CBR: Joe Quesada Talks Captain Britain, Event Fatigue

[CBR News]

Marvel Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada addresses fans' concerns about the cancellations of "Captain Britain & MI13" and "Spider-Girl," talks about Marvel's slightly unusual summer plans, and confesses to event fatigue.


Full article here.

[NickGuy]

event fatigue? really?

ive had event fatigue ever since house of m.

[Mr Derp]

So "Event Fatigue" will be knock down drag out event of 2010 ? Will it directly follow the events of Dark Reign or will there be a little break?

[bkdane]

Hoping for a MI 13 rebirth in some form.

[Ari Gold]

honestly, this guy makes me want to buy less Marvel . . . he comes across as very pompous . . . if I have to make a choice at some point between keeping a DC book or Marvel he will have made up my mind for me.

[Will.S]

Hoping for a MI 13 rebirth in some form.

Maybe it'll survive in the form of back-ups.

With back ups one can basically just save a series and put it in that form and then collect it further down the line unless Marvel continues them in mini series.

[stubarnes]

honestly, this guy makes me want to buy less Marvel . . . he comes across as very pompous . . . if I have to make a choice at some point between keeping a DC book or Marvel he will have made up my mind for me.

Honestly, I was very entertained. He has a great sense of humor and he has style.

And, honestly, if you are buying less Marvel because of a blog post, then...

Oh well.

[Babylon23]

All I can say to these fans is, "More than writing in and more than posting that we suck because we're canceling 'Captain Britain,' get more people to buy the book."

If Marvel is willing to give me the full support of their multi-million dollars PR and advertising department then I'll be happy to do what I can to get more people buying the book. Otherwise, I'd prefer Marvel to do their job in promoting their titles rather than trying to convince me that it's my job to get readers for them.

[DeadXMan]

I love "Captain Britain." I really do love it. Unfortunately, there weren't enough people buying the book to keep us printing it. But this has always been the case. The lower circulating books, once they get close to that point of cancellation, the outcry from fans makes you feel like the book is doing "X-Men" numbers.

but, Uncanny numbers are at the worst it been in it's history.

[Colby]

To be fair, Marvel can only promote so much. I mean some people just look at those promotional titles and go, "What the hell is this about," and go about getting their pull list. However, if a person who has been reading Captain Britain and talk about how badass it is, that might convince someone to go buy it.

[Ari Gold]

And, honestly, if you are buying less Marvel because of a blog post, then...

Oh well.

First of all, let's not be silly here. It's not one blog post, but rather his overall tone and feelings expressed towards the readers.

I understand the notion that his goal is to maximize profits. Unfortunately though, the way he goes about discussing that with the readers is very often by treating us like fools.

Just as an example, he pretends to sell us the notion that Marvel is listening to the fans and not having a big summer event bc of the tie-ins and all that comes with it . . . and wants us to believe that Dark Reign isn't exactly that. With all it's self-contained limited series. Another one, War of Kings may not have the scope of a Secret Invasion but for somebody interested in the cosmic U they would need to buy multiple titles they would otherwise not be spending their money on if they wanted to get the whole story.
Another example is the 3.99 price increase. They don't even try to give back to their fans like at DC, where many of the canceled series of the last year are showing up as back-up features to 3.99. Marvel simply knows the loyal fans will be spending the extra buck anyway so they just up the price.
Another example - books like Ghost Rider and Moon Knight aren't as profitable to Marvel . . . so they "cancel" the series and they just continue where they left off but instead of calling it the regular series they call it a limited series and slap the extra $1 on top.

Additionally, he wants us to believe that the low numbers are the fans fault . . . what a jerk. Cornwell is writing a quality book that is just under the mark of survival (as demonstrated by the numbers Nova and Guardians of the Galaxy are selling at) and it was only 10 issues in when they decided to cancel it . . .

I understand the nature of the business but how could he slap us in the face like that . . . in an economy where regular customers are cutting back, where long-time favorite books are getting a price increase, where every event has multiple tie-ins and mini-series, and the overall number of best-selling comics is down significantly from just a year ago, how could he expect anything other than some of the numbers he's seeing on these titles, and more importantly how can he declare it a failure when it was given 10-12 issues to surpass impossible markers.

[Rurik]

Hot dog! Marvel is FINALLY getting almost as sick of all these mother grabbing Dark Secret World Civil War Super Mega Ultra We're Only Doing This To Squeeze Every Bloody Cent Out Of You As We Possibly Can By Making You Buy A Dozen Titles You'd Never Touch With A Twenty Foot Rusty Halberd Otherwise Just To Understand What The Heck Is Going On In The Titles You DO Like Uber Cross-Over Events as I am! Bust out the orange Nehi, put on some Queen, and order some pizza and wings! We're going to bloody party like it's 1999 baby!

[Babylon23]

To be fair, Marvel can only promote so much. I mean some people just look at those promotional titles and go, "What the hell is this about," and go about getting their pull list. However, if a person who has been reading Captain Britain and talk about how badass it is, that might convince someone to go buy it.

But it comes down to sphere of influence. I can and have recommended the book to a couple of friends I know who are comic readers. I can come on messageboards and recommend the book to some posters. Really that's about all I can do and that won't have a huge impact on sales.

Marvel OTOH could have tried promoting the book a little better and have a much wider sphere of influence. Perhaps releasing the Captain Britain Omnibus to coincide with the release of the first issue would have been a good start, especially if it included a preview from issue 1. Readers drawn to the omnibus due to the drawing power of Alan Davis and Alan Moore or the reputation this run has might have been drawn to the new series. Instead the omnibus is coming out after the current series was cancelled.

My point is that Marvel has a far greater influence over readership trends than I do.

[CMBMOOL]

Why doesn't anyone do letter campaigns anymore ?

[NickFury90]

Just as an example, he pretends to sell us the notion that Marvel is listening to the fans and not having a big summer event bc of the tie-ins and all that comes with it . . . and wants us to believe that Dark Reign isn't exactly that. With all it's self-contained limited series.

Dark Reign isn't a big event, its a status quo. Theres a lot of mini-series going on, but you don't have to read those. You wanna just read Incredible Herc, Thor, Captain America, Daredevil, Invincible Iron Man? Go right ahead. Some of those might be "Dark Reign" related, but its pretty self-contained in that series IE you don't have to go read Book A to understand Book B. There's always gonna be something going on in the overall Marvel universe. Welcome to the world of serial fiction, enjoy your stay.

Another one, War of Kings may not have the scope of a Secret Invasion but for somebody interested in the cosmic U they would need to buy multiple titles they would otherwise not be spending their money on if they wanted to get the whole story.

From what I hear, War of King is completely awesome. If they want to know more about the Cosmic Universe, why WOULDN'T they try to get the MAIN book? I think you're just complaining to complain here.

Another example is the 3.99 price increase. They don't even try to give back to their fans like at DC, where many of the canceled series of the last year are showing up as back-up features to 3.99. Marvel simply knows the loyal fans will be spending the extra buck anyway so they just up the price.

You don't think the recession effects Marvel? Salaries for writers/artists, cost of paper, etc. Its all gone up. Do I like paying more money for the same amount of content? **** no. Do I understand that everybody is in a bind and they're trying to make a profit? Yeah.

Another example - books like Ghost Rider and Moon Knight aren't as profitable to Marvel . . . so they "cancel" the series and they just continue where they left off but instead of calling it the regular series they call it a limited series and slap the extra $1 on top.

You have a point with Ghost Rider, I think they're just trying to get more attention with the whole "Hey look guys its a mini-series lulz", but they should have just put it in the regular series. Immortal Iron Fist is going through a mini-series, but they have 8-page back-up stories to go along with it.

Additionally, he wants us to believe that the low numbers are the fans fault . . . what a jerk.

The FANS weren't buying the book, thus the book gets canceled.

Cornwell is writing a quality book that is just under the mark of survival (as demonstrated by the numbers Nova and Guardians of the Galaxy are selling at) and it was only 10 issues in when they decided to cancel it . . .

But they didn't cancel it at #10. They gave it another go. They put up some advertisments. They posted a big banner on the Marvel website for the whole "Vampire State" arc and how the next issue would be a perfect jump-on for new fans. Heck, they even gave Cornwell the opprunity to complete his original trilogy of story arcs. But they weren't enough sales, thus the weak gets cut.

I understand the nature of the business but how could he slap us in the face like that . . . in an economy where regular customers are cutting back, where long-time favorite books are getting a price increase, where every event has multiple tie-ins and mini-series, and the overall number of best-selling comics is down significantly from just a year ago, how could he expect anything other than some of the numbers he's seeing on these titles, and more importantly how can he declare it a failure when it was given 10-12 issues to surpass impossible markers.

Impossible markers? Hell, Secret Warriors starts Nick Fury and a bunch of kids nobody gives a **** about and its selling in the 40,000+ mark month in and month out four issues in.

Look, Marvel is trying to run a business. Don't come up with some kind of conspiracy theory about having it out for Cornwell, or trying to cheat fans out of their money. Marvel is producing dozens of high quality books, lots of trades/Omniboos, and expanding into the Digital market fasting than any other comic industry. I truly believe they are doing they're damn best to give us fans the best products possible.