Lets Talk IDW & Disney

[DragonsChi]

For those who do not know Disney/Marvel has started to license out some of it characters to IDW to create comics for them. This has started rumors in the community that Disney will eventually license out the whole Marvel line to other comic companies. Whether you believe it or not Comics as an industry is not as profitable in general to a company like Disney and with Marvel comics performing poorly in the last few years this "theory" holds a little weight to it.


Saw this video on Youtube and thought I would share it:


We all love the Marvel Movies and it's been great seeing some of our favorite heroes on the big screen. However, there is no denying that our collective Marvel comic worlds have been turned upside down since the Disney buy out. From the removal of the Fantastic Four, to the downplaying of the X-Men, and the continual decrease in quality of the books in general. One has the wonder...will this move be the end of Marvel if it happens?

What are your thoughts on this?

Do you think it will happen?

Do you think the comics will be better if it happened?

Do you think the comics will loose quality if it happened?

[Prof. Warren]

For those who do not know Disney/Marvel has started to license out some of it characters to IDW to create comics for them. This has started rumors in the community that Disney will eventually license out the whole Marvel line to other comic companies. Whether you believe it or not Comics as an industry is not as profitable in general to a company like Disney and with Marvel comics performing poorly in the last few years this "theory" holds a little weight to it.

Every time Marvel licenses out a character, and they've done this already in the past - as have DC - the cries ring out "Is Marvel going to license all their characters?"

Answer: No, they're not.

Here's a tip: if there's a YouTube video from some moron trying to promote some dipshit theory about the industry, just don't put any stock in it.

[Wiccan]

Lol. I can't with this. What a reach.

[Digifiend]

They've only licensed out all ages comics for both Star Wars and Marvel, and the classic Disney characters. They're not going to give IDW the 616 books.

[Wiccan]

They've only licensed out all ages comics for both Star Wars and Marvel, and the classic Disney characters. They're not going to give IDW the 616 books.

Except they will. This comicsgator youtube channel got it all figured out. All thanks to SJW ruining Marvel.

[Hypestyle]

I doubt it. There may be more selective collaboration, but i doubt there will be any kind of line wide sub-contracting to IDW.

Also, what sort of manufacturing and distribution does IDW have that Marvel doesn't? Just curious..

[SuperiorIronman]

You can't be serious with this.

Marvel has done this before and will do it again. The reasoning for this is that it helps a smaller company put work out their and IDW hires its own talent. IDW is big, but it's not "the big two". Marvel has its own publishing division which is the very reason this will never be the death of Marvel publishing. Doing it in-house cuts down immensely on costs and editorial.

Keep in mind that the MCU is highly reliant on the comics end of things because that's usually where ideas are tested for the potential trip to the silver screen. It's where ideas can be refined quickly and cheaply.

Comics are relatively cheap to produce and are on some levels the cheapest thing as a company Marvel produces. If it was a videogames division where Marvel develops something in house and then has started outsourcing, we can cry foul. Games are expensive undertakings after-all. But comics can be put out very quickly (just under half a year to develop a trade's worth of material) and can be printed easily.

[macattack]

Honestly nothing would surprise me at this point.

Marvel's sales remain on the decline, the popularity of the movies hasn't translated to comics sales, and IDW is suddenly in charge of making kid-friendly iterations of the Marvel heroes instead of Marvel themselves. It's like little pieces of their responsibility is being taken from them.

Anything can happen. And if Disney decides that the comic book division of Marvel is dead money, well...

[Drops Of Venus]

I feel like people keep talking about sales without looking at the bigger picture. Yes, the sales of the direct market are not as good as they were before, but that's true to ALL titles of ALL publishers. If Disney has to shut down Marvel Comics because it's not profitable enough, then what does that say about the state of other publishers when Marvel is the company with the most profit on the direct market every month? So every publisher is at risk of being shut down now? I find that hard to believe. And that's JUST direct market talk, because it's been said again and again that fans simply don't know the full numbers. If the Marvel Digital Originals format proves to be a successful move, I honestly don't even think the direct market as we know it will matter for a lot of books anymore a few years from now, and I can totally live with that.

Also, can someone with a better understanding of how the market works elaborate on what kind of impact we'd have in the industry if one of the Big Two were to shut down completely? 'Cause I can't imagine a scenario where that'd be good.

[Sighphi]

Except they will. This comicsgator youtube channel got it all figured out. All thanks to SJW ruining Marvel.

This is a joke, right? Cause this guy mentioned none of that.

[SuperiorIronman]

Honestly nothing would surprise me at this point.

Marvel's sales remain on the decline, the popularity of the movies hasn't translated to comics sales, and IDW is suddenly in charge of making kid-friendly iterations of the Marvel heroes instead of Marvel themselves. It's like little pieces of their responsibility is being taken from them.

Anything can happen. And if Disney decides that the comic book division of Marvel is dead money, well...

Sales decline based on what? Trades, singles issues, first issues, digital sales, toys? And then you have to consider what quarter of the year we are in because at this time of year, not everyone can make it into the comic-book shop, or is buying direct considering many would be out of town for holidays. You can actually check the direct market numbers and for the most part, it's healthy. Month to month it's comparable to where it was about a decade ago.

Comics always lose money. It's only a matter of how long until it becomes unprofitable, that's the way it's always been. A single comic is never going to go on forever if the sales figures can't keep up, it's always bleeding money. But an entire publishing division going up when they are usually in the 50,000 to 100,000 range? No, they wont do that. They cornered the market years ago, Marvel wouldn't do that and would be utterly foolish to do that.

[Snoop Dogg]

Let's give IDW the X-Men. See if they can fix it.

[Prof. Warren]

Except they will. This comicsgator youtube channel got it all figured out. All thanks to SJW ruining Marvel.

This is a joke, right? Cause this guy mentioned none of that.

Yes, it's a joke. Wiccan is making a sarcastic observation to note how idiotic this video is.

[Digifiend]

Yeah, I realised that immediately, which is why I didn't bother responding even though I was quoted.

[cranger]

As others have said, this is nothing new. Marvel probably makes more money licensing out something like this, which is not hard to imagine since they would probably lose money printing it.

This is a joke, right? Cause this guy mentioned none of that.

To be fair, I would have assumed the same thing. To be blunt, I wouldn't make that kind of joke (more like insult) without actually knowing. To be hypocritical, I never watched the video either. I did check out their Twitter timeline and it seems to be missing any reference to CG or SJW.