IDW Comics - Meta Discussion

In this thread, you can discuss IDW and the general status of the MLP comics.  
This is not free reign to ignore the rules, obviously. Keep things respectful.
 
Valid topics of discussion
 

@cheezedoodle
 
damn it, I just made a discussion for that :(

looks back on his earliest posts on the original IDW thread and sighs wistfully
 
Good times.
 
Good times….

@K_A  
It was a much different time, show was kinda gettin rocky, everyone was all wide eyed at the comics…
 
That table sure got turned.

@ice1517  
Sorry, we were both doing so simultaneously.

Curious, what exactly is it that Bobby Curnow does? Is it just like a spellchecker or does he give criticism to artists and writers?

@Itsthinking
 
I’m not even sure anymore. I once said that at least he only edits things and doesn’t try to force writers to write things a certain way like many other editors in the comics industry, but now it seems like he doesn’t even do that.

@Jarkes  
I’ve heard rumors that the writers/artists complain about Hasbro themselves, not Curnow. Honestly, I’m not sure if he does much.

@Itsthinking
 
And to be perfectly honest, Curnow probably doesn’t even have all that much power. He’s only a simple editor on the MLP comic, the Godzilla comic, and one other comic that I can’t remember. He’s not exactly the Editor-In-Chief or CEO, which is the kind of position I was referring to when talking about editors that force writers to do certain things or write things a certain way (which is sadly still rampant at Marvel and DC). …In fact, I don’t even KNOW who the Editor-In-Chief or CEO at IDW is.

I’ll be honest, I have nothing nice to say about IDW as a company. Mainly because of the people they hire.

@Itsthinking
 
Even the people on the non-MLP comics? Most of the folks on the Transformers comics and some of the others seem to be decent people. Key word being “most.” Heck, some of the folks on the various Transformers comics have actually APOLOGIZED for mistakes they’ve made in the past.

@Itsthinking  
From what I can tell, he forwards a story proposal from the writers (ie. artist tools) to Hasbro, then forwards the feedback back.
 
His job could be done better by an Outlook inbox rule.

@Jarkes  
Given how the dialog reads so far in the preview, I don’t think any editors really did anything.
 
IDW has fat, and the time will soon come that it needs to be cut.

@The Smiling Pony  
Well the staff apparently says he gives the okay for things and helps them.
 
If he actually does reject things, I’d hate to see what didnt get greenlit.

@Jarkes  
I just can’t support them with how their practices are.
 
@The Smiling Pony  
@K_A  
Really, even though pony sells so much for them?
 
I’m still fucking pissed that Curnow misses the point of why so many people read comics, or more importantly, why people like MLP.
 
@soundtea  
Once he said that a story starring Little Strongheart got axed because she wasn’t popular enough. And the Rarity/Cakes micro was originally announced as Maud/Cakes I believe.

@Itsthinking  

 
Wow. Could that be construed as anything other than an admission they are more interested in pandering to what’s popular in the fan mainstream than in telling a good story?

@K_A  
You have a comic that’s a ripped off B Movie plotline just to turn the entire Mane 6 into bats.
 
What do you think?

@K_A  
Well when Curnow wrote the story that he wanted to write (when he actually decides to be a writer,) sales were below average.
 
People would rather read about Luna over and over again instead of reading about Mayor Mare. I’m honestly surprised that she got a FF at all.

@Itsthinking  
That FF was a great issue. Sales were dipping because people have become disenfranchised with the comics as a whole. I’d be pretty disgusted if the current arc shows otherwise because that would indicate to me things I’ve feared for a long time.

@K_A  
Nah, sales really don’t dip, it’s usually 15k for FF and 20k for the normal series. However, they’re not afraid of using popular concepts to boost sales, hence the Flutterbat arc selling 25k.
 
They’re controversial wherever you go, yeah. But someone’s still buying them.

@K_A  
Nah, it was probably mainly due to star power. Spike and Luna gets more readers at first glance than AJ and the Mayor.

The AJ/Mayor Mare show was one of the first (and last) FIM comics I loved in a really long time. Other than the minor stupidity with the fruit/vegetable townspeople spell, it would be something I’d love to see in the show, and it says a lot about how much I liked the overall story that I was able to overlook that stupidity.

@Background Pony #C324  
Shame it sold so poorly, it really did have a lot of interesting stuff about it.

@Itsthinking  
I think because of the potential it opened up with AJ’s character. Everyone thinks (I always felt so too) that she’s set for the rest of her life with her farm unlike Dash and Rare with their development arcs. The idea that she could eventually grow as a character and get into public office of all things was interesting and actually felt believable for her the way it was done. Plus, it was a great look at her potential as a character both presently and in the future that didn’t revolve around her family or farming at all, something the show really needs to do more of.

Curnow does do editing on the comics. In the artist interviews it’s been mentioned that he’ll remind them to add wings or horns here or there when missing, things that we might take for granted.
 
I am annoyed when spelling and grammar errors and wrong character names get through, but it’s nothing i’m going to pitch a fit over.
 
As for the plotlines, well, it’s still targeted primarily at kids, but intended to be appealing to all. For a story with a minor character to get the focus of an issue, I think it would have to be a pretty compelling story. I like Mayor Mare (I don’t dislike any character, actually), but I don’t know if she’s a good main character for a comic.