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August’s comic sales numbers are out.  
MLP: FiM #81 sold 7,605 copies.  
MLP: Feats of Friendship #1 sold 6,451 copies.  
MLP: Spirit of the Forest #3 sold 5,892 copies.
 
And that’s it.

@Poison Trail  
Ok then I guess that’s fair, though did he say anything else about Cosmos aside from that or is that it?

@Ardashir
 
TBH despite how the comic book industry looks super tightly knit when it comes to the creators, it wouldn’t be surprising if the people at Hasbro weren’t some big shot obsessed with marketing but instead the sort that are just as passionate. They naturally need to look out for legal issues and aforementioned references breezing through and being hit by copyrights, but there’s a lot they’ll let go…
 
@Background Pony #3912
 
… but there’s apparently some pretty clear guidelines as to what makes something too scary, with the upper limit being something like this . Andy spoke of a design that took parts of the characters and merged them into an elongated mess, which was apparently immediately shut down by the IDW editor.

@Poison Trail  
Even though her re-do version of her final form doesn’t already look like an eldritch abomination?

@Poison Trail
 
Cosmos’ design was rough. Not only was her initial appearance set in stone after the marketing push leading to covers that had to go abstract or showcase something else entirely , Andy had to re-do her “Final” form fused with the main characters because he went with a literal Eldritch Abomination at first.
 
This makes me wonder what we could have gotten with Cosmos if they’d gone with Andy’s idea.
 
As though it needed even more bashing, Andy brought up how his design of the Umbrum for the Seige arc was literally him standing up and messing around with his stretched out arm on the paper with a marker pen. He sent it “for the lulz” only for the concept to be approved, to his disbelief.
 
Are decisions like that common in comics and animation? “I’ll show the boss this totally ridiculous idea, so we can go with a better one – what do you mean, he thinks it looks brilliant?”

@Jarkes
 
They haven’t really talked about their dynamics with the writers IIRC, it was mostly related to the art they draw and how much they like to… uhhh… play with electric fences is the term they used? It was 2 cover artists along with Andy and Tony, so I feel like they preferred to get a better view of their work/life experience rather than their dealings with Hasbro, though some of that certainly came through.

@Poison Trail
 
Did he also mention how Reflections went through so many rewrites even while he was drawing the final part of the arc? He brought that up in the “Art is Magic” book IIRC.

Some info from the panel at Bronycon:
 
Confirmation that the vetting process for artists involves sending pages to their editor at IDW which then sends it to Hasbro. The IDW editor acts as a first gatekeeper that’s supposed to shut down obvious mistakes and blatant references that are copyrighted and basically avoid the trouble of bothering Hasbro with no-nos, but since there’s been lots of different editors with their current one being “In their early 20s”, the artists enjoy trying to sneak in obscure reference that not even Hasbro picks up on. Some more than others, but Andy Price alone most likely caused Hasbro to step on their game on that regard.
 
Cosmos’ design was rough. Not only was her initial appearance set in stone after the marketing push leading to covers that had to go abstract or showcase something else entirely , Andy had to re-do her “Final” form fused with the main characters because he went with a literal Eldritch Abomination at first.
 
As though it needed even more bashing, Andy brought up how his design of the Umbrum for the Seige arc was literally him standing up and messing around with his stretched out arm on the paper with a marker pen. He sent it “for the lulz” only for the concept to be approved, to his disbelief.
 
The comic industry is a “Feast or Famine” business, you either end up at the right place at the right time and meet with another artist or contact which happens to tell you about a new venture and get the job or you’re screwed and need to find another career. They recommend having a backup plan, cause getting such a long contract with IDW was a winning lottery ticket for many of them, and even then once that’s done that’s done.
 
Andy used to hate drawing the Princesses, but it’s now his favorites due to their unique faces. There’s a reason he doodles them so often, for sure.

@Itsthinking  
Thank heavens I was misinformed. I hope I am, anyway.

@Anonycat  
Her FB and Twitter pages are both down, all that’s up is her DA where someone posted this:  

 
This was November of last year.

@Ardashir  
Link, please?

@Jarkes  
Is Jenn still alive? I’ve heard online that she died. I hope that’s not true.

I’m going to get a copy of issue 80. And I wish Jenn Blake all the best.

@Jarkes  
Same. Sad that she only got to draw one comic

I miss Jenn Blake… She had to retire because of her cancer.

@Ardashir  
A friend of mine.

@UserAccount  
May we know who told you this?

IDW comics will continue to be made past Season 9, so I’ve been told.

@Wiimeiser  

 
Depends on the publisher and the book. MLP sells well in the book market. Plus where are you getting the 5k number from? Plenty of smaller pubs have books that sell under that they keep around?

@Wiimeiser  
This is bad. I actually quite like the idw comics, though I can only afford them once in a while. It would be a shame to see them go imo.

@Background Pony #7F3B  
@Applelight Limited  
IIRC 5000 is when they drop the series. At the current rate that will be issue… I have no idea actually…

Way down from how it was in the beginning.

@Anonycat  
I’ll ask the dumb question: those aren’t good numbers, are they?

June’s comic sales numbers are out.  
MLP: FiM#78 (Cosmos’ finale) sold 8,066 copies.  
MLP: Spirit of the Forest #2 sold 5,909 copies.
 
That’s it.

@Wiimeiser  
Well that’s depressing :(