DC's and Marvel's problems

[Rickswordfish]

What do you think are the biggest problems that DC and Marvel face right now?

[Revolutionary_Jack]

What do you think are the biggest problems that DC and Marvel face right now?

Marvel's problem is that it's owned by Disney.

DC's problem is that it's not owned by Disney.

[Rickswordfish]

Did I put this thread in the right forum?

[PCN24454]

Did I put this thread in the right forum?

Yes, you did.

[ERON]

1. Kids don't know where to find Marvel or DC comics.
2. Even if kids could find them, they can't afford them.
3. Even if kids could afford them, they wouldn't be able to get into them because they aren't the target audience.

[Phoenixx9]

1. Kids don't know where to find Marvel or DC comics.
2. Even if kids could find them, they can't afford them.
3. Even if kids could afford them, they wouldn't be able to get into them because they aren't the target audience.

4. Being out of school so long, are the kids even able to read the comics?

[Rickswordfish]

Marvel's problem is that it's owned by Disney.

DC's problem is that it's not owned by Disney.

I don't understand

[Agent Z]

Marvel's problem is that it's owned by Disney.

DC's problem is that it's not owned by Disney.

None of these are actual problems.

[KNIGHT OF THE LAKE]

None of these are actual problems.

Honestly quality wise I would argue that they are. DC lacks a strong hand leading the ship with a consistent vision and is constantly changing gears trying to catch a wave. Marvel has that strong hand but because of the company that owns it, it is getting more and more sanitized.

[TheRay]

Marvel's problem is that it's owned by Disney.

DC's problem is that it's not owned by Disney.

I can agree about DC, but I feel as though Marvel now being a Disney property is a net win. Disney and Marvel are both two huge names, their merger should have meant big news and more eyeballs. A lot of people dedicate a lot of their lives to their love of Disney, at least some of that should translate over into Marvel.

[Powerboy]

What do you think are the biggest problems that DC and Marvel face right now?

The biggest problem is that comics have become a niche market and it's only becoming a smaller audience as time goes on. But it's inevitable.

People say comics stopped being marketed to kids. Well, yes. But that started because kids were reading comics less and less as other things rose to get their attention. Plus the change from selling in supermarkets and corner stores to comic book shops made comics less available to kids which worsened the problem. The writers and artists rightfully wanted better pay but that also helped price them out of a child's range in addition to switching to comic shops where, unlike supermarkets and corner stores, the whole profits of a comic shop depend on comic sales so they can't be a minor side item. Hence, the prices went through the roof.

As I understand it, movies, television/ streaming and merchandise are where the money is now. Comics are just a side item.

I cannot tell you what the immediate worst problem of Marvel Comics is as I haven't read one for quite a while. But, at a guess, it's probably the same as DC's. The price. The old days of crossovers and even company-wide crossovers is ridiculous when comics cost what they do now. But the reboots, soft reboots and general ignoring of continuity is the big thing that drove me away. And I'm not talking about little nitpicking things but utterly rewriting history.

[Username taken]

Marvel and DCs problems in my opinion are as follows:

1. Not flowing with the times. Most superheroes were held in stasis that when any meaningful changes they were met with derision. Worse still when said changes were made they were eventually reversed, sometimes decades after. See Spider-man and The Flash. IMO, superhero comics completely missed a generation because of this and they are now struggling to get them back.

2. Marrying themselves to a broken distribution system. Comics distribution used to be massive both within and outside the direct market with multiple distribution companies. The indirect market basically stopped carrying comics and the direct market basically collapsed in the 90s with Diamond emerging as the sole distributor. This should have been a signal to the companies to adjust their practices and immediately explore new forms of distribution. The direct market as it stood pretty much prevented the creation of new comics and basically set a hard limit to what superhero comics could be. I keep going back to the case of Motor Crush which was completely under ordered in the direct market but tore up the bookstore market. Same with titles like Ms Marvel and even Coates Black Panther. Poor distribution has basically kept the market from growing and Marvel and DC stuck themselves to this...until Diamond almost collapsed the industry and the big two finally woke up and moved away from Diamond. The problem is that it’s too late now, the damage is done.

3. Not enough diversity. All other forms of entertainment have learnt and understood that diversity in an increasingly diverse society is absolutely necessary to survival. But instead of creating more diverse characters and pushing them out, the big two simply doubled down on their existing portfolio completely ignoring real demographic change. How can a medium that appeals to young people with majority of characters being white really be successful in a society where majority of the population under a certain age isn’t even white? It doesn’t make any sense. Marvel and DCs solution to this has been somewhat inelegant because they basically had to start changing existing characters race and sexuality to appeal but this isn’t always the best way and can create friction.

4. Pricing. Comics are unrealistically expensive and it really doesn’t make sense for any lower to middle income adult to spend $4-$5 on a few minutes of entertainment each week. It just doesn’t make sense. This is stuff that needs to be addressed because my understanding is that comic prices are rising faster than inflation which is completely unsustainable.

[MRP]

Marvel and DCs problems in my opinion are as follows:



4. Pricing. Comics are unrealistically expensive and it really doesn’t make sense for any lower to middle income adult to spend $4-$5 on a few minutes of entertainment each week. It just doesn’t make sense. This is stuff that needs to be addressed because my understanding is that comic prices are rising faster than inflation which is completely unsustainable.

Pricing is a result of the problems, not the heart of the problem. Niche products cost proportionately more than the same product in the mass market. It's economy of scale in action. When a product becomes a niche product after once being a mass market product, it's cost/price increases at a rate that is not tied to inflation (the inflation comparison is only valid if it is the same product sold in the same market. Shifting from a mass market product to a niche market product means any comparisons of the product pricing to inflation rates is an invalid comparison. Comparing prices of comics in the 70s and 80s when it was a mas market product to prices of comics in the 2020s when it is a niche market product is comparing apples to oranges. Especially in printing/publishing where the more units that are produced the less the per unit cost is. Changing pricing won't fix the issue. In fact it will reduce profitability and hasten the entropy of print comics as a viable product because margins will become too low, and the only way to sustain it will be to cut production costs, which means paying even less to create comics, which would drive current talent form the market. The only way to "fix" pricing is to find a way to make comics a mass market product again first. If it reaches a wider audience, sales increase, units produced increases, cost per unit reduces and prices can come down without affecting the profitability and viability of the product. Reducing prices will not increase sales unless the product also reaches a wider potential audience. Al it will due is reduce the revenue generated by selling the same number of units. The mass market is not "not buying comics because they are too expensive"-they are not buying comics because it is an unattractive product not available for sale in the mass market, and because it is not sold and not selling in the mass market, it's prices are higher.

Fix the real problems and the pricing issue will fix itself. Try to fix the price without addressing the issues causing the pricing disparity, and you will only further the problems facing the issue.


-M

[Rickswordfish]

Are the people who are in charge of Marvel and DC aware of these problems, do they have any plans to fix them?

[MRP]

Are the people who are in charge of Marvel and DC aware of these problems, do they have any plans to fix them?

They are well aware of the issues. There have been attempts to address the issues, but none have been particularly successful. DC made some inroads into new markets with the Ink and Zoom lines for instance, but not enough where it can sustain their publishing division entirely. One of the obstacles is that solutions are going to require capital investments to build infrastructure to create a new sustainable model, and the question is how interested and willing are the parent companies (Disney & AT&T/WB) in making such investments in a print business model when print seems to be dying.

If there were easy solutions. they would already be implementing them. There are no easy fixes here, and a lot of them require more than what Marvel and DC can do without the auspices of their parent companies. Marvel and DC's strengths lie in content creation and the generating of IP that can be exploited for revenue, not in being publishing houses. Neither Disney nor AT&T really want to be in the publishing business, so fixing the publishing issues facing their subsidiaries is not really a priority for either parent company, especially when it requires a significant capital investment with a questionable return on investment in the future.


-M