Is Disney going to shut down Marvel Comics?

[Prof. Warren]

Eh, most people will remain blind.

Brian Hibbs, a retailer with one of the largest chain of comic book shops, is out right telling people what is going on and most of the people on this board are like "Nah bro everything is fine". It is so obvious even in this forum that interest has been lowered. The only reason I stopped being a lurker was because there were less and less people and threads to read. But no big whats the saying..."You can't change sheep even with a plural", time will tell and the truth always wins in the end.

Another article about a way to "save" the comic book industry
https://boundingintocomics.com/2019/...book-industry/

Hibbs is something of an old crank. Yes, the industry faces challenges but the thing is it always has. The imminent end of comics has been predicted every year since I've been reading comics and that's a very long time.

Is this a thread from 2009?

The "end of comics" talk always comes back around!

[catbellysqueezer]

Another article about a way to "save" the comic book industry
https://boundingintocomics.com/2019/...book-industry/

That seems like a reasonable article (aside from the fact that the website opened on my screen with a picture and video ad that both had to be closed and two notification popups...) but it is more about how to save comic book stores than saving the book makers.

Marvel probably makes more money by doing those things.

[Lee Stone]

I'll add what I always add when a comics doomsayer message crops up: Even if DC and Marvel both folded tomorrow, there would still be comics.
Just like if record albums stopped being sold, it wouldn't stop musicians from wanting to make music.

[Rrobin]

Eh, most people will remain blind.

Brian Hibbs, a retailer with one of the largest chain of comic book shops, is out right telling people what is going on and most of the people on this board are like "Nah bro everything is fine". It is so obvious even in this forum that interest has been lowered. The only reason I stopped being a lurker was because there were less and less people and threads to read. But no big whats the saying..."You can't change sheep even with a plural", time will tell and the truth always wins in the end.

Another article about a way to "save" the comic book industry
https://boundingintocomics.com/2019/...book-industry/

LCSes are dying mainly because of how easy digital is these days. Even when comics sales were up in the 2010s they continued closing iirc

[SuperiorIronman]

LCSes are dying mainly because of how easy digital is these days. Even when comics sales were up in the 2010s they continued closing iirc

As an extension of that, LCS are dying because of a lack of diversity in what they sell and being in the wrong areas doing it. Digital fundamentally changed the market and the LCS has to change to reflect that. My personal favorite shop around here only sells so much recent content and primarily specializes in trades. When it comes to comics more are willing in a shopping district to come away with a 15-20 dollar book than thirty that collectively cost 50 dollars. If your car is down the road and you rely more on outside sales than local customers its crucial to carry items that are easy to lug back to your car, train, or bus. Moving away from floppies will happen but trades? No.

It also helps that surviving LCS also branched out to be like a themed coffee shop because that's what's drawing people into that shop who aren't comics readers.

[Kurisu]

Yes, comic books are over. The evil is finally defeated.

[chaosfist]

I think this is all hilarious and sad at the same time. I really like the retailer's complaining that Marvel isnt doing enough to make sure their business is successful. Last year it was SJW content killing Marvel now its variant covers. The guy says that Marvel should be trying to get new readers on board after complaining that all the new characters were bad for business. Maybe just maybe selling print comics is just like selling any other printed media in that it's a limited market with little to no room for growth. Is it sad if these places lock up? Yeah for the retailers and their families but that can be said for anyone who went out of business selling printed media. The days of a direct market comic shop being a lucrative endeavor is over and it's Never coming back. What would these retailers do if Marvel pulled all their line and started selling digital only? They'd go out of business that much quicker. But hey just keep on pushing them towards that reality.

[chaosfist]

People wont care.

People like us will be in an uproar but the average movie going and cartoon watching audience only consumes Marvel through those mediums. What a lot of us hate to admitting is that Superhero comics has always been a niche medium. And the industry has done very little to change that. Our numbers are too low and lack any real type of organization to save a comic company in protest.

I can give them some credit that they are trying new things today but the problem there is that they are rejecting the core of what make comics great and its being run by several people who never had interest in the comics before they worked at Marvel. Today Marvel comics is flooded with unqualified people. Can they bring the industry to new heights? Time will tell but they have had about 5 years and so far, again from what research I have, it just seems their goal is to continue to abuse shop owners to inflate their numbers.

Abuse shop owners? So the people at Marvel are forcing these shop owners to buy their product? And what specifically makes comics great? What in your opinion would lead to a mass of people heading to a physical store to buy a paper comic?

[MajorHoy]

I saw this just a while ago on google news. Is it just a rumor?

What is the source of this news? Google didn't originate it, did they?

Do you blindly believe EVERYTHING you see mentioned on Google / on the internet?

DC fired a large portion of it's staff and if reducing it's number of books to 22 this year.

And I'm going to ask you a similar question: What is your specific source for these FACTS?

The reason I ask this is because there had been much discussion of this supposed news over in the DC Comics section (https://community.cbr.com/showthread...from-DC-Comics) last month, and I believe the "large portion" didn't turn out to be that large, and the "22" number also turned out not to be exact.

[Digifiend]

The source is Cosmicbook.news, a fake news website.

[Gaastra]

Again Marvel is owned by Disney and dc by wb two of the biggest movie companies in the world. I'm sure they will be fine.

[DragonsChi]

And I'm going to ask you a similar question: What is your specific source for these FACTS?

The reason I ask this is because there had been much discussion of this supposed news over in the DC Comics section (https://community.cbr.com/showthread...from-DC-Comics) last month, and I believe the "large portion" didn't turn out to be that large, and the "22" number also turned out not to be exact.

Here you go:
https://boundingintocomics.com/2019/...icspro-summit/
https://www.cbr.com/dc-comics-layoffs-restructuring/
https://cosmicbook.news/rip-dc-comic...s-layoffs.html
https://www.bizjournals.com/losangel...s-layoffs.html

[Wiccan]

1. I'm not being overdramatic. I'm not even in a fuss about. If Marvel closed the comic side of it's doors today there would be a buzz for probably less than a week and then people will shrug and move on. The average person on the street is not reading or care about these books. There are probably more people under the impression that comic books are no longer being made than those who actually know where their local comic books shop is in their own town.

2. I'm of the current belief that Comicsgate and SJW's are a hate groups (at least until proven otherwise) please do not associate them with me.

3. Just because some one is at the top of a declining industry doesn't mean you are winning. Saying that doesn't mean anything. If you have 4 people in a boat who can't swim and the boat flips over is the last person to hit water making out better than the first? No, it's faulty logic.

4. Movie and Merch at this point don't need to depend on comics. Most of merch being sold is pretty much the same characters who have had deals forever. They also do not need the comics to come out with new merch or "new characters" to Movie and Animated audiences. Marvel's bench is so deep Disney can mine it for the next 30-50 years and be fine.With most of the characters seeming new to the world at large. They don't need the comics for that.

5. Books are in the top 100 today that are only making sales of $20,000 per unit. Just 10-12 years back if your title was selling that low it was canceled.

Some on the forum like to shift expectations and I get it. But at least be honest with yourself. Disney bought Marvel not for it's comics but for what it can do with their IP's in movies, animated features, merchandise, and attraction/amusement rides and entertainment. If the comic side is not profitable it will get cut. No manner of bad press will save that.

1 - The very idea that comics are ruined because everything is just terrible is overdramatic imo, which If I understood it's what you were saying that quote I mentioned. And yeah I think you're underestimating how much bad publicity they would get, but I guess no arguing will change your mind about it.

2 - I'm not associating you with it, but it's a fact that 90% of the sites and channels saying Marvel is failing and about to get shut down are comicsgate people. The source that OP saw and got him to make this thread apparently included, and, IIRC, a channel that you were linking on a similar thread some time ago.

3 - I really doubt that the whole comic industry is gonna die any time soon. So yeah, I think the fact that Marvel is overall still ahead of their competitors is a reasonable motive for Disney to not consider them as a complete failure enough to close.

4 - They don't depend, but they highly benefit from it, I made my comment pretty clear about that.

5 - I know how sales are going. But as other people have said, those days there are a lot of other ways people are buying comics. Digitals, TPBs, Marvel Unlimited. Besides that, most of the main/most popular Marvel franchises are not sinking like that. As other people suggested Marvel could just cut a bunch of books and stay with the essentials, if it came to that.

[Anthony W]

Eh, most people will remain blind.

Brian Hibbs, a retailer with one of the largest chain of comic book shops, is out right telling people what is going on and most of the people on this board are like "Nah bro everything is fine". It is so obvious even in this forum that interest has been lowered. The only reason I stopped being a lurker was because there were less and less people and threads to read. But no big whats the saying..."You can't change sheep even with a plural", time will tell and the truth always wins in the end.

Another article about a way to "save" the comic book industry
https://boundingintocomics.com/2019/...book-industry/

I guess people don't have an issue with gimmick covers as long as they aren't hologram or platinum.

[Ultramorph]

Marvel has the largest market share in comics by a huge margin, costs Disney next to nothing, and is cheap R&D for the really lucrative stuff like movies and TV. Ergo, Marvel isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. No thirsty Comicsgate “SJW Marvel is doomed” is going to change that. Let’s stop feeding the clickbait trolls.