Wow, TIL about "Cowboys and Aliens":
"So he got Fred Van Lente and others to create a 144 page graphic novel based on Platinum notes and screenplay drafts. Usually priced at $10-$15, he priced the book at $4.99, guaranteed to sell. --
"-- But there was a problem. Diamond Comics Distribution, whose sales chart he wished to be at the top of, defined a graphic novel as costing $9.99 or more. So he did a deal with Top Cow, part of Image, to list the graphic novel alongside theirs in Diamond’s catalogue. Image, as one of the four brokered publishing partners of Diamond, could alter the terms of what did or did not count as a graphic novel.
But maybe this was not enough. --
"-- So Rosenberg contacted a number of prominent stores on the East and West coasts and arranged to give them a cheque to cover the cost of ordering five figures worth of the graphic novel for their stores. And they did – selling the comic when it arrived for 50 cents, or giving them away free with any purchase, eventually giving them away free to anyone who walked in and then just throwing them away in a dumpster. But they all counted towards that Diamond chart."
https://www.bleedingcool.com/2011/07/29/the-secret-story-behind-cowboys-and-aliens/
@noelle "Capitalism uses resources efficiently" :p
