As you all may know, there is a mystery 53rd title listed on the new DC/Nielsen survey, the little known but much admired NERAK. Although it has received much less attention than any other New 52 title, many feel it is the best of the bunch, with a sensitivity and universal message of hope and friendship rarely seen in the comics.
However, DC has not yet seen fit to release any art from this book to the media. So please, let’s show the world how great NERAK is — send your leaked pages and covers to comicsbeat at gmail.com. We’ll run the best of ‘em!
There one option on the survey where you can tell: “don’t know, never heard off”.
Don’t know if this is intentional to see if people are paying attention to what they are answering.
That was my guess; I picked “never heard of.”
Tho’ perhaps it really is the secret title that shows us how wrong we were about DC’s strange attitude towards women and violence and makes everything clear, while extending an olive branch to those the New 52 have alienated and builds toward the future.
That’d be a hell of a book. :)
It makes sense to have some sort of control question on there; still, the possibilities are endless! I say it’s about an alien under the alias Karen the Temp, just your average working Kryptonian trying to make good at the Daily Planet.
As I mentioned in a previous thread here, during the survey I raced through clicking all the new DC books I purchased, and didn’t read the entire list of titles. So I did click that I purchased Nerak, unattentive mortal that I am. I was judged unqualified for the survey. When I went back and clicked that I wasn’t familiar with Nerak, I became qualified for the survey! All that free time earlier did not go to waste!
I still hope Nerak is the obscure son of Tarzan.
NERAK – When Karen steps through a magical mirror she discovers a new world quite opposite of her own filled with mystery & danger.
I did the survey twice, using different emails. One of the two times I clicked “don’t know” about Nerak. Both times I was rejected.
It’s auto-biographical comic written by Karen Berger.
What I really want to know is if this is a total reboot, or if this is going to fit in with old NERAK continuity?
Because, if this isn’t the NERAK that I know and love, I’m done with NERAK and DC.
I hope having NERAK on the survey is DC’s equivalent of leaving an iPhone prototype in a pub.
The book name is Karen spelled backwards? Really?
Nerak the Barbarian! My favourite book ever.
Nerak is the book that stars the mysterious purple lady who keeps popping up in the other books!
I wonder if this will finally get DC to collect the classic Nerak run by Liberace and Steranko? As far as I know those books have never been reprinted.
P.S. Nerak is Zatanna’s little sister.
Have they decided if Nerak will have pants or not?
I would bet its there to catch people who are not actually reading the questions and making comments on books they didn’t buy, thus popping it into an ineligible mode. I took the survey, saw it…scratched my head, answered never heard of it and my survey went through fine. It probably stopped a few people from going on and hating everything. Things they didn’t read.
Nerak: When Roy Thomas’s Arak, Son of Thunder, is transported to the present day, he becomes obsessed with comics books. Thus, Nerak, Nerd of Thunder, is born!
Just finished the survey.
I though it was a well crafted survey.
And my survey was accepted without any difficulty.
It did allow to realize that fiveout of the seven titles I sampled were good enough to keep reading!
I think I heard that Nerak wears gloves but only during the 5-years ago stories. Today Nerak has no finger-prints so isn’t worried about being ID’d that way.
Nerak is the best book that Don McGregor has ever written.
That’s why it got canceled, you motherfuckers.
too bad that people who went all in and didn’t feel like wading through each line individually are being weeded out as robots.
So… there was no “test marketing” done by DC BEFORE they scrapped the existing storylines/characterisations/numbering for the new Reboot??
Didn’t know Didio, Lee and Johns had THAT much leeway under WARNER BROS to run DC as they wanted… and didn’t know that Paul Levitz had THAT much power to stop them from doing so.
“So… there was no “test marketing” done by DC BEFORE they scrapped the existing storylines/characterisations/numbering for the new Reboot??”
I don’t know why this notion should surprise anyone by now, given the haphazardly published results.
Nerak is a screener question.
If you’ve heard of Nerak, you’re full of BS and not actually reading the survey.
Why?
Because NERAK doesn’t exist.
NERAK is part of a forthcoming, super-secret line of books, actually. The other ones are called EKIM, ETAK and, uh, BOB.
DC and Marvel have always done “test marketing” by publishing material and seeing how the public responds to it. In olden days it was done thru anthology and backup features; today it’s done by launching new ongoing series.
“DC and Marvel have always done “test marketing” by publishing material and seeing how the public responds to it.”
Actually, that’s not test marketing so much as ‘throwing crap at the wall and seeing what sticks to it’. There are far more effective ways to test a potential audience’s appeal than simply publishing yet another short-term failure with no real marketing support structure in place.
The actual marketing of comics has been pretty minimal. How much of a difference would 40 or 50 cents in the cover price make? If specific titles were promoted with discount coupons, how would buyers react? How many people treat comics as impulse purchases, and can be induced to buy more once they’re in the store by signage and offers? Product placement in department stores is a science of sorts for products generally, because sales volumes are so much higher for products placed on side caps and end caps.
If DC finds that the market for comics can be expanded significantly through advertising and promotions, you could see changes in how they’re handled in stores.
SRS
I wonder if we’ll get a green Nerak, a red Nerak, a grey Nerak, a female Nerak…
NERAK — because LRIG REWOP was too hard to pronounce!
@KET: That would be why I put it in quotes.