This was a very tricky cover to create, but I was happy with the way it came out. I remember when the original cover from New Teen Titans #19 with Nightwing having been laid low by Donna Troy first came out and I was blown away by the image. I've long wanted to put my own STF spin on it, and I am glad I finally got around to doing so.
What a spectacular cover!! Great job!!
ReplyDeleteGreat work Ross. Curious how many people know of Nightwing now?
ReplyDeleteA few people here have raised an interesting question - Who knows what and how?
Since Star Wars and Superman first came on movie screens in the 1970s, audiences had swelled for superhero movies done right. Yet, after the 1990s, comic books readers have decreased.
Is the superhero audience made up primarily of movie goers only, tv watchers only, or both media combined? A silly question? Maybe, but when enough people go and revisit movie theaters to the point of spending 800 million to a billion dollars on tickets for only one movie, but new superhero tv shows can't keep more than three million viewers per episode, there is a MAJOR disconnect.
Is a major special effect the only way to grow and keep an audience? Great to learn that people have so much money to see as many of these box office wonders as they do. Even if they rewatch them on tv later. What do tv people need to do different to massively increase their audiences? Reading is too dull? Comics can't be saved? I hope not.
Oh Ross, how about a 3 way? Wolverine vs Lobo vs Venom? battle of the healing factors.
ReplyDeleteWHOA!
ReplyDeleteThat's going to be a fight to remember: sheer skill versus power and speed (and healing factor)!
ReplyDeleteVery very impressive, and a great idea for a matchup too.
ReplyDeleteOy... I don't even want to think about how much work must have gone into this cover. If there are any flaws (and I don't see any), you get a pass. I mean, really... Cary's comment is an understatement.
ReplyDeleteAs I recall, the original, Golden Age Robin chose his brightly-colored costume literally as a dare for criminals to shoot at him, knowing they'd miss. Though nothing of the sort was ever stated, it suggests to me that he had a luck-based superpower that made him hard to hit. I think it would be interesting to see that version of him, in his Silver Age costume, testing that power against someone like Bullseye.
Comment Deleted's comment also brought to mind another idea, of Lobo facing off against someone like Shaft: "I don't care what you say, you ain't my Main Man!"
@Tobor: "What did they know, and when did they know it?" (Sorry; that's kind of a dated reference.) I'd say that "the superhero audience" is probably roughly equal parts from movies, TV, and comics at this point. A big part of what's hurting the TV angle, I suspect, is a sort of snobbishness that I'm hearing is also hurting the community theatre market: the idea that, if there isn't a lot of money changing hands, it can't be any good.
Seriously, I once had multiple people tell me directly that ad-supported television is for idiots, and they only watch premium channels (this was in the time before streaming services). I've also heard secondhand that people will refuse to see community theatre because the actors and designers aren't getting paid, as though the ones doing it purely for the love of the craft are naturally inferior; only the productions that cost $50 a ticket can be any good, rather than those that cost $12 a ticket.
There are other factors as well, of course, among them the serial nature of so many TV shows these days, and how hard it is to catch up if you miss more than a single episode. (For example, I was going to start in on The Orville with Season 2, but the only way I could find to catch up Season 1 before the season premiere was to pay $2.99 per episode via the On Demand service. I'll probably end up just watching the whole thing on DVD.) That makes it very hard -- for any show with this structure, not just superheroes -- to pick up new viewers, especially if a bad story run has lost some. The practice has started to fade away in recent years (witness the three separate story arcs in the current season of The Flash), but that doesn't make it a non-barrier.
An even bigger barrier would be the complete removal of a certain channel (and its on-demand offshoot) from a local provider's basic cable TV package.
ReplyDelete*Koff--CW in my area--Koff!*
@Anon@3:32: I don't suppose going to CW Seed online is any help. (Not being able to stream it on my TV is a big barrier for me.)
ReplyDeleteCW is connected to CBS. Contact them for assist for CW.
ReplyDeleteHow about Wolverine vs Lobo first?
@ Bob Greenwade If Bullseye can't hit a target directly cause of magic, go indirectly. Go where they be at next. Being on a world of nonregular beings will teach how to adapt. Look at Flash's history as a target.
Lots of viewers don't want soap opera. Human interest is ok, but don't bog it down. DON'T PAD THE STORY WITH minor problems stretched out.
@Fishing in the timestream, since you see it as
ReplyDeleteLots of viewers don't want soap opera. Human interest is ok, but don't bog it down. DON'T PAD THE STORY WITH minor problems stretched out...
How about Wolverine AND Lobo vs MR. MXYZPTLK? No soap opera needed.
Wow! Exceptional cover. Easily one of my top 5 on the site.
ReplyDeleteReally, really great job here.