CBR: Cup O' Joe - Jun 3, 2011

[CBR News]

Comic shop owner Jud Meyers talks out issues of retail, fandom and more with Tom Brevoort, from debate over Marvel's lack of a Vertigo-like line, sales on comic book deaths and the status of Neil Gaiman's "Marvelman."


Full article here.

[EXCELSIOR 2.0]

Awe that one panel made me think they brought AoA Jean Grey back with them to 616 :[ I can still hope though.

[MarvelMaster616]

A nice plus-sized interview complete with perspective from a retailer. I really think the comic industry is going through a major shift. Just as all publishing is going through a shift, comics will have to adapt. The old models simply don't work as well as they used to. The market is changing faster than most publishing companies (comics included) can adapt. I think Brevoort is saying all the right things when talking about direct marketing and the nature of the business. However, he and pretty much nobody else really talks about the future. I get that he probably doesn't want to say too much about company plans, but after DC's latest move they'll have to show their hand at one point.

Plus, the previews of Uncanny X-Force and Age of Apocalypse were great! Uncanny X-Force is still the best X-book on the racks in my opinion. Bringing Age of Apocalypse into the mix can only make it more awesome.

[tesh_karde]

That was a phenominal read. Kudos on the great questions and answers! Makes me feel good to be a comic fan!

[Alex6166]

Neil Adam's artwork is insane.

[ENNISELLIS]

What a fantastic article / interview.

And Jud hit the nail on the head with "consistency". Nothing pisses me off more than picking up a book with a great creative team, only to find the artist is poached and put on another book after 6 issues. If Marvel (and DC for that matter) could actually commit to keeping a team together for at least a year or 2 (1 issue fill-in art is fine if the artist needs a break once or twice from time to time) that would be a massive step forward.

For example, I'll be amazed if Steve McNiven stays on Captain America beyond the first arc. I know he's not the fastest, but surely it's not impossible to do 6 issues, 1 or 2 issue fill in by another slow-but-decent artist, followed by another 4-6 issues?

But thanks for a great read Jud & Tom!

[Will.S]

Insightful interview.

I particularly liked Jud's point about a better re-order system for back issues. It's happened to me sometimes where I'll hear about a run being really good after the fact and not being able to get them in singles like what happened to me with Diggle's opening arc of the Dark Reign T-Bolts or for potential new customers who want to go back to the beginning after a big event or movie but having the #2, #3, #4 issues be notoriously hard to find.

[Will.S]

What a fantastic article / interview.

And Jud hit the nail on the head with "consistency". Nothing pisses me off more than picking up a book with a great creative team, only to find the artist is poached and put on another book after 6 issues. If Marvel (and DC for that matter) could actually commit to keeping a team together for at least a year or 2 (1 issue fill-in art is fine if the artist needs a break once or twice from time to time) that would be a massive step forward.

For example, I'll be amazed if Steve McNiven stays on Captain America beyond the first arc. I know he's not the fastest, but surely it's not impossible to do 6 issues, 1 or 2 issue fill in by another slow-but-decent artist, followed by another 4-6 issues?

But thanks for a great read Jud & Tom!

Yeah creative team consistency is important too.

[Drink]

For what it's worth re: Marvel having a Vertigo like line, they do have Criminal by Brubaker/Phillips. Which is easily on par in terms of quality with your standard Vertigo series.

Granted, it's really one of the very few non-superhero titles they make, and it's alternating publishing with Incognito, a superhero book in the same vein, but still....

[the_speedball]

Eventually things become back issues, and you bag them, board them and mark them up a little bit.

Something I've always wondered - why aren't back issues discounted rather than marked up? Seems silly that you make things more expensive when people have "moved on" instead of discounting it to move product that obviously hasn't sold. And it has to be easier to have someone pick up issue three if they can find one and two a little cheaper.

[Ziza9]

For what it's worth re: Marvel having a Vertigo like line, they do have Criminal by Brubaker/Phillips. Which is easily on par in terms of quality with your standard Vertigo series.

Granted, it's really one of the very few non-superhero titles they make, and it's alternating publishing with Incognito, a superhero book in the same vein, but still....

I agree. Both of those books are very Vertigo-esque for lack of a better term. I feel like they used to have a brand that could engender those same type of expectations that Vertigo books do now. But I don't know how relevant or strong it would be if they brought it back now. Tied more to the original version, not the last aborted attempt.

[Umbra]

Neil Adam's artwork is insane.

Agreed. It's freaking awesome.

[Will.S]

Something I've always wondered - why aren't back issues discounted rather than marked up? Seems silly that you make things more expensive when people have "moved on" instead of discounting it to move product that obviously hasn't sold. And it has to be easier to have someone pick up issue three if they can find one and two a little cheaper.

This probably isn't typical of every shop but when my comic shop has a lot of back issues they want to get rid of like a bunch of Secret Invasion tie in issues or DC's Trinity issues they they discount them to like .99 or so. Mostly because they don't want them to be taking up a whole lot of space and event/weekly comics tend to have a lot of left over tie in books after the event ends.

But if they can still make some money on the back issues, especially when it comes to the "hotter" books like Avengers that have more consistent sales and sell them a little above cost it can help boost their profit margin a bit, especially when they have a bunch of unsold stuff that just sits there. There's also the added cost of bagging and boarding them as well which I know gets factored into the back issue prices of newer books at Midtown Comics.

[joeshan]

For what it's worth re: Marvel having a Vertigo like line, they do have Criminal by Brubaker/Phillips. Which is easily on par in terms of quality with your standard Vertigo series.

Granted, it's really one of the very few non-superhero titles they make, and it's alternating publishing with Incognito, a superhero book in the same vein, but still....

Well, not really. As Tom has noted before, all the financial risk/reward on Icon titles rests with the creators, not Marvel, so they are not concerned so much with the (relatively) low numbers of those titles. The economics of Icon are totally different. If Criminal was a straight out, owned by Marvel title it would no doubt have been cancelled by now.

[chrissama200]

Nice to hear they haven't forgotten Marvelman. I was beginning to wonder...