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Post by realjla on Oct 31, 2015 18:28:45 GMT -5
A "Bullpen Bulletins" page years ago said his name 'rhymes with "pickle my knee"...sort of.'
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Post by Deleted on Nov 15, 2015 18:00:54 GMT -5
Anyone know why DC Blue Ribbon Digests went out of style and disappeared? Were sales that bad?
Amazing that Archie Digests have survived for 40+ years or so.
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Post by Cei-U! on Nov 15, 2015 18:13:03 GMT -5
Digests have never sold well in the comics shop system, though I couldn't tell you exactly why. I've heard most of DC's sold through the mail via the ads they ran in their standard format comics. The Archie digests sold phenomenally well outside that system, thanks to whatever marketing genius decided to place point-of-sale displays in grocery stores, drugstores and other locations where their target audience, who rarely visited comic shops, could find them.
Cei-U!
I summon the best guess!
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Post by berkley on Nov 16, 2015 2:30:02 GMT -5
Digests have never sold well in the comics shop system, though I couldn't tell you exactly why. I've heard most of DC's sold through the mail via the ads they ran in their standard format comics. The Archie digests sold phenomenally well outside that system, thanks to whatever marketing genius decided to place point-of-sale displays in grocery stores, drugstores and other locations where their target audience, who rarely visited comic shops, could find them. Cei-U! I summon the best guess! That makes sense to me. Could another factor have been that superhero comics, as action/fantasy adventures, are more dependent on making a strong visual impact than Archie comics and the smaller size would diminish that to some extent? It doesn't seem to hurt the equally action-oriented Manga comics but I have the impression that those are often designed for the digest format in the first place, rather than being shrink down from a larger format like DC's would have been. OTOH, I read a fair bit of the BWS Conan the Barbarian and the Ditko Spider-Man in the even smaller pocketbook size books in which reprinted them in the late 70s and managed to enjoy them. |
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Post by Prince Hal on Nov 16, 2015 9:54:25 GMT -5
Digests have never sold well in the comics shop system, though I couldn't tell you exactly why. I've heard most of DC's sold through the mail via the ads they ran in their standard format comics. The Archie digests sold phenomenally well outside that system, thanks to whatever marketing genius decided to place point-of-sale displays in grocery stores, drugstores and other locations where their target audience, who rarely visited comic shops, could find them. Cei-U! I summon the best guess! That makes sense to me. Could another factor have been that superhero comics, as action/fantasy adventures, are more dependent on making a strong visual impact than Archie comics and the smaller size would diminish that to some extent? It doesn't seem to hurt the equally action-oriented Manga comics but I have the impression that those are often designed for the digest format in the first place, rather than being shrink down from a larger format like DC's would have been. OTOH, I read a fair bit of the BWS Conan the Barbarian and the Ditko Spider-Man in the even smaller pocketbook size books in which reprinted them in the late 70s and managed to enjoy them. Those DC Digests were so poorly printed, too. Combine that with the reduction in size and they were really tough to read. It would have helped if they had been a tad larger, say on the order of the old word search and X-word puzzle magazines. |
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Nov 16, 2015 11:07:25 GMT -5
That makes sense to me. Could another factor have been that superhero comics, as action/fantasy adventures, are more dependent on making a strong visual impact than Archie comics and the smaller size would diminish that to some extent? It doesn't seem to hurt the equally action-oriented Manga comics but I have the impression that those are often designed for the digest format in the first place, rather than being shrink down from a larger format like DC's would have been. OTOH, I read a fair bit of the BWS Conan the Barbarian and the Ditko Spider-Man in the even smaller pocketbook size books in which reprinted them in the late 70s and managed to enjoy them. Those DC Digests were so poorly printed, too. Combine that with the reduction in size and they were really tough to read. It would have helped if they had been a tad larger, say on the order of the old word search and X-word puzzle magazines. A few times, thoe DC digests might have an original story or a particular golden age reprint for the first time. Even then I couldn't make myself buy it for the reasons Prince Hal speciifed |
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Nov 16, 2015 11:49:09 GMT -5
That makes sense to me. Could another factor have been that superhero comics, as action/fantasy adventures, are more dependent on making a strong visual impact than Archie comics and the smaller size would diminish that to some extent? It doesn't seem to hurt the equally action-oriented Manga comics but I have the impression that those are often designed for the digest format in the first place, rather than being shrink down from a larger format like DC's would have been. OTOH, I read a fair bit of the BWS Conan the Barbarian and the Ditko Spider-Man in the even smaller pocketbook size books in which reprinted them in the late 70s and managed to enjoy them. Those DC Digests were so poorly printed, too. Combine that with the reduction in size and they were really tough to read. It would have helped if they had been a tad larger, say on the order of the old word search and X-word puzzle magazines. I bought a few of those DC Digests back in the day. Not a lot, but a few. I pulled some out when my boys started reading comics because they had a fair bit of variety for them. And holy crap were they hard to read. I don't remember it being a problem when I was a teenager, but as a 40+ year old man I could barely see what was going on with reading glasses on. |
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Post by MDG on Nov 16, 2015 13:06:34 GMT -5
I used to keep a couple DC digests in my glove compartment in case I was stuck waiting for someone at the airport or something like that.
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Post by Trevor on Nov 16, 2015 17:18:10 GMT -5
Yeah, I'm kind of afraid to open up my old digests now. They were hard to read even back then, and the spine damage in trying to read them now would probably upset me.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 16, 2015 17:40:51 GMT -5
Yeah, I'm kind of afraid to open up my old digests now. They were hard to read even back then, and the spine damage in trying to read them now would probably upset me. Before I found the American Blue Ribbon Digests, I came across the UK 'pocketbook' versions. These were a bit larger than the US digests and the pages were glossier and all full-colour but...they fell apart more easy too (which is why I don't have them anymore). I remember coming across a whole stash of them in a UK bookstore in the 90s when I was still in single digits and they priced at only 25p each...I bought all the Superman and Batman books and had a lot of reading. In fact, I credit these books for taking me into DC territory before I was 10.  |
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Post by MDG on Nov 17, 2015 12:32:54 GMT -5
Yeah, I'm kind of afraid to open up my old digests now. They were hard to read even back then, and the spine damage in trying to read them now would probably upset me. It ain't a First Folio, y'know--if you want to read it, read it! |
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Confessor
CCF Mod Squad
Not Bucky O'Hare!
Posts: 10,220 
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Post by Confessor on Nov 17, 2015 12:53:14 GMT -5
Yeah, I'm kind of afraid to open up my old digests now. They were hard to read even back then, and the spine damage in trying to read them now would probably upset me. Before I found the American Blue Ribbon Digests, I came across the UK 'pocketbook' versions. These were a bit larger than the US digests and the pages were glossier and all full-colour but...they fell apart more easy too (which is why I don't have them anymore). I remember coming across a whole stash of them in a UK bookstore in the 90s when I was still in single digits and they priced at only 25p each...I bought all the Superman and Batman books and had a lot of reading. In fact, I credit these books for taking me into DC territory before I was 10. These kind of UK pocketbooks were among the first comics I ever owned. My mum bought them for me, but I was so young at the time that I can't really remember which ones I had. That said, I'm pretty sure I had a Batman one and maybe two or three Marvel ones (I remember the Fantastic Four, Spider-Man and Iron Man being in them). These were in black & white, right? |
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Post by Trevor on Nov 17, 2015 14:14:04 GMT -5
Yeah, I'm kind of afraid to open up my old digests now. They were hard to read even back then, and the spine damage in trying to read them now would probably upset me. It ain't a First Folio, y'know--if you want to read it, read it! You're absolutely right. It's not like I'd ever sell any of them. In fact, I've often said, and truly believe, that if someone gave me a mint Action #1 in a slab, I'd rip it open and read it. I'd wear gloves and treat it well, but I'd read it! |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 18, 2015 18:07:54 GMT -5
These kind of UK pocketbooks were among the first comics I ever owned. My mum bought them for me, but I was so young at the time that I can't really remember which ones I had. That said, I'm pretty sure I had a Batman one and maybe two or three Marvel ones (I remember the Fantastic Four, Spider-Man and Iron Man being in them). These were in black & white, right? I have vague memories of those B&W Marvel pocket books...they had soft paper covers if I remember correctly...but I didn't buy them. I had about 20 of the full-colour, glossy paper DC pocketbooks though. |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 21, 2015 2:21:09 GMT -5
I just read Marvel Comics #1 from 1939-I had read the Sub-Mariner story as a reprint in the Invaders before I believe-and the coloring on that story look vastly different than the coloring on any of the other stories. Does anyone know if the coloring process for that story was different than that used on the rest of the stories (I believe the story was first produced for Motion Picture Funnies or something similarly titled before appearing in Marvel #1 and I am not sure if that accounts for the difference in coloring, but it just looks like Everett's art for that story was produced using a different medium than the rest. It just doesn't look like the typical pencils, inked with India ink and something like Doc Martin colors used to create the colors. I can't quite put my finger on the look, but it feels familiar and it's driving me a little nuts trying to figure it out. Anyone have an info on how that story was produced?
-M
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