The Great Comics Flood of 2010
It has been reported that for the first time in 15 months no single comic book gathered more than
100,000 copies in orders in the direct sales market. Make that 93,459, to put a
point on it.
Conventional wisdom has it that sales have dropped because the average cover price has gone up, and who am I to question conventional wisdom? But there’s another reason. A big one.
Historically, whenever one of the major publishers (which means Marvel and DC; I’m talking superhero comics here) felt they were being challenged by one or more upstart publishers, that company would flood the market with crap, usually reprints or revivals of frequently cancelled titles. The other publisher would rapidly follow. Before the direct sales tail started wagging the dog, it was believed there was only so much space in the newsstands
and DC and Marvel could crowd the others out. That, of course, was nonsense: if the newsstands cared about comic books (how much profit is there in a 40 cent item?) nobody would have to crowd anybody out.
This philosophy extended to the direct sales market. When companies such as First, Eclipse and Malibu were making waves and racking up competitive sales, DC and Marvel started dumping product into the pipeline. How many times could you revive Kull The Conqueror? But retailers had to order at least a few copies because it was a Marvel Comic, and cumulatively all that sucked a lot of bucks out of retailers’ tills. Remember, they buy this stuff non-returnable.
But now comic book stores have dwindled down to a precious few and the big bookstore chains such as Barnes and Noble and Borders are coughing up blood, sales truly suck.
Which makes it real curious to see that Marvel is once again flooding the comics rack. Having finally lost the Kull license, the House of Idea has gone the Oreo Cookies route: they’re jerking their “going to the movies” properties as though they were crack fiends at a milk farm.
For example: the September Marvel Previews (books on sale November) lists no less than six Iron Man titles, eight Thor titles, and 13 Avengers books. There’s also two event series: Shadowland, which winds up with a mere four titles, and Chaos War, which boasts five.
I didn’t even mention the massive – and expanding – X-Men group. That’s old news.
27 issues featuring Thor, Iron Man, and/or The Avengers.
Boy, you’d think there was a Thor movie coming out that, oh I don’t know, tied in to the Iron Man movies, to be followed by the big The Avengers
movie.
So, why the flood? Is Marvel worried about competition from Boom, Dynamite, and IDW? I don’t think so. They started producing material
for this latest dump just about the time the Disney takeover was ratified. They are trying to impress the Mouse.
Disney doesn’t care about their comic book profits, and nor does Warner Bros. Marvel and DC, respectively, are there as R&D, fodder for movies, television and animation – and their concomitant merchandising revenues. All Marvel and DC have to do on the publishing front is show a decent
return on investment and their new masters will be content.
It’s hard for me to think of a way Marvel could better promote comic book bootlegging.
Actually, I can understand Marvel’s POV– they’re rolling out books now in order to have trade paperbacks in time for the movie, which can then be put in Disney stores and bookstores, etc.
It’s a bit harder to figure out what companies like Dynamite and IDW (disclaimer: ComicMix’s print partner) are doing. How many different Green Hornet comic series do we need? Or Red Sonja series? Or Transformers? Do they think they can crowd other players off the shelves?
If you’re waiting for a Marvel spinner rack in a Disney Store, you’ve got a long, long wait. Disney doesn’t even own the Disney Stores anymore, and the profit the retailer receives from the sale of even a handful of comics is nowhere near enough to cover the rent for the square footage those comics would take, let alone their maintenance.Besides, a GREAT many Marvel titles aren’t Disney-store friendly. We’re talking grandma sales here.I understand companies like Dynamite and IDW releasing as many licensed titles as the market can handle. They’re squeezing their licenses for all they’re worth, making those high fees that are on top of routine editorial costs viable. They’re not trying to crowd anybody off the shelves, although the Laws Of Branding applies to recognizable characters like Tranformers, GI Joe, Thor, Iron Man, Archie…The way TPBs are being released these days, usually one or two months after the last issue of the mini-series or story arc, Marvel could wait a while before releasing 13 Avengers comics a month. The Avengers movie doesn’t even come out until May 4, 2012.
Speaking as a huge Transformers fan, Hasbro currently has 3 different brands of Transformers toy lines out on toy shelves: “Revenge of the Fallen/Hunt for the Decepticons”, “Generations”, and “Power Core Combiners” with a fourth brand “Prime” heading to TV this October. So one reason for why that many “Transformers” comics is because there are many different versions of the “Transformers” and each version has it own storyline, characters, and universe.
What is interesting about “Prime” is that there no plans for a toy line at this time, (although there probably will be somewhere down the road). So the various “Transformers” comics are to help sell the toys and vice versa in fact two figures, Drift and Darkmount, in the “Generations” toy line are comic book characters.
Actually, I can understand Marvel's POV– they're rolling out books now in order to have trade paperbacks in time for the movie, which can then be put in Disney stores and bookstores, etc.It's a bit harder to figure out what companies like Dynamite and IDW (disclaimer: ComicMix's print partner) are doing. How many different Green Hornet comic series do we need? Or Red Sonja series? Or Transformers? Do they think they can crowd other players off the shelves?
If you're waiting for a Marvel spinner rack in a Disney Store, you've got a long, long wait. Disney doesn't even own the Disney Stores anymore, and the profit the retailer receives from the sale of even a handful of comics is nowhere near enough to cover the rent for the square footage those comics would take, let alone their maintenance.Besides, a GREAT many Marvel titles aren't Disney-store friendly. We're talking grandma sales here.I understand companies like Dynamite and IDW releasing as many licensed titles as the market can handle. They're squeezing their licenses for all they're worth, making those high fees that are on top of routine editorial costs viable. They're not trying to crowd anybody off the shelves, although the Laws Of Branding applies to recognizable characters like Tranformers, GI Joe, Thor, Iron Man, Archie…The way TPBs are being released these days, usually one or two months after the last issue of the mini-series or story arc, Marvel could wait a while before releasing 13 Avengers comics a month. The Avengers movie doesn't even come out until May 4, 2012.
Speaking as a huge Transformers fan, Hasbro currently has 3 different brands of Transformers toy lines out on toy shelves: "Revenge of the Fallen/Hunt for the Decepticons", "Generations", and "Power Core Combiners" with a fourth brand "Prime" heading to TV this October. So one reason for why that many "Transformers" comics is because there are many different versions of the "Transformers" and each version has it own storyline, characters, and universe. What is interesting about "Prime" is that there no plans for a toy line at this time, (although there probably will be somewhere down the road). So the various "Transformers" comics are to help sell the toys and vice versa in fact two figures, Drift and Darkmount, in the "Generations" toy line are comic book characters.
This is why I buy very few monthlies anymore. There is such a glut of, excuse me, shit on the stands, all tied together with bad storylines, that I’m uwilling to pay the ridiculous prices. I’ve gone to collections (Masterworks, Marvel DCU, COmixology, etc) of older stuff. Sorry if it means less sales $$$s for the publishers, but I don’t owe them a living, any more than they owe me one.
Speaking as a comics publisher, Jon, I agree with you. Sadly, the cover price of most comics makes it very difficult to meet professional page rates. That’s not the readers’ fault in the least: the cost of production has no relationship to the price needed to be viable in the marketplace.I think digital could cover this gap. If a typical comic book cost $2.00 digitally, the publisher would take in more than we would through the sale of 32 pagers. I realize that immediately puts me on the top of the retailers’ shit list, and I have a LOT of friends who are retailers. But that’s another issue — that particular issue is the viability of the 32 page format. Going to trade paperbacks and even hardcovers makes a great deal of sense given today’s marketplace conditions. Personally, I like the idea of reading a complete story in one book, and this is despite the fact that I was raised as a comic book reader since I was about three or four years old, which is before they invented water. I strongly suspect — VERY strongly — that before too long the 32 page format won’t even be viable in the digital world. It will be a lot easier to go sell trade paperbacks — graphic novels, anthologies, etc. — through online stores such as Amazon and Barnes & Noble.And yes, I love my iPad.
This is why I buy very few monthlies anymore. There is such a glut of, excuse me, shit on the stands, all tied together with bad storylines, that I’m uwilling to pay the ridiculous prices. I’ve gone to collections (Masterworks, Marvel DCU, COmixology, etc) of older stuff. Sorry if it means less sales $$$s for the publishers, but I don’t owe them a living, any more than they owe me one.
Speaking as a comics publisher, Jon, I agree with you. Sadly, the cover price of most comics makes it very difficult to meet professional page rates. That’s not the readers’ fault in the least: the cost of production has no relationship to the price needed to be viable in the marketplace.
I think digital could cover this gap. If a typical comic book cost $2.00 digitally, the publisher would take in more than we would through the sale of 32 pagers. I realize that immediately puts me on the top of the retailers’ shit list, and I have a LOT of friends who are retailers. But that’s another issue — that particular issue is the viability of the 32 page format.
Going to trade paperbacks and even hardcovers makes a great deal of sense given today’s marketplace conditions. Personally, I like the idea of reading a complete story in one book, and this is despite the fact that I was raised as a comic book reader since I was about three or four years old, which is before they invented water. I strongly suspect — VERY strongly — that before too long the 32 page format won’t even be viable in the digital world. It will be a lot easier to go sell trade paperbacks — graphic novels, anthologies, etc. — through online stores such as Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
And yes, I love my iPad.
Is there currently a dire shortage of Iron Man and Thor material to reprint in trade paperback? Is there really an insatiable demand for brand new $15-$20 paperbacks every time a new movie comes out?
Nope. Certainly not.
And that’s the answer to both questions.
As do I, Mike. I think the iPad, and all the upcoming tablets, will make a huge impact. It’s up to the comix industry to stay on top of trends like this, not for me to continue buying overpriced, sub-par material in order to prop up the industry.Its a digital world, folks!
As do I, Mike. I think the iPad, and all the upcoming tablets, will make a huge impact. It’s up to the comix industry to stay on top of trends like this, not for me to continue buying overpriced, sub-par material in order to prop up the industry.Its a digital world, folks!
This is why I buy very few monthlies anymore. There is such a glut of, excuse me, shit on the stands, all tied together with bad storylines, that I'm uwilling to pay the ridiculous prices. I've gone to collections (Masterworks, Marvel DCU, COmixology, etc) of older stuff. Sorry if it means less sales $$$s for the publishers, but I don't owe them a living, any more than they owe me one.
Speaking as a comics publisher, Jon, I agree with you. Sadly, the cover price of most comics makes it very difficult to meet professional page rates. That's not the readers' fault in the least: the cost of production has no relationship to the price needed to be viable in the marketplace.I think digital could cover this gap. If a typical comic book cost $2.00 digitally, the publisher would take in more than we would through the sale of 32 pagers. I realize that immediately puts me on the top of the retailers' shit list, and I have a LOT of friends who are retailers. But that's another issue — that particular issue is the viability of the 32 page format. Going to trade paperbacks and even hardcovers makes a great deal of sense given today's marketplace conditions. Personally, I like the idea of reading a complete story in one book, and this is despite the fact that I was raised as a comic book reader since I was about three or four years old, which is before they invented water. I strongly suspect — VERY strongly — that before too long the 32 page format won't even be viable in the digital world. It will be a lot easier to go sell trade paperbacks — graphic novels, anthologies, etc. — through online stores such as Amazon and Barnes & Noble.And yes, I love my iPad.
Is there currently a dire shortage of Iron Man and Thor material to reprint in trade paperback? Is there really an insatiable demand for brand new $15-$20 paperbacks every time a new movie comes out?
Nope. Certainly not.And that's the answer to both questions.
As do I, Mike. I think the iPad, and all the upcoming tablets, will make a huge impact. It's up to the comix industry to stay on top of trends like this, not for me to continue buying overpriced, sub-par material in order to prop up the industry.Its a digital world, folks!