Comics from your Childhood - Another "What's Wrong" topic

[jjreason]

Therein lies another problem - it's been so damned diluted with extra series & books every damned place that only the biggest fans can even hope to keep track of, let alone well-versed in. It's unmanageable, the continuity.

I'm sure I've posted this theory before, but if they produced 100 shitty books a month & sell a 100 copies of each it's only 10,000 sales - whereas if they produced 10 amazing books a month & sold 2000 copies of each because folks couldn't wait to see what was happening next they'd make way more money and production costs would be much much lower. They're doing it wrong.

[RoIIo Tomassi]

I honestly don't think readers factor into it. I mean, yeah, on a secondary basis, but primarily I think the market is set up to appeal to Retailers.

The publisher hypes the shit out a new series or event or whatever. The Retailer orders a shitload of that book. The publishers job is now done. They dont give a fuck if the retailer sells those copies or not. They've already moved onto the next hypeable product.

Now the market research can probably predict how many issues ordered will drop between issue one and two, between two and three, between nine and ten, etc. After five decades they've probably got the half-life of any given series down to a science. If a certain title becomes a hot seller, that's just pure bonus to them. So they continually throw multiple books against the wall to see what sticks, already planning that titles demise and replacement with another title. They've got their publishing plan out 12-18 months ahead of what we're seeing on the rack every week. They already know 2014s big Event and are already brainstorming 2015s.

So what the publisher is working on is more of a general continuous number of books being released every week and month. They don't care if it's twenty Avengers books or 19 Avengers and 1 Cloak & Dagger series. As long as the retailer orders those books in large enough (though continuously diminishing) copies every month. Once a book drops below a certain point, it goes away and gets replaced by the new "Hot" thing. The only people who care about the cancelled series are the ones that stuck with it the entire time. And chances are they'll pick up the new book, so the publisher and retailer continue to get their money.

[Diabolical]

I was going to say something along this line of thought.

I really wish characters didn't have multiple titles. Two could be ok for the big guys like Spidey, Bats, Supes, etc. but no more. Possibly appearing in one team book.

How does Wolverine split his time between several X-Men teams, Avengers, solo, guest spots and more? It doesn't make any realistic sense. The guy must never eat, sleep or poop.

[jjreason]

It's ludicrous. Comics don't need to be believable by any stretch, but they need to help you suspend disbelief. The current state of whatthefuckery regarding Spidey and Wolvie on every god damned team is awful.

[vynsane]

The publisher hypes the shit out a new series or event or whatever. The Retailer orders a shitload of that book. The publishers job is now done. They dont give a fuck if the retailer sells those copies or not.

there's the rub. it's all because comics aren't returnable like almost every other periodical on the shelves. there's no accountability because there's no risk for the publisher if it doesn't sell at the shops.

[Tom Foolery]

And the way they get away with that is shuffling their best selling artists and writers around like 3-card monty. They'll launch a new book with a big draw like McNiven or Bachalo or Finch, and then after six issues, that guy is gone. Sometimes even sooner (Joe Mad only drew three issues of Avenging Spidey, Marc Silvestri only got through an issue and a half of Hulk). And then the writer is usually gone by the end of 12 issues and then you're sitting on a $3.99 title with some C-List talent because you're a fuckin' completist. Jokes on you, fluffer!

[jjreason]

Jesus Christ - vynnie's post is shocking. Comic stores aren't ALLOWED to return the unsold copies???? I really honestly didn't know that, I thought it was just standard to hang on to them for backstock. Why is it like that for comics?

[RoIIo Tomassi]

When they started the Direct Market system back in the late 70s/early 80s the Comics Retailers can buy the inventory at deep discounts (usually 50-60% off cover) but they're non refundable. Retailers buying through regular distribution (like bookstores, newsstands, grocery stores, etc) generally buy their magazines at 5-10% off cover, but return unsold copies. In other words the profit margin is much higher for Direct Market, but it's a balancing act.
Now, back in the 80s, it was less of a problem because comics were selling 200k issues. Now, it's a fucking tightrope for Retailers because consistently overordering as little as 3 extra copies of a book will put you out of business. And underordering means people will go elsewhere for their books because you didn't have what they wanted. Basically, your LCS has to hit the ordering bullseye EVERY WEEK.

[anarky]

Which is why so many order nothing but the surefire sellers from the Big Two (or Big Five, if they're more adventurous). As an example, even though their unwillingness to help me out with TF:RG1 was shitty customer service, I can see why the (closest to) local comic shop would not invest heavily in that book even if it was the owner's favorite.

[Diabolical]

Diamond has really been dropping the ball lately for my LCS. He keeps getting shorted on books, especially popular books, often really shorted.
For example, I don't have Batman #17, the big Death of the Family finale, because he received 0 copies. Zero. Of what is probably the biggest single issue of the year (so fat at least). I don't know how many he ordered, but last month the stack of #16 was pretty damn big, even bigger than usual because of the event.

[RoIIo Tomassi]

What pisses me off about Diamond is that more and more books arrive scuffed up and with blunted corners and shit. And since more often than not there's only like two or three copies of the book, the selection sucks. I try to pull from the middle of the pile, but it's not always effective.

And Diamond has the monopoly on comic distribution. You can blame Marvel for that. They stupidly bought Heroes World Distribution on the east coast in the 90s. Which made Diamond frantically sign exclusivity deals with DC, Image and others. Which drove Capital and other smaller distributors out of business. Then Marvel closed up Heroes World and Diamond was the last man standing. Oye.

[jjreason]

Yeah monopolies are never good and Diamond has been on the boy in the yard for years & years. Not quite sure how/why no one has ventured into this area, other than the fact there is no money to be made there perhaps.

[Diabolical]

With comics selling a fraction of the copies they did in the 90s its no wonder nobody wants to compete with Diamond.
There just ain't enough meat on the bone to bother.