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Post by othersummersbrother on Jan 28, 2014 13:27:33 GMT -5
Ok, here's the deal. I did not enjoy the first issue of this title and have not picked up any other issues. The art was a little confusing for me, but not 'bad'. The poem in the book was wonderful. I mean, it was creative. An exceptional piece of the book, but the overall narrative, coupled with the art...I couldn't follow.
The frustrating thing is I have enjoyed the creators before. The mini 'Osborn' was fantastic, and who doesn't like 'Captain Marvel.' Plus, lots of people I respect, like the proprietors of this forum, loved it. I have been told it has a heavy anime influence. Anime is wholly foreign to me. Is that why I am missing the narrative overall? Where am I dropping the ball because I want to buy the trade but am in no way sold thus far.
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Post by lennyreid on Jan 29, 2014 2:53:09 GMT -5
The narrative has it's eye on the long-ball game, which I suspect is where the anime references are being suggested. Western entertainment tends to hold our hands through a story and makes sure we're following all the way through, whereas the Eastern narrative rewards your attention with a full story by the end. There is no right or wrong way, just different.
With Pretty Deadly, #3 and #4 have done a job of piecing together some threads that were set-up in #1 and #2 and I think that'll be the way it'll keep going. It demands the attention that the average hero book doesn't usually require. Understandably not for everyone.
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Post by drocat on Jan 29, 2014 12:04:23 GMT -5
Ok, here's the deal. I did not enjoy the first issue of this title and have not picked up any other issues. The art was a little confusing for me, but not 'bad'. The poem in the book was wonderful. I mean, it was creative. An exceptional piece of the book, but the overall narrative, coupled with the art...I couldn't follow. The frustrating thing is I have enjoyed the creators before. The mini 'Osborn' was fantastic, and who doesn't like 'Captain Marvel.' Plus, lots of people I respect, like the proprietors of this forum, loved it. I have been told it has a heavy anime influence. Anime is wholly foreign to me. Is that why I am missing the narrative overall? Where am I dropping the ball because I want to buy the trade but am in no way sold thus far. I felt the same way as you the first issue. I was pretty close to actually hating it. I don't think it's the lack of anime knowledge that's making it so you can't enjoy it, because I don't know anything about anime (other than that it's read backwards) I think it's just the way she wrote the first book, the somewhat confusing way they lay out the panels, or maybe just the poetry itself that is confusing you. I would suggest trying to re-read the first issue and focusing on every panel. Think out loud to yourself and say "okay so in this panel she pulled her sword out. this is this character" and so on. After I did this and read the 2nd issue I've been in love ever since. I've read the 4 issues that are out like 3 or 4 times each already. It's just one of those books that has a very particular niche. You might not like it even after reading the second one, but I say give it a re-read in an environment where you can really focus on it. |
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Post by drocat on Jan 29, 2014 12:05:24 GMT -5
With Pretty Deadly, #3 and #4 have done a job of piecing together some threads that were set-up in #1 and #2 and I think that'll be the way it'll keep going. It demands the attention that the average hero book doesn't usually require. Understandably not for everyone. I agree. The characters were a little bit harder to follow until these two issues. |
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Post by joroak on Jan 29, 2014 12:07:08 GMT -5
I read issue one, was totally lost and haven't picked up any since. People keep raving about it so I'll give it a try again when it comes out in trade. It's a gorgeous book to look at anyway
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Post by drocat on Jan 29, 2014 12:13:59 GMT -5
I read issue one, was totally lost and haven't picked up any since. People keep raving about it so I'll give it a try again when it comes out in trade. It's a gorgeous book to look at anyway That's another thing about it. I think it might read SIGNIFICANTLY better in trade. When it comes out in trade it will become huge I think. It's just hard for some to read month to month because of how heavily it relies on stories set up in the prior issue. |
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Post by xtjmac510x on Feb 10, 2014 1:53:05 GMT -5
My shop won't carry it so I'm trade waiting it.
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Post by drocat on Feb 10, 2014 8:11:26 GMT -5
My shop won't carry it so I'm trade waiting it. Really? That seems weird. Do you go to that one shop where one of the workers stood on the counter and ripped up the first issue because he was that dedicated to how bad he thought it was? If not, then do you know why they won't carry it? Pretty Deadly seems like a book that should definitely be read in print... I read the first issue digitally and I would never go back for this particular series. |
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Post by xtjmac510x on Feb 10, 2014 8:29:37 GMT -5
My shop won't carry it so I'm trade waiting it. Really? That seems weird. Do you go to that one shop where one of the workers stood on the counter and ripped up the first issue because he was that dedicated to how bad he thought it was? If not, then do you know why they won't carry it? Pretty Deadly seems like a book that should definitely be read in print... I read the first issue digitally and I would never go back for this particular series. No thankfully. My store doesn't carry it because nobody ordered it. They'll carry the trade probably when it comes out but seeing as how nobody showed an interest in the book, they figure why waste the money. The same happened with Uber, Mind the Gap and Afterlife With Archie (though I convinced them to special order me the issues every month and even though its 1-2 weeks late, I still get it). |
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Post by pacino on Feb 10, 2014 8:51:17 GMT -5
I just didn't enjoy it. Too lyrical for my reading tastes, but glad others enjoy it.
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Post by pacino on Feb 10, 2014 8:54:05 GMT -5
Really? That seems weird. Do you go to that one shop where one of the workers stood on the counter and ripped up the first issue because he was that dedicated to how bad he thought it was? If not, then do you know why they won't carry it? Pretty Deadly seems like a book that should definitely be read in print... I read the first issue digitally and I would never go back for this particular series. No thankfully. My store doesn't carry it because nobody ordered it. They'll carry the trade probably when it comes out but seeing as how nobody showed an interest in the book, they figure why waste the money. The same happened with Uber, Mind the Gap and Afterlife With Archie (though I convinced them to special order me the issues every month and even though its 1-2 weeks late, I still get it). my shop is the exact same way, except that if one person puts it on the pull, he will order that plus 1-3 wall copies depending on word-of-mouth. I've basically added 15 books to his wall by preordering certain books, then they build in sales based on shop word-of-mouth.  he gives out the previews free to people with at least 10 on their pull list, so i think this has really helped his business (with a little help from me). see if your shop owner will try that out. |
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Post by xtjmac510x on Feb 10, 2014 12:04:09 GMT -5
No thankfully. My store doesn't carry it because nobody ordered it. They'll carry the trade probably when it comes out but seeing as how nobody showed an interest in the book, they figure why waste the money. The same happened with Uber, Mind the Gap and Afterlife With Archie (though I convinced them to special order me the issues every month and even though its 1-2 weeks late, I still get it). my shop is the exact same way, except that if one person puts it on the pull, he will order that plus 1-3 wall copies depending on word-of-mouth. I've basically added 15 books to his wall by preordering certain books, then they build in sales based on shop word-of-mouth. he gives out the previews free to people with at least 10 on their pull list, so i think this has really helped his business (with a little help from me). see if your shop owner will try that out. He's kind of in a rock-and-a-hard-place situation with his store. He carries EVERY publisher (even the small press stuff) and makes sure to get 1-2 issues in if people are interested. Problem is that nobody in the store (besides myself) buys any non-Big Two books (save for Saga and East of West) so he has issues that sit on the shelf for months on end without anyone buying them. So he started implementing the "I won't get it if nobody wants it" mentality and it has seemed to work so far. There are only two stores in a 30 mile radius of where I live and its the only one that carries Image, IDW or Valiant. Plus his store has been struggling with the economy for years so if he doesn't have to pay to get a book nobody will buy, then it helps the store a little. Plus its partially on me because I didn't preorder the book in the first place. If I had, I wouldn't be having this conversation... |
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Post by drocat on Feb 10, 2014 14:16:05 GMT -5
my shop is the exact same way, except that if one person puts it on the pull, he will order that plus 1-3 wall copies depending on word-of-mouth. I've basically added 15 books to his wall by preordering certain books, then they build in sales based on shop word-of-mouth. he gives out the previews free to people with at least 10 on their pull list, so i think this has really helped his business (with a little help from me). see if your shop owner will try that out. He's kind of in a rock-and-a-hard-place situation with his store. He carries EVERY publisher (even the small press stuff) and makes sure to get 1-2 issues in if people are interested. Problem is that nobody in the store (besides myself) buys any non-Big Two books (save for Saga and East of West) so he has issues that sit on the shelf for months on end without anyone buying them. So he started implementing the "I won't get it if nobody wants it" mentality and it has seemed to work so far. There are only two stores in a 30 mile radius of where I live and its the only one that carries Image, IDW or Valiant. Plus his store has been struggling with the economy for years so if he doesn't have to pay to get a book nobody will buy, then it helps the store a little. Plus its partially on me because I didn't preorder the book in the first place. If I had, I wouldn't be having this conversation... Ahh yeah that makes sense. In this day and age you almost have to do that. I wonder how that kind of stuff affects my shop. They are pretty big and just opened up there second location, both of which are in "hip" cities with a lot of customers, and they order every book that comes out. They've had the same books sitting on the shelf for forever and nobody buys them. I suppose after a while they would potentially be worth a shit ton, so you could sell them if nobody buys them for 6 years. |
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Post by courtneyk on Feb 11, 2014 23:55:15 GMT -5
Ok, here's the deal. I did not enjoy the first issue of this title and have not picked up any other issues. The art was a little confusing for me, but not 'bad'. The poem in the book was wonderful. I mean, it was creative. An exceptional piece of the book, but the overall narrative, coupled with the art...I couldn't follow. The frustrating thing is I have enjoyed the creators before. The mini 'Osborn' was fantastic, and who doesn't like 'Captain Marvel.' Plus, lots of people I respect, like the proprietors of this forum, loved it. I have been told it has a heavy anime influence. Anime is wholly foreign to me. Is that why I am missing the narrative overall? Where am I dropping the ball because I want to buy the trade but am in no way sold thus far. My local comic shop had the first issue of this on the rack when I went in last week and I picked it up because it looked intriguing. I had the same problem - I loved the art, I LOVED the poem, there were exceptional moments, but... I still had no idea what on earth was going on by the end. I thought maybe it was just me being a newbie comics reader that was the problem, so I'm glad to see others had the same problem! I do think I'll check out the trade, hopefully it will make more sense as a whole because I like the style and really want to like this book. |
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Post by Bob Reyer on Feb 12, 2014 11:49:54 GMT -5
Ok, here's the deal. I did not enjoy the first issue of this title and have not picked up any other issues. The art was a little confusing for me, but not 'bad'. The poem in the book was wonderful. I mean, it was creative. An exceptional piece of the book, but the overall narrative, coupled with the art...I couldn't follow. The frustrating thing is I have enjoyed the creators before. The mini 'Osborn' was fantastic, and who doesn't like 'Captain Marvel.' Plus, lots of people I respect, like the proprietors of this forum, loved it. I have been told it has a heavy anime influence. Anime is wholly foreign to me. Is that why I am missing the narrative overall? Where am I dropping the ball because I want to buy the trade but am in no way sold thus far. My local comic shop had the first issue of this on the rack when I went in last week and I picked it up because it looked intriguing. I had the same problem - I loved the art, I LOVED the poem, there were exceptional moments, but... I still had no idea what on earth was going on by the end. I thought maybe it was just me being a newbie comics reader that was the problem, so I'm glad to see others had the same problem! I do think I'll check out the trade, hopefully it will make more sense as a whole because I like the style and really want to like this book. Courtney, Nearly everyone I speak to who struggled early, but then read the four issues together, has been re-energized about Pretty Deadly! The trade is due out in April, so waiting for that and reading the series in its entirety is probably your best bet! (By the way, I love your new avatar, but I'm at a loss to place it; can you help me out?) |
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he gives out the previews free to people with at least 10 on their pull list, so i think this has really helped his business (with a little help from me). see if your shop owner will try that out.
