Sunday, January 20, 2008

Hustlin'.

In his brief interview with our own Alan David Doane, here, Ed Brubaker explained that he was doing a whole lot of "hustling" to publicize Criminal before its October, 2006, release. Fans got involved by showing retailers the PDF "trailer," and I was wondering if there was anything that we could do leading up to the February debut of Volume 2.

So far as I know, Ed and Sean haven't mentioned anything in particular that readers can do to help promote Volume 2. Ed has said here that he hopes a few more retailers take a chance on Criminal, but so far as I can tell, all the comic book stores in my area have already ordered issues in the past and are likely to continue ordering it.

As much as I love this book, I want to see it do as well as it possibly can, so I've decided to do some hustling on my own.

Besides loaning my trade collections of Criminal to a friend or two to see if they like the series, I've decided to become a veritable "pusher" of this very addictive book. I've talked to the very cool owners of my local comic book shop, and they're letting me buy a copy of Criminal Vol. 2, Issue #1, for three of their other customers.

I asked them to check their customers' pull lists to find the ones who are the most likely to become Criminal fanatics. Specifically, I asked them to find customers who were already regular readers of Daredevil, Marvel Zombies, and 100 Bullets. If the customer is already a fan of Ed's writing, Sean's art, and crime comics, he's a perfect fit for Criminal.

I found out last weekend that they've found a few good candidates, and when February rolls around, three of them will each have a free copy of Issue #1 waiting for them. With any luck, they'll like the self-contained story and will start picking up issues on their own.

Like any good dealer, I'm handing out freebies hoping a few people will get hooked.

No one's asked me to do this -- not Alan, and certainly not Ed or Sean -- but Criminal's a book I'm happy to share with others. And if other people take my idea and run with it, I won't complain, either.

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1 Comments:

Blogger Bubba said...

For what it's worth, I've moved since I emailed Alan that review of Criminal #1, leaving my tiny apartment in northeast Atlanta for a beautiful house in Marietta, Gerogia.

I still visit Oxford Comics in Buckhead every few months or so, but I've found a new home for my weekly fix: Great Escape Comics just east of Marietta and about two miles from the house.

The good folks at Great Escape were very cool about my buying an issue of Criminal for three of their other customers, and they didn't mind looking over pull-lists to see who would be best-suited for the book.

So, big props to Great Escape.

8:05 AM  

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