Since a young age, Ace has been obsessed with writing and telling stories. Since 2004, he has split his time between writing and publishing Masterpiece Comics, and publishing the online magazine The Written Word, a place where he has tried to give other writers a voice.
Beyond Masterpiece Comics and The Written Word, he has written for other small press comic companies and wrote numerous short stories, the most recently of which, He Waited, was published by Long Story Short. In 2008, he branched out further by writing the play Fallen by the Numbers, produced by Cloverleaf Productions.
Recently, in addition to his writing, Ace has turned his hand toward acting and was cast in the lead of the short film Five Minutes for the Phoenix 24 Hour Film Challenge.
2009 is shaping up to be a great year, with new and better opportunities that Ace is fully embracing.
Burning Mind Ignites
By Ace Masters
Someone once said, "All writing is done to illuminate some aspect of the human condition."
Ninety-nine percent of writing in some way illuminates the human condition. This is something I hope to be able to do with the Burning Mind column: illuminate the human condition by covering comic books with the intent to enlighten, inform and perhaps inflame the readers of our beloved industry.
So who is this person who dares take this monumental task upon his shoulders?
I am the owner, publisher and writer for Masterpiece Comics, an independent comic book publisher in Arizona. Maybe some of you have seen our titles: Rushmore, Fireblast, Adventures in the 30th Century and Wild Boys: Dawn of the Wild.
My name is Ace Masters. I am first and foremost a writer; secondly, a publisher; thirdly, with reservations, a member of humanity.
This column will basically be a focal point for rants, commentary and analysis from an independent and small press viewpoint.
In general, I want to make it an informative and readable column on the industry. I also want to sprinkle it with some things I have learned about the industry and some of the tips, techniques and other things that I have gathered over the last four years.
I also hope to bring an analysis of the industry from where I think it can improve--things that, if I was in a more influential position, I would do to help the industry.
First and foremost, I will focus on comic books: not comic-book films, not novels based on comic books, or comic-based TV shows, but on comics themselves.
President Barack Obama and Spider-Man Together – For What?!?
Inauguration Day. And I don't mean the actual inauguration of President Barack Obama, but rather Amazing Spider-Man 523 (Variant Edition), aka The Obama Cover, that everyone is scrambling after. The issue is into its fifth printing, a nearly unprecedented event for comics.
Does Obama on the cover do the industry any good? Marvel? Spider-Man?
It depends on how you look at it. Marvel has a cash cow as Amazing Spider-Man sales for this one issue shot through the roof. And it makes Obama seem cooler and more hip in terms of popular culture and the younger crowd he seems to gear his message toward.
But it doesn't help the industry or Marvel as a whole. As one local Arizona retailer put it, "Marvel dropped the ball, again." Why is that?
He had a few points:
A) The whole thing was thrown together at the last minute, and they didn't give retailers enough lead time to adjust their orders.
B) The way the orders had to be placed.
C) The issue itself: a stand-alone "Tribute to Dating" issue, showing Peter Parker dating. Obama was merely a backup story with nothing to do with the main story, and it wasn't part of a multi-issue story arc.
This Arizona retailer is right. And he isn't the only retailer, or reader, upset with this. It is reminiscent of Captain America's death at the end of "Civil War." Many retailers were upset they weren't given further warning of the event and therefore were unable to adjust their orders accordingly.
A) Every month when Previews comes out, it previews items coming out in two months: For example, January Previews cover items for release in March. Generally, retailers put their orders in one month in advance of the scheduled release month.
When a change is made to an item after orders are placed, orders are usually adjusted. With the Obama cover announcement coming so late in the game, many retailers felt they weren't given enough leeway to adjust their orders to compensate for the demand they knew this would generate.
B) Like with so many variant covers, retailers had to order a certain number of copies of the "regular cover" in order to get the "Obama Cover," which meant retailers had to redo their orders.
C) This event could have been used so much better than it was. As is, it did nothing. Sure, it resulted in high sales and five print runs, but it could have resulted in something far more valuable - to Marvel and the industry as a whole: new readers.
Getting new readers is the most desirable thing in comics. The already-established comic book fan base is going to be there every Wednesday no matter what.
Most people scrambling to find this issue were NOT comic book readers, or they were former readers and the chance to hook them was lost. Many looking for this cover were doing so for two reasons: a) they wanted it as a commemorative piece, something historic and collectable and b) they are so-called "investment collectors" who only want the Obama cover because they think it will be valuable and they can make money off it. Some already have--copies of the issue were selling on eBay for fifty dollars the day the issue hit stores.
I was in my usual comic book haunt the day the title came out. I watched as a number of people came into the store, asked for the issue, and left when they found out it was sold out. Not one looked at the rack of new comics.
And even if they got their hands on a copy, with just a stand-alone issue and only an Obama back-up story, there is no incentive for those non-readers to come back to pick up the next issue to see what "happens next." Obama isn't part of the main story, and it isn't as if he is kidnapped and it's Spidey to the rescue, the issue ending with "to be continued..."
Nope. And with no reason for them to return to pick up issue 584, there is no chance of them looking at the titles next to, or under, Amazing on the rack.
So, while it turned into a good thing for a single issue of Amazing, in the long run, it didn't do anything for the comic book industry in general. Getting sales for one issue is all well and good, but what about boosting sales for the series as a whole? Sales for Amazing Spider-Man are right back at the numbers they were before this. And the Obama variant cover was the only thing in demand. The regular edition cover isn't on a fifth printing--not even a second one.
What needs to be done is something to draw readers in, and give them a reason to stay, something more substantial than a glorified gimmick cover and a back-up story.
Use Obama, but make a multi-issue story arc and make Obama important to the story. Set him in stone in the story or, even better, in the Marvel Universe. Give the people who are picking up the issue because Obama is on the cover a reason to actually read the book--and pick up the next issue.
Right now, I would like to leave you with a burning question. Feel free to answer if you wish. Or check out my next column, when I'll share my own conclusions.
Burning Question:
What is the first thing you see, the first thing you look at, when you walk into the comic book store?
Until next time.
Later,
Ace Masters
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