WAITING
FOR TOMMY: ED BRUBAKER
By
Richard Johnston
Ed Brubaker
is one of those new talents who have been around for bloody
ages. I first encountered his work on LOWLIFE, a slice of life,
semi-autobiographical tale about depressed youth. Hey, it worked
perfectly for me at the time. He increased his profile with
DEADENDERS and SCENE OF THE CRIME for Vertigo, both looking
at the dregs of society. When he was hired
for BATMAN, let's say it came as a bit of a shock. The equivalent
of hiring David Lynch to work on Barney The Dinosaur. But
he, alongside Greg Rucka, received critical acclaim as they
began to give the Bat-Books a new kind of personality, returning
him to his detective roots in the underbelly of the underworld.
Recently he's
been seen joining the Wildstorm crew and contributing SLEEPER
to the Ellis-inspired overhaul of the Wildstorm Universe into
a series of titles about people with super powers, rather
than superhero titles. Brubaker is expected to take over THE
AUTHORITY after the EYE OF THE STORM crossover event with
Jim Lee.
But right
now SLEEPER, while gaining good reviews, hasn't been picking
up sales. Like mine for a start. After all, I'm waiting for
the trade. With a trade paperback announced despite the title's
disappointing sales, how does Ed feel about this new expectation,
this trend that has already killed a number of titles such
as SWEATSHOP and BAD GIRLS?
RICHARD
JOHNSTON: Ed, I'm one of those people who, after picking
up the first issue, liked it so much I decided to stop buying
it and wait for the SLEEPER trade. And low and behold my patience
has been rewarded. Am I a bad man? Should I be whipped? And
should I carry on waiting just in case there's a ABSOLUTE
SLEEPER Hardcover Edition round the corner?
ED BRUBAKER:
Yeah, sure, wait for the deluxe hardback edition or the big
budget Hollywood movie, man, if you're okay with the fact
that you're KILLING COMICS!
Honestly,
though, I sympathize with the waiting for the trade mentality,
but the problem with that is some good books will never get
collected. Plus if a lot of people decide to wait for a book
that sells marginally, it looks like the book is a failure,
and so fewer stores will choose to carry the trades, even.
So, you really have to make that decision on a book by book
case, I guess, and hope for the best. It's unfortunate that
this market is so sh*tty that every consumer practically has
to become an activist, too.
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