Promoted
Greetings Semantinkists!
Today I want to take a look at something that has become increasingly important in comics: Promo images. In the last few weeks, all of the Semantink crew has been discussing how best to get people excited about our new upcoming titles. These days (though I suppose this has been true for a while) promotion before a comic is released is integral to it’s survival. If a book doesn’t get a good jump from the get-go, it’s as good as done. This is true for books big and small. Books like Marvel’s S.W.O.R.D. and DC’s BLUE BEETLE suffered premature cancellations due to low initial sales. Diamond wont even pick up small press books if they can’t meet a certain sales plateau. So, it all comes back to getting readers hooked early, and usually before a book is even launched, which brings us back to the importance of promotional images.
Companies have become increasingly savvy about what a promo image should look like, and when to release it for maximum exposure. There seems to be a difference in what kind of promotion a book gets based on what kind of book it will be. Mega crossovers obviously get a much bigger push, as they affect the sales of more books. New series get a particular kind of promotional image, trying to invite readers to try something new. Events within established books target specific audiences (i.e. the people that already read the book(s) involved).
Obviously, the big two have more money and can afford to do a lot more in terms of images. As an example take a look at some of the images that they put together for the latest events, SIEGE and BLACKEST NIGHT:
DC’s BLACKEST NIGHT promotional image shows that while the book might be Green Lantern-centric, a host of recently dead heroes will be involved. SIEGE highlights the re-teaming of Marvel’s big three Avengers, Iron Man, Captain America, and Thor, while showing who they are fighting against. Both pieces are very dynamic and feature a large cast of characters involved to get more fans drawn to the project. Marvel and DC have really cornered the market on the crossover event promotion, as most other companies do not have a shared universe to draw from. Smaller companies like Wildstorm or Crossgen have tried crossover events, but the promotional material is lacking, often using cover art from the books themselves as promo pieces.
Note how while both of these covers are striking images, neither lead the reader to pick up books that they might not usually go for. There is a reason that only Marvel and DC do the big cross over event, and it’s because they are the only ones that can do it well.
Promotional images for new comics are a little more diverse in how they can bring in new readers. Books that are hoping to gain a niche because of the creator(s) involved will often highlight that (those) creator(s). An excellent example of this would be the promotional image for the new Todd McFarlane series, HAUNT:
This title is banking on the fact that people will buy the book simply for McFarlane. The art itself is dynamic, but the name is the focus. Another tactic that a company might employ when banking on creator owned success is to just leak the name of a creator and give a dynamite picture to get people going nuts. Icon’s NEMESIS is an example:
While this isn’t the only promotional image that NEMESIS produced (they would go for a more HAUNT-like image later), the “leaked image” technique is an effective tool in the battle for sales.
For books that are getting a relaunch or feature established characters, the goal for promotional art is simple: remind fans that their favorite character is back. A great example of this would be the recent relaunch of the AVENGERS titles. For the better part of a month, Marvel would release an image a day showing some of the most well-known and well-loved Avengers back on the team. Take a look at Thor here:
Another route to take when launching a new book is to take a more humorous approach. Image comics, in an attempt to parody the rash of Avengers promos that appeared recently (just about all of them look like the Thor image above), launched a series of promotional images for their upcoming series, GUARDIANS OF THE GLOBE. They were hilarious:
Yes, that’s Harry Potter.
Whatever tactic is used in designing promotional art, the end result is the same: get people hooked. Promotional art can be the difference between success or failure for a book, and is something that we all think a lot about here at Semantink. Thanks everyone for stopping in, I’ll see you next week.
