§ Comics2Film, another Web 1.0 comics site — it’s been around since 1997 — has been purchased by Mania.com.
§ Ed Brubaker faces the mini-masses at Whitechapel.
§ At PWCW, Laura Hudson talks to Marvel about the viral marketing campaign for SECRET INVASION:
“We’ve done a lot of mainstream pushes, not just to the industry itself, but to a larger audience,” said Marvel v-p of merchandising and communication Mike Pasciullo. “The characters are icons that people are aware of even if they’re not buying comics regularly,” Pasciullo said, “but if you tell interesting stories, they will seek them out.”
Acclaimed Marvel writer Brian Michael Bendis, the writer of Secret Invasion, agreed. “We’re trying to reach out to the millions of people that might never read a comic.” He describes the marketing shift as part of an effort to stop undervaluing the medium. “The comics [industry] in general tends to treat itself like an ugly stepsister of film or TV,” said Bendis. “But it’s not, so let’s not treat it that way. Let’s sell it like they sell a movie.”
No mention of now-squelched Marvel-b0y, but there will be Skrull Masks at NYCC.
§ Meanwhile, over at Marvel’s Agent M Flickr set, you can see editors Tom Brevoort and Nick Lowe sporting evidence of an abandoned crossover event in which the Marvel U was invaded by clones of Mary Jane and Gwen Stacy,
While reading Laura Hudson’s article on Marvel’s viral marketing I thought of something. It’s cool to see Marvel branching out and everything. I just wish that instead of using these innovations, innovations for Marvel that is, to sell a book that is going to be a blockbuster no matter what they could use this strategy towards marketing lower selling titles.
§ i09 has an entertaining look at superhero movies not based on comics, like DARKMAN and SKY HIGH. There are more than you might think, since many of them were subsequently adapted into comics.
§ Coming Soon Net has the first video journal from WATCHMEN. No footage just atmospherics.
§ PS here is Scarlett Johansson as a sexy nurse from THE SPIRIT movie. Peruse before Lionsgate makes us take ’em down.
AW SHUCKS. I got my official Lionsgate C&D. Wow, I feel like I rank now!
Technorati Tags: The Spirit
Scarlett Johansson pics weren’t too flattering.
Nothing like getting quoted to teach yourself to work on sentence structure.
“While reading Laura Hudson’s article on Marvel’s viral marketing I thought of something. It’s cool to see Marvel branching out and everything. I just wish that instead of using these innovations, innovations for Marvel that is, to sell a book that is going to be a blockbuster no matter what they could use this strategy towards marketing lower selling titles”
Ian Brill doesn’t understand … the Marketing people don’t want to promote lesser known titles. They want to throw all their resources behind popular books. Then, at the next meeting of big whigs, they can say, “The Marketing Department threw all our efforts into promoting BIG PROJECT GUARENTEED TO BE A SUCCESS, and it became the best-seller of the season.” In effect, they are hitching their wagons to a winning horse, and claiming the credit for the horse’s win.
Scarlett looks like Howard Chaykin designed her.
It’s always possible that they don’t mention marvel_b0y because marvel_boy was, in fact, not a viral marketing ploy. Has anyone other than unconnected bloggers and Newsarama posters actually said that, or do we have a case of “Well, everyone *knows* Jessica is a total slut, just look at her”?
Ian, you made a good point at your blog about the MySpace format lending itself to the idea I had for Kinsey, which happened to work for Secret Invasion, but just because that was our “test subject” doesn’t mean it’s the only time we’ll ever use viral marketing. Now that we had some success, we’re definitely looking to apply outside-the-box strategies to other projects, and not just big events, but books people might not be aware of that we want to get the word out about as well.
In short, Secret Invasion was a good trial run for this kind of marketing just because of its nature and its profile, but I definitely hear what you’re saying and hopefully we’ll be able to do some cool stuff with other projects as well.
How many months pregnant is Brevoort?
As the Warner Brothers used to say, “Hellooooo, nurse!”
“She keeps the glasses on. It’s better that way. Her kiss tastes bitter. Like Novocaine. Numb. It makes me numb. The city is outside. She cries. Screams. For help. In my embrace.”
I am the goddamned Bat… er… Spirit
The idea of the Spirit movie as Frank Miller Fetish Flick scares me a little, but hey, those pics work for me.
“the Marketing people don’t want to promote lesser known titles. They want to throw all their resources behind popular books. Then, at the next meeting of big whigs, they can say, “The Marketing Department threw all our efforts into promoting BIG PROJECT GUARENTEED TO BE A SUCCESS, and it became the best-seller of the season.” In effect, they are hitching their wagons to a winning horse, and claiming the credit for the horse’s win. ”
That’s a horribly cynical view of things, but, to be fair, there may be some underlying truth there as well.
A bit of conventional marketing wisdom (in any industry) is, basically, “sell more of what sells.” Which can explain why you see a lot of marketing done for things that are intriniscally popular–whether they’re big budget movies instead of independent art films; or popular novels instead of literary ones; or hit musicians instead of indy bands; or whatever may apply in whatever industry you’re looking at. The reasoning sometimes goes that if marketing effort can boost the sales of an item by x%, then it’s better that that x% come from something with a big base than a small one.
Whether or not that conventional wisdom is actually true; or whether that conventional wisdom applies in any given case is certainly open for debate.
“Scarlett Johansson pics weren’t too flattering.”
Well, those are wardrobe test shots, not publicity stills. Most actors pose for them with the same deer-in-the-headlights stiffness. I’m actually kind of shocked to see they were leaked. Also, Heidi, if you ever post any of mine I will have to kill you.
That’s…. a ridiculous costume. I feel sorry for her.
Not even Scarlett in fishnets is enough to make me want to see a Frank Miller movie.
Heidi, if you have photos of James Urbaniak in the Silk N. Floss outfit, it’s your duty to publish them.
Scarlett looks as though she’s gearing up for a sketch on MAD TV.
I have no faith that the Spirit movie as directed by Miller will be anything but cheerless, cynical, dark and nothing like the Spirit comics.
I hope he proves me wrong, though.
Blog@ had this link to more costume tests. Although what is a leak and what isn’t is hard to tell these days, I’m guessing these may not have been exactly what was hoped to get out. I think there is some va-va-voom there for everyone, however.
Does anyone with even a millisecond’s actual experience with The Spirit or Will Eisner think Frank Miller’s direction of it will be anything but a colossal failure? Jesus, it’s like hiring Harmony Korine to do Peanuts, because Kids was about a group of youths with no visible adult supervision, too. I mean, hiring Rian Johnston (Brick) or Peyton Reed (Down With Love) — someone who understands retro-style means more than fishnets and noir means more than bulked-up sociopaths would have been smart, but this is going to be brutal.
I would totally watch Harmony Korine’s Peanuts.
“it’s like hiring Harmony Korine to do Peanuts”
That would be the greatest comic movie EVER!
What in the hell…?? I just took a look at the rest of the photos, and man… I don’t want to judge this before I see it, but well, i can’t help it! This looks beyond awful. What in Jor-El’s name is Scarlette wearing in that fourth picture?!? It looks like they ransacked Rosie Perez’s closet, and just threw a bunch of random crap on her. Good god….
I never thought I’d say this, but this looks worse than Robocop 2.
J:K said:
“How many months pregnant is Brevoort?”
_____
Worse than that, he looks like the guy who lives in his Mother’s basement.
This is great stuff, thanks for having the blog and putting details like this on it. Those of us with no writing skills really appreciate it. Believe me.