ALIAS MIA? MIKE MILLER EXPLAINS ALIAS' ABSENCE

[MattBrady]

Like the occasional spring lion, Alias Enterprises was supposed to come roaring onto the comics scene last month, releasing twelve new series, many priced at $0.75.

Nothing happened.

Announced ship dates were missed, and again this week, retailers saw no Alias titles in their weekly shipments.

We spoke with Alias Executive Director Mike S. Miller to find out what happened, and where things currently stand with the company.

Newsarama: In simple terms, what happened? You were supposed to have 12 books ship in April, and none did. Where was the problem, and why wasn’t it anticipated?

Mike S. Miller: I don’t want to play the blame game here, so I’m going to be honest and say that we did get a little overambitious. Not about the number of books we were launching or the quality of our titles, mind you – I’m talking about the deadlines we set for our studios and the time we allowed for our books to get from the printer into the distribution process.

With the shipping, for example, we miscalculated the amount of time needed to get the books not only from Korea - where we print - to Diamond’s distribution center in California, but from California to Memphis and back again before the books can ship to stores. That process can add up to three weeks to the release time on a book. We're currently working with Diamond to drop-ship books to both their California and Memphis warehouses so that we can shave a week or more off the shipping schedule in the future.

Also, the way we chose to print our first run of books required all of our titles to be in on time. This shouldn’t be a problem -- our deal with our partners and studios is that they must have two issues completely penciled before we solicit, which allows them plenty of time to get the inks/coloring/lettering done before our cut-off date for going to print. Unfortunately, we had a couple of miscommunications and some of the books narrowly missed the deadline. Unfortunately, that meant none of our books were able to make it out in April as planned. We’ve done two things to remedy this in the future: first, we’ve hired on a production manager to help us make sure books get in on time, and second, we are splitting our print/ship into multiple batches to avoid this problem.

I’ve been in the business for over twelve years, and I’ve served in many capacities and even published my own title through Image. I’d like to think I know everything about the business and that everything we do at Alias will run as perfectly in reality as it does in our planning. But the truth is that starting a new company is a learning process, and it takes some time to fall into a groove. Fortunately, while we know we’re going to make some mistakes initially, we also know that we’re gaining a lot of insight on how to make things more effective and efficient, and we’re going to be working overtime for the next year or two to ensure we make up for our initial mistakes.

NRAMA: You’ve certainly heard what critics have said about your planned launch from the beginning – twelve books is too much for a company to start with, as even a major publisher could barely support that much product moving into the market. With this stumble under your belt, would you agree with that view?

MM: I don’t think so – the majority of those titles will be in stores on May 11th, and the three that won’t - Lethal Instinct #1, David’s Mighty Men and Ted Noodleman: Bicycle Deliver Boy - are still going to make it out by the summer. While we might be a little later than we intended, we’re still making good on getting all these titles out. Plus, we’re adding two or three new titles to the fold each month, which means we’re still going to rapidly expand our line as we move into the fall.

NRAMA: So – what does your schedule look like now – when will your books hit retailers?

MM: Nine of the titles will be in stores May 11th. Next week.

Monthlies

The Tenth Muse Vol II #1
Judo Girl #1
Killer Stunts, INC. #1
Deal With the Devil #1
Elsinore #1
Pakkin's Land #1

Graphic Novels

The Tenth Muse Vol I
Legacy Pocket Manga
SoulCatcher

It's funny that all this hullabaloo is being raised when the books are only a week and a half late. I spoke to our printer and he chuckled because over half of the books he's printing now from other publishers have April release dates, and nobody's said a word about it. I’m sure it’s because we’re new and everyone wants to see if we can deliver what we’ve promised, but we will deliver on May 11th, and the books are on the way.

NRAMA: You’ve got nine titles hitting on one day, when they were supposed to hit over the span of a month – what has the response from retailers been about that?

MM: Obviously, some responses have been positive, some negative. One retailer mentioned that he'll have so many titles hit in that one week that nine more from any one company isn't going to drown anything else out. But on the other hand, a few retailers have expressed their frustration, suggesting that it's bad to have all your books hit at once because a customer might not have the money to buy nine new books.

With respect to the retailers who feel this way, however - and we do appreciate their support and their comments, the business model of Alias is to present “Comics for Every Age” so that everyone can find at least one or two titles that they enjoy. We don’t expect all of our customers to buy every Alias title. I mean, God bless them if they do, but the idea is for people to support the creators and studios they like out of our lineup. If you're a Blue Water fan, you'll pick up two monthlies and a Graphic Novel, which will hardly break the bank. If you want to try our 75 cent titles, three will be available. That's $2.25, still less than almost any single comic out there.

On the other hand, one retailer mentioned that it would be hard to miss the Alias launch because there will be a block of titles on the shelf that'll be very easy to see. This will be great for the week of May 11th because it will give us a real presence on the “new comics” rack, but in the future, we’re aware that we need to have a constant presence there. Fortunately, we have other books coming out in May, and June is only three weeks away after the launch date, so it won’t be long before Alias can achieve that sort of presence. I say it’s better to make a big splash and let people know you're here than to whimper into the industry with one or two titles on your launch day.

NRAMA: In your view, how much damage has the missed launch done to Alias, as a company, or has it done any?

MM: To Alias itself? None at all. The only damage I can see is that retailers won't have our April product on hand to see how great it is before they order their June books. This may cause some under-ordering for June, and some of the retailers we’ve spoken to suggest that we overprint for that month so that we can make up for the under-order when re-orders come in. We'll have to gauge that, and it might be tricky. But other than that, the fans on our forums have been 100% behind us, and their patience has been very much appreciated.

NRAMA: Initially, you’re books were scheduled to be in stores so that they would be around during FCBD, with some retailers planning on highlighting them to new, walk-in traffic…thoughts on missing that specific date?

MM: Well, you win some, and you lose some. Having the 75 cent titles in stores on FCBD would have been ideal. That is certainly a missed opportunity. But it’s not the end of the world. For those who will be lured into 'coming back' to the comic shop because of FCBD, they'll see the 75 cent books the next week. For those who see FCBD as their one day a year to visit a comic shop, well, I'd rather they didn’t buy our 75 cent books, so that they could go into the hands of people who do frequent stores. I believe everything happens for a reason, and I'm content with how things are happening for just that reason.

NRAMA: Where does the schedule stand now? Are the issue #2s going to hit when they were originally slated to, or will they be later as well?

MM: We are working with the printer to get a firm 'from-to' date schedule for Diamond. But then we need specific ship dates from Diamond to determine whether books will ship in-month or not. I'm pretty sure three more of our books will be in stores by the end of May, and the rest shortly after. But it's hard to tell until we get the street dates from Diamond. As soon as we have those dates, we put them up on the website, www.aliascomics.net, so check it out for updates.

NRAMA: Given the solicitation cycle, retailers are now ordering issue #3s of your titles without having seen the first issues… What’s your expectation of the lateness of the #1s on the numbers your going to see?

MM: I expect they will be lower, or, at best, the same. It's almost a law in the comic book market that regardless of how well you promote or get your books out on time, your orders will drop from month to month during the first three issues. We expect no divergence from that principle here, except that there may be a greater dip because of this lack of product on shelves. By the time retailers are placing orders for the fourth issues in August, things should be back to where they would have been on issue 4 anyway, so it's not that big of a problem.

NRAMA: As you mentioned, you’ve hired a production manager, adjusting your printing schedule, and splitting Diamond shipments. Are you taking any more steps to make sure this kind of thing doesn’t happen again?

MM: Well, as I mentioned, we've hired a production manager, we're splitting our printing schedule, and we're splitting our Diamond shipments. Those three things should eliminate most of our problems.

And we're going to be more wary about picking up books from people and studios that clearly aren't up to the challenge of getting their books in on schedule. For example, we picked up a couple of titles that seemed to be on track a few months ago, but at this point, still aren’t completely drawn, let alone inked, colored or lettered. Going forward, we'll need to see proof of projects being completed before we go ahead and solicit. It may slow our ability to pick up new projects, but if we want to maintain a schedule, it's something that has to be done.

One book I would like to mention, however, is David’s Mighty Men, which was finished well in advance, but was delayed so we could take additional orders from the Christian Bookstore market before we print. Ironically enough, it will wind up being one of our most successful titles because of the orders it will be receiving from outside the direct market. This is just one of the many examples of how Alias intends to position itself to be a leader in the comic book market as well as the larger world of graphic novel publishing.

For more information about Alias and their launch titles, check out www.aliasenterprises.com

[Blind Assassin]

You know what they say about 'first impressions', right?

I already read 'Deal with the devil', so I know how good it is, but when a 'new' company plans to make such a 'splashy' debut, and then has none of their books ship the month they were supposed to....

...it doesn't inspire confidence in me, as a potential customer, or retailer.

[Bakema NL]

I remember the day when Image started out..............if everybody would have had their first impressions run rampant through their minds the company would not have existed today and a lot of companies would really have to go out of business today.

Week and a half......I can live with that and I like the way Alias is shaping up, it's not easy to start something like this up, especially this ambitious. And we hear a lot of that "it's only superheroes stuff", it looks like Alias is all about diversity, give them that week and a half.

[Smeggy]

Good to see outsourcing to overseas printers is paying off big-time like this...

[Blind Assassin]

Originally posted by Bakema NL
I remember the day when Image started out..............if everybody would have had their first impressions run rampant through their minds the company would not have existed today and a lot of companies would really have to go out of business today.

Week and a half......I can live with that and I like the way Alias is shaping up, it's not easy to start something like this up, especially this ambitious. And we hear a lot of that "it's only superheroes stuff", it looks like Alias is all about diversity, give them that week and a half.

I hear you, but even now, IMAGE books are still plagued with delays. I ordered a Bruce Jones/Bernie Wrightson HC in OCtober, supposed to ship in December. I got it in April.

Not quite the business structure that one wants to live up to, but for some reasons delays in comics are seen as 'no big deal' by a majority of the readers.

Any other company gives you a week and a half-3 month delay, people would be livid, but for some reason, when it happens in comics, people don't seem to mind.

[Blablabla]

At least they are not as worse as marvel. By Marvel there is almost standard 1, 2 or 3 weeks delay with every book. And now even 1 with 3 months.

[Blind Assassin]

Originally posted by Blablabla
At least they are not as worse as marvel. By Marvel there is almost standard 1, 2 or 3 weeks delay with every book. And now even 1 with 3 months.

See, that comment, is a sad thing.

The main point here is that 12 books, solicted for April never arrived.

If, after reading that, the only thing you can say is 'well, at least they are not as bad as Marvel', then that says something right there.

It just goes to show that people will put up with anything,as long as it doesn't get as bad as what is going on at Marvel.

Horrid.

[Bakema NL]

Originally posted by Blind Assassin
I hear you, but even now, IMAGE books are still plagued with delays. I ordered a Bruce Jones/Bernie Wrightson HC in OCtober, supposed to ship in December. I got it in April.

Not quite the business structure that one wants to live up to, but for some reasons delays in comics are seen as 'no big deal' by a majority of the readers.

Any other company gives you a week and a half-3 month delay, people would be livid, but for some reason, when it happens in comics, people don't seem to mind.

Image books still plagued by delays..........and we're still buying them, they're still in business. So I guess you're right, we don't mind lateness. Personally I don't mind it very much, but when it gets ridiculous then I do mind. But that differs from person to person. A monthly shouldn't be too late really, a week late or so that's something I can live with, but a month or more......but even then I'll get it anyway when it's out. A tpb or a graphic novel......I couldn't care less when it's out, though I prefer everything to be out when it was sollicited, that way you can keep track of things better. But a half year later when things didn't work out initially, so what? I'll enjoy it then. Mini-series with months inbetween issues is ridiculous, but even then their could be valid reasons as to why the stuff is late.
A lot of times movies get pushed back too, don't see too many people complaining about it. Books ditto. And let's not even begin with video-games, they are a lot worse than comics.........Duke Nukem forever anybody? People complain there too, but everybody will like a game more when it's late, but not rushed.......a game that is not entirely finished and put out, needing a bazillion of patches just to run fine on your pc, that will give you hell as a publisher and for good reason.
As a whole I don't think we have it bad concerning lateness in comics, with a few exceptions maybe.

[delawarejoel]

At least this is a publisher willing to explain why the delays are happening, and be upfront about it. Usually all we get from Marvel is a list of changing dates with very little detail or regard for the fans -- rather impersonal -- Bendis and Ultimate Secret notwithstanding. I appreciate the explanation as a consumer.

[Bakema NL]

Originally posted by delawarejoel
At least this is a publisher willing to explain why the delays are happening, and be upfront about it. Usually all we get from Marvel is a list of changing dates with very little detail or regard for the fans -- rather impersonal -- Bendis and Ultimate Secret notwithstanding. I appreciate the explanation as a consumer.

True. It's unprofessional to be late, but very professional to let your audience know why you're late.

I wanted to add a little to my former post...

Especially indies are the ones I will cut the most slack. They don't have a big company behind them, they are the upstarts fighting the big ones, they are really the ones delivering the needed diversity (I need it). I can understand their lateness better than that of the big 2........Image and Dark horse are big too in that regard.
Delivering a comic a month is still mindblowing to me. Each and every month there's a new issue. The working/publishing process is so different than European stuff, here you have an album a year in most cases. And you'll see it when it's out, no worries about lateness or anything, when it's there, it's there, simple like that, these people are artists, there has to be inpiration, dedication, a quality to the work, it's not a thing of pooping out the pages just like that. A good job that took a while longer is much more appreciated than a rushed one.

And maybe I don't even notice most lateness because of the sheer amount of comics I buy monthly. Sometimes I just go like, huh, shouldn't xxx be out now. Then I'll check it out, thankfully there's internet now and know what's up. An example is that Ron Marz comic from Dark horse.....Dragon prince I think.....should have been out, but I already noticed there never was an #2 sollicited and Marz explained things somewhere on the net, book will be here somewhere in the summer I think. And last week/2 weeks ago I began to wonder about the Alias issues......explained in full now. No problem, do things right instead of rushed.........and I know right also means on time, but if this week and a half is needed to accomplish that, then it's ok, why not?

[jediortiz]

I hope things work out for Alias. Much of what they have planned looks pretty cool. Be keeping an eye peeled for the titles.
www.dragonskeep.com

[Zoso]

Never let them see you sweat...

"We're late - here's why" is not good in a press release. It pretty much confirms to everyone that you don't know what you're doing.

No retailer or fan needs to know that books are shipping from overseas. No retailer or fan needs to know that you didn't have books finished before soliciting them. But now that they do, how much confidence can you expect them to really have?

Tolerance and acceptance in situations like this damages the other smaller publishers who do their job the right way. It's one more hurdle to jump over and when publishers like this who send out PR solidifying their status, it makes it even worse.

[glecharles]

This has potential disaster written all over it. Not so much the late-shipping - it's pretty much become the industry norm - but the overly-ambitious launch that seems to ignore every signal the market's sent for the past couple of years regarding new titles, especially from indies without top name talent connected to them. Other than a couple of niche titles that may have some appeal outside of the direct market, most of Alias' lineup looks rather uninspired, with their best stuff being put out by Image.

Miller's spin on missing Free Comic Book Day rings a bit false, too. More than an "ideal" situation, no publisher in their right mind wouldn't want to have some of their books on the shelves this coming Saturday. Those once-a-year visitors are the ones new titles are most likely to reach since they are relative clean slates, the least likely to have any pre-existing connections to other titles and even money for taking a shot at something new. That their ambitious launch didn't include an FCBD-specific offering was surprisingly short-sighted, too.

The one thing they seem to have going for them is the lack of any expensive licenses weighing them down. Of course, for a new publisher with unknown properties and relatively unknown creators, that's a double-edged sword.

Best of luck to them.

[stlfan79]

I am never a fan of lateness on books but I find it more tolerable with indy companies but more so when it is before the books ever hit the shelves. If this had happened once a couple of issues were out then it would be a huge problem but since they haven't come out yet there is no time for readership to stagnate. As long as when the first issue comes out that the subsequent issues are released in a timely fashion than Alias should be fine.

[OcCaM]

Originally posted by Blind Assassin
I hear you, but even now, IMAGE books are still plagued with delays. I ordered a Bruce Jones/Bernie Wrightson HC in OCtober, supposed to ship in December. I got it in April.

Not quite the business structure that one wants to live up to, but for some reasons delays in comics are seen as 'no big deal' by a majority of the readers.

Any other company gives you a week and a half-3 month delay, people would be livid, but for some reason, when it happens in comics, people don't seem to mind.

Who says we don't mind? But what can you do? From most of the posts I read (see Ultimate Secret) a great majority of people DO mind. And a few others claim to accept it and that's life.

I only wanted 3 Image trades in April. The Negative Burn winter special (is that technically a trade?) the Rising stars HC and the Rex Mundi vol 2 trade. Geez, 3 tpb's and not ONE has shipped. (No surprise on the HC as the 3rd vol. of Rising Stars was supposed to come out in March and didn't come out to April. And no real big deal on the anthology either I suppose! Wah I want my Rex Mundi though! )

Now, I'm not the type to sweat a few weeks delay, delays like Ultimate Secret are intolerable. Mostly this is why I just buy trades now, less frustration and I have a complete story when it comes out. And USUALLY at least Marvel and DC trades usually come out on time. The occassional Teen Titans Beast boy trade aside. ( Odd that it was supposed to ship this week and even DC's website still shows it as shipping this week. Usually, they are better at updating things.)



Anyway, enough rambling. Looking forward to a couple of these titles. Elsinore, Deal with Devil and XIII I believe were the ones. As long as the ocassional snags and delays are minimal and explained well enough, I might actually increase my monthly singles from about 8 to 11 or more.

[Derek Ruiz]

Originally posted by Smeggy
Good to see outsourcing to overseas printers is paying off big-time like this...

Most Printing is Outsourced to Canada so what's your point?


Printing here in US and Canada is crazy expensive. If Alais can save a couple of bucks on shipping and be able to do the .75 role back on the issue ones i'm all for it. I'm all for the CREATORS and not the Printers making more money off the books.I trust Mike and Crew to give me a great product and to eventually have this Problem fixed and hopefully this will be something we can remember 10-15 years from now as Alais' first stumble on it's quest to find it's legs in the market...All will be well.

[GeorgeG]

No excuse IMO. But even worse, I feel instead of Newsarama coming to them--Alias should've sent out a press release or something.

Did they? Doesn't seem so. They knew they weren't going to hit their deadline. I just hope they let the retailers know beforehand. That in my opinion is extremely unprofessional if that didn't occur.

Hopefully that happened.

Now for the lateness...horrible way to start off. I first thought, "Great. Another Image."

What have I done with Image and their usual lateness? I've decided not to purchase their titles any longer. Until they fix their ways, I won't be supporting them. Anybody who uses Image now or in the future is dead to me.

I use a monthly online service and any lateness kills me worse than those who go to a shop every week.

I became quite tired of the delay in Captain America. A fantastic read. Seems there isn't a solicitation for it in July (Where's Newsarama on that I wonder?). Forget it. I'll go the trade route on that one for now on. But who knows, by the time the trades come out, maybe the interest on my part won't be there.

Now we have Alias. I probably won't bother with them now. It sounds like that they didn't think everything through. Don't know if they have it thought through yet at this point. Doesn't sound like it.

Maybe they'll get their act together. Until then, I can wait and not buy.

[OMAR]

Good Lord, what a trainwreck.

I do give Miller credit for trying to do some damage control but this is ridiculous. I'll be fascinated to see if any of these books see a fourth issue printed in 2005 - or even ever at all!

[nebuchadnezzer]

Of course its not the greatest news for the company, but as a consumer, I just can't get that worked up about delays...I'll buy what I can when they come out.

Best of luck to Alias

[Vyper]

Most of these comments are ridiculous - people who claim to want diversity, but are the first to pounce at any sign of trouble at the company trying to provide that diversity. Anyone remember CrossGen? People were screaming from the very beginning about how it was going to fail miserably, despite the fact that they did not miss a single deadline in three years. People will always scream bloody murder at anything new that dares to rear its head in this industry, whether it is late or on time, good or bad.

Here you have the head of the company coming forward to offer an explanation (not an excuse) as to why the books are late (a week and a half late, people), and what does he get in return - "I told you this was going to fail" and "Oh, I bet they won't even print a third issue" and "This is a stupid move, you should never talk about your problems" and such.

There was a reason I stopped going to conventions.

Mike and Co., I know you've got some great stuff lined up, and can't wait to get my hands on it (especially for $0.75). Listen not to the naysayers.

[qtzar]

Originally posted by Smeggy
Good to see outsourcing to overseas printers is paying off big-time like this...

ya know something smeggy your 100% right.they outsource their printing to Korea.For that reason i am not buying one of their comics.I only wish other people would consider not buying their product either.

[glecharles]

Originally posted by Vyper
Most of these comments are ridiculous...

Not really. They're legitimate comments from potential consumers of Alias' comics. The fact that Miller let this come out via Newsarama, as opposed to his own press release or not at all, shows he has some marketing sense. No such thing as bad news in the PR world.

As for a very lucid take on the very real problems Alias faces as a result of this screwup, check the scathing response from Brian Hibbs, high profile retailer and Newsarama columnist, in the comments section of this post: this post.

[SeanJJordan]

In regards to questions about a press release -- you can read it on the Pulse as well as many other websites. (The reason we waited so long to get the word out is because we wanted to have a firm street date to announce. I apologize for any confusion this may have caused.)

Newsarama, with whom ALIAS enjoys a great relationship, went one step further and asked us for some detailed answers to questions that fans and retailers might have. We have nothing to hide, and we're more than happy to be honest about the causes behind our delays, which boil down to the fact that we're still learning. We're working overtime behind the scenes to correct these problems, and we're going to do our best to ensure that the rest of our summer titles hit the shelves with as few delays as possible -- hopefully, none!

We appreciate the support of those who are still willing to give us a chance, and I am confident that those who are taking a "wait-and-see" approach will be happy with at least one of the 30+ titles we're releasing over the next several months.

And as an aside to those reading -- if you're at ComiCon or WizardWorld Chicago this summer, please stop by and say hi to us at our booth!

-Sean J. Jordan
Managing Editor / PR Director, ALIAS Comics
http://www.aliascomics.net

[glecharles]

Considering the press release - which the Pulse just ran today - makes no specific mention of a delay, in fact doing a nice job of implying next week's mega-launch was purposeful, the Newsarama piece serves as a nice pre-emptive strike against the negative feedback coming from retailers like the aforementioned Hibbs. Karl Rove would be proud! Good work!

[OMAR]

Managing Editor / PR Director, ALIAS Comics

Tough gig!