Justice Machine: Object of Power #1? Options

[dan2448]

I was just wondering whether Moonstone Books had yet published the first issue of the new Justice Machine mini-series "Object of Power"?

I had thought it was planned to be released in August, but I haven't yet seen it. And I can't seem to find anything definite about its publication on Moonstone's website or on their Facebook page.

[Mark Ellis]

I was just wondering whether Moonstone Books had yet published the first issue of the new Justice Machine mini-series "Object of Power"?

Okay, since it's now listed in all of the comic catalogs and there's a full page ad in the latest Diamond Previews, here's the rundown on the Justice Machine: Object of Power mini-series...it's now a hardcover graphic novel.

I wanted to go with the GN format at the start, because I knew that the first issue would get fairly decent retailer orders--and it did--but the orders with the second and t...hird would tank. And, lo, they did, just like I predicted.

This was SOP 20 years ago, but with barely 2,000 comic shops in existence now (or so I've been told), the tanking of the second and third issue will keep you from printing in color...at least printing in color without losing money.

So Moonstone and I decided to collect all of the issues of the Object of Power mini-series--as well as a brand-new introduction story by Ivan Barriga and special features--into one volume. By printing it as a graphic novel, we'll also get broader distribution.

Object of Power is a big, whup-ass story which reintroduces, reexamines and ultimately reframes The Justice Machine...new readers can pick this up without being confused and I hope veteran fans will be happy with the way I've taken all the disparate threads of previous incarnations of the last 30 years and wove them together into a single cohesive Justice Machine continuity.

Also, the artwork is beautiful!

[dan2448]

Okay, since it's now listed in all of the comic catalogs and there's a full page ad in the latest Diamond Previews, here's the rundown on the Justice Machine: Object of Power mini-series...it's now a hardcover graphic novel.

Thanks very much for this update, Mark. It's disappointing to hear that economic reality curtailed Moonstone's original plans to release this as a mini-series in comic book form. But I'm glad to hear that there's now an alternative plan to publish it as a graphic novel.

Is there any chance that you might be able to copy that full-page ad from Previews here, for those of us who don't get Previews?

I clicked on the image of the new cover for the new graphic novel and was taken to the Westfield comics site. There it states that the retail price of the GN will be $39.99, and that no publication date has yet been set. Is that information correct?

[Mark Ellis]

I don't have a Diamond account so I can't access the full online Previews. Sorry.

But the full-page ad is the cover which I posted.

[dan2448]

Thanks very much for the reply, Mark. That $39.99 price stated on the Westfield Comics site seems a little high for, presumably, a 90-ish page story (a 4-issue series, at 23-ish pages per issue). Might that price be a mere 'guesstimate,' or just a placeholder, or even a simple error?

Back in September I bought the 144 page "Teen Titans: Games" hardcover, which had a retail price of $24.99, for $14 from Amazon. That's my only remotely comparable recent benchmark.