It’s once again time for a Mailbag Q&A, and as per usual, all the wonderful subscribers of SKTCHD and patrons of Off Panel did not disappoint. You went off with your questions, and it resulted in a very fun mix of answers, I hope. Let’s get straight to it, though, as it’s a lot!

Give me a sports betting break down on the chances of Absolute doing anything close to what Ultimate did for Marvel. I love the creative teams but I am not convinced it will bring in a ton of new readers like Ultimate Spider-Man did. Seems like single issues are a tougher sell than they were at the turn of the century. – Greg Peterson

It really depends on which flavor of Ultimate you are talking about! Your final sentence references the original one, but to be honest, it’s a completely different world now relative to when that first one hit. So, I cannot make that comparison. It’s just unfair. Instead, we’re going to comp it to the more recent Ultimate universe that launched this year, more or less (Ultimate Invasion was its true origin but I’m not counting it). That one didn’t necessarily bring in new readers like the original Ultimate Spider-Man did. So, the official question that people would bet on becomes: Will DC’s Absolute line match or exceed the success of Marvel’s Ultimate line launch from 2024?

I’m going to set the line at +200 that it’ll match or exceed — meaning if you bet $100, you’d get $200 back — with the other side coming in at -175, meaning you’d need to bet $175 on it coming up short to win $100. So, the odds are against it outdistancing 2024’s Ultimate relaunch.

I do want to note: I think the Absolute line will do really well. Retailers seem excited, fans seem excited, and the comics look great. But there are three main reasons I expect it to come up a bit short relative to Ultimate. One is that none of the Absolute titles have a hook that’s as alluring and desirable to fans as “What if Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson actually did get married and have kids, and then he became Spider-Man?” That is an incredibly easy sell. It’s basically wish-fulfillment for a sizable collection of disgruntled fans of the character. Middle-class Batman, Wonder Woman minus Themyscira, and Superman without roots aren’t nearly as spicy of story concepts. Those are basically Elseworlds setups but with concepts that fans weren’t already dreaming about.

Second is no creator on Absolute has the juice that Jonathan Hickman or Peach Momoko has. Don’t get me wrong: everyone involved is great! The writers are fantastic. The art of the Absolute line in particular is appealing. They’re going to make some awesome comics. But as great as they are, none of the creative teams generate immediate, “Oh wow! This team is insane!” like responses. Again, they’re great! They’re just maybe a step below Hickman and Momoko on the electricity scale.

Lastly, as I’ve mentioned before, the Absolute roll out has been unnecessarily confusing. It really should have just been a simple pitch like this: “This is a new iteration of these characters you know and love. Have fun.” But the pitch got mashed up with charting a new course for the main DC line at the same time as part of the larger All In initiative, and it just got murky. They overcomplicated it. That’s a real problem. I don’t think this will have a massive cost on the line, but it definitely feels like it could have an impact. We’ll see, though.

Like I said, though, I think that Absolute will be a hit. This is really me splitting hairs. One variable that could lead to this surpassing Ultimate, though, is that DC fans are thirstier for this sort of thing than Marvel’s fans. It’s been a bit since there’s been something they could organize themselves behind. There’s a chance it could surpass my high expectations for it. There’s evidence it’s headed that way, as Scott Snyder did tweet recently about how more shops have gotten store variants for Absolute than any other DC titles in the past five years. So, we shall see. But I’m putting the odds against it exceeding Ultimate. Nearing Ultimate’s success would still be a massive win, though!

What methods for recommending comics to someone who doesn’t read them often have you found work best? – Stephen Adkison

Beyond getting the person to come on my podcast to talk about their opinions of comics as a non-reader — which proved to be stunningly effective with my wife! — there’s a multi-step process that has worked for me in the past.

First off is just gauging interest. If someone has exhibited some level of interest in the medium before, I catalogue that in my brain and then I’ll do what I can to stoke those flames. Second comes figuring out what they like. I’ll typically ask them about the types of stories they enjoy, whether they’re movies, TV shows, video games, books, or whatever. I use that to determine what comes might fit them. In this section, I try to emphasize that it doesn’t just have to be superhero related stories they enjoy, because some people gravitate in that direction when you talk to then about comics. Whatever stories they like can act as a guide. Lastly, I try to give them one or two comics that a) fit their interests, b) are complete, and c) are excellent rather than a bunch of comics at once. I go small because that’s your hook. Give them one or two comics that they read and love and then you have someone that’s a lot more interested. Then you go from there.

To be honest, I don’t really try to force it. If someone’s not open to comics or even reading in general, you’re going to struggle to convince them. That said, in college I did have a great success rate completely by accident just by having graphic novels and trades laying around my apartment when friends or roommates were around. Eventually they get interested and read them and all of a sudden fall down the rabbit hole of comics. Victory!

I’m sure there are plenty of other ways to convince people to read them, but this is what has worked for me historically.

This question is for your readers just as much as it is for you. What are some comics you’ve recommended to people that don’t normally read comics and they ended up really enjoying them? (Especially considering this person may not have much comics literacy.) – Mark Tweedale

The top pick here is Craig Thompson’s Blankets. I haven’t loaned that out to anyone in a while, but I’ve probably shared that with 10+ people and all of them loved it and said things like, “Oh wow, I didn’t realize comics could be like this!” Another one with a stunningly high success rate — even before the show! — is The Walking Dead. A lot of people love zombie stories and very human ones at that, and every person who ever borrowed a volume of that series loved it and ending up reading more. Bone is also a consistent hit, and 20th Century Boys was a big hit with those I imagined to drag into that giant series.

Besides that, I cannot really recall any big winners, at least in part because my recommendations are all over the place. Also, to be honest, the bulk of my friend group isn’t willing to read comics, so it’s created a situation where I don’t recommend them to non-comic readers very often anymore. I have a good idea of who reads comics and who doesn’t these days, and the former will take recommendations and the latter won’t. The perils of getting older, Mark! People get set in their ways!