Book of Death: Legends of the Geomancer

[Donovan]

Yea, I'd have to agree, he's talented, but everything we've seen thus far, looks so Barbaric..

So admittedly well suited to the story, I guess...

[Paul Nolan]

I love Ryps work, my eye sees his work halfway between Jim Lee and Frank Quitely.

and I prefer him to both...

[kjjohanson]

Ryp is talented, but I don't really feel that it's best suited for Vaiant. I know there's no house style, but it just doesn't say "Valiant" to me.

[leonmallett]

...BTW, they did not have to teach me about why it was good. I was a bit apprehensive for how fans would see it and that's what I talked about with Dinesh. Trust me when I say, VEI fully understands the situation and they did it because they need to break through. Dinesh can see the posts here about the stores that don't want to put in an effort on product that is discounted and returnable to them, with customers coming in begging for it. He's very frustrated about it.

Thanks for posting that Ed.

Dino may feel frustrated, but when you say he "understands the situation" do you mean he understands the frustration VEI have engendered in some of their fans and loyal customers?

For the breaking through argument, I don't buy that LotG will do that any more than the 18 variants, or however many variants on Unity 1 there were, ultimately broke through in a truly sustained way.

Now I could be wrong on that, but 2 months, 6 months, after LotG, I would not be surprised if the other books are selling in similar numbers to how they are now with typical declines. Unless this is a sign of things to come, which I fear may be the case. I don't know LCS sales Ed, you do, but each gimmick so far has not appeared to sustain significant sales increase, so why should this be different? Objectively, surely the only way for them to really break through is to actually grow the line, and focus less on gimmicks.

As a reader-customer who is not a speculator on 'investment' with the comic books I buy, I still think it is a disenfranchising decision. Dino may feel frustrated, but clearly then the possibility of LCS' not buying into the strategy, and therefore the impact in loyal customers, was not fully considered. And if it was, then this is a worse decision in my humble opinion.

[Donovan]

Ryp is talented, but I don't really feel that it's best suited for Vaiant. I know there's no house style, but it just doesn't say "Valiant" to me.

His work is so densely illustrated, it's reminiscent of a Where's Waldo book.

Except there's no Waldo to be found. Only blood.

And that blood is ubiquitous.

It just loses it's effect when it's everywhere.

[leonmallett]

Ryp is talented, but I don't really feel that it's best suited for Vaiant. I know there's no house style, but it just doesn't say "Valiant" to me.

His work is so densely illustrated, it's reminiscent of a Where's Waldo book.

Except there's no Waldo to be found. Only blood.

And that blood is ubiquitous.

It just loses it's effect when it's everywhere.

I did find Black Summer quite overwhelming (that was Ryp wasn't it?).

[ilzuccone]

I love Ryps work, my eye sees his work halfway between Jim Lee and Frank Quitely.

and I prefer him to both...

more like geof darrow and quitely.


I like his hart uncolored. it takes a skilled colorist to pull something like that off.

[erwinrafael]

OK, so the art is definitely worth checking out, but it's the STORY that catches my attention here.

For those of you who AREN'T planning to get Legends of the Geomancer (or for those of you who are and don't mind spoilers):

The four issue Legends of the Geomancer series tells the story of the first Geomancer... so this story happens before any other Valiant universe stories. Rather than having a story from the "middle" of the Valiant universe timeline that is missing (if you don't read Legends of the Geomancer), you'll only be missing a story from "before the start" of the Valiant universe timeline. So, there won't be a hole in your reading, there will be a "prequel" that you just don't tack onto the front.

And it's a shame that it's only available for people who would like to pay 20 USD per issue.

[jaden_sai]

And it's a shame that it's only available for people who would like to pay 20 USD per issue.

It's available for anyone who wants to purchase it, you are choosing not to purchase it at the price it is available at, there's a difference

[jmh722]

Man, the thing that I love is that Valiant titles are both good and highly collectible, but I don't know how I feel about having to chase down this book.
Don't get me wrong, I'll still pay out the nose for it...

[erwinrafael]

And it's a shame that it's only available for people who would like to pay 20 USD per issue.

It's available for anyone who wants to purchase it, you are choosing not to purchase it at the price it is available at, there's a difference

It's semantics. In the end, there is a systematic exclusion of readers who are not willing to pay significantly higher than cover price for this issue, no matter what angle you look at it. And no, I'm not saying that VEI is consciously excluding a section of readers. It's just that the design of the incentive creates systematic exclusion.

[jeremycoe]

Like I said in the other thread, this could be a case of this book being released using this promotion or not being released at all. I'd rather this story see the light of day even if I have to pay more to get it, than it not be released period.

I'm also almost surprised I've heard nothing in this thread about the toys r us exclusive Secret Wars comic that you get for spending $25 on Marvel toys. It seems to be a pretty similar promotion if you think about it.

[Tim]

I'm also almost surprised I've heard nothing in this thread about the toys r us exclusive Secret Wars comic that you get for spending $25 on Marvel toys.

What's that, like one action figure?

[Tim]

I feel like I'm the only person who is not gaga for Juan Jose Ryp. It's just too consistently dense and busy for me, and needs a panel or two WITHOUT gore and detail to let it breathe.

Don't get me wrong - he's extremely talented, and I see the appeal. It's just not for me.

Yea, I'd have to agree, he's talented, but everything we've seen thus far, looks so Barbaric..

+1 I'm not crazy about the level of graphic violence in Valiant titles in general. If not for my loyalty to the company and the solid stories, that would have put me off the books long before now.

[jaden_sai]

And it's a shame that it's only available for people who would like to pay 20 USD per issue.

It's available for anyone who wants to purchase it, you are choosing not to purchase it at the price it is available at, there's a difference

It's semantics. In the end, there is a systematic exclusion of readers who are not willing to pay significantly higher than cover price for this issue, no matter what angle you look at it. And no, I'm not saying that VEI is consciously excluding a section of readers. It's just that the design of the incentive creates systematic exclusion.

...so then Valiant's Pullbox Plus initiative was designed to systematically exclude those TPB readers who were not willing to pay again for the single issue...
but I didn't see 27 pages of complaining about that.

[jeremycoe]

I'm also almost surprised I've heard nothing in this thread about the toys r us exclusive Secret Wars comic that you get for spending $25 on Marvel toys.

What's that, like one action figure?

Something like that I think I'd rather have one copy of Legends than a Marvel action figure and toys r us' exclusive book.

[Tim]

I'm also almost surprised I've heard nothing in this thread about the toys r us exclusive Secret Wars comic that you get for spending $25 on Marvel toys.

What's that, like one action figure?

Something like that I think I'd rather have one copy of Legends than a Marvel action figure and toys r us' exclusive book.

Yeah, the sculpts on the newer Marvel figures pale in comparison to the first Marvel Legends assortments.

Is the Toys r' Us exclusive book a variant or a new story that you can't get anywhere else?

[paradise]

666 replies about one book?

[Tim]

666 replies about one book?

Aw, come on, man...we've been off-topic for at least 333 of those.

[Elveen]

OK, so the art is definitely worth checking out, but it's the STORY that catches my attention here.

For those of you who AREN'T planning to get Legends of the Geomancer (or for those of you who are and don't mind spoilers):

The four issue Legends of the Geomancer series tells the story of the first Geomancer... so this story happens before any other Valiant universe stories. Rather than having a story from the "middle" of the Valiant universe timeline that is missing (if you don't read Legends of the Geomancer), you'll only be missing a story from "before the start" of the Valiant universe timeline. So, there won't be a hole in your reading, there will be a "prequel" that you just don't tack onto the front.

And it's a shame that it's only available for people who would like to pay 20 USD per issue.

How do you know that? You can see the future. I just bought a bloodshot #1 Aja variant right out of a back issue bin at a shop for $4. You don't know how much it will cost to buy this book.


I'll tell you what. When I get my copy if you are will to pay for shipping, I'll ship it out to you so you can read it then ship it back to me.
How does that sound?
You don't have to bring up the $20 cost any longer.
Infact I'll pay to ship it to you and you pay to ship it back to me.
That way you can read it for under "cover" and don't need to keep posting that you will not be able to read it

I'll pay for shipping to you, you read it pay to ship it back. Cool?
Just remind me and I send it out to you when I get my copy.

[erwinrafael]

And it's a shame that it's only available for people who would like to pay 20 USD per issue.

It's available for anyone who wants to purchase it, you are choosing not to purchase it at the price it is available at, there's a difference

It's semantics. In the end, there is a systematic exclusion of readers who are not willing to pay significantly higher than cover price for this issue, no matter what angle you look at it. And no, I'm not saying that VEI is consciously excluding a section of readers. It's just that the design of the incentive creates systematic exclusion.

...so then Valiant's Pullbox Plus initiative was designed to systematically exclude those TPB readers who were not willing to pay again for the single issue...
but I didn't see 27 pages of complaining about that.

I think you don't see a lot complaining about that because Pullbox Plus only systematically excludes people from seeing bonus material. And the Pullbox Plus editions are not really expensive.

In the case of Legends of the Geomancer, it systematically excludes people from reading a main story, not bonus material. And it also systematically excludes at least four groups of people:

1) readers who chose to go exclusively the digital route
2) readers who chose to go exclusively the TPB route
3) readers who are not willing or who can not afford to pay around 20 USD per issue, which based on my readings is about the floor rate this issue is going
4) readers who are not willing or who do not have time to spend negotiating with their LCS owners to order enough issues of BoD to avail of this incentive series

If you systematically exclude that wide a segment from accessing original main story (not bonus) material from a writer that has a well-loved run in two VEI series so far, then you would get 20+ pages of discussion. Pullbox Plus edition does not even come close to being comparable to this.

[erwinrafael]

And it's a shame that it's only available for people who would like to pay 20 USD per issue.

How do you know that? You can see the future. I just bought a bloodshot #1 Aja variant right out of a back issue bin at a shop for $4. You don't know how much it will cost to buy this book.

That's why I have been asking in this thread how much shops are willing to sell for this book. Nobody has given a rate that is lower than 20 USD so far. Ed has not answered how much he is selling this book per issue, and maybe he can enlighten us as I suspect he would give the most reasonable deal.

What we don't know is how much this would cost in the far future. Whether this would end up in back issue bins, we do not have any idea. What we do have is a sense of how much it would cost in the immediate future, near release date.

I'll tell you what. When I get my copy if you are will to pay for shipping, I'll ship it out to you so you can read it then ship it back to me.
How does that sound?
You don't have to bring up the $20 cost any longer.
Infact I'll pay to ship it to you and you pay to ship it back to me.
That way you can read it for under "cover" and don't need to keep posting that you will not be able to read it

I'll pay for shipping to you, you read it pay to ship it back. Cool?
Just remind me and I send it out to you when I get my copy.

Can I photocopy the book when I receive it?

Thanks for the offer, but I read my comic books at least ten times, and I would not want to do that to a borrowed item.

[kjjohanson]

Like I said in the other thread, this could be a case of this book being released using this promotion or not being released at all. I'd rather this story see the light of day even if I have to pay more to get it, than it not be released period.

I'm also almost surprised I've heard nothing in this thread about the toys r us exclusive Secret Wars comic that you get for spending $25 on Marvel toys. It seems to be a pretty similar promotion if you think about it.

Two things:
1. This is a Valiant forum, not a Marvel forum, and
2. Usually books released through those sort of promotions are not considered canon, whereas the "story of the first Geomancer" would seem to be a pretty big piece of the actual Valiant universe.

And, I don't complain about Marvel because I don't care about Marvel, and I don't expect anyone from Marvel to respond to the complaints of fans. I *do* expect Valiant to take notice if enough supporters of theirs have issues with a promotion.

[ShadowTuga]

After a bit more of research from my part, I came to the conclusion that I am *SQUEE*. I'm the Valiant guy at my LCS, NO WAY they are going to pre-order enought to get his. I tried that with Unity and they said "yeah, it's returnable, but WE have to pay for transportation, etc". So, I will probably miss on thse. WHich *SQUEE* me off to no end. I support VEI from day one and WANTED to support this, but given the above facts, it's like I said. Non-US readers be *SQUEE*.

[ilzuccone]