Rai: In Story Bonus Content - Revealed!(Sort of...)

[Shadowman99]

Finally, some detail as to what this *SQUEE* confusing "...in-story bonus content..." is.

Quote from this article here: http://multiversitycomics.com/interview ... interview/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Dinesh: It’s an experiment. It might be crazy, we’re not sure if it’ll work, but we’re excited about it. It’s Rai #1, but it’s called the Plus Edition. It’s the same book as Rai #1, same story. The cover has a slight color change. It’s got a 16 page section that’s bound in the middle of the book, and the 16 pages are in universe content only available in this edition of the book. It doesn’t affect the core narrative, but it is content that flushes out the world. As Warren was saying, Matt Kindt is putting together this giant awesome map of what the world looks like in 4001. We refer to it in the office as a deep dream. It’s all those teeny little details that everyone who loves comics, loves.

[magnusr]

Finally, some detail as to what this *SQUEE* confusing "...in-story bonus content..." is.

Quote from this article here: http://multiversitycomics.com/interview ... interview/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Dinesh: It’s an experiment. It might be crazy, we’re not sure if it’ll work, but we’re excited about it. It’s Rai #1, but it’s called the Plus Edition. It’s the same book as Rai #1, same story. The cover has a slight color change. It’s got a 16 page section that’s bound in the middle of the book, and the 16 pages are in universe content only available in this edition of the book. It doesn’t affect the core narrative, but it is content that flushes out the world. As Warren was saying, Matt Kindt is putting together this giant awesome map of what the world looks like in 4001. We refer to it in the office as a deep dream. It’s all those teeny little details that everyone who loves comics, loves.

Good info.

/Magnus

[lorddunlow]

It seems like it's going to be little details and stuff about/from the universe to flesh things out that are absolutely not necessary. Similar to the alternate history (future?) timeline in Lazarus that is printed in the borders of the letters pages at the back. From what I hear, that stuff is not in the trade.

I agree, I find it odd that they are charging extra for this content and not just leaving it as an incentive to buy floppies to get it instead of trade waiting like with Lazarus. We'll see if this "experiment" is continued.

[bygranddesign]

I think its great

Matt worked hard putting together this 4001 world and it will be great to dive into all the intricacies and culture of this world to get a better understanding of it. I think the Spylocke movie poster that Bugsy posted will be part of that.

I'm excited about getting this - and I don't get the objection towards it. I'm sick of buying variants that I'm just buying for the cover - I've pretty much stopped except for important issues. Buying a variant that has extra content is awesome. Love the idea.

[bamaphilosopher]

That's just a freaking cool interview, all the way around! Thanks for the link.

[Phoenix8008]

Awesome interview as usual. They are right when they say that their love for the characters and the great stories are infectious and contagious. You can hear their excitement and love in the interview. They are truly 'Fans First'.

[dornwolf]

Almost sounds like the kind of stuff Alan Moore does with his books. Not so much plot affecting as mere world building.

[Phoenix8008]

Almost sounds like the kind of stuff Alan Moore does with his books. Not so much plot affecting as mere world building.

Exactly. It's what I thought it would be. Like the newpaper or magazine articles in The Watchmen trade book.

[grendeljd]

Great to hear this info - it sounds very appealing to me. World building stuff to flesh out the VEI 4001 era? Background detail developed by Matt Kindt? Yes please. And I think it's fair to add a dollar to the price for a whole 16 extra pages. Critical to the story or not, this is nearly a full extra issue of bonus content intended to please fans.

I just hope I got an order in with my LCS on time to get one - it was only available with initial orders through Diamond...

[Shadowman99]

I don't mind the price being upped for extra pages 'cos like someone said, it's almost a whole additional issue's worth of content.

What does irritate me is that there are two versions of the comic: If Valiant are willing to support this world-building content type stuff in their comics, I don't know why they'd assume that enough people won't be interested in it enough to give people an alternative.

If the content is worthwhile enough to print two versions of the comic, why not just put it all in the first issue of Rai in one 'regular' comic, and absorb the extra page finances for the sake of this one issue? With all the media and hype Rai's been getting and the confidence VEI seem to be putting in it, this seems a bit non-committal to me

[Phoenix8008]

I don't mind the price being upped for extra pages 'cos like someone said, it's almost a whole additional issue's worth of content.

What does irritate me is that there are two versions of the comic: If Valiant are willing to support this world-building content type stuff in their comics, I don't know why they'd assume that enough people won't be interested in it enough to give people an alternative.

If the content is worthwhile enough to print two versions of the comic, why not just put it all in the first issue of Rai in one 'regular' comic, and absorb the extra page finances for the sake of this one issue? With all the media and hype Rai's been getting and the confidence VEI seem to be putting in it, this seems a bit non-committal to me

If they did this, people would be throwing a fit about being forced to buy a $6 comic and there would be tons of speculation that VEI couldn't survive anymore on just $4 comics and all the prices are OBVIOUSLY about to jump to $5 or $6 for ALL their comics.

I applaud them for giving fans a choice.

[Shadowman99]

I don't mind the price being upped for extra pages 'cos like someone said, it's almost a whole additional issue's worth of content.

What does irritate me is that there are two versions of the comic: If Valiant are willing to support this world-building content type stuff in their comics, I don't know why they'd assume that enough people won't be interested in it enough to give people an alternative.

If the content is worthwhile enough to print two versions of the comic, why not just put it all in the first issue of Rai in one 'regular' comic, and absorb the extra page finances for the sake of this one issue? With all the media and hype Rai's been getting and the confidence VEI seem to be putting in it, this seems a bit non-committal to me

If they did this, people would be throwing a fit about being forced to buy a $6 comic and there would be tons of speculation that VEI couldn't survive anymore on just $4 comics and all the prices are OBVIOUSLY about to jump to $5 or $6 for ALL their comics.

I applaud them for giving fans a choice.

Yeah, people are pretty stupid so you're probably right about that, considering people probably wouldn't put in the effort to look into *why* this single comic was priced like so.

I really hope we don't see too much more practice like this in the future though, it *SQUEE* me off a bit. If content is going to be written for a comic, just put it in the damn comic and keep things simple.

[Phoenix8008]

I don't mind the price being upped for extra pages 'cos like someone said, it's almost a whole additional issue's worth of content.

What does irritate me is that there are two versions of the comic: If Valiant are willing to support this world-building content type stuff in their comics, I don't know why they'd assume that enough people won't be interested in it enough to give people an alternative.

If the content is worthwhile enough to print two versions of the comic, why not just put it all in the first issue of Rai in one 'regular' comic, and absorb the extra page finances for the sake of this one issue? With all the media and hype Rai's been getting and the confidence VEI seem to be putting in it, this seems a bit non-committal to me

If they did this, people would be throwing a fit about being forced to buy a $6 comic and there would be tons of speculation that VEI couldn't survive anymore on just $4 comics and all the prices are OBVIOUSLY about to jump to $5 or $6 for ALL their comics.

I applaud them for giving fans a choice.

Yeah, people are pretty stupid so you're probably right about that, considering people probably wouldn't put in the effort to look into *why* this single comic was priced like so.

I really hope we don't see too much more practice like this in the future though, it *SQUEE* me off a bit. If content is going to be written for a comic, just put it in the damn comic and keep things simple.

I thought it had been pretty clear that the additional content isn't written 'for the comic'. It's not more story. It's not issue 1.5 that'll make you not understand something in issue #2. It's background material. Stuff Kindt came up with for building the world itself. Not important enough on it's own to get a comic by itself, but if you want to know more about the world the story is taking place in, then you have an option to dig a little deeper. Like a commentary track for a movie, or a featurette showing some of the 'making of' behind a movie or tv show. For most people, the movie by itself is fine. But there are those who will pay more to get access to more behind the scenes info, like a directors edition for instance.

[Shadowman99]

I don't mind the price being upped for extra pages 'cos like someone said, it's almost a whole additional issue's worth of content.

What does irritate me is that there are two versions of the comic: If Valiant are willing to support this world-building content type stuff in their comics, I don't know why they'd assume that enough people won't be interested in it enough to give people an alternative.

If the content is worthwhile enough to print two versions of the comic, why not just put it all in the first issue of Rai in one 'regular' comic, and absorb the extra page finances for the sake of this one issue? With all the media and hype Rai's been getting and the confidence VEI seem to be putting in it, this seems a bit non-committal to me

If they did this, people would be throwing a fit about being forced to buy a $6 comic and there would be tons of speculation that VEI couldn't survive anymore on just $4 comics and all the prices are OBVIOUSLY about to jump to $5 or $6 for ALL their comics.

I applaud them for giving fans a choice.

Yeah, people are pretty stupid so you're probably right about that, considering people probably wouldn't put in the effort to look into *why* this single comic was priced like so.

I really hope we don't see too much more practice like this in the future though, it *SQUEE* me off a bit. If content is going to be written for a comic, just put it in the damn comic and keep things simple.

I thought it had been pretty clear that the additional content isn't written 'for the comic'. It's not more story. It's not issue 1.5 that'll make you not understand something in issue #2. It's background material. Stuff Kindt came up with for building the world itself. Not important enough on it's own to get a comic by itself, but if you want to know more about the world the story is taking place in, then you have an option to dig a little deeper. Like a commentary track for a movie, or a featurette showing some of the 'making of' behind a movie or tv show. For most people, the movie by itself is fine. But there are those who will pay more to get access to more behind the scenes info, like a directors edition for instance.

I'm clear on the fact that the additional content doesn't affect the core narrative.

I think your comparison with director's commentaries (and such) is pretty good. I can see that this is most likely the way which it's being thought of in the VEI offices, but it seems odd to me that they're delivering the content in this particular issue of the comic. I think it'd make more sense to save this content for the Rai TPB Vol.1 and/or the hardback Vol.1 bonus material, to give people more incentive to buy those books. To me it just seems a better way to do it, rather than wanting to shoehorn it into issue#1 of the comic, and then deciding to print one version with the content and one without.

It makes me wonder if Warren Simons sat in his office and thought to himself "I know what will catch people's eye in the shops and bring their attention to Rai on release: A bagged comic sitting amongst all the others! But people probably won't buy it if they can't see inside it, so we'll have a regular version too that people can look at and read.", knowing that Kindt had this extra stuff already written that they could use to justify the gimmick. It's cynical, but it's also business minded.

[ilzuccone]

awesome can't wait to see this bonus content.

[DIrishB]

I usually buy my comics digitally and then buy the trades when those come out, but this will have me driving the 25 miles to my nearest comic shop (the main reason I don't buy print issues is that 50 mile round trip between my house and the closest shop). But this is worth it. Can visit my buddy who lives nearby and play some Xbox One for the afternoon/evening, so it's a two birds/one stone situation.

[Shadowman99]

I usually buy my comics digitally and then buy the trades when those come out, but this will have me driving the 25 miles to my nearest comic shop (the main reason I don't buy print issues is that 50 mile round trip between my house and the closest shop). But this is worth it. Can visit my buddy who lives nearby and play some Xbox One for the afternoon/evening, so it's a two birds/one stone situation.

I'm in a remarkably similar situation geographically, so I always meet up with my mates in the city when I go there once a month for my comics. It's more like 'seeing the pals and picking up comics too' now actually. 's all good