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Calibandar

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Hey comic heads,

Public service announcement: Amazon is having an insane sale on digital trades. When I say insane, I'm talking like 90% off. It's laughable. You just have to look at the Kindle versions of the books -- they'll import directly into Comixology after you purchase them. It's quite satisfying to see $20.00 Comixology trades import from Amazon after I spent under $3.00 on them. I've been on a mission to replace all of my longboxes of hardcopy comics because I want to unload them all. I put a massive dent in that. Stock up, because I have no idea how long this sale will last.

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On 5/4/2017 at 7:06 AM, The King in Black said:

Anybody reading Deathstroke Rebirth ? Priest has managed to make the character interesting again. Easily one of DC's best right now.

Deathstroke is the best comic DC is publishing right now. I hope they leave Priest alone and let him do his thing for the next few years. It has the makings of something iconic.

That said, I wasn't a fan of Lazarus Contract. His installments were the best, but I couldn't shake the feeling that he dumbed down to co-exist with the rest of the writing team from Titans and Teen Titans. He actually talked about how he had something different planned, as he was going to tell a story based on the Judas Contract within Deathstroke, but because of continuity crap, DC wanted him to participate in the crossover with the Titans books. Meh.

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On 03/06/2017 at 5:54 PM, C.T. Phipps said:

Really? That's how you read it? I read it as an attack on the infamous, "Has Captain America heard of My Space?" from Civil War. Sally Floyd always said Captain America was out of touch with the American people. The thing was, now Sally Floyd is the one who is out of touch. She cares about the loss of civil liberties while the public...doesn't.

It's a nice dramatic reversal.

I would like to think that's what it was, but in the context of Nick Spencer being engaged in numerous, repeated flame wars on Twitter over the last year or two it seems obvious that it's simply what it appears to be - Spencer having a dig at his critics in print.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Well, nothing ever lasts in superhero comics so I doubt Batman and Catwoman will last - assuming they ever reach the point of getting married. It'll be interesting to see how they develop it. Tom King did a great job with relationships in the Vision so we'll see. I wonder if this was his idea or a higher up editorial move though?

I see we're all equally bowled over by Marvel's "industry changing" legacy rollout. Seems like they are trolling with all the call-backs to Fantastic Four covers and the use of X-men covers for the Inhuman comics is particularly funny.

Marvel needs a "get back to basics" in terms of letting creators with good ideas tell their own self contained stories for a while. It doesn't matter who the characters are - just build up some trust with readers again and stop creating and cancelling titles every 5 minutes. A bit like Joe Quesada and Bill Jemas did back in the early 2000s

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On 6/3/2017 at 11:54 AM, C.T. Phipps said:

Really? That's how you read it? I read it as an attack on the infamous, "Has Captain America heard of My Space?" from Civil War. Sally Floyd always said Captain America was out of touch with the American people. The thing was, now Sally Floyd is the one who is out of touch. She cares about the loss of civil liberties while the public...doesn't.

It's a nice dramatic reversal.

It's absolutely deliberate, and there's a lot of weird refraction of Millar-in-general going on in this run, including pulling the Punisher into the mix (that one page from Civil War is still my favorite pitch black comedy) and some referencing of his very political 2000s work on The Authority and Ultimates.

 

I admit I've got a soft spot for this ongoing plot because Spencer's taken explicit aim at everything Brubaker did to Make Bucky Happen, which is proof that in cape comics, if you poop all over something to make your pet concept shine, someone will come along later and be absolutely sure to do the same back to you.  It's nicer to build things on your own.

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I found out that they released another anthology issue for American Vampire last year so I decided to check that out. It was alright, but I seem to recall the first one was better. The meat of the anthology was clearly setting the stage for vol 3, whenever that is supposed to come out. I wasn't particularly fond of vol 2, but I still really liked vol 1 so I still want to see where it all ends up. There's some good stuff in the anthology too, particularly a story with Japanese vampires and one that has a background story of a  minor character from the main comic. Of course the whole thing then ends on a plot-twist so awful it kinda makes me want to slap Scott Snyder.

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1 hour ago, GallowKnight said:

I found out that they released another anthology issue for American Vampire last year so I decided to check that out. It was alright, but I seem to recall the first one was better. The meat of the anthology was clearly setting the stage for vol 3, whenever that is supposed to come out. I wasn't particularly fond of vol 2, but I still really liked vol 1 so I still want to see where it all ends up. There's some good stuff in the anthology too, particularly a story with Japanese vampires and one that has a background story of a  minor character from the main comic. Of course the whole thing then ends on a plot-twist so awful it kinda makes me want to slap Scott Snyder.

I still have three trades of this series on my shelf. I enjoyed the first one so it's a bit odd how I've yet to get around to it. There must be a lot of extra trades by now.

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Just now, red snow said:

I still have three trades of this series on my shelf. I enjoyed the first one so it's a bit odd how I've yet to get around to it. There must be a lot of extra trades by now.

It's good stuff, vol 1 (or the first cycle as it is called) is very good , albeit a few missteps, and the two mini-series Survival of the Fittest and Lord of Nightmares is really good too.

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Marvel's latest press release claims;

Simply put MARVEL LEGACY will offer
·         The most spectacular character returns
·         Epic stories adding to the next chapter of the Marvel Universe by the industries’ top talent
·         Heroes fighting villains
·         Clean jumping on points for all readers clearly displayed using dynamic new trade dress
·         The return to original numbering for many series
·         Did we mention the most spectacular character returns that comic fans have demanded

 

I'm looking forward to more information on the industry's "top talent"

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If Marvel want to 'revolutionise the industry', they should try not canceling comics based on sales of non-returnable single issues to specialist comic book stores as if it was thirty years ago and this was still the only way people consumed comic books.

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On 7/1/2017 at 6:18 AM, red snow said:

Free 30 day trial of Marvel unlimited. There must be heavy traffic as I can't get the site to work but maybe others will have better luck.

Maybe this is how they plan on "revolutionising the industry"?

IIRC they've always/often had the free trials.

 

IMO the rot at Marvel is complex and many-sourced, and nothing hinted at yet has anything remotely of a fix about it.

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20 hours ago, mormont said:

If Marvel want to 'revolutionise the industry', they should try not canceling comics based on sales of non-returnable single issues to specialist comic book stores as if it was thirty years ago and this was still the only way people consumed comic books.

I agree - let products survive as digital entities. I still think a netflix style comics service would be something worth trying. Maybe even have high quality digital only comics in "binge" formats eg a 6-12 part story every 6-12 months. Release it as a physical copy after it's digital release. I know comic stores would cry it's destroying them but said stores are dying a slow death anyhow and most the ones I know are easily 50/50 comics vs merchandise/games (probably more skewed to the merchandise). A lot of video stores and music shops closed with the advent of digital and while it's shitty if people lose their jobs it's the nature of things and there is always an opportunity for them to diversify (eg vinyl stores, etc).

I think the binge/everything for a flat fee NOW is what they have to do. The problem with the current approach is that people can get digital copies for free quicker than they can get them with an all access approach. Give people the option to have all the content immediately for a reasonable fee and they'd get a lot of illegal downloaders switching to legit sources. I know that's what happened with me and TV. Once I could get most of the US shows at the same time via Amazon/Netflix, I happily switched. It was never an issue of cost (although I guess the price is acceptable so not a challenge for me) but an issue of accessibility. It doesn't excuse stealing something but the point is the stealing is because a lot of people want the content they just can't get it - that's the fanbase you want to catch, not ignore.

10 hours ago, Little Valkyrie said:

 

 

IMO the rot at Marvel is complex and many-sourced, and nothing hinted at yet has anything remotely of a fix about it.

I agree, none of the above fixes anything unless they sort out their current storytelling approach. The above could help by giving them a lot more data on what titles actually sell.

Another benefit of digital is that it removes the "collectability" of comics - so they won't rely as much on gimmicks like character deaths/first appearances etc. I've always suspected that while such things can bring attention to a comic from a story POV, I think there's a hell of a lot of speculation buying by "collectors vs readers". Eg does someone who enjoys reading Justice League of America buy all 50 state covers because it enhances the story? Of course not. Speculator/collector fodder is something comic stores can keep/take advantage of. It shouldn't pollute the storytelling or what's deemed as successful sales increase.

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6 minutes ago, red snow said:

I agree - let products survive as digital entities. I still think a netflix style comics service would be something worth trying. Maybe even have high quality digital only comics in "binge" formats eg a 6-12 part story every 6-12 months. Release it as a physical copy after it's digital release. I know comic stores would cry it's destroying them but said stores are dying a slow death anyhow and most the ones I know are easily 50/50 comics vs merchandise/games (probably more skewed to the merchandise). A lot of video stores and music shops closed with the advent of digital and while it's shitty if people lose their jobs it's the nature of things and there is always an opportunity for them to diversify (eg vinyl stores, etc).

I think the binge/everything for a flat fee NOW is what they have to do. The problem with the current approach is that people can get digital copies for free quicker than they can get them with an all access approach. Give people the option to have all the content immediately for a reasonable fee and they'd get a lot of illegal downloaders switching to legit sources. I know that's what happened with me and TV. Once I could get most of the US shows at the same time via Amazon/Netflix, I happily switched. It was never an issue of cost (although I guess the price is acceptable so not a challenge for me) but an issue of accessibility. It doesn't excuse stealing something but the point is the stealing is because a lot of people want the content they just can't get it - that's the fanbase you want to catch, not ignore.

I buy my comics in TPB because I'm old-fashioned and like to see art on an actual page, but even that doesn't seem to figure into Marvel's calculations. It's not rocket science. Give each new comic at least enough time to see what the first TPB sales are like. Take that as a point to review total sales, digital, issue and TPB. Take your decision then on the basis of the whole picture. Simple.

Right now, Marvel are launching series like World of Wakanda that are supposedly aimed at people who don't traditionally buy single issues in comic stores, and then cancelling those comics on the basis that they're not selling enough single issues in comic stores. That's insane. They're aiming at opening up a new market but taking decisions on the basis of sales in the old market. In no way does that make sense.

Moving on a bit wider, the no-returns sales model for specialist shops is killing both those shops and the comics companies. It worked in the '80s and '90s when the comics companies were relatively small and needed guaranteed income for each issue, but now, with both Marvel and DC owned by giant corporations, there should be no cash flow issues requiring no-return sales: meanwhile comic shops are living on tiny margins and struggle to sell back issues. The shops have no incentive to gamble by ordering comics without a big creator or character name attached, or that haven't had media promotion: even on the big-name comics their incentive is to order only what they're sure they can sell. They can't afford dead stock: it's not an asset any more, except in very rare cases. People don't go to the comic shop to browse the back issue boxes like they did when I was young. The ideal number of orders for a comic shop to place with the distributor is equal to the number of pre-orders: everything that actually goes on the shelf is a gamble.

Consider how mad that is: for a comic shop to sell a comic off the shelf to someone who just walked in, doesn't actually help that comic survive. Buying a TPB doesn't help either. The only thing that definitely helps a comic survive is to pre-order the single issues, because that's the only thing that will increase the number of copies your comic shop will order and those are the sales figures the industry uses to decide whether to keep a comic going. If you want a comic to survive you have to support if before you've even read it. Even then, you have to have access to a local comic shop, which lots of people (myself included) don't.

Who looks at that model and says 'yup, this is how we want to run the industry'?

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Marvel does a few digital-first comics, DC has been doing more.  Outside of the weird juggernaut that is Injustice--which isn't exactly what most advocates of diversity in comics are looking for, aspect-wise--they do fairly marginal business.  Trades are similar in their small impact outside a few exceptional juggernauts.  It's worth going and looking at a Tilting at Windmills column for the year** and seeing what Bookscan tells you--it's obviously not the whole story, but it's incredibly eye-opening about just how few copies a niche book moves.  Much was made of Mockingbird jumping up the Amazon ranks, but no one noticed it dropped back down.  Midnighter got another (shorter) mini because the trade sales exceeded expectations, but that means you have to remember the last issue of Middy sold like 8k.  Usually, a niche trade sells *far less* than the floppy did.  My skepticism about the subscription model, as much as I'd like it, stems in part from what individual music artists say it's done to them, i.e., it's not remotely enough to live on. 

 

**http://www.comicsbeat.com/tilting-at-windmills-257-looking-at-bookscan-2016-more-than-10-million-sold/

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9 minutes ago, Little Valkyrie said:

Marvel does a few digital-first comics, DC has been doing more.  Outside of the weird juggernaut that is Injustice--which isn't exactly what most advocates of diversity in comics are looking for, aspect-wise--they do fairly marginal business.  Trades are similar in their small impact outside a few exceptional juggernauts.  It's worth going and looking at a Tilting at Windmills column for the year** and seeing what Bookscan tells you--it's obviously not the whole story, but it's incredibly eye-opening about just how few copies a niche book moves.  Much was made of Mockingbird jumping up the Amazon ranks, but no one noticed it dropped back down.  Midnighter got another (shorter) mini because the trade sales exceeded expectations, but that means you have to remember the last issue of Middy sold like 8k.  Usually, a niche trade sells *far less* than the floppy did.  My skepticism about the subscription model, as much as I'd like it, stems in part from what individual music artists say it's done to them, i.e., it's not remotely enough to live on. 

 

**http://www.comicsbeat.com/tilting-at-windmills-257-looking-at-bookscan-2016-more-than-10-million-sold/

This may all be true, though the big two are very cagey about their digital figures, but there's an element of chicken-and-egg that's well exemplified by the World of Wakanda situation in comparison to, say, Civil War II. The latter was focused on maximising sales from the comic-store audience: big event, many big name characters involved, numerous tie-ins, lots of promotion. It's a tried-and-tested strategy and it works - but it doesn't work as well as it used to, and you can't keep doing it forever. It's exploiting your existing audience base, and anyone will tell you that's not a long-term business strategy.

To open up the new markets WoW etc. are supposed to be getting, you need a whole new marketing strategy. What promotion do any of those 'niche' titles get in TPB or digital? How does Marvel actually plan to access these new markets? What is their model?

I said at the time that cancelling a book for poor sales after two issues strongly suggests that you didn't do any market research before launching it, and it also implies you had no marketing strategy for it. Launching non-traditional books without a plan and without information is always, always going to end in failure. This is true of any product. You can't then blame the product or the market for those failures.

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