbandictionary.com... anyone out of college should at least play with it once a week to keep up.

Uh, people have been obsessed with zombies since before The Walking Dead became really mainstream.

You're right, people were obsessed with zombies since before TWD.

But they were never as mainstream as they are now thanks to TWD. Before TWD, you could find a zombie shirt maybe at Hot Topic or some other random novelty store. These days, Walmart, Best Buy, Target, Kmart, and tons of other mainstream stores are loaded with zombie crap. So there's obviously a far more mainstream interest. And the mainstream will burn out on it, just like they did with the slasher thing in the 80's. Thanks to Nightmare on Elm Street, slashers became extremely mainstream but then there was one slasher after another, and Fangoria no longer was alone, there was Gorezone and numerous other slasher mags, then the mainstream just burnt out by 89 or 90, most of the magazines want poof, and the slasher genre was no longer mainstream, until the reboot era in the 21st century.

[Beaux]

I think a big part of its success is how friendly it is to non-comic fans as well as the established crowd. It doesn't require any previous knowledge, and while this is normal for Image, it manages to pack in a little bit of everything -- action, romance, comedy, drama, and gorgeous art (Fiona Staples is a god), all wrapped up in a crazy-awesome package. It has something to appeal to everyone but still manages to hit full-force in every aspect. Heck, Saga is the first comic I am keeping up with as it comes out. Having finished the first three trades, I jumped on issue 19 as soon as I could.

As for the sexual/crude aspects of it, I think it manages to secure its "refuge in vulgarity" with the constant craziness of it all. While you might be disgusted when you first see our pantless, giant friend, your immunity builds and you end up appreciating how refreshing it is that there is a comic out there that isn't afraid of opening an issue with a graphic depiction of the birth of a TV-headed alien. You just know that you have to keep reading.