Market Share: Marvel vs. DC

[Luck911]

I find it hard to believe that people are siding with $3.99 books (polybagged) and twice a month.

Howabout $2.99 books twice a month with a 25 to 34% increase in the number of readers.

You are talking as a consumer, business wise selling more of more of the same product at higher price with similar numbers is winning.In what world is 3.99 not better than 2.99.As fan i want to see 2.99 on everything but more money is more money.

The funny thing about this people are making excuse why Marvel is catching back up forgetting that DC pulled the mother of all gimmicks to pass Marvel seriously rebooting more than half your books and relaunching all of rest with everything having number 1's and large advertising campaign in comic history.If double shipping is gimmick then is isn't Rebooting your whole line of comics and getting rid of most your continuity not a gimmick? It is just silly that DC fans are making excuse now

I am not a hater to me DC reboot was a massive success,I personally went for from reading zero DC books to reading about 10-20 books and i am interested others plus i am collecting older issues because i like some of the characters now.The back and forth with fans are silly i am fan of good comics whether they come from dc,marvel,image,dark horse,idw whoever

[marvell2100]

You are talking as a consumer, business wise selling more of more of the same product at higher price with similar numbers is winning.In what world is 3.99 not better than 2.99.As fan i want to see 2.99 on everything but more money is more money.

The funny thing about this people are making excuse why Marvel is catching back up forgetting that DC pulled the mother of all gimmicks to pass Marvel seriously rebooting more than half your books and relaunching all of rest with everything having number 1's and large advertising campaign in comic history.If double shipping is gimmick then is isn't Rebooting your whole line of comics and getting rid of most your continuity not a gimmick? It is just silly that DC fans are making excuse now

I am not a hater to me DC reboot was a massive success,I personally went for from reading zero DC books to reading about 10-20 books and i am interested others plus i am collecting older issues because i like some of the characters now.The back and forth with fans are silly i am fan of good comics whether they come from dc,marvel,image,dark horse,idw whoever

You are making far too much sense. Get out.

[CyberHubbs]

I'm not sure how true this is, but I thought I read somewhere that stores had to purchase a certain amount of copies to then be able to return unsold copies on select titles.

Any truth to that?

[BrotherUnitNo_4]

I'm actually suprised by this.

I expected the DC dominance to continue for at least 6 months.

Anyways, I think DC lower end titles might be losing ground while the top tier titles are holding/gaining sales.

Just my guess.

I had kind of projected to 6 months as well, and I agree with your theory. DC's lower end was still losing double digit percentages of readers.

The only thing I care about is that both companies got more sales the past yr.

Very good news indeed. It's a shame that some readers have fallen into parties and can't just enjoy good comics.

My hope has always been that it would eventually spur Marvel to go back to $2.99 though I'm not optimistic. It can happen though, DC was shifting to $3.99 at one point when they suddenly and surprisingly backtracked and dropped everything back to $2.99.

DC backtracked because Marvel continued to maintain dollar and market share dominance. They had much more to lose than Marvel did if they continued down that path.

I'm convinced Marvel double-shipped more books at higher prices solely to beat DC in these last few months.

I'd say that April is the month to really watch. As that's the month after a few of their low tier books are pruned from the publishing line. It'll give us probably the clearest idea of how Marvel can survive when they're not double-shipping. February before that is also a month to watch as that has a lot of major ($3.99) books double-shipping.

Way to sacrifice quality for short-term gain, Marvel. Nothing gets people more excited to read comics than seeing that $3.99 pricetag twice a month and fill-in artist after fill-in artist.

Please don't bring in any arguments about fill-in artists as both DC in their well-planned relaunch and Marvel in their arc rotations have been hit by fill-ins in the last few months.

[RolandJP]

You are talking as a consumer, business wise selling more of more of the same product at higher price with similar numbers is winning.In what world is 3.99 not better than 2.99.As fan i want to see 2.99 on everything but more money is more money.

The funny thing about this people are making excuse why Marvel is catching back up forgetting that DC pulled the mother of all gimmicks to pass Marvel seriously rebooting more than half your books and relaunching all of rest with everything having number 1's and large advertising campaign in comic history.If double shipping is gimmick then is isn't Rebooting your whole line of comics and getting rid of most your continuity not a gimmick? It is just silly that DC fans are making excuse now

I am not a hater to me DC reboot was a massive success,I personally went for from reading zero DC books to reading about 10-20 books and i am interested others plus i am collecting older issues because i like some of the characters now.The back and forth with fans are silly i am fan of good comics whether they come from dc,marvel,image,dark horse,idw whoever

I dont mind what DC did. As a matter of fact I saluted them..at the same time voiced my disappointment that my beloved Marvel was waylaid.

Marvel should lead the way to innovation not play catchup. That is how you lose.

That being said..I am happy that Marvel did something to combat DC's rise.

[CyberHubbs]

DC lured readers back by playing to their nostalgia of the 90s. That's not exactly innovative.

[Dog]

That being said..I am happy that Marvel did something to combat DC's rise.

What have they done? The amount of books double-shipped in December isn't really out of the ordinary for the past year or so.

[BrotherUnitNo_4]

That being said..I am happy that Marvel did something to combat DC's rise.

It's definitely not as bold as DC but it does give them the opportunity to keep things going until they can think of something bigger. It's not a course that's likely to be sustainable in the long run especially with the ever increasing frequency of $3.99 books.

[marco19]

i cant believe people are still whining about double shipping, hasnt anybody taken a business class that posts on here. i would much rather have 2 issues of teh core monthlies than some of past nonstop lame limited series the store for my comics every customer and im talking about the people who put down a good 30-50 dollars a week on marvel books everyone prefers the double shipping of the monthlies, i know most of the dc books are locked into 12 straight issues without interfence or changes but guarentted by the 4th quarter you ll see dc start to double some ship there higher profile books trust me even all the people praising dc would much rather have 2 of the core books than some of the offshoot books, marvel is doing everything right in a business sense putting out more of the books that peopel want and no that stores can and will sell

[turtlefood]

i cant believe people are still whining about double shipping, hasnt anybody taken a business class that posts on here. i would much rather have 2 issues of teh core monthlies than some of past nonstop lame limited series the store for my comics every customer and im talking about the people who put down a good 30-50 dollars a week on marvel books everyone prefers the double shipping of the monthlies, i know most of the dc books are locked into 12 straight issues without interfence or changes but guarentted by the 4th quarter you ll see dc start to double some ship there higher profile books trust me even all the people praising dc would much rather have 2 of the core books than some of the offshoot books, marvel is doing everything right in a business sense putting out more of the books that peopel want and no that stores can and will sell

I guess i could print this post out and then put it in my fireplace as kindling....*tries to find a way to burn this post with fire without wrecking my laptop*

[BlackSun17]

You are talking as a consumer, business wise selling more of more of the same product at higher price with similar numbers is winning.In what world is 3.99 not better than 2.99.As fan i want to see 2.99 on everything but more money is more money.

Well, if we are talking business, you have to factor in the cost of creating all those extra books each month. High sales on a higher price does not always lead to profit.

For me, I am just glad to see the entire comic industry get a boost from the DC relaunch.

[charlesthehammer]

i cant believe people are still whining about double shipping, hasnt anybody taken a business class that posts on here. i would much rather have 2 issues of teh core monthlies than some of past nonstop lame limited series the store for my comics every customer and im talking about the people who put down a good 30-50 dollars a week on marvel books everyone prefers the double shipping of the monthlies, i know most of the dc books are locked into 12 straight issues without interfence or changes but guarentted by the 4th quarter you ll see dc start to double some ship there higher profile books trust me even all the people praising dc would much rather have 2 of the core books than some of the offshoot books, marvel is doing everything right in a business sense putting out more of the books that peopel want and no that stores can and will sell

Have you taken business classes, because yes you did give the benfits of double shipping, but you completely ignore the many potential downsides. Not to mention the fact that you said nothing about business itself and only that the big spenders prefer double shipping (how do you know that? Business class? ).

[RolandJP]

DC lured readers back by playing to their nostalgia of the 90s. That's not exactly innovative.

The writing on Animal man. OMAC. Batwing. And other titles disagree.

[Jake V]

Sales of the Hulk book continued to decline after the price was reduced to $2.99.

Jeff Parker strikes again!

[RolandJP]

Jeff Parker strikes again!

You shut your DOUBTING MOUTH!!!


I mean keyboard.