Comics International ?

[McScotty]

Apologies for raising this old chestnut again but does anyone know what is happening with CI? It seemed at one point that CI was suggesting they were back on track and were also going to release a Movie and Horror special (the first of these in April), then there was another delay until issue 207 arrived (think that was the last issue or was it 208 I can't remember now ?). We are now well into June and there's been (again) no sign of CI - I did notice in the latest issue of PREVIEWS however that the CI Horror special was advertised with a release date of August (with a "Spotlight On" section so I imagine that must be on the cards) but there was no mention of CI itself being released (CI wasn't in the Previews issue before that either) - does anyone know if Mike Conroy given up on the regualr monthly CI and just doing specials like this now? I realise Mike's not been well (and of course health is more important than a fanzine) but it's apity CI was a great book that has probably llost the confidence of a lot of readers and more importantly its advertisers to get to where it once was (although I hope not).

[Chris Smillie]

Do you mean Crikey? I meant UK-centred (like CI) but not UK-centric (like Crikey). I tried to get Pat Mills and the head of Forbidden Planet International to do a column (watch the sparks fly!) but unfortunately not. So something that covered UK, US, indie comics, cartoons and movies with actual comics in there too. Actually, it was the reason Starscape comic became Starscape online magazine. I had hoped to bring it to print at some point as a magazine. There's obviously a lot of good websites out there but not too many comic mags.

[Tony Ingram]

We do need one, I agree. It's partly why Crikey has became more 'topical' of late; we've upped our news content, introduced reviews, advance listings and a comic strip segment, so we're now covering some of the ground CI did, but we're still almost exclusively UK centric. We've also considered a second mag dealing with the US stuff, but that's purely speculative at the moment. Would it sell, is the question? CI was selling, but other titles that have tried to grab that market have failed in the past. And as far as new releases go, Wizard and Previews are already there. It's a tricky one.

[JON HAWARD]

just want to say i really miss C.I i was a regular reading since the early days , i saw Mike Conroy at the launch of Ace comics Art gallery in Colchester last month and he told me he didn't even know what was happening with C.I ,so i guess the omens are not looking good ,i would try getting in touch with Mike to see if things have changed since last month.
what i really liked about C.I was the behind the scenes stuff pencils character designs, in depth interviews with creatives of all forms of the medium , the new stuff recently was always late ,the news stuff should be online like downthetubes the mag should move forward with features the listings where also late again that should be online .
i still feel there is a place for C.I and i for one would love to see it again on a monthly delivery in the comic shops.
best
jon

[Tony Ingram]

It would make sense to put the news online on the website if they couldn't get a monthly issue out on time. But the website appears to be gone, too...

[McScotty]

As a reader since issue 3 (I only missed issue 1 & 2 as I was working overseas) I would have to regretably say that the reputation of CI has been tarnished - the CI website has been less than friendly (I am being kind here) and although I understand Mike hasn't been well (and I hope he is better now or at least on the mend) as a pro magazine lets be honest, the management of the situation/mag has been simply awful - Chris, I personally would welcome a 1/4 ly regular fanzine - I understand what Mike has been trying to do with CI since he took it over (a media mag!?) but it hasn't worked the few regualr titles (ie as in the monthly title) that were produced were expensive (ok they looked good) but were out of date re news, the one offs were ok but nothing (in my opinion to do with "comics") - my best wishes are, as always with Mike (health as I have said is paramount) but for myself re the mag I have given up and wont waste my time on looking for it ( 1 issue every 6 months, on average, is no use to me) - I have wrtten to CI - no reply - I have texted the CI site (on at least 5 occssions) no reply - no inspiring is it?

[Tony Ingram]

Thing is, it was never going to work as a media mag because that wasn't what it was originally intended to be, or what the majority of its readers wanted. There are a dozen such ma\gs dealing with movies and TV in any high street newsagent-somewhere that CI has never gained a real foothold despite an attempt to do so a few years ago. CI was a trade magazine, a listings magazine. Later, it became a bit more than that but it was always essentially about comics and principally available through comic shops. Turning it into a clone of SFX was a recipe for disaster since the average comic shop barely sells a copy of SFX; its readers pick it up from Smiths or Borders. If it was to stand a chance of working as that kind of magazine, that's where CI needed to be.

[John Freeman]

I agree: CI should never be an SFX clone. There are are several model collector magazines that might offer an alternative template though?

[Tony Ingram]

There are. It's only ever a question of getting the right format and identifying the right target market, I firmly believe that. CI could still work, it just needs to know who it's aiming for and be pitched at them through the right outlets.

[Tom]

Hi,

I've seen on previous CI posts that people mention my mag 'Dangerous Ink' as being part of the Cosmic Publications portfolio. Can I just say now that Peter Boyce, the publisher of CI, no longer has anything to do with my magazine.


Cheers,

Tom