Marvel seems to indicate that there will be a change in sales plans. And there's no preview of next week's new books.
Marvel seems to indicate that there will be a change in sales plans. And there's no preview of next week's new books.
Probably not.
Surely they have to be planning on digital release? Sure it may drive piracy up, but the music industry isn't stopping because people can't buy physical CDs.
Team Yana Bachalo Fanboy Cyclops Was Right
It's true that digital doesn't sell anywhere near physical. So the question is will they continue on schedule in digital and release the physicals later?
For those that only buy physical, would you prefer they halt everything or release everything digitally still on schedule?
"Danielle... I intend to do something rash and violent." - Betsy Braddock
Krakoa, Arakko, and Otherworld forever!
For the short term, they’ll be halting digital too.
Retailers want them to halt digital because physical prints of digital first material don’t exactly light up the sales charts.
But if there was some assurance of it being temporary... well, they probably wouldn’t trust marvel to hold to that.
My guess is that they will resume the planned schedule in a month with a slightly accelerated rate so they can hit planned marketing dates and such by the end of summer.
Team Yana Bachalo Fanboy Cyclops Was Right
Agreed. Stopping publishing entirely because physical stores are closed seems like really antiquated thinking in this day and age. It’s all about content and pushing said content out as broadly as possibly. Unfortunately physical brick and mortar just cannot compete with digital in this regard.
Also, publishing is such a small part of Disney’s overall revenues. It’s a nit really, and doesn’t matter. But they need the comics to continue coming out because they use those story ideas in other media, like film and Disney+, which is far more profitable. Seems to me they’d want to keep the content factory going during this time.
Also, Diamond should explore direct-to-home fulfillment as an option. The technology is readily available to do this. Using the USPS (assuming they don’t go bankrupt since they’re out of cash by this summer) would make it an affordable option. Especially for folks who buy lots of comics.
Last edited by Jackraow21; 03-27-2020 at 07:40 AM.
Comics publishing is an antiquated industry.
The publishing arm relies on the brick and mortar stores to fuel its breadth. If they don’t prioritize what actions are best for comic shops at present, they risk collapsing the industry as we know it. Because that’s what will happen if comic shops go under.
Yup, it is a pretty niche market. While many of the shops also have board games and Magic/Pokemon to help make the bills, there are absolutely comic shops that ONLY focus on books and depend on these new releases to bring in sales. Those shops will absolutely die if this goes on too long.
Will be interesting to see the summer convention circuits as well since a lot of these types of stores use that as a way to make extra money.
Team Yana Bachalo Fanboy Cyclops Was Right
The value is in the content farm. Not the comic industry as we know it. That’s my point.
If they cease production of any new content for months while this crisis goes on in the name of protecting brick and mortar comic shops, I’d be willing to bet that many of those readers will gravitate to other hobbies in the meantime and will not come back anyway.
For the readers that buy physical copies, would you switch to digital if they continued the releases on schedule and wait to pick up the physical books later?
"Danielle... I intend to do something rash and violent." - Betsy Braddock
Krakoa, Arakko, and Otherworld forever!