February 7th, 2013
Hey, I've Got An Idea!
Remember when comics were fun? -I don't mean individual issues or a good book now and again, but I mean, "Wow! I Can't wait, to get down to the comic shop/drug store spinner rack for the next issue!"
Now. . , remember "The Wednesday Comics"? It wasn't that long ago, actually. Let me jog your memory. . .
The Wednesday Comics shipped as full newspapers folded into quarters. When you unfolded them they were huge. Dive in and go swimming huge. They had a dozen or so continuing stories, one page dedicated to each. DC launched The Wednesday Comics back in 2009 as a specialty project; they spent a lot of money hiring on big names to write and draw short stories for the project. It ran it for 12 weeks.
Well, Brothers and Sisters, let me tell you; It was easily the most exciting thing to happen to the whole darned tootin' comics industry in more than a decade. It wasn't necessarily brilliant. Some of the stories were fun, some were less so, and you could see in several cases the artists struggling to come to grips with the giant-sized page-an-episode format. It was fledgling stuff. That made it exciting. But I was dumbstruck when I realized that the Wednesday Comics were only meant to run for a few weeks and then just. . . stop. Forever. It was a one-time deal. Flash in the pan; didn't exist for long enough to become significant.
What I'd love to see. . .
I'd love to see a regular production like that happen again, but this time in earnest. Start up and not quit. In fact, every now and then I think maybe it would be within the realm of possibility to launch something along those lines myself. Get a bunch of talent together, tell them, "One strip per week. Fill the world with visions and wonders one giant newspaper page at a time. Go!"
Print only. No freakin' iCrap. You want to read it, you need to wear a shirt and shoes.
(Also, you can't fit a story page that large on any of those ridiculous little screens.)
Weekly publishing schedule, a buck an issue, or heck, make it free with advertisements... You get one just for walking in the comic shop! Instant mass readership. -Tell good stories, and that becomes a dedicated readership. It would be a stand-out format because *nobody* is doing anything even remotely like it.
In the right hands, with the right minds, with the right distribution mechanism, (all entirely possible), I think it could transform the whole industry into something bright and sparkling and fun again.
Just picture it: people visiting their comic shop every week out of habit?
Sales of *everything* would go up as a result.
Now wouldn't that be cool? You heard it here first.
Mark Oakley
Wolfville, NS
Feb 7, 2014
