Glad you like the new LEGION series, Shazamgrrl.

Another by Mark Waid I really enjoyed was JLA # 60, two Christmases ago, which I mentioned in my "Favorite Christmas Stories in Comics" topic


Another great single-issue JLA story by Waid was in issue 33, where Barda and Plastic Man come to blows regarding a dress she's wearing. \:\) ( If I was Plastic Man, man, I'd be pulling this stunt all the time ! )

I also like many (not all) of Waid's IMPULSE stories for DC, particularly the first 24 issues with art by Humberto Ramos. I especially liked issues 17(with Zatanna), and 24.




 Quote:
Darknight613 said:

I'm talking about a brand new comic series written by someone who's never written a comic book before, drawn by someone who's never drawn a comic before, and featuring characters you've never heard of.


 Quote:

Darknight613 said:
Considering everybody's misgivings towards modern comics and with rising prices, what would make you want to start reading that title, and what would it take to keep you coming back every month for the next issue?


...So basically, I'm conducting market research to figure out what would get people to read a brand new comic they've never heard of.


Darknight, my apologies, I'd meant to come back and give you a lengthy answer with specific examples, and then forgot about it until Shazamgrrl bumped the topic.



I gave many series I've sampled that featured both characters and creators I had no previous knowledge of in my "Conan and other R.E.Howard/pulp stories in comics" topic.
 

Basically, for me, the less superhero-ish, the more likely I will try it. Whether it's western, science fiction, historical, horror, detective, classic literature, pulp-era or whatever.

Clean and detailed art also gets my attention. Cartoonish, overly-caricatured-Japanimationish or Image-style overdeveloped bodies in a book's art will compell me to put it right back on the shelf.




SOJOURN (by Ron Marz and Greg Land, two creators previously unknown to me) is a book I picked up with some hesitancy and quickly fell in love with.
It was actually the playful humor I saw skimming through the book, combined with beautiful art and classic Burroughs/Tolkien -style heroic adventure, that compelled me to pick it up.



Almost simultaneously, I picked up a collected trade of the four-issue BATMAN/TARZAN miniseries by Marz and Igor Kordey. I like this series because, again, very nice art, but more important to me, I felt the story was true to Batman at his 1930's/1940's roots as a millionaire sophisticate and creature of the night. And similarly, the story's portrayal of Tarzan as well was true to the Burroughs version, as well as the the 1970's Kubert version (Kubert's TARZAN is for me the definitive comics Tarzan adaptation, which is also true to Burroughs).








The most recent unknown creator/title I purchased is a 10th anniversary CAVEWOMAN special, by a guy named Bud Root, another complete unknown.
It basically presents some of the well-known jungle-girl/good-girl-art conventions of previous greats like Matt Baker, Frank Frazetta and Dave Stevens, and does something fun and new and playful with it.

  • Other CAVEWOMAN issues and covers:
    HERE





In contrast to CAVEWOMAN, another I've flipped through but haven't purchased are the first three issues of Frank Cho's SHANNA series. Because despite the nice art I found it :
1) below par for Cho,
2) looks very padded, like it has 8 pages of plot per issue stretched to fill 22 pages
3) it looks overly serious and not fun enough, for the type of story it is. ( See the Bruce Jones/Brent Anderson KA-ZAR for an example of a series in the same vein that delivers on all categories ).

But CAVEWOMAN presents the formula for unknown creators, of taking a well-known iconic image, doing an alternate version that is familiar enough to bring in readers, and offers enough original twists on an old image to keep them interested.




TROUBLE WITH GIRLS is one that springs to mind as another that takes a recognizable classic iconic image (a James Bond -type spy/adventurer) and gives it a very original and playful twist.




Another I purchased recently is DOC FRANKENSTEIN, because it combines the classic Frankenstein image with a pulp-hero Doc Savage save-the-world heroic adventure motif.
But despite the beatiful art and packaging, it wasn't my bag, and it didn't present a story with a beginning, a middle and an end.



THAT is an important factor for a new series, especially if it's not a monthly book you're producing: give the reader a story that is complete, or at least FEELS complete, with a beginning, middle and an end.

You can have plot threads that continue into future issues, but tell a complete and satisfying story within the issue at hand.

That's what I didn't like about Cho's SHANNA, and so many other comics, where there's no closure at story's end, and it's more like : CHOP ! That's it for this issue. See ya next month.

Like I said above, see the new LEGION issues 1 and 2 for examples of stories with a beginning middle and end.
And issue 3 as an example of a story that disappoints and annoys at the end because it lacks a conclusion, or even a half-decent cliffhanger.

I also didn't like DOC FRANKENSTEIN because it was too dark and gritty. I like the concept, but TOM STRONG or HELLBOY are two books that do the same thing basically, and are a lot more fun to read.




You can also go in the CEREBUS/Jaka, LIBERTY MEADOWS, Top Cow, CAVEWOMAN, Frank Frazetta, Dave Stevens, Adam Hughes T-and-A formula and toss in a sexy girl to keep your predominantly male audience interested at any point they might normally lose interest.