Is Disney going to shut down Marvel Comics?

[Colossus1980]

I thought the interesting question would be 'Can Marvel comics survive without Disney?'

Would merchandise and comics be enough to sustain the publishing line? Are movies and media keeping Marvel alive?

People like to mention how strong comics are, but is there a reason why it has to rely on variant covers? Why comics get cancelled at an alarming rate? Why there is a constant need to renumber and other gimmicks? Why the main buyers are old farts?

[Holt]

Will Disney close Marvel?

Joey Q sets the record straight: Absolutely not.

Wow. So you mean to tell me two comic book sites that have a history of axe grinding turned out to be full of crap?

[DragonsChi]

Weren't you the one who blindly repeated the "22 titles" rumor without any real supporting facts?

The article(s) says the number will drop to 22-35 the titles are currently being dropped. I haven't been proven wrong yet. If this year ends and they haven't fallen more then we can talk.

Until then you keep believe for face value to these companies who have been lying to us for years and I will keep paying close attention to what is going on.

[Dthirds3]

Wow. So you mean to tell me two comic book sites that have a history of axe grinding turned out to be full of crap?

I know, it's like reputable cites and basic amounts of common sense disprove most of this crap.

[Prof. Warren]

The article(s) says the number will drop to 22-35 the titles are currently being dropped. I haven't been proven wrong yet.

The articles you linked to don't say anything about DC dropping their line to those numbers. In fact, that is specifically refuted in those articles as being a false rumor.

So...you actually have been proven wrong. By the articles you linked to yourself to make your case.

Not sure what you're trying to argue at this point.

[skyvolt2000]

Wow. So you mean to tell me two comic book sites that have a history of axe grinding turned out to be full of crap?

To those people they are not full of crap. It feeds to their agenda that Marvel needs to pander to them or close down.
They don't want to have legit conversations about the state of the industry where LOL EVERYBODY is held accountable. Not just who you WANT to be held accountable.

I thought the interesting question would be 'Can Marvel comics survive without Disney?'

Yes they could. They did before.

I just think you would see more scaling back and more ideas being used that many have suggested.
In other words a Moon Girl OGN only series would be more of a reality.

4 Peter Parker books would NOT.

Would merchandise and comics be enough to sustain the publishing line? Are movies and media keeping Marvel alive?

They can to a certain point.
All Marvel can do is MAKE the product. They can't control where it goes.
Yes we have online ordering but that does no good to those who don't do it.

[DrNewGod]

Dude! Hollywood is swimming in unfilmable ideas. Meanwhile, there are Rivers of filmable ideas coming out of this comic book division. Before we even talk about the extant filmable plots.

No. They are not shutting Marvel down.

[WebLurker]

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.

And what would that be?

[Rosebunse]

I fail to see how Marvel is rejecting what made them great. A lot of their current series are call backs to earlier ones and, frankly, the current batch of writers love finding obscure stuff to use.

[dreyga2000]

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.

Okay I'll bite. What made them great?

[Drops Of Venus]

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

And that proves that one of the biggest publishers in the US is shutting down because...? It just proves DC is going through a reformulation. Marvel may go through a reformulation one of these days as well. That's not the same thing as shutting down the entire company. It's quite a leap of logic there.

Also, from what I've been reading people say, since I don't follow DC news, it seems like this DC rumor might not even be completely true, or at least it's been greatly exaggerated by some people. And that's the problem with those rumors: people are being too quick to jump to extreme conclusions over nothing. The fact that a freaking panel talking about comic books inspiring other media has legitimately evolved to ''IS DISNEY SHUTTING DOWN MARVEL COMICS?'' just goes to show how desperate people are.

Yeah. That site has an axe to grind and their "scoop" about Marvel closing down literally turns into a rant about how he stopped buying comics when they cancelled Richard Rider's book, and the comments are almost entirely people saying dumb **** like "Go woke, go broke!" and "SJW politics killed Marvel!"

It's people with an agenda.

I was reading that and instantly thought I knew who that guy was when he started to rant about Richard Rider. Isn't this the same person who was harassing James Gunn and even went as far as to leak his phone number online, asking people to call him and demand Nova in the MCU? I mean, I know very well how it feels like to be frustrated that your favorite character/franchise is not in use, but I would NEVER stoop that low. Plus, people like him seem to be completely detached from reality. Marvel gave them Richard Rider back. They put him in the Nova book. The result of that was the lowest selling Nova book in the direct market and a quick cancellation. Yet, he keeps bitching about how everything is going wrong because they are not pandering to him. It's just straight up blind ignorance.

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.

THIS. I honestly can't wait for the day where floppies are done and people can stop obsessing over what's selling over 20k every month. I think going digital first and then releasing trades in the physical form for the comic book shops is the future of comics. Which is why I really hope the Marvel Digital Originals initiative works out.

[MajorHoy]

. . . THIS. I honestly can't wait for the day where floppies are done and people can stop obsessing over what's selling over 20k every month. I think going digital first and then releasing trades in the physical form for the comic book shops is the future of comics. Which is why I really hope the Marvel Digital Originals initiative works out.

Well, I don't really "obsess" over whether books have 20,000 copies or more ordered by US comic book shops through Diamond or not, though I do sometimes take note of those numbers.

As for going "all-digital", well, if I haven't stopped buying comic books AGAIN before that happens, I will at that point. I only use a desktop computer, and that's not very convenient (or enjoyable) for reading digital comic books. (Besides, who's to say there won't be a way to monitor how many copies of digital comic book issues are "sold" sometime in the future?)

[chaosfist]

Can one of you comicsgaters that keep posting about what made comics great please answer the multiple poster asking just what that is? I mean you guys must know because it looks like at least two of you have posted about it. Strangely none of you have responded when pressed on what it was.

[MajorHoy]

Can one of you comicsgaters that keep posting about what made comics great please answer the multiple poster asking just what that is? I mean you guys must know because it looks like at least two of you have posted about it. Strangely none of you have responded when pressed on what it was.

You mean besides the possibility that some people liked the comic books from years ago more than what is produced these days?

[Drops Of Venus]

Well, I don't really "obsess" over whether books have 20,000 copies or more ordered by US comic book shops through Diamond or not, though I do sometimes take note of those numbers.

As for going "all-digital", well, if I haven't stopped buying comic books AGAIN before that happens, I will at that point. I only use a desktop computer, and that's not very convenient (or enjoyable) for reading digital comic books. (Besides, who's to say there won't be a way to monitor how many copies of digital comic book issues are "sold" sometime in the future?)

I wasn't really suggesting that they go 100% digital (although I wouldn't be surprised if that was the case in a far off future), but that single-issues should be marketed in the digital form, while the physical market focus on trades. If trade sales keep growing while floppy sales keep shrinking, it just seems like a natural step to go in that direction, IMO. I could be wrong, but I do think this could be a better way to sell comics and avoid so many books to rot on the shelves. Now, I don't expect this to happen overnight, obviously. But I think it could be done in baby steps. Titles like Batman and Spider-Man would still sell floppies, but many others would skip that format. Hence why I mentioned the Marvel Digital Originals line, which is doing exactly that for Jessica Jones, Iron Fist, Luke Cage, Daughters Of The Dragon and Cloak & Dagger. Not sure how that project is doing, but I guess time will tell.