March 2005 solicitations

[Sammuraiblade]

http://www.comicscontinuum.com/stories/0412/18/devilmarch.htm

Checkout what udon will bring in march :tup:

[nortlee]

I saw the Volume 2 TBP and DarkStalkers, Is March when the second SF arc closes and takes a short break?

[KentDog]

I saw the Volume 2 TBP and DarkStalkers, Is March when the second SF arc closes and takes a short break?

I assume that yes, the second arc will probably end with issue #14 in March (or maybe more likely April?), but why do you think there will be a short break? Just curious, as I don't remember hearing any plans on halting the SF comic.

[nortlee]

I assume that yes, the second arc will probably end with issue #14 in March (or maybe more likely April?), but why do you think there will be a short break? Just curious, as I don't remember hearing any plans on halting the SF comic.
Because the comics aren't in the solicitations for March. It just makes me wonder if #14 is due in February and it will take a month or so break.

[rab_uk]

yeah, i think there was a break last time a tpb came out for sf. But this is kinda frickin annoyin, didnt it already take a break from solicitations a couple of months ago, so it could catch up , coz its kinda behind schedule...although if they can get the quality back up a bit then i spose its worth it, wasnt as impressed by the last issue

[nortlee]

yeah, i think there was a break last time a tpb came out for sf. But this is kinda frickin annoyin, didnt it already take a break from solicitations a couple of months ago, so it could catch up , coz its kinda behind schedule...although if they can get the quality back up a bit then i spose its worth it, wasnt as impressed by the last issue
Well if they're going to take the time to improve the quality of the comics who cares? You can't expect it both ways once it got behind you can't expect it to catch up with it being a monthly comic, you can't have it both ways: Both quality and speed, needs some time taken. What do you want a decent SF comic or a crap one? I do think Udon has taken up too many Capcom projects though...

[Time_Stop]

Better having delayed issues than rushed issues.

[Moogleborg]

Sweet! ^_^ Just in time for my 21st birthday! ^^

[udoneko]

The plans are as follow -

March will have TPB #2, which will include the main stories of #7 to 14, plus the Summer Special Chun Li story and THE NEWTYPE CAMMY STORY.

We wanted to start the next arc with care, and also want to make sure the art gets back to a higher quality. For the last few months, we are caught in a few different situations that get us a bit disoriented and therefore the SF book seems rushed. Therefore, SF will come back in May 2005 with #15.

So what's gonna be there to fill the gap in April? There is of coz Darkstalkers #6.... plus....... :D

[nortlee]

The plans are as follow -

March will have TPB #2, which will include the main stories of #7 to 14, plus the Summer Special Chun Li story and THE NEWTYPE CAMMY STORY.

We wanted to start the next arc with care, and also want to make sure the art gets back to a higher quality. For the last few months, we are caught in a few different situations that get us a bit disoriented and therefore the SF book seems rushed. Therefore, SF will come back in May 2005 with #15.

So what's gonna be there to fill the gap in April? There is of coz Darkstalkers #6.... plus....... :D
Dammit guys he's being secretive again :tdown: lol, unless he's hinting Rival Schools and just won't say it :razzy:
Oh well won't press yer, its nice to hear that the SF comic is going to take a bit of a break to get the quality back on-track, plus in-between arcs it seems right somehow to take a break anyway imo.

[Artayes]

Yes!!! The newtype story with Dee Jay vs. Cammy will be included.The only street fighter story I am missing.That will be cool since DeeJay was featured as a brainwashed servant of Bison's in the comic. Also liked the Cammy and Rose backup story in the last issue.I hate plot holes and many kudos to Udon for filling in the gaps for us.

[Leo Sal]

It bothers me a bit when comics take a break. Instead of stopping the book altogether,wouldn't it be nice to have an "in-between" issue featuring a guest writer/artist team. Maybe it could be a anthology of back-up stories or somethng? Well, it's not that bad this time. We still have Darkstalkers and Rival Schools. I'm just a little upset about the fact that we could be in for another calender year with less than 10 SF issues.

P.S. This scheduling kinda reminds me of a TV show. It has a 6-7 issue "season" and then restarts with a double-sized opening of the next arc.

[udoneko]

Trust me. We would like to see the book going monthly too as much as we can. But we do not want the quality to suffer. We want to give it the best shot we can give you guys so that you are happy about our book and keep supporting us. Yeah, we could have hacked out a filler issue with a guest, and that way we will also make money too with that book too that month. But we just do not want to do that. Mind you we stop making any income on the SF book when we stop, and it is never a good thing to the company. However we are willing to sacrifice it for a better quality. And I am sure you guys will appreciate it.

As for Rival School starting, we still are not too sure yet. Dispite DS #1 sold out at 20 thousand copies and reorders are going pretty well in 2nd printing, DS#2 & #3 are dropped to 13 thousand, which is below the break even mark. I do not know what to say, except it does show 2 things - retailers are not stocking up, and customers do not tell their stores enough that they wanted it!! At this point, we sure are looking at how sales goes on DS. If it keeps dropping with issue 4 & up, we might not be able to keep it going, and I am not too sure if we can start Rival Schools with that track record.

It will be ashame, coz we already got the first arc plotted and issue#1 scripted....

Our fate does lie in the hands of the orders....

[nortlee]

As for Rival School starting, we still are not too sure yet. Dispite DS #1 sold out at 20 thousand copies and reorders are going pretty well in 2nd printing, DS#2 & #3 are dropped to 13 thousand, which is below the break even mark. I do not know what to say, except it does show 2 things - retailers are not stocking up, and customers do not tell their stores enough that they wanted it!! At this point, we sure are looking at how sales goes on DS. If it keeps dropping with issue 4 & up, we might not be able to keep it going, and I am not too sure if we can start Rival Schools with that track record.

It will be ashame, coz we already got the first arc plotted and issue#1 scripted....

Our fate does lie in the hands of the orders....
That's sad news and I hope it picks up for you guys, but if DarkStalkers is forced to go out does that mean Street Fighter also has to go? That is why I started to collect these comics and I'd hate to see it go out unfinished :sad:

Or (I hope so) is Street Fighter still going strong?

[superbadkarma]

not sure why comicscontinuum didn't have the images for the three DarkStalkers covers or the 2nd Street Fighter TPB, but you can see them here:

http://www.popcultureshock.com/features.php?id=880

[nortlee]

not sure why comicscontinuum didn't have the images for the three DarkStalkers covers or the 2nd Street Fighter TPB, but you can see them here:

http://www.popcultureshock.com/features.php?id=880
Hey thanks man, always love seeing preview pics, the TPB looks awesome imo, especially Vega. Why is the Volume 1 TPB there anyone know? Udoneko is this a new variant verson or just a re-printed 1st or BlockBuster version?

I'm loving all of the DarkStalkers variants this time round
:tup:

[martinitolove]

hey, sorry to tell it to you udon, but i am not interested in rival schools at all. (the game was weak and i am not looking forward to the arrival of the comic book)
just stay by the street fighter and continue the hillarious work

and please make the beginging of the next ark a double sized issue again!!!
greets

[nortlee]

hey, sorry to tell it to you udon, but i am not interested in rival schools at all. (the game was weak and i am not looking forward to the arrival of the comic book)
just stay by the street fighter and continue the hillarious work

and please make the beginging of the next ark a double sized issue again!!!
greets
Dammit man speak for yourself, Rival Schools rules <_<
Had the best plot next to SF of the bunch :tup:
Still if things are that bad suppose I can't blame Udon for not going ahead with Rival Schools.

[The V]

Dispite DS #1 sold out at 20 thousand copies and reorders are going pretty well in 2nd printing, DS#2 & #3 are dropped to 13 thousand, which is below the break even mark. I do not know what to say, except it does show 2 things - retailers are not stocking up, and customers do not tell their stores enough that they wanted it!! At this point, we sure are looking at how sales goes on DS. If it keeps dropping with issue 4 & up, we might not be able to keep it going, and I am not too sure if we can start Rival Schools with that track record.

It will be ashame, coz we already got the first arc plotted and issue#1 scripted....

Our fate does lie in the hands of the orders....

Hopefully sales will pick up for you. Retailers don't always listen or remember when only a handful of people are looking for a particular book. I asked about DS # 1 when it was first sold out and my local retailer says he'll order more, but that was two weeks ago and nothing has come in.

Anyway here are the top 300 comics sales for Nov:

http://www.newsarama.com/pages/NovTop.htm

SF # 11 is at 87 spot and DS # 1 is at 131.

BTW, love the art for all the covers of DS # 5.

[KentDog]

Not bad.. glad to hear SF is doing so well, and DS#1 too. The vol2 TPB cover looks awesome, except I don't know how I feel about Shinkiro's Sakura.. probably just me though. I'm also curious why vol.1 is up there, too.

[udoneko]

TPB 1 is a O/A = Offered Again. We did a new reprint so that it will be always in stock. It makes sense to offer it again and remind people that there is a Vol 1, when we are soliciting for volume 2.

As for SF regular sales, its still doing OK. We will be sweating if we falls below 100...

Really, anything you guys can come up with on spreading the word of the SF & DS comics, let me know. (hm.. shall we start a thread on this?)

[Sammuraiblade]

Vol.2 COVER is wicked :badboy:

[udoneko]

Vol.2 COVER is wicked :badboy:

Wait till you see Shikiro-san's cover to the DS TPB...... :clap:

[nortlee]

Wait till you see Shikiro-san's cover to the DS TPB...... :clap:
You've already got the DS TPB cover sorted out!?
:confused:

[Moogleborg]

Damn! Vega looks hella bad ass on TPB cover 2! And as for the DS#5 covers....hell....Donovan going up against Victor....Bishamon over a tower of bones and also Rikuo on a kick ass foil cover! ^^

Can't wait for Rival Schools....DEFINITELY can't wait! ^_^ It is one of my favorite video games of all time! I wish I could still buy the soundtrack to it though....(air guitars the 'Taiyo High School Roof' theme)

[rab_uk]

..its really cool to actually get feedback from someone workin on the comics, and its great to see your takin our comments on board....hope darkstalkers keeps goin well, i got myself and afew guys from work a copy, and we all loved it....anyways, look forward to sf gettin back on track, and i really would hate to see that go under

cheers dood!

[Sano]

Udoneko - If you wish to increase sales you should participate in next year's Free Comic Book Day. You can give away free copies of the Summer Special that has SF, DS and RS. Or just create a book that reprints 3 stories of the three books. Or just create a second printing of a Darkstalkers comic and give that out like most people do. It's a great way to spread the word, and who doesn't love Free Comics?

[Time_Stop]

Being a part of FCBD requires a lot of money (unless they had a few thousand unsold copies of the Summer Special around), and the return is not so great (most people don´t cherish anything given to them for free - only people that already read comics would)... I always read multiple reports from store owners about FCBD and they always say only one or two people become regular customers...

[Apathy-Inc]

Definately participate in Free Comic Book Day. I wouldn't give away DS because of the "mature" nature of the comic. A lot of kids come out for FCBD. I think a lesser quality reprint of the Summer Special would be much better.(cheaper paper stock etc.) Toss in some ads for the regular comics. Maybe slap on the Rival Schools' cover or an old Street Fighter cover with more recognizable characters? Hell, now that I think about it, you could re-release SF #1.

[nortlee]

I know its only a minor thing, but maybe an ad for the comics in official products like your Eternal Challenge book that's coming up and maybe asking Capcom if they can have ad inserts put into their games for the comics? Show off some of the comic artwork on them, that's what got me so interested in the comics from the early days :clap:

I heard about the comic through a Swedish gaming magazine called Player 1 that was sent to me by a forum buddy since he is/was the editor, the artwork is what caught my eye, couldn't read a word but one thing came to mind "Damn that looks sweet!" Maybe Udon can get adverts put into gaming magazines too?

I know it would be a gamble putting money into advertising in that way but I would have thought that the more you put into advertising the more the comics would get noticed (Though don't take this to mean going overboard like banners hanging over a high street or whatever lol). Added to this now, I think one problem may be that often a lot of the advertising is done in the US and Canada with conventions and the BlockBuster offers and such, but its not so well advertised in other countries, here in the UK I only hear about the comics from the web and that's it, they're quite specialist to get. Maybe more advertising needs to be done abroad? And I'm not saying you have to come here and hold a convention lol.

Also another idea, what if you could get Capcom to hold some kind of tournament to commemorate an event for whatever next year, the release of something, an anniversary, whatever and you donated prizes to promote the Udon side of things? Being an official tournament it would get a lot of recognition presumably and fans that haven't seen the comics before might just take interest? Surely Capcom wants the comics to sell almost as much as you want them to?