What should Marvel's publishing format be like?

[Flash's Lightning]

"Regular Series" - A series is run until it can't sustain itself, then cancelled. Other series take its' place.

"Seasons" - Spiderman 2011, about twelve issues, tells a story like the season of a television show.

"Mini's" - Instead of ongoing titles, single issues and mini series are used instead of arcs in a regular series.

"Mixture" - Whatever works best for a title. If Thunderbolts works better as a regular series, and Venom runs best as the occasional mini series, but Runaways works better as a Seasons sort of title, they're run that way.

"Other" - you tell me


I'm going with Mixture. It'd be nice to see more "season" style books, graphic novels, and reoccurring mini's (think Venom of the 90's) than is going on right now. Many people complain that series are cancelled quickly when they don't get a foothold. Wouldn't changing the format a bit give people more of a reason to pick up a book?

For example, Annihilation was mini's, specials, and a series (Nova) all mixed into one, so it was a heavy investment: however, I knew it was temporary, so I put my dollars into that story. If they'd started, say, four cosmic style series, I probably would have picked up one, and left the rest.

Runaways I felt was more of a television "series" style book: I picked it up during the second season because I just felt it was new and "separate" from Season 1.

[Mechano]

no floppies... just trades and hardcovers. the trades would come out first, then the hardcovers. that is, until printed comics die out completely. then they should have kind of an xbox live subscription model. $20 buys you 10-15 books a month, $30 buys you 35 books, and so on and so forth.

[Crawford Crow]

Three small pictures per day in the newspaper, except on Sundays when it's six slightly bigger pictures. :-)

[Hulk_Is]

I like Marvel's current format, thank you. Where there are ongoings that are split into arcs, thus giving readers a chance to split or keep on reading. Also, if they can't sustain exceptable numbers for Marvel, they then appropriately get cancelled.

Also, I like how Marvel produces miniseries which gives a full and brief story that many current ongoings are too open-ended to usually deal with. This also goes for maxiseries as well.

[The Sword Is Drawn]

I've been saying it for a few years now, but I really do feel that in the current Market Marvel do need to change their publishing policy quite dramatically to maximise the diversity of books they publish.

Sure, continue to publish the top tier books monthly. The Branded titles will continue to sell in monthly format, and probably no matter what price Marvel jack up the price to...

But look at all the second tier books which have been cancelled over the past few years? Books which have had critical acclaim, but not managed monthly sales which Marvel were happy to continue with. I'm talking the likes of Atlas, S.W.O.R.D., Doctor Voodoo, Runaways, or Captain Britain & MI13.

All good books, but in the current market they just can't compete in Event Seasons and amongst a pretty flooded market of family titles for a regular monthly ongoing place.

And yet axing them seriously cuts off areas of Marvel's diverse universe. Without books like those Marvel becomes a lot more generic as a comics universe.

Why not switch to putting out books for those properties onece, maybe twice, per year. Specific length, pre-pitched stories, for a 4 or 5 issue limited series? Marvel don't have to employ the creative team on an ongoing contract, and with the story pre-arranged and approved there's less chance of filler, and a better level of overall quality.

It is workable. Heck, it's how Dark Horse have always published titles like Hellboy and B.P.R.D. - it's hardly done them any harm. And it guarantees that you get at least one trade paperback for each property on the shelves each year. Keeps the brand of the smaller book in sight, whilst not having to make a full-commitment.

Everybody wins.

And if one of thos properties performs exceptionally well, then they could always consider making it into an ongoing further down the line.

[Nova2814.1]

I'd vote for mixture as well, and not just for Marvel, but across comics publishing.

The big names (e.g. Spidey, Batman, Avengers, etc) would be strong enough to support an open ended ongoing. Second tier (and lower) characters would get limited series, with the more well known getting longer maxi-series/season type books. Though I'd hope those types of releases wouldn't just be 2/3 unconnected story arcs.

[The Black Guardian]

Honestly, I really don't see the difference between series and season, besides titling. Also, comic book "seasons" shouldn't necessarily be 12 issues long, or a year long. Look at Buffy S8.

Anyway, a mix is always best.

[Home made ectoplasm]

no floppies... just trades and hardcovers. the trades would come out first, then the hardcovers. that is, until printed comics die out completely. then they should have kind of an xbox live subscription model. $20 buys you 10-15 books a month, $30 buys you 35 books, and so on and so forth.

No floppies is probably going to happen soon, but I hope they'll still release single issues as downloads

[Grapeweasel]

They should phone me every Monday and ask me what I feel like reading.

Then get to work.

[Congo Jack]

What they've got going now works okay, but they need to improve the system.

I can't stand books being late or artist changes in the middle of an arc, or fill-in issues. Nothing should be solicited until it is completed unless the writer/artist have a good reputation for hitting their dead-lines (Mark Bagley, John Romita, ect) and have earned that liberty.

TPB collections of story-lines should come out the same month (or month after) the final issue in that collection. Waiting seven months or more to read a story is ridiculous.

[svp]

I should be able to text my wants into a machine next to my bed and then dream them. Like Dan Slott with Steve McNiven on Thing two in one ;special guest Spider-man. stuff like that,

[littleredhat]

Monthly anthologies. With day and date digital and subscription They're already doing reprint anthologies for the newstand why not just go all out and condense the marvel line into say ten 100 page monthly antholgies for around 5.99?

[Flash's Lightning]

In answer to the above, there's no such thing as a trade paperback only system. TPB's are essentially and inherently reprints of previously published issues.

There could be a one-shot, special, anthology, magazine, or original graphic novel system, though...

I said twelve issues for each season, because (imho) I felt a season lasts a year. Twelve issues means one issue a month; more than that, creative teams fall behind. Less, people get bored.

I'd love to be able to order dreams about what stories I want on the go, but until that happens I'll have to deal with colored paper. :)

About the whole digital thing, that's a whole other can of worms which I don't know how I feel about. I like the feel of a comic in my hand, of bagging and boarding, of sorting them into my longboxes. Thinking of all that going away makes me sad.

[regomar]

No floppies is probably going to happen soon, but I hope they'll still release single issues as downloads

Can't happen soon enough. I haven't bought a single issue for years. I only buy trades and omnis. I don't want to have hundreds of little fragile mags everywhere, I want it all in one place with no stupid action figure advertising breaking the flow.

And while we're at it, stop with the random delays of tpb's because of these stupid new premier hardcovers. Especially when it's done randomly and unpredictably. People dont generally collect a title in multiple formats, that looks terrible on the shelf. Why are some Hulk trades put out as paperback immediately, while some are randomly delayed almost a year because of these stupid worthless mini hardcovers? I HATE it.

[Huthaifa]

I voted for mixture, but in all honesty, if no one knows that the book exists, then whats the point. You dont have to abandon any means of revenue.You need to expand your markets.

[Huthaifa]

Can't happen soon enough. I haven't bought a single issue for years. I only buy trades and omnis. I don't want to have hundreds of little fragile mags everywhere, I want it all in one place with no stupid action figure advertising breaking the flow.

And while we're at it, stop with the random delays of tpb's because of these stupid new premier hardcovers. Especially when it's done randomly and unpredictably. People dont generally collect a title in multiple formats, that looks terrible on the shelf. Why are some Hulk trades put out as paperback immediately, while some are randomly delayed almost a year because of these stupid worthless mini hardcovers? I HATE it.

I never understood the argument for either or. The existence of monthly are not really hurting the distribution of trades. Hell, Marvel has managed to put the screws to the wait for trade crowd with their mostly hardcover distribution.

Also how does 6 monthly books take up that much more space than a hardcover of the same material?

[Nova2814.1]

And while we're at it, stop with the random delays of tpb's because of these stupid new premier hardcovers. Especially when it's done randomly and unpredictably. People dont generally collect a title in multiple formats, that looks terrible on the shelf. Why are some Hulk trades put out as paperback immediately, while some are randomly delayed almost a year because of these stupid worthless mini hardcovers? I HATE it.

I think Marvel's preference is to release as much as possible in premiere hardcover, but if it's not profitable to continue to do so, then they will switch to just the paperback release.

[Ace Grayson]

I think it'd be cool to see a mixture of all of that.

[Flash's Lightning]

For those of you picking mixture, what sort of balance do you want?

A mixture like it is now, or a mixture with more one shots, mini's...?

Just curious if anyone feels like me that more Annihilation style stories and season epics are the way to go.

[CaptCleghorn]

"Regular Series" - A series is run until it can't sustain itself, then cancelled. Other series take its' place.

"Seasons" - Spiderman 2011, about twelve issues, tells a story like the season of a television show.

"Mini's" - Instead of ongoing titles, single issues and mini series are used instead of arcs in a regular series.

"Mixture" - Whatever works best for a title. If Thunderbolts works better as a regular series, and Venom runs best as the occasional mini series, but Runaways works better as a Seasons sort of title, they're run that way.

Actually, I'm leaning more towards imagining a mini as being a single arc about a character(s), where a series would be a string of minis about the same characters.

I see only a few books as being Series worthy. An issue every month and no down time. The books I see as actual series would be few and consist of the best sellers that set the foundation for the Marvel Universe (Avengers, Cap, Thor, Iron Man, Hulk, FF, DD, X-Men, Wolverine, Punisher).

A "seasons" book would be run lot like the Sopranos, a few (6, 8, 12) issues, more packed with content, but with a definite end, even if a season-ending cliffhanger. I'd imagine this style to be filled with books that can't quite pull off a monthly, but can return on a regular basis. SHIELD and SWORD seem likely. SHIELD already is. Lesser known characters without big licensing concerns where the status quo can change much more easily are also fitting for this. Black Widow, Dr Strange, Moon Knight, Sub-Mariner

Mini-series are for single stories, whether single characters, or team-ups, these stories are for situations who are basically one-shot.

[regomar]

I think Marvel's preference is to release as much as possible in premiere hardcover, but if it's not profitable to continue to do so, then they will switch to just the paperback release.

Well it just irritates me when a title that they've been releasing immediately in TPB like the Hulk books suddenly has 1 out of 2 books start using the premier hardcover while the other doesn't. (Hulk (Red Hulk) goes right to TPB with Scorched Earth, while Incredible Hulks does not with Dark Son for the first time, delaying the tpb for over half a year)

I won't buy these premier editions because I can't put them in order on my shelves. If they were oversized, I'd consider it because at least then there's a benefit, but the premier hardcovers are the same sized paper, just bulkier because the hard covers make them slightly taller and wider so they look bad on the shelf unless I take them out of order. It's just annoying as hell.

[Flash's Lightning]

Actually, I'm leaning more towards imagining a mini as being a single arc about a character(s), where a series would be a string of minis about the same characters.

Some are, yes. Especially with Marvel. Some don't have arcs, though the only one I can think of off the top of my head is Invincible; it does the classic each-issue-matters format in contrast with arcs.