Back in the mid-90s, Marvel had what I thought was the very clever practice of printing on the inside front cover of every issue of every ongoing comic a mini-introduction to the comic – quick blurbs for each of the cast, a short synopsis of what was currently going on in the comic, what happened last issue, et cetera.
Why don’t they do that any more? Why doesn’t DC do it, for that matter? I understand sacrificing potential ad space is a bother, but now that all the pages of a comic are printed on glossy paper (which I dislike, incidentally, but that is neither here nor there), there’s no functional difference between the inside front cover ad space and an additional page of ads elsewhere in the comic. (And it’s not like Marvel and DC are particularly shy about putting additional pages of ads inside the comic.)
Moreover, the inside front cover space is probably the least-read ad page in the comic anyway, because it’s the part you can automatically skip just to get to the good stuff, IE, the story. If there’s a part of the comic’s ad landscape you can reasonably sacrifice, it’s that page.
And a “previously” page just makes sense. It makes the book easier to read for a casual reader. (Imagine how much simpler Secret Invasion would be to read with a “Previously in the Marvel Universe” blurb on the inside front cover. Okay, only a little for that particular book, but even so, it would be more comprehensible to somebody who didn’t know what was going on.) I chose the title of this post for a reason: complex shows like Lost, with large casts and multiple subplots running at any one time (which is something like, for example, any superhero team book ever printed) like to help even regular viewers remember what’s happened before that’s important.
So why don’t the Big Two do this?
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If the Big Two were marketing their monthly books to casual readers, what you’re suggesting would make a ton of sense.
If the Big Two were marketing their monthly books solely to a dwindling number of fans with no concern about growing their market, then having summary pages waste space – either advertising space (which costs $ right out of pocket) or story space (which would make the dwindling number of fans they are marketing to very, very angry when they’re paying ever increasing $ for a single issue).
Personally, I think the Big Two gave up on marketing monthly books to casual readers years ago – Marvel occasionally makes noises about it (like getting a story into the national media for a day or so), but their actions suggest that they’re not serious. Both companies long ago stopped being magazine publishers and became licensing managers – the monthly books are mainly there due to inertia, as a way to keep their trademarks active, and as an area to try to generate new trademarks for future licensing (or revamp old marks into new concepts). That last one doesn’t usually work out so well, but any hit they create is worth a ton of money so every once in a while they try again.
Marvel still does, just not to the extent described. Their old method was awesome because it put names to faces and provided necessary back story. Now, if it appears at all, it’s a text-heavy page with white lettering on a black background that isn’t very inviting.
My understanding is that that page actually is particularly desirable advertising real estate, but I Am Not A Publisher. I agree that recaps are a very good idea, though. Marvel used to employ a gatefold for this, didn’t it? And then they decided to put ads in the gatefold as well, and then they got rid of the gatefold.
I know that the inside front cover commands top advertising dollar for regular magazines, and I assume that the same holds true for comics. It may be the least-read page in a comic as you say, but I’m not sure if the advertisers realise that the rules are different for comic books (assuming they are different)…
Incidentally, almost if not all the DC trades have a “previously on” page.
They have been doing that on the first inside page for most of Planet Hulk, and now for the Incredible Hercules. I think it’s up to the writer. Greg Pak and Peter David may be two of the few comic writers who still get how important an intro page can be.
There was a brilliant example of this in the recent Damage Control mini, where the summery page said, in very small text at the top of the page “Before enjoying this comic, you may wish to read the following for maximum comic comprehension. ”
Then, all in a jumble, were the logos of every single crossover/mega event marvel’s done in the last twenty years, from infinity war to maximum security to secret invasion.
There was a disclaimer at the bottom, but when reading that issue, you really did need to know what had happened with at least half…
Except that, as Wheeler alludes, you need to justify taking a page away from advertising and its precious revenue to do something as ephemeral as a plot summary. And that opens up tons of little dilemmas along the way — is this really written for the monthly release, or are we going to have a proper summary page when we release the TPB? Won’t (insert focus-group-derived statistic)% of the readership already know what’s going on? (Incidentally, I’d love to know what those statistics really are. How many readers of Secret Invasion actually read The Illuminati?) I would imagine those inner struggles between advertising and content are where dreams go to die. (And if you give up a page of the actual “story” for the recap, won’t advertising just come knocking for that page later?)
[Of course, as the lettercols were sacrificed for online content, I wouldn’t be surprised if in the same spirit there were refers to URLs of recaps (“For a summary of what’s come before, go to http://marvel.com/secretinvasion“) — I don’t think that’s smart or workable or even appropriate, but I can see them trying that, at some stage….]
I rather liked what…I want to say The Ultimates did, introductory pages which had a frame in letterbox aspect ratio, using the black spaces for recaps and credits. That worked, and it was really in the spirit of the “widescreen” comic energy that Ultimates did well.
I remember those fold-out plot summaries well. They were the only reason I could ever read an X-book.
What probably happened is, they tried them for a while, didn’t see an appreciable rise in sales, and ditched them to shave some cost off of printing. With the larger issues facing the comics industry, adding the fold outs won’t do much to attract new readers and they are, ultimately, one more line in the budget.
“Immortal Iron Fist” and “Runaways” have also been doing that, but they’re off to the side of the Marvel universe.
See, I always find the “previously” into on tv shows to be irritating. I KNOW those four guys we never expected to be Cylons totally turned out to be Cylons! I watch the ding-dang show! All the time! That is why I am watching it now! Please do not waste my precious precious tv time with a thing about the story so far, because I HAVE ALREADY SEEN THOSE OLD PARTS! I WANT THE NEW STORY! But I do agree that it might be helpful in comics. On the other hand, sometime it’s a lot more fun for me to just make what I think ought to have happened in the story so far, because it will either be infinitely more sensible or infinitely more entertaining than what really happened.
Marvel still does it in some books more than others. It is a constant in most of the ones I read, acutally, which might be indicative of something. Then again, maybe not.
I recall seeing that on the Title-and-credits-page of the majority of Marvel’s Ultimate Universe titles.
in the marvel books i read, marvel does it on the first page of the issue
I believe when Manhunter #31 comes out in June it will have a “Previously” page.
Didn’t Marvel just do a whole Secret Invasion Saga one-shot “Previously, in the Marvel Universe …” for the Invasion?
Marvel has an issue summary in every title that I buy, although not usually with character-identification (the opening for Millar and Hitch’s FF has that, as does Ms. Marvel now).
I also miss the Editor’s footnote (“As seen in issue #x — Affable Alan”). It did not take much room, it made commercial sense and I really don’t understand why they removed that.
Why? One reason, which I can give you in one word.
Communism. Pure, unadulterated, Stalin-loving, tractor-worshipping Communism.
It’s all a Red plot to make comics more and more irritating, goddammit!
Brad Reed is right. GODLESS Communism is to blame for the current state of comics.
>It did not take much room, it made commercial sense and I really don’t understand why they removed that.
Because it
a) Distracted from the story
b) Made the comic seem less accessible.
Or, at least, that’s my theory
Marvel does it in most of their books these days. They do a very good job of this in some books (I’ll single out the Brand New Day Spider-Man, X-Factor, and Incredible Herc as the ones that I think are most effective), less effective in others. I also miss the fold-out that had a bit more detail. I think that if you are doing any kind of serialized story-telling in any medium doing something like this should just be considered a basic part of your responsibility as a storyteller. Even though I read a ton of Marvel books I appreciate the jog to my memory when I’m picking up books I’ve been reading consisistently and I like the leg-up when I’m sampling something I don’t usually read.
Also – try to ask a DC Panel about this at a Con. Try. They get really bizarrely defensive and all start rambling that things like that take away from the accessibility of titles and that those shouldn’t be necessary if the writer’s are doing their jobs. I’ve seen the answer from Kurt Busiek, Greg Rucka, Gail Simone, and Mark Waid. I love all of these writers. There is not one of them that I wouldn’t appreciate a synopsis at the beginning of each of their comics.
Of course I understand how it might be too complicated to work out for DC when they can’t even get be sure that ongoing storylines will actually continue from issue-to-issue within their titles:
“So, not last time but, like, six issues ago there was this thing going on with Superman. Last time there was another cliffhanger. Forget about that now though. We’re concerned with these pages we finally got from the artist that we knew was slow but that we rushed our solicitation on anyways because our editorial department has to do everything they can to make our public persona match that of an ADD five-year-old on a sugar binge. Unfocused. Excitable. Physically and mentally incapable of comitting to anything for longer than a minute. Wants everything NOWNOWNOW! Okay. What were we talking about? Oh yeah – recap at the beginning of the new issue of Superman? Fuck you! He has the big red ‘S’. He flies. What more do you need to know? You can figure it out as you go along and if you can’t that just means you need to read more, doesn’t it. Remember – we’re welcoming here in the DCU. If you can’t figure this out it’s your fault – not ours.”