Broken Frontier

On May 11th, 2005, the comic book industry was rocked as ALIAS Comics hit the shelves with nine new titles and thirteen individual covers – the largest launch lineup in the history of comic book publishing. The quality of the books, backed by overwhelmingly positive reviews and responses, helped readers and retailers alike to understand that ALIAS Comics is serious about becoming the next big publisher in the world of independent comics.

But some readers have also expressed concern about the ever-increasing number of titles ALIAS has announced for launch this summer, speculating that the comic book company is growing too fast too soon. Others have inquired about the delays behind a handful of titles that were intended for launch in May, but are still in the process of production. "Can ALIAS deliver what it's promised?" they wonder.

ALIAS Comics President and publisher Brett Burner recently held a public interview to address several of these concerns:

Q. The first thing readers and retailers would like to know is, "What happened to LETHAL INSTINCT, DAVID’S MIGHTY MEN and TED NOODLEMAN: BICYCLE DELIVERY BOY?"

A. To date, not a book has disappeared from the Alias schedule, though we have experienced certain delays of one form or another.  LETHAL INSTINCT #1 (one of our $0.75 titles) required a little extra polishing at the last minute, so we made the tough decision to push it back a couple weeks in favor of delivering our readers a superior product.  It is already in the Diamond system, on its way to retailers, and will be on the shelves Wednesday, June 1st. 

DAVID’S MIGHTY MEN, likewise, was purposefully detained when we were asked to wait on additional numbers for the Christian Book Market (which generated an additional 5,000 orders, which is no small feat for a graphic novel!).  It will be in stores on June 15th. 

TED NOODLEMAN suffered the worst (and most unforeseen) delay, but since it involved a sensitive family situation, I applied a well-known Alias rule:  “Family first!”  No book is worth a family’s neglect during a sensitive time.  Jim “Kep” Keplinger gave us his word and made valiantly sure we would have his files in time to get the book into bookstores before the San Diego Comic-Con, and as it stands, they are being prepared now to be sent to print.  The scheduled in-store date, assuming we have the “blessing” of Diamond and retailers not to require a re-solicitation due to the lateness of this project, is July 13th.

Q. What about other ALIAS titles slated for release this summer?

A. If you check out our website, you will find a list of estimated in-store dates (http://www.aliascomics.net). We're working hard to ensure that our website has the most current and up-to-date information about our books, including the days you can find them in stores. Those in-store dates should all be pretty solid, but in the event of a delay, we will be sure to amend the schedule as early as possible.

We took a lot of flak for not being on time with our launch titles, but we are poised to be pretty-well caught up by July.

With that said, we've actually had to intentionally push a few titles back from our original intended release date as we work to get everything on track. It's not that the books aren't done -- several of them are properly on schedule for their specified ship month.  But we want to avoid situations like too many titles arriving at once, or books in a series arriving too close to each other.  Take THE LEGEND OF ISIS, for example — Issue #1 (a May title) will arrive in stores on June 22nd.  We could ACTUALLY have Issue #2 (a June title) there the following week (June 29th) --on time, but we are trying to be sensitive to the needs of retailers.  So, in spite of the potential consumer response for it being “yet another late Alias title”, we will literally let it sit in the warehouse for a week and have it arrive on July 6th, with the third issue (a July title) landing on July 20th.  A similar scenario will occur with about five or six other titles as well.  Books that were part of a series are having to be pushed back a hair so as not to be too close to the prior month’s book.  We pushed hard to get our June #1’s in June, like the well-requested XIII and DEVIL’S KEEPER.

Additionally, we have the odd situation where a book is delayed because it is simply not ready to be printed. THE BURNING MAN, for example, will ship later than planned, not because of anything ALIAS as a publisher has done, but because the book simply isn't completed upon the schedule we have provided. We're working to minimize these situations, of course -- we dislike delays as much as anyone (it is actually a point of contention with me—another well-known ALIAS fact), and from a business standpoint, we would prefer to be on time all the time. Unfortunately, things happen, and since we are a publisher rather than a development studio, we can only put out work at the pace of our partners.  As a rule, Alias requires two issues to be completely penciled before we solicit a project.  This allows approximately 4 months for the studio or individual to get their book inked, colored and lettered.  Usually, this is more than sufficient, but there are occasionally unforeseen circumstances that hold up production.

Mind you, we don’t want to open ourselves up to the impression we are keeping that as our ”excuse card” (“It’s not our fault! We’re the publisher, not the studio!”); therefore we are ALWAYS making adjustments to our schedule, the level of communication we expect from our partners, the number of issues we expect to be completed before beginning a story, and so forth.

Q. ALIAS has a very diverse line coming up this summer. What can you tell us about it?

A. We’re very excited about our GIRLS OF ALIAS promotion, which will offer variant covers featuring the female characters from seven of our titles, all drawn by Mike S. Miller. We’re also thrilled to have books like XIII, OPPOSITE FORCES, SIXGUN SAMURAI, THE DREAMLAND CHRONICLES, and IMPERIAL DRAGONS on the way, all of which are extremely different from one another, but all of which are also high-quality titles that we think readers will love.

Q. How do you feel about the 75-cent promotion? Will this continue?

A. The thing I like most is delivering an inexpensive product to consumers.  Unfortunately, it is a loss leader...we simply don’t earn enough after sales and distribution discounts to cover our costs. We are obviously not adverse to spending some money on promotion, but we want to be wise about it. Unless we see the benefits consistently in the form of increased sales of future issues of those titles, we will likely make some changes, like raising the price to a dollar, or shrinking the issues down to 16 pages.  We need to experiment a little and see what works.  Not every low-priced book sells like Red Sonja (and we don’t expect it to).  We just want to find what works best for ALIAS—which is what receives the greatest response from consumers and retailers.  We’ve considered preview books (like the TWO BITS book we ran through Image) or other similar ideas as well.

Q. Some have said that the reason ALIAS is poised for success is because you, as the publisher, bring a lot of new ideas and experience to the fold. What new and unusual ideas do you have planned for ALIAS over the next year?

A. Well, I think that is true in a number of ways...I often think outside of the comic box because I AM outside of the comic box!  By the same rule, not every idea I have is a perfect fit, either.  But it has led to some pretty interesting ideas we are looking to produce...much of which I can’t talk about just yet, of course, due to content and marketing sensitivity.  But we are definitely looking at ways of bringing new readers into the current market.

I think other ways this takes effect is in how we view the market.  We don’t think of readers and retailers as people who are outside of the industry; we think of them as customers who make this whole business possible, and we take their input seriously. We don’t think of other studios as people who are riding our coattails to success; we think of them as clients, and we go out of our way to help promote and market their books.  It creates extra work for us in some areas, but we are hearing high levels of appreciation for what we do for them.

We can’t make everyone love us, but we can do our best!

Q. With regards to ALIAS's publishing schedule, do you have any further comments?

A. We know it was a rough start, and unfortunately people came to some of their own conclusions, most quite unfounded.  The best response to this is that we have launched a BIG ship, and it takes a little time to bring a vessel this size out of port and safely up to speed. Fortunately, ALIAS is quite seaworthy, and she’ll continue to sail for some time to come. 

ALIAS, as an entity, may be a new company, but there is a lot of experience on board, and we make our decisions thoughtfully. We’ve worked a lot of the kinks out already, and over the next few months, again with retailer and consumer support (it is a near-impossible task without it), we believe a new impression of our company will begin to take shape. 

Q. Any last thoughts?

A. We are very sorry for the late start on our initial launch—again, we wish it would have gone otherwise.  But I would also say, “Buy with confidence!”  If you buy Issue #1, Issue #5 WILL come out. We have even made provisions in our contracts to be able to complete a story should a studio fail to do so...we are making sure we finish what we start!  And the quality of our titles is definitely there...give them a look before making a final decision!

We need customer support to make it...as does every other publisher in the market!   We want to have their confidence and appreciation.  We care about what they want, and what they have to say--even the negative stuff (you know, stiff upper lip and all...), especially if it is constructive.  We hope that readers will see us as a publisher who wants to make an impression on the market, to fill a need, and to help it grow!

ALIAS Comics Summer Release Schedule

Please note that the following dates are approximations and have a margin of error of plus or minus one week, barring any unforeseen circumstances. An updated list is available on the ALIAS Comics website at http://www.aliascomics.net.

June

July