MARVEL COMICS 2018: A Fresh Start

[chachi]

Oh look another year another relaunch. Lets see if it's any good.

Its more like look another season, another relaunch. Next one will happen around September / October

[skyvolt2000]

How else do you reach the mass market? That's where the new readers are. They're not in the Direct Market. Many people I know aren't even aware comic books are still published.

Tweaking content and restarting the numbering doesn't accomplish anything. Growing the market requires comprehensive, sweeping moves OUTSIDE THE DIRECT MARKET.

But, since you're so smart, what have you got? What's your solution? By all means, enlighten me.

A lot of folks now comics are around. For many it's the comics that they see in bins are places like Half Price books not the comic book store. They are not going to hunt for a comic book store because way too many are cesspools for horrible customer service and hatred of certain types of folks and the books that star folks who like like them.

What is SELLING? TRADES. You know the Marvel trades that are killing DC's trades.

You want readers-invest in an affordable trade. Lets say a $10 trade with say 80-150 pages. Set up a schedule of these books about every 4 months like they do with those annoying romance novels.

And HERE is where you set yourself apart from that Other company. You don't use that new format to continually shove Peter Parker, Deadpool, Logan and the other regular suspects.

You leave those guys to the Direct Market since entitlement fans want them there.

You take the cast of those the entitlement crew claim makes it impossible to buy comics or read them since they exist.

Your new trade line are going after the folks who screamed for those books but won't set foot in that comic book store.

Moon Girl, Ms Marvel, Miles, Nadia, Squirrel Girl, Inhumans, Falcon, Shuri, Cap Marvel, Antman & Wasp and so on.

Now you have your direct market and the outside market. Because Peter and friends will have floppies & trades for the direct market. Miles and his gang will have the outside market.

You can use your veteran talent for the Direct Market and newer talent (or known talent outside of comics) for the others.

So you can have an Al Ewing Fantastic Four and a Tee Franklin (Image's Bingo Love) Riri book.

The END GAME?

I'm taking away Moon Girl and that ilk's floppies and OPENING slots for Sue Storm and a certain WASP to get solo shots. While keeping Moon Girl around for those who want her when her tv show starts.

[Prof. Warren]

How else do you reach the mass market? That's where the new readers are. They're not in the Direct Market. Many people I know aren't even aware comic books are still published.

Tweaking content and restarting the numbering doesn't accomplish anything. Growing the market requires comprehensive, sweeping moves OUTSIDE THE DIRECT MARKET.

But, since you're so smart, what have you got? What's your solution? By all means, enlighten me.

My only attempt to enlighten you would be to dissuade you of the nostalgic pipe dream that comic books will make a comeback on newsstands and drugstore spinner racks.

That is comically absurd, for many reasons. Whatever the industry's future is, it isn't that. Trust me.

As for a "solution," there isn't one. Not any kind of fix-all, at least. If there were, every publisher and store owner would have already adopted it.

[FUBAR007]

My only attempt to enlighten you would be to dissuade you of the nostalgic pipe dream that comic books will make a comeback on newsstands and drugstore spinner racks.

That is comically absurd, for many reasons. Whatever the industry's future is, it isn't that. Trust me.

You keep saying that, but you keep not listing those reasons. Unless you have some specific inside knowledge--i.e. you've worked in periodical distribution, you work in Marvel or DC's marketing department, etc.--I've got no reason to "trust you."

I notice you also completely ignored my statement that any return to mass market retail would need to be coupled with an equal or greater push into digital platforms.

The central flaw of the Direct Market model is that it requires potential readers to actively hunt down a retailer--forcing the consumer to come to the market. The point of getting back on the newsstands and coming up with a broad-based digital distribution is to take the market to the consumer. Advertise everywhere. Make them super-easy to find and buy with minimal effort required. If there's a better, more appropriately 21st century way to do that, I'm all ears.

As for a "solution," there isn't one. Not any kind of fix-all, at least.

In other words, you've got no ideas. Zilch. Nada.

If there were, every publisher and store owner would have already adopted it.

Again, presuming a level of competence, forethought, good faith, and--to be fair, availability of investment dollars--not in evidence. Have you ever worked in business management? Been exposed to just how prevalent mediocrity, indifference, and general cluelessness are?

I've seen nothing to indicate Marvel trying anything significantly different since Bill Jemas came and went.

[Shirayuki]

I stared at this picture for 2 seconds and already saw three Wolverines... !

I'll continue playing "Where's Janet" though... just in case. Not that I doubt you were very thorough, Capt.

That’s because it’s a “Where’s Waldo” style variant for the Wolverine books.

[FUBAR007]

A lot of folks now comics are around.

The pop culture savvy, yes. Much of the public at large, no. Or, if they are aware, they're aware of the medium, but not that the "floppy" format is still around.

They are not going to hunt for a comic book store because way too many are cesspools for horrible customer service and hatred of certain types of folks and the books that star folks who like like them.

There are some solid DM retailers out there, but, yeah, I generally agree.

What is SELLING? TRADES. You know the Marvel trades that are killing DC's trades.

You want readers-invest in an affordable trade. Lets say a $10 trade with say 80-150 pages. Set up a schedule of these books about every 4 months like they do with those annoying romance novels.

That's certainly an idea.

And HERE is where you set yourself apart from that Other company. You don't use that new format to continually shove Peter Parker, Deadpool, Logan and the other regular suspects.

You leave those guys to the Direct Market since entitlement fans want them there.

Those franchises shouldn't just be left to the Direct Market. They're thoroughly established brands thanks to the movies, merchandising, etc. That sad, any content featuring them should be set either in a new continuity or in the expanded universe of the movies. In turn, their popularity can be used to expose readers to the newer characters you mentioned.

What should be left to the Direct Market is current Marvel Universe continuity.

[Colossus1980]

Just incase anyone thinks I'm crazy or selfish to worry so much about my favorite character. Just look at this cover. How many characters is that? 300? Janet isn't there.

She is never in stuff like this anymore, never.

Is this poster 2017?

[Captain M]

Is this poster 2017?

It was just revealed the other day. It's for Wolverine's return this spring.

[Prof. Warren]

You keep saying that, but you keep not listing those reasons. Unless you have some specific inside knowledge--i.e. you've worked in periodical distribution, you work in Marvel or DC's marketing department, etc.--I've got no reason to "trust you."

You don't have to trust me. Your choice.

And I don't have the time to enumerate all the reasons why comics abandoned the newsstands. But if you read any history of the industry, it's all there for you to discover.

Newsstand sales were killing the industry in the '70s. The Direct Market is what saved it in the '80s. Again, any well-researched history of the industry will tell you this.

Whatever revenue sources that lie beyond the DM, returning to newsstands and spinner racks just isn't an option. In case you hadn't heard, newsstands are a dying breed anyhow. Comics aren't about to go back to them.

I notice you also completely ignored my statement that any return to mass market retail would need to be coupled with an equal or greater push into digital platforms.

I would have to assume that all publishers are already pushing their books on digital platforms.

The central flaw of the Direct Market model is that it requires potential readers to actively hunt down a retailer--forcing the consumer to come to the market. The point of getting back on the newsstands and coming up with a broad-based digital distribution is to take the market to the consumer. Advertise everywhere. Make them super-easy to find and buy with minimal effort required. If there's a better, more appropriately 21st century way to do that, I'm all ears.

If such a thing comes along, I bet we'll all learn about it together.

In other words, you've got no ideas. Zilch. Nada.

Well, I don't work in publishing.

So brainstorming solutions to a problem that applies to an industry that I'm an outside observer to seems like a weird use of my time.

I mean, you think you have all kinds of answers about what publishers need to do but you don't even know enough about the basic practicalities of distribution to know that your ideas are completely unworkable for the most part.

And even if you came up with some brilliant way to save the industry, a solution that people who spend their professional lives applying their attention to somehow haven't considered yet, where are you going to take that idea - to a message board and hope that someone within the industry reads it and has an "Eureka!" moment when they lay eyes on it?

No, it'd just be someone on the sidelines pontificating about an area of business in which they don't have any first hand expertise.

You might as well lay out your plans to colonize the moon and wonder why NASA isn't listening to you.

Again, presuming a level of competence, forethought, good faith, and--to be fair, availability of investment dollars--not in evidence. Have you ever worked in business management? Been exposed to just how prevalent mediocrity, indifference, and general cluelessness are?

I've seen nothing to indicate Marvel trying anything significantly different since Bill Jemas came and went.

I've never worked at Marvel. I'm guessing you haven't either. Probably not good to make uneducated assumptions about the people who work there.

Also, Marvel's not the only game in town. Don't you think Marvel and every other publisher in the industry spends a lot of time, money and effort towards strategizing about distribution, marketing and sales?

And, unlike us, they actually have real data to help them form those strategies. If there were a simple solution just waiting to be had, don't you think one of them would've cracked that code by now and used that to skyrocket their company to the top of the charts?

The truth is that it's a complex challenge with no easy fix. Marvel has their own ideas on what works best for them. As they happen to spend more time than any of their competitors leading the industry, there might be something to their approach. Doesn't mean that they have all the answers but, then again, clearly neither does anybody else.

But when it comes to relaunches, the curious attitude of some fans seems to be one of "Ugh! Why is Marvel promoting their comics again? Didn't they already do that last year?!? This is terrible!"

Yes, they're promoting their publishing line. Again. Comics are not some self-sustaining entity. They need to be promoted, marketed, hyped. Marvel has their own approach to this. Other publishers have their own approaches that they feel suits them. Sometimes these approaches are similar in their tactics, sometimes not. But however a publisher chooses to market their product, I appreciate the effort to stir interest in whatever form it takes.

[Zero Hunter]

But when it comes to relaunches, the curious attitude of some fans seems to be one of "Ugh! Why is Marvel promoting their comics again? Didn't they already do that last year?!? This is terrible!"

Yes, they're promoting their publishing line. Again. Comics are not some self-sustaining entity. They need to be promoted, marketed, hyped. Marvel has their own approach to this. Other publishers have their own approaches that they feel suits them. Sometimes these approaches are similar in their tactics, sometimes not. But however a publisher chooses to market their product, I appreciate the effort to stir interest in whatever form it takes.

But that is what you just don't seem to get. THE CURRENT APPROACH IS NOT WORKING!!!! They do the same thing over and over with their new branding and relaunches and every time it works a little less because people who read the books are tired of it. There have been so many books that died a quick death because they were drowned out by the flood of other books or were no promoted at all. The current Marvel business model is broken and no matter how many times they reuse it it is not making things better as for as comics go. You keep saying that Marvel HAS to keep doing what they are doing, but that is what has gotten them to the point they are at now to begin with. When you can see it is not working why keep doing it? If it is because that is all they can come up with then it is time to clean house int he marketing dept and get some fresh ideas on it.

[Prof. Warren]

But that is what you just don't seem to get. THE CURRENT APPROACH IS NOT WORKING!!!! They do the same thing over and over with their new branding and relaunches and every time it works a little less because people who read the books are tired of it. There have been so many books that died a quick death because they were drowned out by the flood of other books or were no promoted at all. The current Marvel business model is broken and no matter how many times they reuse it it is not making things better as for as comics go. You keep saying that Marvel HAS to keep doing what they are doing, but that is what has gotten them to the point they are at now to begin with. When you can see it is not working why keep doing it? If it is because that is all they can come up with then it is time to clean house int he marketing dept and get some fresh ideas on it.

Define "working." Is Marvel still in business? Yes. Are they still selling comics? Yes. So something's working.

We don't know what Marvel internal benchmarks are. And we don't know what their actual sales figures are.

We can't judge from the outside what's "working" for Marvel or not. When fans make their own assumptions about what a company's goals are, it's unfair to assume that those goals are not being met.

Would Marvel like to be selling millions upon millions of issues every month? Yes. Just as every other publisher would. Is that even an achievable goal in today's market? Likely not.

Bottom line is that I don't think Marvel or any other company would keep employing strategies that yielded no results for them. So whatever Marvel's doing, on some level it must be working for them.

Either way, I don't see the cause for agitation on the part of a reader. If there's a creative team I'm not crazy about or a book is going in a direction I don't like, that's something I feel is open to criticism because it affects my reading experience. Whatever number Marvel chooses to put on a cover, however, does not interfere with my own reading experience in any way.

[Captain M]

Well to be fair Marvel aren't exactly keeping it a secret that 2017 wasn't a good year for them. Jim Zub flat out said this on twitter.

[Smoov-E]

My only attempt to enlighten you would be to dissuade you of the nostalgic pipe dream that comic books will make a comeback on newsstands and drugstore spinner racks.

That is comically absurd, for many reasons. Whatever the industry's future is, it isn't that. Trust me.

As for a "solution," there isn't one. Not any kind of fix-all, at least. If there were, every publisher and store owner would have already adopted it.

To piggyback off your example Archie digest comics are still sold next to gossip mags at Safeway and Archie Pub isn’t lighting the world on fire and most online snort at the thought of people buying anything Archie

[Prof. Warren]

Well to be fair Marvel aren't exactly keeping it a secret that 2017 wasn't a good year for them. Jim Zub flat out said this on twitter.

Yes, the fact that they have a new EiC says as much. But whether there was a new EiC or not, whether 2017 was a good year for them or not, Marvel would still be doing a big line-wide promo push this year. And no matter how well this one performs, they'll be doing another one next year. The promotional cycle is never going to stop.

[skyvolt2000]

Those franchises shouldn't just be left to the Direct Market. They're thoroughly established brands thanks to the movies, merchandising, etc. That sad, any content featuring them should be set either in a new continuity or in the expanded universe of the movies. In turn, their popularity can be used to expose readers to the newer characters you mentioned.

What should be left to the Direct Market is current Marvel Universe continuity.

I left out Peter and friends for a LEGIT reason. Folks are TIRED of them. Let me explain-kids have no issues watching Peter, Batman and the rest in movies or cartoons. They just have little to NO interest in reading about them.

There is a reason kids fight over MANGA-it's not about stuff that have been OVEREXPOSED to them. Kids want something DIFFERENT and it tends to be the books that many around here can't STAND.

Take Black Panther WOW trade sales on Amazon

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,256 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
#5 in Books > Teens > Literature & Fiction > Comics & Graphic Novels > Superheroes
#20 in Books > Comics & Graphic Novels > Publishers > Marvel
#22 in Books > Comics & Graphic Novels > Graphic Novels > Superheroes

I have YET to see this book rank below 200 in any category.

Black Panther The Crew

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,208 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
#34 in Books > Comics & Graphic Novels > Publishers > Marvel
#43 in Books > Comics & Graphic Novels > Graphic Novels > Superheroes

This trade was in the top 100s with preorders after issue 1.

Yet both stunk as floppies.

But that is what you just don't seem to get. THE CURRENT APPROACH IS NOT WORKING!!!!

There is no 100% solution.