The Buzz around the Hive

Buzzscope launched a new column called The Hive today by Jason Rodriguez, editor for Hoarse and Buggy. Rodriguez laid out the unique approach he's taking with the column:

"The Hive" is a collaborative brainstorming project, open to everyone, with the ultimate goal of creating a new market for comics instead of simply poaching fans from the existing one. Each column will present a specific idea, which we will then work on to make better as a group.

His first column is on intro pages for new comic readers--not "what has gone before" type pages about the story, but pages that say, "This is a comic book. This is how a comic book works," an idea that came to him while reading manga. He then turns it over to his readers by throwing out a few questions:

So that’s the idea for discussion today. Building a better comic book with an instructional page that schools the new reader on what he or she is about to read, and an outro page that tells them what they can do if they want some more.

Should it be a cartoon, or is that too distracting from your product’s message?

Should the outro page even mention comic shops (bearing in mind a lot of current comic readers don’t know the first thing about pre-ordering)?

Should the outro page go on the inside back cover, or should it be sooner?

Head over to The Hive and join the conversation.