CBR: Cup O' Joe - Jan 28, 2011

[CBR News]

Marvel SVP of Publishing Tom Brevoort kicks off his new CBR column TALK TO THE HAT with a look inside "Fantastic Four" #587's release, an [em]exclusive[/em] preview of #588 and frank talk on comics for younger readers.


Full article here.

[qnetter]

Tom, if you don't want to spoil the content, yet still want to get the mass press, it's simple: DON'T DO THE PR TILL WEDNESDAY OR THURSDAY.

I'm sure retailers would be perfectly happy if media pickups drove customers into the shops over the weekend instead of on new comics day. It's true that some outlets won't pick up the story because it's not a leak -- but if their competitors do, they will... Even if the comics press picks it up before the mass outlets, it will still get covered.

[Sighphi]

The tradeoff is that we don't control the AP or Yahoo! or USA Today. How they choose to report on these things is completely up to them. I read a piece this week on "Entertainment Weekly's" site that was negative towards the whole "Stuntism" of this issue. They were shaking their finger at us for making bread and circuses out of killing this character. It's not like we went to "Entertainment Weekly" and said, "Could you do a story that takes us to task and shakes a finger at us?" But that's the way this particular writer at this particular venue chose to frame his story. He feels this thing has some relevancy to his audience, but he's got a particular slant on the story, and that's how he reports it.

[After-The-Fact Update: The EW Reporter subsequently filed a story in which he recanted his earlier statements, having in the interim tracked down the Hickman run on FF and found it to be to his liking. So that's kind of fun, in my opinion -- and big of him to publicly reverse his stance in that manner.]

So he got yelled at?

BTW, that Cap costume should be the one he should normaly wears. I like it.

[I am MODOK]

I thought the Man Without Fear promos were a lot of fun, and they motivated me to pick up the new Black Panther title. Well, that along with the $2.99 price point and the return to basics approach to the character.

I'm glad I grabbed it, the book has been spectacular! The art and story have been wonderful, reminding me why I love Black Panther.

Here's my review of the newest issue:
http://comicperday.blogspot.com/2011...nther-514.html

[StoneGold]

Funny thing is, I've been saying they needed to do something like this since the Millar/Hitch team basically failed at their stated mission of bringing the FF back to the forefront. They needed to follow the Thor model - kill off the character, kill the book, drive up the fanboy demand, then rerelease with high-level creative team.

This wasn't that exactly, but close enough. We'll see if it works.

[Bevbos]

Thor: For Asgard has been my favorite unexpected Marvel book of late. I picked it up for the Bianchi art but I've stuck around for the compelling storytelling. I guess it's way out of continuity, but I don't care. I really dig it. It has a gravitas that separates it from the herd.

[I'mAWheel]

Wow, Brevoort doesn't even give a flying shit that Marvel was publishing and promptly cancelled the best superhero book on the stands. I'm still reeling from the fact that he actually treated Thor: TMA as if it were a redheaded stepchild rather than one of the most impressive comics Marvel has put out in decades. It was also the only ongoing series I was purchasing from Marvel, so congratulations, Tom, in a way. Here's one 20 to 40 year-old fan who is not currently interested in anything Marvel is publishing.

[seanx]

Strange thing...that it gets mainstream attention. We know that the Human Torch will be back in 8-14 months. We all know that.

As for the young readers thing-There aren't any. Or just so few that it doesn't matter. What does that kids Spider Man sell? 3 or 4 thousand? 45 or 50 million people in the US under 15, and they only sell a few thousand copies? That race is lost.

The reality is that the only future that these characters have is cartoons and video games.

[Rollo Tomassi]

I was aware Brian Clevinger had been tapped to do a Cap book, but with the barrage of Cap titles bombarding the racks over the last few months, I had no idea which one was his. Too bad it got turned into a oneshot, but I will definitely buy it.
And ironically, I have a 12 year old and a 7 year old, and of all the comics I buy(I get between $40 and $60 a week, last week I forked over almost $80) the book they beg, BEG to read out of all those comics, is Clevinger's Atomic Robo series. They LOVE it. So maybe instead of listening to your beancounters about what's "fiscally relevant" or whatever, you should see what kids actually enjoy and emulate that. Or better yet, hire those guys to write your books. Instead of driving them off.

[Nite-Wing]

meh
The whole point of the critical response to Marvel(and DC) not properly producing books that kids can get into isn't the issue. The issue is the fact that you have to have a line of books like Marvel adventures in the first place. If their wasn't such a discrepancy with the way regular stories are told compared to marvel adventures or the like there wouldn't be a problem with a book not being able to make it as an ongoing.

I think its down to the writers, for example someone like Garth Ennis would not be able to tell one of his Punisher stories in a fashion that would appeal to kids. The same can be said with Bendis or Brubaker. When you end up telling stories that fall into a particular niche thats the problem. Marvel has creatively become stale for some time, this could be fixed if there wasn't such as issue with editorial supposedly not seeing the problem with some of the content that gets into books.

The whole line of reasoning that cartoons are bringing kids in is pretty false as well since DC for the record markets or at least aesthetically makes cartoons that appeal to teens more that anything. Marvel's problem is their making shows for teens as well but showing them to kids which is similar to the problem they have with their comics.

[JFW1980]

meh
The whole point of the critical response to Marvel(and DC) not properly producing books that kids can get into isn't the issue. The issue is the fact that you have to have a line of books like Marvel adventures in the first place. If their wasn't such a discrepancy with the way regular stories are told compared to marvel adventures or the like there wouldn't be a problem with a book not being able to make it as an ongoing.

I think its down to the writers, for example someone like Garth Ennis would not be able to tell one of his Punisher stories in a fashion that would appeal to kids. The same can be said with Bendis or Brubaker. When you end up telling stories that fall into a particular niche thats the problem. Marvel has creatively become stale for some time, this could be fixed if there wasn't such as issue with editorial supposedly not seeing the problem with some of the content that gets into books.

100% Agree!

[poneley]

Tom, the new book that I'm going to try out is Heroes for Hire by DnA. I heard people raving about it on the message boards. It sounds like an offbeat book that's written very well. I don't think you guys have been putting out specific promos or big pushes for it-- my interest came from the message boards. It looks like putting your typical sci-fi writers on an urban/street level book paid off.

I have a question: How do you guys decide how quickly/slowly to publish TBP/HCs of recent storylines?

Kudos for the column. I really appreciate the outreach to your community of readers.

[Leocomix]

Wow, Brevoort doesn't even give a flying shit that Marvel was publishing and promptly cancelled the best superhero book on the stands. I'm still reeling from the fact that he actually treated Thor: TMA as if it were a redheaded stepchild rather than one of the most impressive comics Marvel has put out in decades. It was also the only ongoing series I was purchasing from Marvel, so congratulations, Tom, in a way. Here's one 20 to 40 year-old fan who is not currently interested in anything Marvel is publishing.

Brevoort wrote: "I'm sure after hearing this, there will be plenty of posts from 20 to 40-year-old men telling me how this is all awful and how we don't want quality, we just want to put out pabulum. And I appreciate that emotional response. I just don't care about it in this instance as much as I do the response of the seven-year-olds."

[randomengine]

I would be very scared from this interview if I were a comic shop owner. He basically admitted, indirectly, that print is dead and the future is digital.

If all the young readers get hooked on the digital product, then what's the logic to steering them into the comic shops? No, they will stick to the digital. They will demand more from digital and Marvel will acquiesce.

As a result the comic shops are only there for us old farts. Once we start becoming less of a force, and the kiddies hooked on the digital product outnumber us, start looking for the print product and the comic shops to go the way of the spinner rack.

No thank you Marvel. If you aren't gonna invest in me, I refuse to make the same investment in you.

[misterblue77]

As usual, I thought Tom Brevoort gave a candid and interesting interview, and most of the comments are taking shots at him. That aside...

I would be very scared from this interview if I were a comic shop owner. He basically admitted, indirectly, that print is dead and the future is digital.

I can go with the "I would be very scared...if I were a comic shop owner" part, and almost with "print is dead." Has nothing to do with Mr. Brevoort. Print is swiftly dying in the mainstream book publishing industry...if they can't make it, print comics probably can't either.

Maybe new models for the industry can work (releasing digitally, then collecting in trades? But where would that leave the LCS?). As your word choice implies, it's a case of Tom 'admitting' a sad reality.