The mini-series was very fashionable in the early 1990s because
it allowed publishers to introduce (and capture) readers to a comic
without a feeling of commitment. If you considered buying #173 of
a series you might be discouraged because you felt you were 'coming in'
to a longstanding series and you might not understand the
storyline. Collectors might also be wary because if they became
fans then they knew there were 172 issues to collect in order to
complete the set (quite expensive).
The mini-series was self contained and allowed you to 'dip'
into a comic character without too much worry over the cost of
collecting the rest of the series, and hopefully the series would stand
alone in its own right, even if it was part of a longer storyline.
Harris started the mini-series after the long-running Vengeance
of Vampirella with the ground-breaking 'Death and Destruction'
series, although some might well consider Morning in America to
be a mini-series, or even the Color Series which launched Harris'
full colour portrayal of Vampi. Of course the latter had too
erratic a publication schedule to qualify as a real mini-series, while Morning
in America just didn't feel like a series (to me). |
