Is Disney going to shut down Marvel Comics?

[Drops Of Venus]

Honestly, that does sound pretty brilliant. I imagine that without the cost of printing and ship floppies they could greatly increase their profit margins. The only real cost to them is paying the creative team and maintaining the site.

Yeah, I really hope this format proves to be successful for Marvel, 'cause the overreliance on floppy sales can be a bitch to some books and doom them before they even have a fighting chance. The latest victim of this was West Coast Avengers, that got cancelled before planned because the trade was postponed and the book couldn't really be backed up by single-issue sales alone. And I know there have been other books that went through something similar. Marvel knows this as well, otherwise they wouldn't have bothered to bring The Unstoppable Wasp and Iceman back. And yet, it doesn't seem like they learned much from that. Sentry was cancelled before the first trade and now WCA too. This really needs to change, because it's just harming their own line.

[Frontier]

Honestly you could make a more convincing argument that they're scuttling their Marvel animated division that's been doing the cartoons for the last few years then scuttling the comics entirely.

[WebLurker]

And yet people are quick to shut people down with only a quarter of the data instead of discussing the date we do have. How many articles of declining sales, creators getting booted, book numbers dropping, retailers being mishandled, and stores shutting down do we need before the conversation is had?

And I mean a real discussion not quick quips of people who think they are more clever then they actually are.

Like in Clue, if you know the Room but don't know the Weapon or the Suspect, you can't make an Accusation. Besides, not everything has the same factors. Comic book stores closing tells us more about the market in their area and their failure to adapt then it does Marvel's publishing practices.

[Blunt Guy]

Why not start with the store owner with one of the biggest chain of comic stores in the U.S. saying that sales are down and that retailers are being manipulated to the extent of almost being robbed by the publisher creating the books. Then see where we get from there.

mycomicshop.com is kicking ass. If you don't believe me, sign up for their newsletter.

[Holt]

Honestly you could make a more convincing argument that they're scuttling their Marvel animated division that's been doing the cartoons for the last few years then scuttling the comics entirely.

I'd heard about the layoffs there. And isn't Moongirl being handled by Titmouse (I'm honestly excited by that since they do good work)?

[Digifiend]

What about Marvel Rising? And there's talk of Spider-Man specials now too.

[dimo1]

As a matter of fact we all don‘t know how it‘ll play out in the end.
What we know is times are changing, as they have since the golden age.
I believe retailers in general need to overhaul their operations, not sure if it‘s as sustainable as it has been since the 80s.
While I think to some extent changing characters and some form of political influence might atone for a certain loss in sales there are further difficulties, a new generation, instant, and often binging of content, price etc.

[Snoop Dogg]

The industry has its issues but creatively we are in an actual golden age where there are books for everyone and more of the money pool is being split up between different publishers and titles, so like, there are certainly worse spots to be in. Figuring out how to get good product to more readers is a much better problem to have then not having content up to par to sell.

[Midnight_v]

"Most young people read manga, not comics. This audience is not coming and the publishers can't seem to get that through their thick skulls. Manga fans read manga, in part, because Manga is Japanese... and is so closely connected to anime. This audience publishers crave is what I call the "Toonami Generation". They were raised on Dragonball Z and Sailor Moon, not the X-Men and Wonder Woman.
The last generation of comic book fans are in their 40's and older, and this audience is leaving in droves due to the lack of quality content. We've got YA, female authors and soyboy Scott Pilgrim fans writing the books, and a bunch of tumblr artists drawing them. Does Marvel honestly expect us to pay $4.99 for a book that looks like Steven Universe and reads like some slice of life manga when we grew up reading Claremont and Lee's X-Men? How does Erica Henderson's work compare to Todd McFarlane? Not very well, that's for damn sure.

Not sure why I'm wasting time and effort posting this, as the writing is already on the wall. Guess I'm just venting my frustration at what's happening to an industry and medium I once loved"

Someone said.

I think he touches on some of the points of why people feel its better.

Or to frame it another way: if you can buy a 200 page tankobon of manga for $10 and a <22 page comic with a terrible story an bad art for $4.99, which would you buy?

Moreover, I... I don't think a comic is a good investment comparatively to begin with at the prices I'm seeing recently. Not only that but, it seems to me the direct market book stores can't
possibly keep this up right?
I look and hear things similar to "Shonen offers a library online" and no matter how much you enjoy the turning of pages how do you compete with that type of access coming to you?

I mean disney greedily gobbles up properties like black holes eat matter, but at some point there has to be a better way than "Published Comic Books" available wed, at various scattered locations.
Especially IF the publishing part is consistently loosing money.

None of us on a message board is in a position to state if these articles are true or false, but at some point a better distribution "AT LEAST" is going to come into being, and be more profitable.
Thats the point in which the publishing side should start to get really worried.


EDIT: Marvel Signs Deal with Serial Box – Will Create E-Books About Black Panther, Thor, and More! just stumbled across that I can't imagine if something like that gains REAL traction.
I mean at that point... why bother going through the house of ideas at all?

[Miles To Go]

What about Marvel Rising? And there's talk of Spider-Man specials now too.

I've seen it said that the Spidey specials are Lego tie-ins.

It was also recently revealed Sony could commission new animated Spider-Man episodes provided they were long-form

[Snoop Dogg]

Ah yes, we should definitely look to the ComicsGate website for nuanced market takes like--

*puts on glasses, squints*

--All of the problems come from women, Tumblr, and soyboys.

[kilderkin]

If anything I would think they might franchise out the characters

[Midnight_v]

Ah yes, we should definitely look to the ComicsGate website for nuanced market takes like--

*puts on glasses, squints*

--All of the problems come from women, Tumblr, and soyboys.

*Yawn* Or course, yes, yes, we in the Grey shirts, are required to hate all those in the burgandy vests... etc... etc. whatever.

Regardless, a 4.99 22-page comic is a quantifiable less amount of book than a 100 page manga for 9.99.

Doesn't matter to me who says it. It took me a while to realize, but I was taking that trip to the local store out of nostalgia for the characters more than anything.
Looking for the new adventures of these demi-gods I was so entertained by for so many years... but there are so many entertainment options out there that it isn't
even that big a deal when I feel think the authors are too often, retreading old ground in each story/event. The artists vary in skill but I'm not seeing what I like, so
to each his own.
Meanwhile, ONE PUNCH MAN's next installment is right there on my phone, cheap and a this point... non controversial.

[Snoop Dogg]

A 4.99 22-page comic is a quantifiable less amount of book than a 100 page manga for 9.99.

Yes, but the amount of story is not quantifiable as manga is far more liberal with page real estate and is built on pages that are produced faster and more cheaply. Perceived value by just comparing page counts and prices are important to a casual eye from the outside looking in, but then we have DC experimenting with 100 page giants and collections adding more backmatter. It's something to continue thinking about, for sure.

[Ichijinijisanji]

Yes, but the amount of story is not quantifiable as manga is far more liberal with page real estate and is built on pages that are produced faster and more cheaply. Perceived value by just comparing page counts and prices are important to a casual eye from the outside looking in, but then we have DC experimenting with 100 page giants and collections adding more backmatter. It's something to continue thinking about, for sure.

they should do it by price per word count.