Most comic creators hope to move their property into the realm of film eventually, but some actually use the medium as a springboard to bigger things - even when their properties don't even exist. Rich Johnston dug into the secret origins of the future film "based" on a comic.Years ago, Scott Rosenberg was faking interest in his "comic book" Cowboys & Aliens to get it made into a film – even though all that existed was the cover and the name. Though Variety featured the title on their cover, it passed through several studios before failing to turn into a film. After a few years, Platinum Studios - his publisher for an unpublished idea - got the tale made into a graphic novel, hoping that a tangible comic would do what the imaginary book couldn't.
Much like the payola days of radio and the record biz, payments were made to comic book shops to generate orders by the thousands. The money would cover the ordering amount plus add a little extra for the retailer, and allowed merchants to sell the graphic novel for 50¢ (instead of the $3.99 cover price), or given away free with any comic. Even Entertainment Weekly was unaware of the ploy, which named Cowboys & Aliens the number one graphic novel of the week. Still, they failed to reach the achievement of being named the best selling graphic novel of the month by Diamond Comics Distributors.
Publisher Top Cow was paid to list the title under their Image banner, and as a "brokered publisher", would declare that Cowboys & Aliens was a graphic novel to try and bump it up the charts (even though it was far less than the $9.99 that Diamond usually upheld for a title to be counted as a graphic novel). Unfortunately, it didn't work both ways for them, and Johnston's column at the time on the title lead Diamond to not count the units "purchased" for stores by Platinum Studios. The title ended up as the twelfth best seller of the month, and eventually sparked interest enough to sell the now-real comic to filmmakers.
So what happened to all the "extra" copies that were "ordered" by the retailers? Some are selling for over $35 on eBay due interest in the upcoming movie.
Much like the payola days of radio and the record biz, payments were made to comic book shops to generate orders by the thousands. The money would cover the ordering amount plus add a little extra for the retailer, and allowed merchants to sell the graphic novel for 50¢ (instead of the $3.99 cover price), or given away free with any comic. Even Entertainment Weekly was unaware of the ploy, which named Cowboys & Aliens the number one graphic novel of the week. Still, they failed to reach the achievement of being named the best selling graphic novel of the month by Diamond Comics Distributors.
Publisher Top Cow was paid to list the title under their Image banner, and as a "brokered publisher", would declare that Cowboys & Aliens was a graphic novel to try and bump it up the charts (even though it was far less than the $9.99 that Diamond usually upheld for a title to be counted as a graphic novel). Unfortunately, it didn't work both ways for them, and Johnston's column at the time on the title lead Diamond to not count the units "purchased" for stores by Platinum Studios. The title ended up as the twelfth best seller of the month, and eventually sparked interest enough to sell the now-real comic to filmmakers.
So what happened to all the "extra" copies that were "ordered" by the retailers? Some are selling for over $35 on eBay due interest in the upcoming movie.
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