MAYHEM!
August 7, 2009 by Richard Oh
Filed under Blogs, Category, Comic Books, L.A. Sequential
For the past few months, Tyrese Gibson has been on a marketing rampage. At Comic Con, he was a constant presence all over the show floor, selling advanced copies of his comic book, Mayhem. On Wednesday, that day had finally arrived. Meltdown Comics, voted the best comic store by LA Magazine, organized an event for this long awaited debut. At 6 PM, Tyrese himself showed up with the entire creative team who worked on the book, as well as Dave Johnson himself, who supplied a limited edition Meltdown exclusive variant cover for Mayhem.
The line starts here!
The line forms to meet the Mayhem crew!
Writers Mike Le and Will Wilson get ready for the Mayhem outside.
Tyrese greets the crowd as he walks up to Meltdown.
Tyrese greets his Mayhem crew as onlookers gawk on.
Tyrese and one of the Meltdown employees being interviewed about Mayhem.
After Tyrese walks in, the crowd of women exponentially grew. That's a great power.
After the signing, Tyrese and his crew had set up a stage for a small concert in the back. Performing some of his hits, including playing his newest track made especially for his comic book, he thrilled the crowd with his vocal skills. He also took the time to sing a lullaby to a child, and had to regretfully decline taking his shirt off as his shows were PG-13 because children were present.
Live band set up with stage lights flood the backlot of Meltdown.
Tyrese closing out his 45 minute set.
I have to say, Tyrese is a marketing genius. From throwing himself out there, going out to Comic Con, talking about Mayhem in talk show interviews, to twittering about Mayhem non stop and getting the name out there, it’s no wonder that Meltdown pre ordered 10,000 copies! I can honestly say I’ve never seen someone be as enthusiastic and passionate about the comic they’re producing more than Tyrese. For those that have bought copies, what do you guys think? I’d love to hear your feedback on Mayhem. But congratulations to Tyrese, Mike Le, Will Wilson, Tone Rodriguez, and Meltdown Comics for Mayhem and it’s extremely successful event!
Well… this does all look like brilliant marketing.
But for my money “Mayhem” #1 was bad. Not awful. But bad. Bringing people to your comic, or comics in general, and then giving them something with as little plot or character or design and as much gratuitous violence as is found in “Mayhem” #1 is something I have a problem with.
Comics are as vibrant and capable a medium as film and television. To go to this much trouble to bring people to an example of the medium only to give them something that is the lowest common denominator of what the medium is capable of is criminal.