Re: Flash figure extra orgasm-face

This is why I read this sight! Where else could I hear about an "extra orgasm-face"?

I've gots to get me one.
Ray Van Buskirk | Email | 07.07.06 - 6:47 am | #

Yeah, I've been a fan of Phil Foglio for longer than I've been back into reading comic books (because of his illustrations for the Myth Adventures series and his What's New? comics in Dragon Magazine), but I dropped Girl Genius over this crappy turn of affairs. And I don't think this print on demand deal is going to win me back.
tomthedog | Email | Homepage | 07.07.06 - 7:32 am | #

I just read that woman's LJ profile. I think I'm in love.
Ian Brill | Email | Homepage | 07.07.06 - 8:04 am | #

Mike, you got the "Hanging Chad" variant of Elm Street put out by Avatar. It comes 1: every resident of Florida per box.
Michael Denton | Email | Homepage | 07.07.06 - 9:20 am | #

I find it unbelievable that anyone would drop Girl Genius because it suddenly became FREE ON THE WEB. The Foglios were within a few weeks of having to mortgage their house to pay for the huge print runs of the single issues. They had no choice in the matter. They self-publish, and don't have a company to fall back upon.

I can't believe the selfish attitude of some of the "fans" who go on and on about how horrible the Foglios were in choosing to survive over making sure the "fans" collections are "complete". Apparently they would have preferred that Girl Genius cease production permanently, or the Foglios starve, then they not get their one issue.

To such people: SCREW YOU. Kaja and Phil have consistently gone out of their way to please the fans, and even now continue to do so with this effort to get that final issue out to the tiny selfish minority. If this effort doesn't satisfy you, then maybe you'd better re-examine your priorities in life.
Laura Gjovaag | Email | Homepage | 07.07.06 - 11:17 am | #

Screw you back, babe. What the hell makes you think I've got an obligation to support the Foglios through their poor business decisions?

And my priorities in life include not consenting to getting ripped off, such as being double-charged on comics. Comics which I had been gladly paying for up to that point. They include being aware that I don't really miss something that's been gone for a while, and don't need it back in my life. And they do not include random unprovoked rage-spewing at people on the internet over a fucking comic book. You might want to look into that yourself.
tomthedog | Email | Homepage | 07.07.06 - 1:01 pm | #

Laura - I'm not talking about folks who live online and rant about those evil publishers who've "ruined their collections." I'm talking about people who just come into the shop, spend what portion of their disposable income they can afford on comics, and get on with their lives. And some of these people made the decision that, given the choice of spending their own hard-earned money on a book they already own the majority of in order to get the next chapter of a story, or doing without, a number of them decided to do without. Given the current marketplace for comics and the increasing price points, I've seen people drop books for less reason than this. And it's nothing personal...the Foglios did what they had to do in regards to their economic situation, and some of our customers did the same.

The Foglios are smart people...I'm sure they realized that they were going to experience some attrition.

And in case you're wondering, the Girl Genius trades are regular sellers in our store.
Mikester | Homepage | 07.07.06 - 2:17 pm | #

Oddly enough, the Foglios didn't experience any attrition. As a matter of fact, the sales of the collections skyrocketed, to the point where they almost couldn't fill the orders. They don't need the self-important whiners like tommy. They're doing better than ever, because dropping the single issues was a smart business decision.

And, tomthedog, I don't think ANYONE has an obligation to support the Foglios by buying the collections, and I never said I expected you to.

But I do think anyone who complains that they were being ripped off by the Foglios' decision is a moron. THEY OFFERED THE ENTIRE FINAL ISSUE FOR FREE ON THE 'NET. Only a complete moron or an utterly anal-retentive jerk-off would be upset after they did that. And I'll continue to tell such morons what I think of them.
Laura Gjovaag | Email | Homepage | 07.07.06 - 2:53 pm | #

[removed by request of Mr. Dog]
tomthedog | Email | Homepage | 07.07.06 - 6:51 pm | #

And it's a blog the whole family can enjoy--together!
Derek Blake Haas | 07.07.06 - 7:36 pm | #

Derek - I'm thinking about deleting this whole comments section.

Laura - I'm glad whatever readers Girl Genius lost were more than made up for by new readers for the graphic novels. I like the Foglios, I've been following Phil's work for nearly 25 years, and I want them to do well. But, from my position as a person who's been selling comic books for a living for the better part of two decades, some readers were lost...I was easily selling several dozen copies of the comic, and now I'm selling less than a dozen or two each of the graphic novels. I'm considering that to still be pretty good sales, but there does appear to be some losses. Of course, it doesn't help when the books are only sporadically available for reorder.

Regarding the online thing: the problem is that there are some folks who just don't have the time or inclination to keep up with the continuing online adventures of an actual physical comic they used to read, assuming they're online at all (and not everyone is, as hard as that may be to believe). For a lot of people, being a comics fan means 1) buying the comics, and 2) reading the comics when they get them home. And that's it. Not everyone charges online to supplement their comics fandom by following all the latest news, checking the sites of their favorite creators (if they're even aware of creators' names at all -- some aren't), and, yes, following the new online adventures of the characters they'd been previously following offline.

By asking people to rebuy Girl Genius stories that they've already read in order to get new material, the Foglios took the risk that some of the older fans were going to say "no" (even as, apparently, many more new fans came aboard), regardless of whether or not this new material was also available online. It's not a moral judgement, it's not an act of peevishness, it's simply basic capitalism. A product was being offered in a form that some buyers didn't want, so they opted not to purchase. The end.

And that of course is the Foglios' right to present their material however they want, as it's anyone else's right to say "well, I don't care for how this was done." That's not being selfish, that's simply expressing a preference. I'm not saying some people aren't perhaps going a bit overboard about it, but you can't paint everyone with the same brush.

Tom - Don't make me get the hose out.
Mikester | Homepage | 07.07.06 - 8:18 pm | #

Wow. This usually doesn't happen here. What happened to this happy place, Mike? Where did the rainbows go? All I see are dark clouds and lightning and flying monkeys...ok those are cool, but the rest can go.
Shane | Email | 07.07.06 - 8:57 pm | #

Tom wasn't the one who started throwing insults around for no purpose. True, he swore first.

This comments section is one of the most consistently entertaining ones I read. In part it's because people don't drop a nuclear weapon over a mildly surly expression of discontent with something in the comics world.
Reed Richards | Email | Homepage | 07.07.06 - 9:22 pm | #

So, a commentor who uses "crappy" has the moral high ground over a poster who responds with "screw"? Oooookay.
Weepingorilla | Email | 07.08.06 - 12:09 am | #

I say delete it if you like, Mike (not that you need my permission). I got a chuckle out of an inside joke, which is reward enough. Now -- won't somebody think of the children???

And Weepingorilla (if that is your real name), if you want to parse things: yeah, I'd say "crappy" is the harsh language equivalent of "screw." Using TV as an example, actually you'd be far, far more likely to hear the word crappy than screw. Why (gasp!), Mike posted an entry containing the word "crapola" just last Monday. So it's not like I was violating any site-specific taboos.

And shall we look at context? "Crappy turn of affairs," which is directed at no specific person, but rather a business decision, vs. the direct insult "SCREW YOU." Yeah, I'll claim the high ground. (On my first response, anyway. The second was pure gravy.) Laura forfeited any right to a polite discussion, or any pretense of taking the high road, with her first comment, let alone her second.

I appreciate the peaceful tenor that Mike keeps on his blog. But if someone insults me, guess what? I get angry, and I respond. I'm just sorry it was carried out in Mike's comment section.
tomthedog | Email | Homepage | 07.08.06 - 1:15 am | #

Progressive Ruin is supposed to be my safe haven from the horrible angry bitterness of the outside internet. You're ruining Progressive Ruin! *weeps*
David Cutler | Email | 07.08.06 - 4:16 am | #

I'd like to take this moment to ask everyone to calm down and relax...so I can tell them all to SCREW themselves in CRAPPY HELL !!! =P
Evilbeard | 07.08.06 - 11:26 am | #

Folks, folks, folks, why must we all search the Internet for something to disagree on, find reasons to be in conflict with our fellow human?

Wouldn't it be far better for us to find something in the post that we can all get behind, and celebrate our agreement with it?

I suggest we choose "Licensable Bear™ #3 [...] Funny and witty, and Licensable Bear™ is cute as all get out."
Nat Gertler | Email | Homepage | 07.08.06 - 8:09 pm | #

Nat - hear, hear, well-spoken, sir.
Mikester | Homepage | 07.08.06 - 8:13 pm | #

That's not being selfish, that's simply expressing a preference.

My final word on this. I don't think you understand where I'm coming from, so I'll explain myself one last time.

I wasn't referring directly to Tom when I wrote my first note. I was referring only to people who claim the Foglios intentionally attempted to scam them by not printing the final issue. Those people aren't "simply expressing a preference", they are slandering the Foglios, who made an extremely good business choice at a crucial time, and as a result saved the book. They didn't do it to "force" fans to buy a collection to get a final issue. Anyone who claims that is a moron and a liar.

Tom later put himself into the camp of people I detest by making that same slandering claim. Until he made that claim, he wasn't included as the aim of my "screw you" rant.

I understand that the Foglios lost readers, and I completely understand where those readers are coming from. The Foglios have gone above and beyond the call of duty to try to satisfy those fans, although they knew they would lose some of them anyway. They had no choice.

But those "fans" who cross the line by claiming that the Foglios were trying to rip them off are the ones I reserve my anger for, and the only ones I'm aiming my rant at. If Tom has a problem with that, maybe he should stop making false claims about the Foglio's motives. Then he won't be the target of my rant anymore.

Of course, it doesn't help when the books are only sporadically available for reorder.

Yeah, that's because they are selling out constantly. It's become difficult to keep them in print because the demand has gone so high. Success has its own nightmares.
Laura Gjovaag | Email | Homepage | 07.11.06 - 9:32 pm | #

Laura - I understood your point from the start.

And I just spent half an hour looking at this comment box, trying to come up with a response that makes everyone happy, but I can't.

Let's just say I see where you're coming from, but I can also see why Tom went on the defensive.

...

I'm getting too old for this.
Mikester | Homepage | 07.11.06 - 11:07 pm | #

Derek - I'm thinking about deleting this whole comments section.

Having just discovered this thread, I understand why you might feel that way, but I'd rather you didn't.
As a reader of GG from the preview to today's installment, I learned a number of things I didn't already know about the background and business issues.

Delete if you must, but if you could preserve the informative facts somewhere (maybe summarizing in another post), I'd appreciate it.
Lis Riba | Email | Homepage | 07.12.06 - 5:18 am | #

Lis - Well, I probably won't do any deleting, though I don't know how informative any of this really is (beyond a demonstration of how a posted comment could be taken as an attack on an earlier commenter, regardless of intention).
Mikester | Homepage | 07.13.06 - 10:05 am | #

[irony]Wow. This is an awful lot of hate and discontent for a comic book forum.[/irony]

--m4
mojo_iv | Email | 07.14.06 - 3:39 pm | #

Mojo - Stop that, you!
Mikester | Homepage | 07.14.06 - 5:36 pm | #