Holy Moley!
We're getting lots of feedback. A lot of it positive, a lot of it negative. The important thing is that we're at least having the discussion.
There's way too much to respond to, and I'm not going to have Internet access Friday so that makes it even more difficult, but since you've put in the time to comment it's only fair I do the same.
Jennifer de Guzman says:What's ridiculous about this, though, is that Comic Foundry has featured two covers featuring headless women in underwear. Here's the latest, with a "yellow brick road" leading up to the headless young woman's crotch. At least Jessica Alba has an identity!Very true. We've featured two scantily clad women on our covers — But we've featured a
bare-chested fella as well. I'd also mention that the point about the Wizard covers was the (possibly coincidental) unoriginality. I stand by the CF covers in that they're editorially relevant. They weren't just for fun. The first was a story about
body forms in comics and the second was about
Lost Girls (hence the yellow brick road). What about Wizard? Was Angelina Jolie editorially relevant? With only one question inside about her? You decide.
As to Jennifer's note about the headless women? Well, two things. 1) It's hard enough to convince someone to pose for you WITHOUT their face showing, let alone with. 2) I prefer our "models" without heads. Unless they're somebody you're going to recognize, I think the cover loses focus because you’re stuck trying to figure out if you’re supposed to know who that person is. Also, I prefer the girls and the guy without heads because you get to decide what they look like in your head.
Ben Morse says:As the writer of the Sin City article, I'm curious how this guy (or anybody here) would have improved on the "repeated questions."Chris Hansbrough on the ComicBloc forum says:what I find funny is that almost all comic journalism involves the exact same questions over and over and over. doesn't matter if it's wizard, newsarama, cbr or Comicbloc. it's essentially always going to be the same. Hell I got fired from my first media job with a website I won't name because I actually had the nerve to ask someone if they had any issues they worked on that they regretted and wish they could change and how would they re-doo it. because you know, asking a non-fanboyish question is just insulting. no I'm not going to insult someone but I am willing to ask more interesting questions than the base BS that everyone asks. and yes this goes for every single media outlet I can think of in comic journalis,m. so noone has the right to bash anyone for shoddy journalism because they all do it.Chris, you get straight to the root of my point. There’s nothing wrong with covering fanboy stories, film or anything else, but let’s at least get creative about it. If you only have 13 questions to ask everything you want about Fantastic Four 2, I don’t think “Will we see more cool gadgets from Reed Richards?” would make my cut. When I interview someone I make it a point to print out as many of their previous interviews I can find and read them over. Then I make it a point not to ask any of the same questions the subject has been asked before. Why give the readers something they already know? Do some slip through? Sure. Pobody’s nerfect.
Sloria13 has a nice idea about making it better:What I'd like to see, ultimately, is the "format" of this type of article changed. Maybe call it "13 questions about.... " and use the standard 13 questions that applies to these upcoming projects. No one expects the next great American novel, they'll expect what the info presented contains, and we all move on.He makes a very good point, though I don’t think he cares for my delivery that much. I think a lot of those questions that “must” be repeated can be presented in a sidebar or some sort of “vital stats” box.
• Oh, and just to set the record straight, I am definitely not crying. I don't actually think my tear ducts still work. Just a complete loss of words, folks.
On the Beat, Rin says:Well, at least he’s hot.Is that you, Jackie Estrada? (kidding)
Scott Mateo, in the comments said:
BTW, you'd make a great Jack Ryder! ;)I don’t know who that is?
I’m open to more debate and look forward to it.
