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?

 

BATMAN: OFFICER DOWN TPB

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.

Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 Continued Here...