Should Marvel, (and comics in general) take a cue from the Manga Industry?

[Raye]

They actually tried that already, in the early 2000's. I have some of them. looks like they had at least 2, one for the Ultimate line and one for Marvel Knights, since those are what I have. the early 2000's also had the Marvel Mangaverse, a mangafied MU, and they also had a kiiiiinda manga line where the trades were packaged in a format more similar to how Japanese mangas are sold, and they got some manga talent on some of them, manga style art etc. but the only lasting contribution that left behind is the Runaways, but I think that was more on the strength of BKV's writing than the format.

edit - proof, i dug them out:


my desk is very cluttered so that's about all i could fit. Each magazine contains 3 issues, as well as some supplementary material. the Marvel Knights ones contain Punisher, Daredevil and Inhumans with supplementary material aimed at adults, and the Ultimate one had Ultimate Spider-Man, Ultimate X-Men and Ultimate Teamup with supplementary material aimed at kids. They were available on regular magazine racks at the time, which is actually kinda why I got them. I had read some trades, mostly Vertigo stuff, but not single issues at that point. I was a very shy girl, and the only comic shops near me were your stereotypical hole in the walls filled with cat piss men, so this was a good way for me to get into the comics.

[Dog]

Okay, so we all know that print is dying out. No denying that.

http://www.cnbc.com/2016/06/05/comic...-flourish.html

[CentralPower]

Do you think they could sell in digital format for a cheap price

It might work for fans who are willing to go digital.

But, digital requires people to already know and care about something. Anthologies, in print at least, are supposed to be samplers and try-out series.

[rui no onna]

It might work for fans who are willing to go digital.

But, digital requires people to already know and care about something. Anthologies, in print at least, are supposed to be samplers and try-out series.

Not really. Plenty of free/ad-supported webcomics out there that people discover every day.

That said, the market for paid digital comics distributed through official channels is probably a whole lot smaller than the audience for webcomics (and pirated content).

Piracy, Real and Virtual
by Jim Shooter

B) Embrace the change. Go all-star. Produce nothing but brilliant, compelling, gotta-have-a-copy work. Make or develop stars, yes, but do so in an enlightened manner, as fairly, equitably, honestly and intelligently as possible. Go for or real talent, not flavor-du-jour or one-hit-wonder people. Use the small companies as your farm system,or start one of your own. Do not publish anything except the best of the best. Offer the products online first. Make them easily accessible, well-marketed and at prices low enough to make piracy less appealing. Offer perks and added value at your site to make downloading from there a better experience. Make the print packages excellent and beautiful, to make them extra-desireable as 3-D items. Include things that online downloads can’t — could be slipcases, small collectibles, things you can only get with the 3-D item. (Remember when British comics had a “spiff” attached to first issues and specials? Do they still?) To anyone who says that we’d have a lot of online readers for cheap and few people buying the expensive hard copies, I say that’s about where we are now anyway, but we’re doing it half-assed, wastefully and inefficiently. There’s too much bad stuff produced that no one wants, even free online, much less in a four-dollar book. Too few all-star products that are popular downloads and generate significant sales of the print versions, and not enough effort devoted to them. Embrace the change, do it right.

[CentralPower]

Of somebody goes online, especially to spend money, they know what they want. They will find it, get it, and go home.


And, maybe I am old fashioned. But, I prefer print to digital because I would rather not have to charge up my laptop or tablet to read comics.

[InformationGeek]

Of somebody goes online, especially to spend money, they know what they want. They will find it, get it, and go home.


And, maybe I am old fashioned. But, I prefer print to digital because I would rather not have to charge up my laptop or tablet to read comics.

I'm exactly the same way, but I'm personally running out of room so any titles I get nowadays are either digital or in print ONLY if I get sent it for review or if I REALLY love the title.

I think an anthology title would really work best in the digital arena with printed trades of each individual title later.

[Jokerz79]

Of somebody goes online, especially to spend money, they know what they want. They will find it, get it, and go home.


And, maybe I am old fashioned. But, I prefer print to digital because I would rather not have to charge up my laptop or tablet to read comics.

My biggest problem with digital is will my digital copies be there in a few decades? I have comics in long boxes that I have had for decades and they're not going anywhere. Also I prefer having a book in my hands to read I'm still old fashioned like that.

[rui no onna]

My biggest problem with digital is will my digital copies be there in a few decades? I have comics in long boxes that I have had for decades and they're not going anywhere. Also I prefer having a book in my hands to read I'm still old fashioned like that.

There are ways to get around DRM. Mind, I prefer IDW, Image, Valiant, etc. method of just allowing DRM-free downloads in the first place. I've got DRM-free comics in at least triplicate with at least one copy offsite.

Fire, flood, etc. could just as easily ruin a print collection.

[skyvolt2000]

Fire, flood, etc. could just as easily ruin a print collection.

True but in many cases now it would be easier to replace said books. Especially with trades.

You can provide both.

I would say you don't have to do the entire company.

I would say do books that lets face after what we saw here towards Inhumans and 90% of the POC, LGBTG & female lead books. Just do them. If they need to crossover in some event do a 1-2 shot.