Thanks for the info, I placed an order as well. It's a steal for $20 compared with what they are trying to sell them for on e-bay.
Thanks for the info, I placed an order as well. It's a steal for $20 compared with what they are trying to sell them for on e-bay.
Thanks Roomtemp a lot. Who Hoo, I just ordered a key!
...and I forgot all about The New Dead. I'm glad I ordered this one, not only is Joe Hill in it - the list of authors is really good!
Geoff
I placed my IDW order late last night and I've already received an email notification that the package has shipped. Sweet!
I also got a shipping confirmation. I wonder how many they have?
If these are numbered when we receive them, we'll know the limit.
If they're not, then someone would need to ask, although we may never find out.
They made 500 of them, and according to a post on Joe Hill's forum he sold out of all of the keys he took to the San Diego Comic Con. I'd be surprised if they had more than a couple of hundred left to sell via IDW.
Ooooh, I get it now: He did not take all 500 to San Diego. Is that correct?Originally Posted by DavidK44
Today I received this book from Amazon. Nice production for only $48. Signed by Hill and others, as discussed upthread.
Also picked up the Special Edition of L&K today at my local comic store. It's a much thicker, nicer book than I expected give the $6 price tag.
(Please excuse the lousy cellphone camera pics.)
If anyone is interested, I just posted some photos of the IDW: THE FIRST DECADE package in my Collections page right here.
Just checked the mailbox!
And they ARE numbered, right
Promise me you'll always remember: You're braver than you believe, stronger than you seem and smarter than you think.
Yes, as you can see here.
Nice Patrick! Can't wait for mine!!
It is an interesting phenomenon. I'm just talking off the top of my head here and will probably be shot down by the Joe Hill fans but this is definitely weird. Usually an author has to generate large numbers of trade edition sales and be widely read before there is any interest at all in producing S/L editions. What publisher in their right mind would go to the trouble and expense of producing an S/L for an author with no publishing/sales history? (Unless that author is related to another more popular author?)By god there must be more S/L Joe Hill than standard mass-market releases, thats unbelievable!.
It seems like manufactured popularity to me. Maybe it is just me but I don't think his writing history yet justifies this instant selling out of S/L's when there is no track record of trade edition sales. Sales based on speculation that he will one day be as famous as his dad? We'll know in 10 years or so, I guess. Personally, having read HEART SHAPED BOX, I just don't get it. I'm sure he is a fine young man and I have heard nothing but good things about his treatment of fans and his personality but I just don't get it.
OK. Now I expect to be fully shot down by all you Joe Hill fans.
Actually...I was going to post something similar not so long ago. But there's one thing that I don't quite agree, and that's when you say that an author has to generate large numbers of trade edition. And I don't know how much I am qualified for this, but I think that several small publishers that produce S/L editions have a lot of authors completely unknown (Cemetary Dance is an example).
For Joe Hill, it's easy..."uncover" Joe Hill's true identity just before the release of the first novel was a great marketing move. And even when I liked Heart-shaped box (better than the first novels of a lot of horror authors), Joe is hundred miles away of the 70s King.
As for the short story collection, I encourage all to compare it to Night shift (King's first short story collection). Black and white if you ask me. I only liked two or three of the stories. Some were okay, some were poor, and some....man, I don't understand why he even agree to include 'em.
Just a thought
Wanted list:
Ubris
I like to think that (among these boards anyway) that I am the bigger Joe Hill fan...
But what has been said above isn't totally invalid.
There certainly is a level of manufactured success... that is a great way of putting it Bob. I think the same of the show Glee. While I think it's a great show, there is a lot more hype to the show than actual satisfaction.
Now when it comes to Hill's work, 20th Century Ghosts was unexpectedly amazing. There was a quality to the stories that made it better than a standard "ghost story." The title is incredibly fitting. If you guys haven't read it, try looking up Pop Art. Or Best New Fiction.
Now, if we are comparing it to Night Shift, sure, it might pale in comparison. Night Shift has stood the test of time, for sure. But who says that 20thCG won't as well? I think that publishers look at Hill as a ticket to fast cash. And people, like me, will pay for his signed limited editions... doesn't matter how good it is. I loved Thumbprint. I love his short stories... I think they are great. Pop Art is one of my favorite short stories of all time, and I have a BA in Comparative Literature so that speaks volumes to the amount of reading I do.
When it comes to Heart Shaped Box - I have to agree with Bob. I wasn't incredibly impressed... but it was his first novel and I am forgiving of that. Did that one novel deserve the attention that he now gets? No way. But Hill went out of his way to distance himself from King to make a path of his own in the beginning. A lot less than we can say from our little Owen King who seems to have gone the way of Tabitha with his fame and yet made sure to ride on Stephen's coat tails (IMO).
It's a great point to bring up, though. Making that list of Joe Hill SL's I thought, "Wow... he's done WAY more than I thought!" And as a collector it's annoying as I thought I had them all - or most.
Let's hope that he slows down with the signings and sharpens up on the writing... but this is a great discussion topic. Thank you, Bob.
I think it is pretty simple.
Fans are buying the S/L's because they appreciate Hill's writing and perhaps like the man himself as well.
Speculators are driving up prices by buying the S/L's because of the fame of Hill's father.
Exaclty... 2 types of collectors. Well said, Patrick.
Thanks, Kenny. By the way, I agree with you about 20th CENTURY GHOSTS. I thought it was a fantastic short story collection.
Also, it might be worth mentioning that Joe Hill signed some of the various hardcover S/L's from the small print presses before he gained fame and while he was trying to establish himself on his own credentials rather than simply ride on his father's coattails.
I started collecting Hill books before the news of his parentage broke. I first read 'Voluntary Committal' from SubPress, and got a complimentary copy of '20th Century Ghosts' as part of a package deal from SubPress. After reading that, I picked up the slipcased version of the book immediately, and began to track down other published stories of his. I got about half of them before they disappeared after news of his relationship with King broke, just prior to 'Heart-shaped Box' publication. While 'Heart-shaped Box' wasn't quite as good as '20th Century Ghosts', it was still a very strong first novel. I saw him as one of the most promising of the current crop of new writers. His relationship to his father has quite muddied the waters (so to speak), and in some respects clouded over the worth of his own output.
Right now I'd say that Joe's certainly not as strong a novelist as his father was at the same age (Carrie is better than Heart-shaped Box), but I'd argue that he's a better short-story writer than his father was at the same stage. King improved dramatically after 'Carrie' as a novelist; who's to say that Hill won't also? Given what we've all seen with 20th Century Ghosts, I think he's got lots of innate talent and style, and the best is still to come.
I don't really care much how many limiteds and signeds he's produced - the only way that matters is for the monetary value as collectables - but rather how strong these earliest works are. It's the words that matter, not the housing they come in.
Just my $0.02
Regards, DavidK
Exaclty... 2 types of collectors. Well said, Patrick.
I sort of see the LARGER number being the speculators...and I think there are fewer "fans" actually buying all those s/l editions.
I've liked his stories, and I think he's a good writer - but is he better than Dennis Etchison, who has toiled in relative obscurity for years? Who knows...it's not a fair argument. And it's not even that fair to Joe to make any such comparisons, but then this is the profession he chose, so...
I'm with the 'manufactured success' to a point. He earned some level of success on his own, but this superstar status is absolutely because of SK. But I'm sure we'd all agree that no talent = no sales, regardless of neptotism. I actually like Owen King's writing a little bit more, and I'm not sure he's done any more or less 'coattail riding' than Joe...I mean, he didn't change his name, but is he supposed to? If anything, he tried to write more 'literary fiction,' not the supernatural stuff that would make an SK-OK connection even more overt.
As a collector, I'm actually pretty happy with all these s/l editions, because if it were one or two, I might speculate, but there are so many that I'm leaving them for the fans. I'll get signed trade editions when I can, and that will good enough for me.
These publishers know their market - obsessive fans who get it in their head that they need to have every example of something, of which I am a card-carrying member - and they are totally milking a sellable product in a bad economy. If Joe's oversaturated s/l market can keep these little presses in business, then more power to him.
As far as short stories go...I just re-read "Night Shift" and the original "Stand." SK, in those books, made most authors look like they are writing grocery lists. Nothing against Joe, but he's not in the category to even deserve a comparison. SK was competing against Lovecraft and Poe, and beating them at the game they made...
No one knows the relative percentages between the two groups, but certainly the speculators are causing some of the fans to be priced out of the market. For example, there are certain of the S/L's that I do not own because the prices are ridiculously high.I sort of see the LARGER number being the speculators...and I think there are fewer "fans" actually buying all those s/l editions.Exaclty... 2 types of collectors. Well said, Patrick.
...
Yeah, but if the actual market is made up of speculators, than the normal "fan" was never the intended customer anyway...and they're charging more because the fan was probably never going to pay...
Overall, I see it sort of like Bob did above - is he such a super bestselling author that he can handle a market of all these s/l editions? I mean, Peter Straub was never able to maintain this level. Heck, 'maintain?' He never reached it...
So I just think the "fan involvement" with these s/ls are more minimal than maybe we think...I think it's a lot of speculators buying to flip to other speculators. NOT all, obviously, but many. People bought million dollar overvalued condos because they thought another speculator would pay a dollar more - not because a family was actually going to move in.
But who knows...just talking out my ass...haha...
I think we're pretty much in agreement, Rahfa, except that I think the fan base is there. However the speculators are doing exactly as you say and icing out many of the fans.
One thing worth pointing out is that the quantities of books in each of these S/Ls is much lower than what you tend to see with his dad's books.
Also Joe Hill's signature is especially easy to fake, and that motivates people to buy his S/Ls rather than flatsigned editions.
Last edited by Patrick; 09-27-2009 at 08:46 PM. Reason: clarity
I have seen the slight (or not so slight) change in his signature since 2004... anyone else see the change? It's gotten a bit larger, for one
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