Wednesday, October 22, 2003
Is Tsunami REALLY down the drain?
You know the infamous press release about the cancellation of Tsunami GNs really had me down, but I am beginning to wonder if I may have been at least a little wrong. Kabukiman was the first person to point out that the release specifically says Direct Market and doesn't talk about bookstores.
My first reaction was that it was pure wishfull thinking. Why would they omit saying they'd be availible in bookstores, causing rampant speculation and scaring the living daylights out of everyone? It'd be a pretty stupid move from a marketing perspective..
But then someone else on another board (sorry, lost the link) mentioned it in a way that suggested they had some inside info. that they would indeed still come out. Then I read THIS from Publisher's Weekly. The article is dated the day before the cancellation release and has this in it:
I guess I'll just stay very cautiously optimistic until the end of November roles around (or an official statement is made about bookstores either way). If it turns out to be true, boy is it going to hit the fan from retailers in the DM..
My first reaction was that it was pure wishfull thinking. Why would they omit saying they'd be availible in bookstores, causing rampant speculation and scaring the living daylights out of everyone? It'd be a pretty stupid move from a marketing perspective..
But then someone else on another board (sorry, lost the link) mentioned it in a way that suggested they had some inside info. that they would indeed still come out. Then I read THIS from Publisher's Weekly. The article is dated the day before the cancellation release and has this in it:
Marvel is entering that field with a Marvel Manga format that it will introduce in November: digest-size books, printed in color, with a price point of $7.99 or $8.99. Sentinel, Mystique and Runaways are self-contained stories with ties to the X-Men and Spider-Man lines, appropriate for school-age audiences. The company is also making a play for teenage girls with YA prose book adaptations of top comics series: Judith O'Brien's Mary Jane, a prose story focused on Spiderman's girlfriend, was very successful (it will appear in paperback soon), and O'Brien's Mary Jane II will appear in time for the Spider-Man II film's opening in early July 2004.It mentions a month and specific prices. It is conceivable that the interview with Levitz happened before the final decision was made... But it still causes me to be much less certain of my position than I was before.
I guess I'll just stay very cautiously optimistic until the end of November roles around (or an official statement is made about bookstores either way). If it turns out to be true, boy is it going to hit the fan from retailers in the DM..
