The Four Color Media Monitor

In this MTV article, when interviewing one of the heads of the revived Valiant line, it's told near the end:

And finally, what about crossovers? At the time we chatted, Valiant hadn’t revealed that Ninjak would be introduced in X-O Manowar, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t more coming. “We want the first arcs to be standalone,” said [Warren] Simons. “I would like to be able to hand this to my brother who doesn’t read comics, and have him understand what’s going on. In the first issue of Bloodshot, there’s an event that will have repercussions across the entire line a year from May. But Bloodshot itself stands by itself. It is a shared universe, but by the same token, we’re incredibly dedicated to making the books as successful as possible.”

If they really meant that, they wouldn't be coming up with crossovers at all. Back in the early days of the company, they did publish at least one crossover called Unity. But what might've been considered fine years ago is in today's world an open signal they're desperate because the sales aren't cutting it. The prices they've set for their pamphlets (4 dollars) are already enough to make newcomers increasingly reluctant, and if they're planning to do something DC's already announced they have in store yet again for next year, they're just hinting to everybody where the perfect jumping-off point can be found in their output. It may be a shared universe, but that doesn't mean they have to do a crossover, nor that it helps.

Earlier in the article, it's also said:

He added that rather than going “Poochie” with the characters, just putting them on a skateboard, or giving them facial tats, it was really about looking at the world outside. For someone like the main character of Harbinger, a series all about changing the world, the focus is going to be different now that it was in the 90s, because the world is different. “We’re in three wars,” said Simons. “Not to be political, but we’re trying to address where we are right now.”

Yeah, I'll bet they are. The more I think about it, the more likely they will screw up with too many political injections.

Labels: crossoverloading, indie publishers, politics