Alien Books: "I told you"

[syzhang28]

Haven't seen the news here (maybe because it's so underwhelming) so at the risk of promoting something people here should care about because of the characters but who knows if they do, I'm posting this. Also, at the risk of some Alien employee jumping down my throat to do damage control.

BRITANNIA: THE GREAT FIRE OF ROME (One shot)
LIVEWIRE & THE SECRET WEAPONS (One shot)
BLOODSHOT UNLEASHED: RELOADED (Book one of two)

Price - I told you they were going to charge this much.
SRP: $12.99
SRP: $12.99
SRP: $9.99

Writers - I told you they were going back to the same old creators. Watch for Fred Vane Lent next.
Written by Peter Milligan.

Artists - I told you they were going for bargain basement names on much of the books who haven't been heard of by the most readers.
Art by Alvaro Papagiani
Cover by Agustin Alessio
Variant Cover by Nico Di Mattia

This one is worrying. They are already needing multiple artists or worse just doing short story collections.
Art by Various Artists

The art looks so mediocre at best. The taglines are tired ("where there is smoke, there is fire", come on. I hope someone was paid for that one). My guess is they are going straight by the profit and loss accounting on these books. Whatever the least number of copies they think they can sell is what the budget is made from. 1,500 copies? Okay, you can hire these guys from overseas, nobody better.

Size - I told you they were going to do this weird thing where they try and package multiple issues into one thing like ibooks did. It never works. No one wants this.
64 pages
56 pages
48 pages

And this is the launch. Where they put their best foot forward. Or should I say this is where they unleash, but also somehow :reloaded, (that name was so bad it made me laugh. Like was it thought up in Spanish and then mistranslated to English?) their best.

Let the damage control begin

[Chiclo]

Could syzhang have been right all along?

No. No, it is the children who were wrong.

I am having a hard time here.

[syzhang28]

Sincerely, thank you. It's been hard. I understand why everyone would believe someone inside Alien rather than me but its been hard being the target they need to destroy to damage control.

[syzhang28]

Found another possible lie on facebook:

Josh Schwartz: Yeah, it's basically a whole mini-series in one book. I assume DMG Valiant originally intended to publish it as singles.
Danielle Ward: nope about DMG, you're seeing the new-new - story didn't exist yet.

But then:

Judah Radd: I begged Peter Milligan on twitter for this years ago
Lysa Hawkins: This WAS suppose to happen years ago...

So these are all books from DMG or at least pitches from DMG times that are being finished in Alien times and Alien is trying to pretend these are new stories they created...

[ManofTheAtom]

Found another possible lie on facebook:

Josh Schwartz: Yeah, it's basically a whole mini-series in one book. I assume DMG Valiant originally intended to publish it as singles.
Danielle Ward: nope about DMG, you're seeing the new-new - story didn't exist yet.

But then:

Judah Radd: I begged Peter Milligan on twitter for this years ago
Lysa Hawkins: This WAS suppose to happen years ago...

So these are all books from DMG or at least pitches from DMG times that are being finished in Alien times and Alien is trying to pretend these are new stories they created...

It can be both. Something that was pitched then but wasn't produced until now.

[syzhang28]

Found another possible lie on facebook:

Josh Schwartz: Yeah, it's basically a whole mini-series in one book. I assume DMG Valiant originally intended to publish it as singles.
Danielle Ward: nope about DMG, you're seeing the new-new - story didn't exist yet.

But then:

Judah Radd: I begged Peter Milligan on twitter for this years ago
Lysa Hawkins: This WAS suppose to happen years ago...

So these are all books from DMG or at least pitches from DMG times that are being finished in Alien times and Alien is trying to pretend these are new stories they created...

It can be both. Something that was pitched then but wasn't produced until now.

If that was true you wouldn't say "new-new" or "story didn't exist yet." unless you were trying to cover your *SQUEE* while tricking people into thinking these are all-new from scratch (or new-new as they say)

[ManofTheAtom]

Found another possible lie on facebook:

Josh Schwartz: Yeah, it's basically a whole mini-series in one book. I assume DMG Valiant originally intended to publish it as singles.
Danielle Ward: nope about DMG, you're seeing the new-new - story didn't exist yet.

But then:

Judah Radd: I begged Peter Milligan on twitter for this years ago
Lysa Hawkins: This WAS suppose to happen years ago...

So these are all books from DMG or at least pitches from DMG times that are being finished in Alien times and Alien is trying to pretend these are new stories they created...

It can be both. Something that was pitched then but wasn't produced until now.

If that was true you wouldn't say "new-new" or "story didn't exist yet." unless you were trying to cover your *SQUEE* while tricking people into thinking these are all-new from scratch (or new-new as they say)

I'm pretty sure what Ward is saying is that the comic as it exists now didn't exist then, meaning lettered and colored art pages and such, which was the case with many of the other comics Alien's published, like X-O and Ninjak.

This comic was clearly produced at the behest of Alien. The best way to discern that for sure is to look at the names of the artists, which you yourself disparaged as "bargain basement names who haven't been heard of by the most readers".

In the case of the artist for this comic, Alvaro Papagiani, we see that he works for Altercomics, which only became involved with VALIANT after Alien acquired the license.

https://altercomics.net/portfolio-item/ ... papagiani/

Consequently, this comic would not exist were it not for Alien Books, even if Milligan pitched it to DMG before AB acquired the license.

[syzhang28]

While I'm pretty sure the person that lied multiple times about me and caused undue stress and pain is doing it once again.

[MartinAlien]

Haven't seen the news here (maybe because it's so underwhelming) so at the risk of promoting something people here should care about because of the characters but who knows if they do, I'm posting this. Also, at the risk of some Alien employee jumping down my throat to do damage control.

BRITANNIA: THE GREAT FIRE OF ROME (One shot)
LIVEWIRE & THE SECRET WEAPONS (One shot)
BLOODSHOT UNLEASHED: RELOADED (Book one of two)

Price - I told you they were going to charge this much.
SRP: $12.99
SRP: $12.99
SRP: $9.99

Writers - I told you they were going back to the same old creators. Watch for Fred Vane Lent next.
Written by Peter Milligan.

Artists - I told you they were going for bargain basement names on much of the books who haven't been heard of by the most readers.
Art by Alvaro Papagiani
Cover by Agustin Alessio
Variant Cover by Nico Di Mattia

This one is worrying. They are already needing multiple artists or worse just doing short story collections.
Art by Various Artists

The art looks so mediocre at best. The taglines are tired ("where there is smoke, there is fire", come on. I hope someone was paid for that one). My guess is they are going straight by the profit and loss accounting on these books. Whatever the least number of copies they think they can sell is what the budget is made from. 1,500 copies? Okay, you can hire these guys from overseas, nobody better.

Size - I told you they were going to do this weird thing where they try and package multiple issues into one thing like ibooks did. It never works. No one wants this.
64 pages
56 pages
48 pages

And this is the launch. Where they put their best foot forward. Or should I say this is where they unleash, but also somehow :reloaded, (that name was so bad it made me laugh. Like was it thought up in Spanish and then mistranslated to English?) their best.

Let the damage control begin

Thanks for the support, man.

[syzhang28]

Found another possible lie on facebook:

Josh Schwartz: Yeah, it's basically a whole mini-series in one book. I assume DMG Valiant originally intended to publish it as singles.
Danielle Ward: nope about DMG, you're seeing the new-new - story didn't exist yet.

But then:

Judah Radd: I begged Peter Milligan on twitter for this years ago
Lysa Hawkins: This WAS suppose to happen years ago...

So these are all books from DMG or at least pitches from DMG times that are being finished in Alien times and Alien is trying to pretend these are new stories they created...

It can be both. Something that was pitched then but wasn't produced until now.

If that was true you wouldn't say "new-new" or "story didn't exist yet." unless you were trying to cover your *SQUEE* while tricking people into thinking these are all-new from scratch (or new-new as they say)

I'm pretty sure what Ward is saying is that the comic as it exists now didn't exist then, meaning lettered and colored art pages and such, which was the case with many of the other comics Alien's published, like X-O and Ninjak.

This comic was clearly produced at the behest of Alien. The best way to discern that for sure is to look at the names of the artists, which you yourself disparaged as "bargain basement names who haven't been heard of by the most readers".

In the case of the artist for this comic, Alvaro Papagiani, we see that he works for Altercomics, which only became involved with VALIANT after Alien acquired the license.

https://altercomics.net/portfolio-item/ ... papagiani/

Consequently, this comic would not exist were it not for Alien Books, even if Milligan pitched it to DMG before AB acquired the license.

Also, technically, she is saying the "story didn't exist yet." If it was a pitch of script then that statement would be a lie. If, as you are saying, she meant learring and coloring etc or even art, then "story didn't exist yet." is just not true.

[syzhang28]

Haven't seen the news here (maybe because it's so underwhelming) so at the risk of promoting something people here should care about because of the characters but who knows if they do, I'm posting this. Also, at the risk of some Alien employee jumping down my throat to do damage control.

BRITANNIA: THE GREAT FIRE OF ROME (One shot)
LIVEWIRE & THE SECRET WEAPONS (One shot)
BLOODSHOT UNLEASHED: RELOADED (Book one of two)

Price - I told you they were going to charge this much.
SRP: $12.99
SRP: $12.99
SRP: $9.99

Writers - I told you they were going back to the same old creators. Watch for Fred Vane Lent next.
Written by Peter Milligan.

Artists - I told you they were going for bargain basement names on much of the books who haven't been heard of by the most readers.
Art by Alvaro Papagiani
Cover by Agustin Alessio
Variant Cover by Nico Di Mattia

This one is worrying. They are already needing multiple artists or worse just doing short story collections.
Art by Various Artists

The art looks so mediocre at best. The taglines are tired ("where there is smoke, there is fire", come on. I hope someone was paid for that one). My guess is they are going straight by the profit and loss accounting on these books. Whatever the least number of copies they think they can sell is what the budget is made from. 1,500 copies? Okay, you can hire these guys from overseas, nobody better.

Size - I told you they were going to do this weird thing where they try and package multiple issues into one thing like ibooks did. It never works. No one wants this.
64 pages
56 pages
48 pages

And this is the launch. Where they put their best foot forward. Or should I say this is where they unleash, but also somehow :reloaded, (that name was so bad it made me laugh. Like was it thought up in Spanish and then mistranslated to English?) their best.

Let the damage control begin

Thanks for the support, man.

The comments section on facebook is littered with fans telling you that you're doing this wrong. Don't stick your head in the sand and plow forward. You still have time to get this right. If you do right by these characters I will be as big a supporter as I am a truth teller against it now.

The art is not good enough. I'm sure they are nice people.
The prices are too high.
No one wants this weird format.
Do right by these characters. VEI did and were rewarded. DMG did not and were punished.

[ManofTheAtom]

Found another possible lie on facebook:

Josh Schwartz: Yeah, it's basically a whole mini-series in one book. I assume DMG Valiant originally intended to publish it as singles.
Danielle Ward: nope about DMG, you're seeing the new-new - story didn't exist yet.

But then:

Judah Radd: I begged Peter Milligan on twitter for this years ago
Lysa Hawkins: This WAS suppose to happen years ago...

So these are all books from DMG or at least pitches from DMG times that are being finished in Alien times and Alien is trying to pretend these are new stories they created...

It can be both. Something that was pitched then but wasn't produced until now.

If that was true you wouldn't say "new-new" or "story didn't exist yet." unless you were trying to cover your *SQUEE* while tricking people into thinking these are all-new from scratch (or new-new as they say)

I'm pretty sure what Ward is saying is that the comic as it exists now didn't exist then, meaning lettered and colored art pages and such, which was the case with many of the other comics Alien's published, like X-O and Ninjak.

This comic was clearly produced at the behest of Alien. The best way to discern that for sure is to look at the names of the artists, which you yourself disparaged as "bargain basement names who haven't been heard of by the most readers".

In the case of the artist for this comic, Alvaro Papagiani, we see that he works for Altercomics, which only became involved with VALIANT after Alien acquired the license.

https://altercomics.net/portfolio-item/ ... papagiani/

Consequently, this comic would not exist were it not for Alien Books, even if Milligan pitched it to DMG before AB acquired the license.

Also, technically, she is saying the "story didn't exist yet." If it was a pitch of script then that statement would be a lie. If, as you are saying, she meant learring and coloring etc or even art, then "story didn't exist yet." is just not true.

You need to see things in context. If the art is being done by an artist that works for the studio that is producing the art for the publisher that licensed the characters from DMG, then it did not exist before that.

The worst you can ding Ward for is calling it a story instead of a comic.

[syzhang28]

Found another possible lie on facebook:

Josh Schwartz: Yeah, it's basically a whole mini-series in one book. I assume DMG Valiant originally intended to publish it as singles.
Danielle Ward: nope about DMG, you're seeing the new-new - story didn't exist yet.

But then:

Judah Radd: I begged Peter Milligan on twitter for this years ago
Lysa Hawkins: This WAS suppose to happen years ago...

So these are all books from DMG or at least pitches from DMG times that are being finished in Alien times and Alien is trying to pretend these are new stories they created...

It can be both. Something that was pitched then but wasn't produced until now.

If that was true you wouldn't say "new-new" or "story didn't exist yet." unless you were trying to cover your *SQUEE* while tricking people into thinking these are all-new from scratch (or new-new as they say)

I'm pretty sure what Ward is saying is that the comic as it exists now didn't exist then, meaning lettered and colored art pages and such, which was the case with many of the other comics Alien's published, like X-O and Ninjak.

This comic was clearly produced at the behest of Alien. The best way to discern that for sure is to look at the names of the artists, which you yourself disparaged as "bargain basement names who haven't been heard of by the most readers".

In the case of the artist for this comic, Alvaro Papagiani, we see that he works for Altercomics, which only became involved with VALIANT after Alien acquired the license.

https://altercomics.net/portfolio-item/ ... papagiani/

Consequently, this comic would not exist were it not for Alien Books, even if Milligan pitched it to DMG before AB acquired the license.

Also, technically, she is saying the "story didn't exist yet." If it was a pitch of script then that statement would be a lie. If, as you are saying, she meant learring and coloring etc or even art, then "story didn't exist yet." is just not true.

You need to see things in context. If the art is being done by an artist that works for the studio that is producing the art for the publisher that licensed the characters from DMG, then it did not exist before that.

The worst you can ding Ward for is calling it a story instead of a comic.

We can agree to very strongly disagree.

[slack]

Bloodshot unleashed reloaded IS a ridiculous title.

I AM already tired of the varying prices and page counts.

[Ize]

Britannia was a series i really enjoyed at the time and even if it isn't a 'new story', i really look forward to it being released. I'm happy that they're trying to release more monthly books than recently - hopefully the quality will improve with time.
After purchasing Hero Trade 2, Megalith 0 and Save Now 0 from Bad Idea for £32 each plus delivery for an 8 page comic, one won't complain about price / page count

[nycjadie]

I look forward to giving the books a shot. I look forward to the next set of material that will be fully under Alien editorial control. We've had some stinkers before, but maybe if folks buy the format and books we'll see better and better talent in the future.

[leonmallett]

syzhang28, you seem invested in being angry about books you haven't had the opportunity to read or judge yet.

[Chiclo]

syzhang28, you seem invested in being angry about books you haven't had the opportunity to read or judge yet.

But is he wrong?

[leonmallett]

syzhang28, you seem invested in being angry about books you haven't had the opportunity to read or judge yet.

But is he wrong?

Until the books are printed, then in reader hands, and people then know what they are paying for how many pages, and ultimately what they think of the content, then he is neither right nor wrong, simply angry.

[Chiclo]

syzhang28, you seem invested in being angry about books you haven't had the opportunity to read or judge yet.

But is he wrong?

Until the books are printed, then in reader hands, and people then know what they are paying for how many pages, and ultimately what they think of the content, then he is neither right nor wrong, simply angry.

The world makes sense again.

[aj583]

I’m very much looking forward to giving Alien a shot. I do hope the stories and art are of strong quality. That will be the decider as the bar has been set high from the 2012 VEI days.

For me, I totally welcome the longer prestige formats. I’d love to move away from floppies. Like the idea of reading more content in one go round. And better chance that my son will read these longer, contained stories in this cool format.

Also, I appreciate @MartinAlien and Danielle being on these boards as they prepare for launch. More than we got in the past. Makes me feel like we have a potential avenue for constructive dialog on what the fan base is interested in that could help get the fans back in the long term.

As for me, Alien team, I truly hope your creative teams emerse themselves in the 2012-2018 run of books from all the previous great artists and writers. I’d love to finally see some continuity with the valiant books that brought me back to collecting after a long hiatus. Plan out stories 12-18 months in advance…have a master plan with Valiant universe and let's get those annual cross-overs back.

I hope many others on this board will give them a shot too and let the quality of the books be the ultimate decision maker on our support.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[syzhang28]

Britannia was a series i really enjoyed at the time and even if it isn't a 'new story', i really look forward to it being released. I'm happy that they're trying to release more monthly books than recently - hopefully the quality will improve with time.
After purchasing Hero Trade 2, Megalith 0 and Save Now 0 from Bad Idea for £32 each plus delivery for an 8 page comic, one won't complain about price / page count

The quality difference is sizable between Alien and Bad Idea, who just might be making the best comics right now.

[syzhang28]

Also, I appreciate @MartinAlien and Danielle being on these boards as they prepare for launch. More than we got in the past. Makes me feel like we have a potential avenue for constructive dialog on what the fan base is interested in that could help get the fans back in the long term.

I think it's rinky dink and (the way they attack fans with dissenting views) unprofessional. You didn't see Dinesh posting here much during VEI, you don't see the heads of Marvel or DC posting in message boards often. You don't see heads of movie companies or video game studios posting either. There's a reason for that.

[syzhang28]

syzhang28, you seem invested in being angry about books you haven't had the opportunity to read or judge yet.

But is he wrong?

Until the books are printed, then in reader hands, and people then know what they are paying for how many pages, and ultimately what they think of the content, then he is neither right nor wrong, simply angry.

Past is prologue. These books will be just as bad as the other DMG and just as bad as the other Alien books. Especially now that we see the scattershot approach, the low rent creators and the lack of attention to quality have persisted. You can disagree with me but it's just another 'I told you so' post from me in the making...

[syzhang28]

syzhang28, you seem invested in being angry about books you haven't had the opportunity to read or judge yet.

But is he wrong?

QFT