The 52 No 1 thing that is about to be unleashed onto the scared, nay terrified, UK comic retailers in about a month. There was an Email sent to these poor bastards from DC about the what to expect from, what I here-by describe as the Re-Thingy (simply as no one has a scooby as what will re-numbering really means in continuity stakes). I came across this quote by Senior Vice-President-Sales Bob Wayne on CBR and was immediately pissed off!
“A partial renumbering would not have had the impact we needed to showcase the amazing changes and direction we have planned for the new DC Comics universe of characters,” he writes. “Counting issue numbers is focusing on the past, not the future.”
Pissed off because as a comic collector, interested in buying the back issues of the product that DC has pushed out since 1937, of course I am interested in the past. And that this corporate language bollocks actually insults me as it suggests that the his own product may not have any historical value!
On a purely selfish level, as stated before on this blog, I am glad that they are renumbering the DC Universe. Simply because it has allowed me a finishing point for the Batman Quest. And, yes, I admit I have decided on picking up just one title after the Re-Thingy and that's only because I'm curious to what Morrison's got planned for Action Comics (oh in six issues into this volume, number one thousand will be reached, anyway. Which really leads up to the rant proper...).
That said, as a collector of titles of long-running titles (and I'm sure that this is going to be the same for other comic collectors that love 'focusing on the past') is that there is something inherently cool within the hobby about buying a copy of a comic that has Big numbers. The coolest number in all of comics is number 1,000.
Now, let me back this up. I have quite a lot of 2000ads' (and through it's weekly release schedule it currently sits on #1740), and I actually remember being genuinely excited that a comic that I was patronising was about to get its #1000. I actually cared that this book that I'd picked up since #785 was going to make it to a serious landmark issue. In fact, I felt a bit of pride. Pride, because I felt that partly through my continued support that 2000AD was going to make it to that landmark. There is no doubt that when the book gets near to prog 2000, I'll start caring again a bit too much.
It's like being a long-time supporter of a struggling football team. You see the team year in, year out getting mullered in poring rain. Then occasionally, a great moment like a promotion, or beating a premier league side in a random FA Cup match and with it momentary euphoria hits. And all the irrational emotional involvement that you have with your hobby pays off.
True, I don't have Detective Comics, Batman, or Action Comics on my Pull List. But there will be a lot of comic fans that have carried these titles year in, year out and now find that big number issue are denied them. And especially those Superman fans that now have that the one thousandth issue denied to them, all because they're idiots that 'focus on the past'.
For those that were counting down to number one thousand, I'm really pissed off for you.
“A partial renumbering would not have had the impact we needed to showcase the amazing changes and direction we have planned for the new DC Comics universe of characters,” he writes. “Counting issue numbers is focusing on the past, not the future.”
Pissed off because as a comic collector, interested in buying the back issues of the product that DC has pushed out since 1937, of course I am interested in the past. And that this corporate language bollocks actually insults me as it suggests that the his own product may not have any historical value!
On a purely selfish level, as stated before on this blog, I am glad that they are renumbering the DC Universe. Simply because it has allowed me a finishing point for the Batman Quest. And, yes, I admit I have decided on picking up just one title after the Re-Thingy and that's only because I'm curious to what Morrison's got planned for Action Comics (oh in six issues into this volume, number one thousand will be reached, anyway. Which really leads up to the rant proper...).
That said, as a collector of titles of long-running titles (and I'm sure that this is going to be the same for other comic collectors that love 'focusing on the past') is that there is something inherently cool within the hobby about buying a copy of a comic that has Big numbers. The coolest number in all of comics is number 1,000.
Now, let me back this up. I have quite a lot of 2000ads' (and through it's weekly release schedule it currently sits on #1740), and I actually remember being genuinely excited that a comic that I was patronising was about to get its #1000. I actually cared that this book that I'd picked up since #785 was going to make it to a serious landmark issue. In fact, I felt a bit of pride. Pride, because I felt that partly through my continued support that 2000AD was going to make it to that landmark. There is no doubt that when the book gets near to prog 2000, I'll start caring again a bit too much.
It's like being a long-time supporter of a struggling football team. You see the team year in, year out getting mullered in poring rain. Then occasionally, a great moment like a promotion, or beating a premier league side in a random FA Cup match and with it momentary euphoria hits. And all the irrational emotional involvement that you have with your hobby pays off.
True, I don't have Detective Comics, Batman, or Action Comics on my Pull List. But there will be a lot of comic fans that have carried these titles year in, year out and now find that big number issue are denied them. And especially those Superman fans that now have that the one thousandth issue denied to them, all because they're idiots that 'focus on the past'.
For those that were counting down to number one thousand, I'm really pissed off for you.
