The comic book industry loves to declare victory and pretend things are far more successful than they actually are. IDW Publishing recently put out a press release, regurgitated by ComicBook.com, that exemplifies how they put spin on topics and try to market based on fake success.
Most recently, IDW Publishing launched a new series called Star Trek: The Last Starship after canceling their entire line of post-90s-series comics that, despite winning awards in the industry, didn’t seem to move the needle with fans.
We’ve seen how the comic book industry toys with figures by exploiting gimmicks like variant covers and now even doing “blind bags” where they dupe customers into buying multiple bags by having a chance at an even rarer cover. Restarting lines with “an all-new #1 first issue” is another way they drum up sales based on the gimmick of speculation rather than the stories themselves.
Star Trek: The Last Starship was launched as another ongoing series by the same creative team as their last relaunch, and instead of continuing their continuity of the post-90s era, they’re resurrecting Captain Kirk, but doing so in a timeline that plays into “The Burn” era established in Star Trek: Discovery, an era very few even want explored.
ComicBook.com was given an “exclusive,” meaning IDW Publishing gave them a press release to regurgitate as they do for several media outlets like AIPT, CBR, IGN, ComicsBeat, and ScreenRant. Most of these outlets are within the same family of ownership, or with only certain access-approved media personalities getting any of the information, but as usual with the comic industry, the information is light.
Let’s dissect how this works.
The article is titled, “Star Trek: The Last Starship #1 Sells Out (And a Second Printing Is On the Way) (Exclusive),” which sounds very impressive, but what does a “sell out” mean in today’s environment?
