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.
" 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?
" 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.
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.
" 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 "
Mcfarlane needs to do something again. even if it's a one shot. The guy is truly the best. Even if he can't draw a figth scene he sure can draw people jumping.
"I'll say this... It's very rare for someone to come from the r&b/rap music industry and want to be even be remotely associated with comic books. For Tyrese to be doing this is... very cool. "
No offence man...but that's not even remotely true. I've heard so many rap albums with comic references that it's not even funny. Hell...MF Doom constantly wears a Dr. Doom inspired mask/helmet.
Why do people even waste the time filling out that info,getting the email conformation,to come on the forums,make one dumb comment that nobody remembers later down the road,and then get banned? What is the point?
Todd McFarlane writes "Good luck today!" and I can't help but wonder how much he was paid to endorse this book... Same with Jim Lee. I can't see either of them being invested enough to care about this project... Someone at Image had to grease some wheels to get the ball rolling on that.
@Kid Jackpot: why do you think that I had the pleasure of hanging with him and the comicvine crew in San Diego and he is cool and they know how to have fun now it may be that my racedar is a little off but I would think that if he was he wouldn't have been so cool with a 6'2 250lbs black guy I know this isn't with the post but I had to speak up for G-Man b4 the fire starts
I agree with you babs I picked it up at comic-con and decided to give it a chance and I was sorely disappointed. Yes I agree he promoted the heck out of it for issue 1 but I can't see it going very far beyond his fan base. I wish him the best in his endevors though and hope that he gets on the ball with the writing and direction and leave the blood and guts style with all the old image titles.
It's very rare for someone to come from the r&b/rap music industry and want to be even be remotely associated with comic books. For Tyrese to be doing this is...
Nice irrational rant there, buddy. You don't often get to see that level of ignorance in this day and age. I checked your profile. You've only been a member since yesterday. What do you even know of G-Man? I've never met him, personally; but he seems like a pretty okay kind of guy.
Went to my comic store today and there was only 3 copies left... flipped through it thinkin wth if its almost sold out didn't really think it looked that great. I really dislike tyrese especially in the interview with babs. He only thinks about making himself more money then representing the comic industry by stating who the artist/writer is which is just plain f'd up. and seriously the superwoman thing was retarted i dont care how new to comics you are you gotta know who wonderwoman is haha.
" 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. "
Methinks someone is still peeved at being called Supawoman. ; )
I wish I could comment on it, because I did preorder it (because i'm such a FAN of Tyrese's...seriously though, i'm a fan of Tone's), but my comic store didn't get it in...
" 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
" McFarlane and Jim Lee? Kinda no brainer to see it's a hit (don't know for how long though) "
Those are just promo's. They didn't actually do any of the interior art. "
I find it so annoying when comics get amazing artists do to promo work or cover art, but never do interior work. It's one thing for when you are celebrating something big, but promotions should primarily consist of the actual art that will be seen. Look at all the incredible cover art J. Scott Campbell has done for many of the marvel series, but when has he last done anything for the interior art? This just looks like another practice in celebrity ego stroking.
From what I know 2 of my good friends who are artist's are friends with the artist of this book, Tone Rodriguez.. (Who did the artwork of Dexter in that episode where he was drawn as the Dark Defender.) Told me that Tyrese is hardly involved with this project and is not really giving any recognition to him and the writers of this comic book.From what I know is he's just telling them how he wants it done & that's about it. Which probably explains why it was so uninteresting to you. That's what I was told from them, so hope that answers your question on how involved he is, Babs.
" Mayhem...9,000 copies ...really? Sigh... I've never liked Image much. I've never liked McFarlane much. And Tyrese...no comment. "
Co-sign. McFarlane's art style and even in worse writing along with the endless stream of wannabes killed mainstream comics in the 90's. I have yet to see anything out of Image that impresses. The character looks like a Image version of the Punisher. "
Lol my friend and I said the same thing about him basically being an Image version of Punisher, well i guess over-all he's like Image's black version of Punisher in LA... But hey maybe Tyrese's comic can get them in the spotlight some more...but who knows I've already seen some ppl interested in the comic but IMO for the wrong reasons...
" Mayhem...9,000 copies ...really? Sigh... I've never liked Image much. I've never liked McFarlane much. And Tyrese...no comment. "
Co-sign. McFarlane's art style and even in worse writing along with the endless stream of wannabes killed mainstream comics in the 90's. I have yet to see anything out of Image that impresses. The character looks like a Image version of the Punisher. "
" It interests me how much marketing to customers outside of comics main fanbase hhas become a major part of many companies strategies in the last few years. "
Yeah. I guess they want to broaden the fanbase.
We're not good enough for them *cries*. Haha just kidding.
It interests me how much marketing to customers outside of comics main fanbase has become a major part of many companies strategies in the last few years.
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