Marvel Business Practices Discussion

[Jim Thompson]

Yes, but wasn't it for a higher cost as a special "+ digital bundle"? Or, for the first issue did they ultimately do it for free?

I "believe" it was a buck more to get the digital combo when they did it.

[Nova2814.1]

Yes, but wasn't it for a higher cost as a special "+ digital bundle"? Or, for the first issue did they ultimately do it for free?

DC charges an extra dollar for the digital copy, but it's not a like for like comparison with Marvel. Marvel's books have 20 pages for $3.99 and the free digital copy is to add value to that price point. DC's $3.99 books already have 28 pages of content, so the print copy already has extra value in terms of quantity.

A better comparison would be the Ultimate books vs Batman. From January, both will offer a digital copy with the print edition for $3.99, but Batman will also have a print only (or a digital only) version for $2.99.

The shittiest thing about this is that now Marvel would definitely not reduce their prices, they'll add their digital codes to more and more of their titles and leave the titles at 3.99 telling us, hey, we're giving you a free digital comic, what else do you want. In time, the best sellers like ASM will also have a digital comic and raise its price to 4.99.

I think that there was little to no chance of Marvel cutting prices on their $4 books anyway. It would take a seismic upheaval in the market for that to happen.

As I said before, what I'm more worried about is that it will be used as a reason to increase the price of the $2.99 books or to launch all new series at $3.99.

[Nova2814.1]

Next week Marvel publishes Marvel Adventures Super Heroes #20 for $2.99. It reprints the contents of a comic from March 2006 - Marvel Adventures Fantastic Four #10.

Which was a $2.50 comic.

Have printing costs risen THAT much in the last 5 years that any savings made by (presumably) not paying the writer and artist the full page rate again are wiped out by printing?

It can't be the Prep & Landing story, that's being included for free in the other books printing it.

[sethysquare]

DC charges an extra dollar for the digital copy, but it's not a like for like comparison with Marvel. Marvel's books have 20 pages for $3.99 and the free digital copy is to add value to that price point. DC's $3.99 books already have 28 pages of content, so the print copy already has extra value in terms of quantity.

A better comparison would be the Ultimate books vs Batman. From January, both will offer a digital copy with the print edition for $3.99, but Batman will also have a print only (or a digital only) version for $2.99.



I think that there was little to no chance of Marvel cutting prices on their $4 books anyway. It would take a seismic upheaval in the market for that to happen.

As I said before, what I'm more worried about is that it will be used as a reason to increase the price of the $2.99 books or to launch all new series at $3.99.

Wow batman is also having the combo pack now? Well, im sure many of us prefer still to get our comics at 2.99 which marvel should also offer and give consumers a choice to choose if they want the combo pack.
It is not that far fetched. Pretty much ina year or so all of marvel's books would be 3.99 does anyone know the percentage of 3.99 out of the total no. Of books excluding minis?

[Nova2814.1]

Wow batman is also having the combo pack now? Well, im sure many of us prefer still to get our comics at 2.99 which marvel should also offer and give consumers a choice to choose if they want the combo pack.
It is not that far fetched. Pretty much ina year or so all of marvel's books would be 3.99 does anyone know the percentage of 3.99 out of the total no. Of books excluding minis?

Yep, Batman and Action Comics are also getting Digital combo packs from January for a dollar extra.

Marvel might do the same with their $2.99 books. But for the $3.99, there's little or no chance of a choice. The price of Ultimate X-Men or Avenging Spider-Man is going to be $3.99, with or without a digital copy. The only way that will change is if readers start dropping those books en masse and I don't see that happening.

As for the proportion of $3 ongoings vs $4 ongoings, it seems to vary, but in general there are more $3 books than $4 books. Based on my page count tracking (see, it's multi purpose!), there were 34 $3 comics vs 21 $4 comics in September, and in October it was 27 $3 comics vs 20 $4.

That's looking all issues of the regular sized ongoings. If you look on it on a per series basis, in October it's 22 $3 ongoings vs 19 $4 ongoings. I don't have the breakdown for September in front of me, but that would probably show more $3 series as well.

[sethysquare]

Yep, Batman and Action Comics are also getting Digital combo packs from January for a dollar extra.

Marvel might do the same with their $2.99 books. But for the $3.99, there's little or no chance of a choice. The price of Ultimate X-Men or Avenging Spider-Man is going to be $3.99, with or without a digital copy. The only way that will change is if readers start dropping those books en masse and I don't see that happening.

As for the proportion of $3 ongoings vs $4 ongoings, it seems to vary, but in general there are more $3 books than $4 books. Based on my page count tracking (see, it's multi purpose!), there were 34 $3 comics vs 21 $4 comics in September, and in October it was 27 $3 comics vs 20 $4.

That's looking all issues of the regular sized ongoings. If you look on it on a per series basis, in October it's 22 $3 ongoings vs 19 $4 ongoings. I don't have the breakdown for September in front of me, but that would probably show more $3 series as well.

Guess i was just looking the x books. Was surprised how many 4 dollars x books there are.

[coconutphone]

Any idea why Marvel doubled orders for Point One? Was it under-ordered did they think the price would care off people?

[USERNAME TAKEN]

Any idea why Marvel doubled orders for Point One? Was it under-ordered did they think the price would care off people?

Probably the price. $6 is a lot for a book of previews.

[Dog]

Probably the price. $6 is a lot for a book of previews.

I'm confused. Can you explain how the higher price would lead Marvel to ship additional copies, unrequested, for free?

[Nova2814.1]

Probably the price. $6 is a lot for a book of previews.

Marvel said that with the double orders, there would be 120,000 copies available. They doubled orders on the standard cover, so initial orders would have been a bit over 60,000 copies, maybe around 65 to 70,000. That's not a bad sales figure for a $6 book.

Marvel has also increased retailer orders for Incredible Hulk #2 and Defenders #1 by 50%, at no extra cost. That makes 5 books this year they've done that for: Herc #1, Alpha Flight #1, Point One, and the two above.

[coconutphone]

Marvel said that with the double orders, there would be 120,000 copies available. They doubled orders on the standard cover, so initial orders would have been a bit over 60,000 copies, maybe around 65 to 70,000. That's not a bad sales figure for a $6 book.

Marvel has also increased retailer orders for Incredible Hulk #2 and Defenders #1 by 50%, at no extra cost. That makes 5 books this year they've done that for: Herc #1, Alpha Flight #1, Point One, and the two above.

So then... why?

[krisis]

So then... why?

If I'm understanding correctly, shipping extra at no additional cost effectively puts bonus copies in the hands of stores, which they can either choose to sell for extra profit (if Marvel ramped up the demand for the book too late to impact pre-orders) or use as discounted or giveaway books for Marvel customer loyalty (if Marvel dropped the ball completely on promo).

I guess the vain hope would be the title is going to be hot once it hits the stands, so they want enough product out there to allow it to be hot.

I know that still doesn't answer "why." I suppose there's a chance Marvel pre-estimated high on printing for these titles and decided to stick with their original quantities despite pre-orders. It makes more sense for a #2 issue, since orders tend to drop off. Otherwise, they're just hoping more issues means more attention, sort of like when a record label sells an album for a loss to promote a new artist.

[Ari Gold]

I'm confused. Can you explain how the higher price would lead Marvel to ship additional copies, unrequested, for free?

So that the retailers could then sell it for $3 or include copies for free in some of their subscribers pull lists.

[Nova2814.1]

So then... why?

I can think of no other answer than "why not?"

From the way this product update is worded, Incredible Hulk might be a good will gesture for the digital copy being released a week early.

As for the others, it's probably as simple as Marvel wanting to give a book every opportunity they can. They can't do it for every book though, because then it becomes expected and affects initial orders.

[Dog]

So that the retailers could then sell it for $3 or include copies for free in some of their subscribers pull lists.

How does this fit into the "Marvel is greedy and evil" narrative?