CBR: Marvel Lays Off Staff in Cost-Cutting Measure

[CBR News]

Comic Book Resources has learned that Marvel is expected to lay off as many as 15 employees today in what's being characterized as a cost-cutting measure, and not based on performance.


Full article here.

[BrotherUnitNo_4]

I don't know how I feel about this.

Are the profit margins really that slim? I thought publishing was doing well for Marvel. I mean they're cutting pages, raising prices and they still have to fire people? Really?

[keilthetarheel]

Good old Disney

[Rasputin9977]

Very interesting. Can this be proof that fans aren't buying as many Marvel books as we were several years ago? I wonder how DC is fairing. They need to cut some x tiles and avenger titles.

[CyberHubbs]

Anyway. Damn shame. But not a surprise given that much bigger companies are laying people off in this economy. Surprised we're not hearing more of this happening in the industry.

[BrotherUnitNo_4]

Very interesting. Can this be proof that fans aren't buying as many Marvel books as we were several years ago?

I think that goes without saying. It's really hard not to feel that these layoffs are a result of Disney's purchase of the company.

[RDMacQ]

I highly doubt that this has anything to do with people not keeping track of what character appeared in what issue. Someone could be doing a bang up job and is liked by everyone. Just that their department might be bleeding money and they're not making enough of a significant contribution to the company to warrant keeping around when that money is needed elsewhere.

Yes, Disney owns Marvel. But Marvel still needs to justify its' presence and pull it's own weight. This is not the first time that Marvel has had to lay people off to cover expenses. Hopefully, with Disney now taking more of an oversight in the company, their situation might be more improved with better accounting and allocation of resources.

[Umbrax]

Good luck to everyone who's lost their job.

[YouthofToday]

I think that goes without saying. It's really hard not to feel that these layoffs are a result of Disney's purchase of the company.

Up until the last month people weren't buying as many DC books either. Sales were down across the whole industry the last few years.

Please explain to me how Disney is responsible for these layoffs.

[Rosebunse]

I think this has a little more to do with the state of comic buying than comic book continuity. While we as fans may notice it, new fans, as long as we don't scare them off by repeatedly telling them comics are impossible for normal people to understand, most new fans would probably just come into it thinking it's an event.

If we as fans want the industry to survive, then we need to do our part and stay positive.

[RDMacQ]

I think this has a little more to do with the state of comic buying than comic book continuity. While we as fans may notice it, new fans, as long as we don't scare them off by repeatedly telling them comics are impossible for normal people to understand, most new fans would probably just come into it thinking it's an event.

If we as fans want the industry to survive, then we need to do our part and stay positive.

Exactly. Remember, Marvel was ruling the sales charts in the 90's. But that didn't stop them from having to make massive layoffs and budget cuts in order to keep the company afloat.

The events and the continuity issues aren't likely what is going to cause someone's layoff. Hell, someone could be doing the best job in that regard, but there is probably a lot of other factors that would go into deciding to terminate their relationship with Marvel. Sometimes you can do the best job possible, and you'll still be let go.

[Dan_Slott]

Although to be fair it looks like it's mostly editors whom, going off the lack of continuity in recent years, weren't actually doing their jobs anyway seeing as how two events can run at any one time without any reference to each other (Hello, Spider Island and Fear Itself! Hey There Chaos War and Shadowland! You guys familiar with each other at all? Guess not!).

We have said repeatedly at shows, on message boards, and on places like formspring and twitter:
Fear Itself and Spider-Island do NOT take place at the same time.
One happens first and the other happens second.
But (and we have said this numerous times as well) we will NOT reveal that order until BOTH events are finished.

This was a deliberate choice. If the reader knows the order ahead of time (or during) it takes the suspense out of ONE of the events, since you'd know which characters were fine, who made it through okay, etc.

So we're a week or two out from that.

This is nothing new for ANY line of comics. Stories are CONSTANTLY taking place in different time frames. Since Spider-Island takes place over the space of a few days, does it REALLY matter if you know whether it takes place before or after Fear Itself -- right now? Or in a few weeks? C'mon.

This has NOTHING to do with hard working people who've lost their jobs today. Please try to keep things in perspective okay? Please.

[BrotherUnitNo_4]

Up until the last month people were buying as many DC books either. Sales were down across the whole industry the last few years.

Please explain to me how Disney is responsible for these layoffs.

Never said they are. Being under Disney surely adds a little extra pressure to hit certain numbers though.

[CyberHubbs]

Damn, I really liked the Strange Tales anthology too.

[romanwarrior84]

Never said they are. Being under Disney surely adds a little extra pressure to hit certain numbers though.

Its a valid point and could have some merit. Especially in this economy. It could just come from Marvel itself too. Still Being unemployed currently and having a hard time finding work I cant help but with they didnt have to lay people off.