How will the coronavirus affect comics?

[People Of The Earth]

They have been pushing Marvel Unlimited, sort of. They've given out a lot of free comics, also.

But they aren't going to push digital over print at this precarious moment for the retailers, who are their actual customers.

Hmm, I Don't see it as a digital over print move, the idea is to reach out to a new potential audience, not kill-off physical release altogether in doing so.
To come back to my example, even if it's 1 out of 100 of Disney+ subscribers that would test out this hypothetical bundle, that'd still be a massive boost to Marvel Comics, wouldn't it?
And even if only 1 out of 100 of those testers would end-up buying physical copies as a result, wouldn't that be Worth it either?
That's more customers for Marvel Comics in both cases.

I think it's a mistake to oppose physical release and digital release in general, they are two parts of the same coin.
If digital release is able to ******* the comic industry during this crisis when physical release can't, it should be encouraged, not stiffled imo.

Now, if the argument is that it's not viable economically to have a stronger digital release presence during this crisis for the actors concerned, then I can hear it.
Say Marvel Comics benefits from such a bundle, what about the retailers as you highlighted? What about the writers and artists and the ******* system around them involved in *******ing the industry? How do they benefit from such a bundle?
Well, maybe they get a cut from every new bundle that is purchased by a client? That way, they also benefit from this new audience? In fact, isn't that already the case for Marvel Unlimited alone? And if it's not, shouldn't it be?
All essential questions in regard to digital finding its place in this industry.
But to go back to that hypothetical Disney+ Marvel Unlimited bundle, I'd have to ask why it wouldn't be viable economically to Marvel comics itself? Is there a fear that once it's released digitally, the physical copies (whenever they get on the shelves of retailers) won't be selling as much as they would have if it hadn't been released digitally?
Or is it purely a matter of the teams involved in creating the comics not being as much remunerated on Marvel Unlimited than they are on physical release? Or of Marvel not recouping the costs associated to create the comics beyond paying the creative team?
I'd really like to understand the "whys" around this, if you know or if someone else does, is it possible to share the reasons with me? Thank you in advance.

[People Of The Earth]

Is there a problem with the word "s up port"? It gets censured whenever I use it, and I Don't understand why.

[Steel Inquisitor]

Hmm, I Don't see it as a digital over print move, the idea is to reach out to a new potential audience, not kill-off physical release altogether in doing so.
To come back to my example, even if it's 1 out of 100 of Disney+ subscribers that would test out this hypothetical bundle, that'd still be a massive boost to Marvel Comics, wouldn't it?
And even if only 1 out of 100 of those testers would end-up buying physical copies as a result, wouldn't that be Worth it either?
That's more customers for Marvel Comics in both cases.

I think it's a mistake to oppose physical release and digital release in general, they are two parts of the same coin.
If digital release is able to ******* the comic industry during this crisis when physical release can't, it should be encouraged, not stiffled imo.

Now, if the argument is that it's not viable economically to have a stronger digital release presence during this crisis for the actors concerned, then I can hear it.
Say Marvel Comics benefits from such a bundle, what about the retailers as you highlighted? What about the writers and artists and the ******* system around them involved in *******ing the industry? How do they benefit from such a bundle?
Well, maybe they get a cut from every new bundle that is purchased by a client? That way, they also benefit from this new audience? In fact, isn't that already the case for Marvel Unlimited alone? And if it's not, shouldn't it be?
All essential questions in regard to digital finding its place in this industry.
But to go back to that hypothetical Disney+ Marvel Unlimited bundle, I'd have to ask why it wouldn't be viable economically to Marvel comics itself? Is there a fear that once it's released digitally, the physical copies (whenever they get on the shelves of retailers) won't be selling as much as they would have if it hadn't been released digitally?
Or is it purely a matter of the teams involved in creating the comics not being as much remunerated on Marvel Unlimited than they are on physical release? Or of Marvel not recouping the costs associated to create the comics beyond paying the creative team?
I'd really like to understand the "whys" around this, if you know or if someone else does, is it possible to share the reasons with me? Thank you in advance.

This all comes down to print copies being risky to customers and staff. As long as the virus is out there, everyone is in danger. It's not just the stores, either, distribution through companies like Amazon are getting compromised by the virus in their work space, it's why many stores can't order more stock. The virus breaks the physical side of the business down to being unworkable. This all changes once the virus is out of the picture but we're months off, it may be like this until the end of the year or longer. Digital has less problems physically, but its gets into dangerous territory on the business side with companies switching to digital. There are no good options and how this shakes to may change the industry forever.

[The Overlord]

Reverting to the status quo is what the illusion of change is all about.

It breaks that illusion if it takes a deal with the devil to restore the restore the status quo, it makes it seem like nothing has consequences in the Marvel universe.

[ETMike1988]

support support support

[Digifiend]

Is there a problem with the word "s up port"? It gets censured whenever I use it, and I Don't understand why.

Reported and fixed: https://community.cbr.com/showthread...Being-Censored

[Holt]

That number is not big.

I'm gathering you're someone who is very invested in the Spider-Marriage, which is fine, but that has pretty much nothing to do with what was actually being discussed. The point is that outside of comics the predominate image of Peter Parker is of him not being married, so it being some sort of hurdle to new readers is simply not an actual problem.

[skyvolt2000]

This all comes down to print copies being risky to customers and staff. As long as the virus is out there, everyone is in danger. It's not just the stores, either, distribution through companies like Amazon are getting compromised by the virus in their work space, it's why many stores can't order more stock. The virus breaks the physical side of the business down to being unworkable. This all changes once the virus is out of the picture but we're months off, it may be like this until the end of the year or longer. Digital has less problems physically, but its gets into dangerous territory on the business side with companies switching to digital. There are no good options and how this shakes to may change the industry forever.

Virus aside....

We have seen nonstop push back to using ANY other venue to get new readers.

As one of the owners of a store said yesterday-they can't even publicly discuss other venues without a war of words by certain store owners.

The same store owners that act like anything comics HAS to come from the comic book store. Which means only those books that sell in comic book stores matter. Which fuels the first of a certain group towards certain books like Ms Marvel.

They want to bash digital but FAIL to see all the other venues to get comics and stuff. Amazon is just as cheap as Midtown Comics. Half Price Books and Ebay are too.

Is there a fear that once it's released digitally, the physical copies (whenever they get on the shelves of retailers) won't be selling as much as they would have if it hadn't been released digitally?

With the secondary market-that is already happening. Yet for some it's easy to blame Ms Marvel.

[skyvolt2000]

The "illusion of change" was never consistently practised or maintained by Marvel. Certainly not by Jim Shooter in the 80s.



That number is not big.



To an extent, this is true. But the specifics of it is worth discussing in the Spider-Man boards.


I will say that if and when this crisis is resolved, and Marvel wants a big event to drum up excitement again, bringing the marriage back would be something to consider.

How do you know?

One of the major issues with the outside media versus comics is a LOT of the characters that group are interested in-have little to NOTHING in material to read.

Not everyone wants to read Peter Parker. That is the NASTY reality many need to understand.

That is what is happening. Not going to bully or force someone to read something that they don't want.

"Yelling Batman sells, screw Black Panther and Carol Danvers" Is not going to get you readers.

It's not the movie nor tv nor OGN fault for making folks like John Stewart, Cyborg, Antman, Runaways and whoever else interesting enough to want more and the comic book side could careless.

[Revolutionary_Jack]

How do you know?

First-hand observation, Empirical reasoning, Supplemented with Data.

Not everyone wants to read Peter Parker. That is the NASTY reality many need to understand.

I completely agree with this. The fact is people know Spider-Man far before they know he is Peter Parker. A 3-4 year old is too young and too small to understand comics origins, but show him a sticker of Spider-Man, give him a toy of Spidey, and show him the logo, and they know who he is.

So on a fundamental level, it doesn't really matter what version of Spider-Man they are introduced to. Spider-Man is Spider-Man far before they come to know him as Peter Parker, whether he is young or single, or married and so on. There's nothing to support any version as better for introducing the character because fundamentally it's not Peter Parker they are introduced to. The 1967 Theme Song "Spider-Man Do whatever a Spider Can" is popular among people who never saw that cartoon and so on. Not once is Peter Parker's name in the lyrics.

As such most people who like Spider-Man from another media rarely come to the comics. The actual readers of 616 Comics even among younger fans are those who are curious about the history of the character, the evolution, the different runs and all that history. And among those, Peter-MJ getting their marriage back is something a lot do want.

"Yelling Batman sells, screw Black Panther and Carol Danvers" Is not going to get you readers.

Absolutely. Marvel Comics rarely have a sense of the appeal of a character and concept.

It's not the movie nor tv nor OGN fault for making folks like John Stewart, Cyborg, Antman, Runaways and whoever else interesting enough to want more and the comic book side could careless.

Agreed. Co-Signed.

[Anthony W]

The month of March saw the commercial impact of the COVID-19 outbreak beginning in North America. By midmonth, spring conventions had been called off and many businesses were either having to close or cut hours to slow the spread. Retailers ordered $37.03 million in comics, graphic novels, and magazines from Diamond during the month, almost exactly what they bought in February; that total was 15% lower than March 2019, which was fueled by Detective Comics #1000, the second best-selling comic book of the decade. Here is your link...https://www.comichron.com/monthlycom...0/2020-03.html

[Anthony W]

Diamond CEO Steve Geppi Q&A on comics distribution shakeup. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=XgN-JmPP0aM It's about two hours long but it's an interesting watch. I have a feeling it will appear on the front page shortly.

Brian Hibbs shows up at 36:00 and is his usually super cranky self.

It gets really interesting when they discuss RETURNS at 1:04:40.

[Username taken]

Funny enough, a similar drama is playing out between AMC, Regal and Universal studios.

Universal made $100 million from Trolls World tour from VOD. Which means that Universal will take about 80% of the revenue because its on PVOD. This announcement has pissed off AMC and they said they wont show Universal's movies again (but they're open for talks). Regal has joined AMC in the Universal boycott. Universal has defended itself by saying circumstances dictated this move.

Very similar to the DC and Diamond issue. Different being that AMC is nearing bankruptcy and are likely bluffing. AMC has a lot to lose here. Diamond is being a lot more diplomatic and at least still plans to work with DC.

[Revolutionary_Jack]

Funny enough, a similar drama is playing out between AMC, Regal and Universal studios.

Universal made $100 million from Trolls World tour from VOD. Which means that Universal will take about 80% of the revenue because its on PVOD. This announcement has pissed off AMC and they said they wont show Universal's movies again (but they're open for talks). Regal has joined AMC in the Universal boycott. Universal has defended itself by saying circumstances dictated this move.

Very similar to the DC and Diamond issue. Different being that AMC is nearing bankruptcy and are likely bluffing. AMC has a lot to lose here. Diamond is being a lot more diplomatic and at least still plans to work with DC.

In the case of theatrical-v-streaming there's the fact that a big screen experience does in fact offer an experience you can't get home with the bigger image size and volume of sound. In the case of print-v-digital, laptop/iPad/Kindle screens are as big, and in some cases bigger than print comics, with digital having the advantage of zooming into panels and so on.AMC and others are going to lose. The Academy Awards just announced that movies released on streaming are eligible for nomination and victories...that's a huge game changer. The Academy has always been on the side of the distributors, and now they have thrown in the title. The movie business has way too much money riding for it. Whereas in the comics, since it's such a niche industry, a bunch of distributors do in fact have outsize influence and power.

The problem for movie theatres, and also comics is, simply this : Where is the money going to come from to pay for all the tickets? Because along with the Pandemic, you have historic unemployment rates. Some 30 million unemployed. And for every unemployed, imagine them having family, friends and others they hang out with. So multiply that number and a huge chunk of the audience is not going to have disposable income for a while. In addition to the cost of movie tickets (which depending on the screening is either $12 on low-end or $18 for the big blockbuster premiere stuff...which is a few days worth of groceries) you have driving and concession costs, which goes up. So for a good chunk of the audience, going to watch movies is going to be an expensive luxury. It was different during the Great Depression, where the movie business boomed, because movies were the cheapest form of entertainment around and had it all in one place (cartoons, newsreels, movies of every genre).

So that's why streaming is going to win, inevitably. It'll be Amazon Prime and Netflix at the top. Disney Plus well if they stop hoarding and sitting on the Fox Vault maybe them too.

[Gaastra]

Funny enough, a similar drama is playing out between AMC, Regal and Universal studios.

Universal made $100 million from Trolls World tour from VOD. Which means that Universal will take about 80% of the revenue because its on PVOD. This announcement has pissed off AMC and they said they wont show Universal's movies again (but they're open for talks). Regal has joined AMC in the Universal boycott. Universal has defended itself by saying circumstances dictated this move.

Very similar to the DC and Diamond issue. Different being that AMC is nearing bankruptcy and are likely bluffing. AMC has a lot to lose here. Diamond is being a lot more diplomatic and at least still plans to work with DC.

From the box office thread---

Update. Turns out amc did NOT ban universal but did put them in their place!

Universal pictures head more or less was telling everyone they plan to do more vod the same day as when they release them at the movies (Never mind the fact that universal will lose $53m on trolls world tour! The "it made more then the first" was pr spin. The first made more then $300 m world wide so it's got a long way to go to beat it!) and that of course not only breaks a contact that's been in play forever it hurts ALL the movie chains.

Amc head reminded them that breaking the contract leads to a ban of all their movies and more or less tells them to behave. Then the head of the whole movie corp puts out a message warning universal the same thing! Pretty much ALL movie chains will ban universal! (this is nothing new and how it has been for a long time!)

From what we heard the head of universal pictures got a "nice" talk from the head of comcast (their owner!) and have now said sorry and backed off.

So no ban. Just the movie head putting universal in it's place!

And yes amc and all those chains will ban universal if they breaks the rules!

Universal doesn't get to keep it all. They have to pay vudu and prime and others. They have to pay mcdonalds, and shoe companies and toy companies and trix cereal and pay for the huge market push they did before the virus hit! Plus they had a deal with hulu to have streaming rights so it won't be long till people get it on hulu killing their $20 rent plan.

As said universal will lose $53m on trolls world tour!

Can't see losing $53m and ticking off all the movie chains a win for universal. With that said without all the promotions it could have done better.

WB got the ok for scoob to get a digital release and also had promotions so lets see how it goes for wb before we write it off.