So the release of Tyrese Gibson's comic book, "Mayhem" has caused some serious mayhem; literally. Yesterday at Meltdown Comics on Sunset Blvd. in Los Angeles, Tyrese showed up to perform and promote his latest project published by Image. The comic is supposedly modeled after an idea of his (which apparently he helped to write). The comic, which seems to have been relatively successful so far, had as of Tuesday sold 9,000 copies in it's pre-sale period. According to a press release, both Image comics and Tyrese himself are backing the comic book as much as they possibly can.
"The success of MAYHEM is a golden opportunity for all retailers to tap into this new influx of readers and in-store foot traffic that Tyres
brings with him,” Meltdown owner Gaston Dominguez said. “Tyrese is a 2.0 celebrity who is a marketing workhorse and whose brand spans across movies, music, and TV. Team MAYHEM are in it to win it! They are sincere and want to put out good products that cater to their fan base and beyond. Believe me when I tell you that if Tyrese Twitters your store name you will get calls and in-store orders.”
"Mayhem" by Todd McFarlane The idea that by giving Tyrese his own comic book would increase comic book readership seems like a stretch. While the book will be introduced to an audience that is unfamiliar with comics because of the popular star, it in no way ensures that sales will remain consistent and that the readers will want to continue buying into " Mayhem." After reading the comic I will say that I found myself somewhat unimpressed with the content. The art is somewhat weak and emotionless, with plenty of blood, guts and gore to entertain the casual reader.
"Mayhem" by Jim Lee While I am rather unsure of how involved Tyrese was in the development of the actual comic book, I must commend him for his promotional efforts. Over the last few weeks, Tyrese has hit Twitter, CNN, MTV and more promoting his latest project. His efforts were not in vain, as he managed to get both Jim Lee and Todd McFarlane to do their own renditions of the comic book character.
Overall I remain unimpressed by the shallow story line, weak characterization, cliche female character and less than impressive art work in this book, and I will not be picking up a second issue.
" Its only a success when it gets to 20,000 sold copies a month.... Thats the problem with comics today is that is a lower industry. Hopefully Tyrese can get people into this book not just for this title alone but for others not just in Image but through out the comic book industry. "
almost no indy comic gets to that level of numbers, many of DC and Marvel's comics don't do it either "
From what I can tell, this is more about Tyrese and less about the comic itself. I'm not insinuating that Tyrese doesn't care about the project but I am insinuating that there's wasn't enough effort going into the project itself. How is Mayhem distinctive from the Punisher, Vigilante and 2/3 of other various Image characters that uses excessive violence against criminals? The general concept is so overplayed that quite frankly it's relatively generic. If Tyrese wasn't a celebrity, I don't see Mayhem getting the greenlight from Image especially when I've seen other stronger concepts be rejected by them. Yes, it's good to have more people involved in comics but the key component is to maintain longevity in the project itself, the goal is to make the project just as relevant ten years from now as it is today and the best way to acheive that is to create a very strong and viable concept that can be inherently versatile for many years to come. So far, I have yet to see that with Mayhem.
Sorry G-Man and Comic Vine. It's just that earlier that day I lost custody of my son to my ex-wife. I was just so damn mad that I put my anger out on the wrong person.
" Sorry G-Man and Comic Vine. It's just that earlier that day I lost custody of my son to my ex-wife. I was just so damn mad that I put my anger out on the wrong person. "
Holy crap you lost your son today and you're on a message board. Take a week off and think about priorities.
Oh and on topic, yea I don't see this going on long. Feels like a bunch of promotion for a quick buck, almost reminds me of Jada Pinkett-Smith talking about her 1 comic that came out on Letterman or Conan a decade ago. Tyrese seems to have a lot of enthusiasm but what happens if/when the sales figures come in and he's in the bottom quarter of the top 200.
" Sorry G-Man and Comic Vine. It's just that earlier that day I lost custody of my son to my ex-wife. I was just so damn mad that I put my anger out on the wrong person. "
So, were your anger management issues maybe part of the problem?
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