Everyone on the various comics news sites this week has been discussing Humanoids Inc. returning to the states. What do I think of this?
Fourth time's the charm I guess. I love me some Humanoids books, they are well written beautiful books. But every single time, as a retailer, I give it my all. I faithfully order everything they offer, individual comics and graphic novels, so all of my customers can check them out and hopefully purchase some. Alas, I have been rather unsuccessful in this endeavor. It seems almost impossible to get any new fans for Humanoids books. I've tried, every single time. I recommend them to various customers, make displays focusing on them, etc. I think I can count on two hands the number of Humanoids fans that shop at my store.
The first time I tried this, was several years ago when Humanoids Inc. first made it to the states with many gorgeous hardcover graphic novels for the american comic buying public to drool over, and drool they did. There was no denying the beauty of these books, some of the biggest names in european comics touched the Humanoids books, names like Moebius, Jodorowsky, along with a few key big American names like John Cassaday and Geoff Johns. Even these names were not enough to draw new fans in.
A few years later, DC decided to make an imprint for the Humanoids graphic novels, figuring surely they could make a success out of this, what with mega-corporationWarner Brothers behind them, it would of course be a hit! Wrong, so very wrong. In fact it took years for DC to blow out the remaining stock of the Humanoids graphic novels they had published at ridiculously low prices. Personally, I think the paperbaack DC versions of the very same hardcover Humanoids graphic novels that had come out a few years before, were quite inferior. They were smaller, paperback, shittier paper quality, and yet they charged almost the same price. Of course that didn't work.
Then most recently, Devil's Due deciced to bring a few key Humanoids books to these shores ONE MORE TIME, just for shits and giggles. Surprise, suprise, they flopped horribly.
So now, Humanoids themselves are going to be publishing there amazing graphic novels for american audiences one more time! I predict that they too will cease publication within one year. Why? Because Humanoids graphic novels have proven time and again to be relatively inaccessable to the american public. It's a crying shame, it makes me ashamed to call myself an american comic book fan. I love everything that has made it to these shores from Humanoids, but there is only a small following in the states that agrees with me.
I wish Humanoids Inc. much luck, and I hope to god I'm wrong and that the fourth time is indeed the charm for them! I hope this time around, all of their books sell large numbers and the american public embraces them with open arms and wallets. A girl can dare to dream can't she?
No comments:
Post a Comment