Marvel Business Practices Discussion

[sethysquare]

I think you need to.

What does everyone else think?

kdb

I for one am sure I'll be buying Astro City when its out. Quality writing takes time, but when it is done, I'll be there to buy it fosho.

[sethysquare]

How many other factors are you taking into account? How retailers order when 1's and 2's are released so close. How many other new comics were released. FOC date. etc, etc. You cannot look at those slots in a vacuum. You need to look at all factors involved.

You answered your own question. Retailers will order much lesser if the book is double shipped twice in the month. Why? Go read CBR column tilting by the windmill, written by a retailer himself about how Double Shipping caused people to buy lesser.

[Mikey Brown]

Did you guys know that Steve Wacker is my only CBR friend?! Huzzah!

I love Marvel right now. I'm up to 40 monthly titles right now. Can't wait for AvX. Damn sad to see Bendis go, but Ultron War sounds badass. Loving Avengers titles right now. Spidey is awesome. Ultimate Universe is at its best. DD, Punisher, Cap, all Superb. Defenders had a phenomenal first issue. The X-Books are in new renaissance. Thor, JiM, IIM, MK, both Hulks, FF and Fantastic Four, I can't think of a title I read that I don't enjoy.

I will sit here and wait patiently for comments insinuating I work for Marvel.

Good day.

I agree with you. Yes, you read that right.

[TheDonAbides]

You answered your own question. Retailers will order much lesser if the book is double shipped twice in the month. Why? Go read CBR column tilting by the windmill, written by a retailer himself about how Double Shipping caused people to buy lesser.

1.) I will not read another column by Hibbs. From reading his column in the past I am more than convinced that retailers are one of the majour problems.

B.) I will take that as a no, you compared no other factors when deciding double shipping was, heh, proven to be bad.

$.) These are 1's and 2's, they have a completely different ordering method than a double shipped 24 and 25. Ask your own retailer. I've known mine for 20 years. We talked all this to death years ago.

[TheDonAbides]

I agree with you. Yes, you read that right.

Well, I knew you would agree with me. We tend to agree. Stage left solidarity coalition!

[Mundungus]

I don't mind the double-shipping. I've loved getting Uncanny X-Force more frequently. But, it's the $3.99 price tag that bothers me. At least, if I felt I was getting more for my money, but $3.99 for 20 pages? Because of the title's popularity or prestige? Nah, you're going to lose people over time.

If Uncanny X-Force was the only book on the market, then I could justify them charging $3.99. It's the only book on the market! But, historically, and also encouraged, we're fans of multiple characters and creators and comic books. We want to pick up more books, but we only have so much money.

[Mikey Brown]

But Marvel has said publicly that the rise in price to $3.99 was because they were testing the market to see if enough people would continue buying at that price.

They didn't raise the price because the price of paper went up. This is their own words, I don't see why we have to make other excuses on their behalf.

Can you link to this by chance?

And why does marvel have to justify why they raised the price of their books to anyone, especially people that already complain about anything on the internet? Do you really think that "testing" is the ONLY reason for the price increase? Some tattoo mags i read has gone up in price a bunch (& im sure that goes for a bunch of mags and books as well), so im sure there is more to it. Yes it sucks to pay more, but there are ways to pay less: subscriptions to marvel, or some internet sites sell comics way cheaper and theyre not hard to find. If you want to support your lcs, get a pull list. My store gives me 20% off for having a pull list.

[Mikey Brown]

And more importantly... what kind of people does Marvel hire these days?
And yes, they need a PR REALLY, REALLY bad.

No, its the internet that needs a PR.

[Wolf_Leader]

Can you link to this by chance?

http://robot6.comicbookresources.com...ice-increases/

This may be the article being referenced.

[Mikey Brown]

http://robot6.comicbookresources.com...ice-increases/

This may be the article being referenced.

Huh. Just as i suspected. Theres more to it than just "testing".

[oldschool]

No, its the internet that needs a PR.

^My nominee for Best Post of 2011!

[RDMacQ]

^My nominee for Best Post of 2011!

Yeah. Because it's the internet that's the one in trouble.

[Rasputin9977]

I am more than convinced that retailers are one of the majour problems.

How are they the problem?

Huh. Just as i suspected. Theres more to it than just "testing".

If you read the article, it's just about testing.

[Eobard Thawne]

Prove that Double shipping will do more harm than good.

Double Shipping

7 Uncanny X-Men 1 $3.99 Marvel 72.80
16 Uncanny X-Men 2 $3.99 Marvel 48.01

A drop off of 9 slots at around 35%

No Double Shipping

8 WOLVERINE AND X-MEN 1 $3.99 Marvel 55.59
10 Wolverine And X-Men 2 $3.99 Marvel 55.21

A drop off of 2 slots.

That's a pretty small sample size, but thanks for providing it all the same. The link in your signature show quite a drop in sales of a book that is also double shipping, but that might be more related to poor editorial decisions, so it's hard to gauge. Once the double shipping push starts next year I guess we'll really see what kind of an effect it has on books. My wallet hopes double shipping bombs just because I can pick up a wider variety of titles when they don't double ship. Time will tell!

[Eobard Thawne]

http://robot6.comicbookresources.com...ice-increases/

This may be the article being referenced.

From the above article: “We’re just looking to maximize our profits for that business while not alienating our own fan base by making them feel that they’re gouged, which I hope you don’t feel,” he told the fan.

This is true, and any business would do the same. The only way to change things is to vote with your dollars. If there there is a drop in sales correlated to the 3.99 price point then that would likely cause Marvel to give it a second thought. I can understand if there was a correlation between the quality of a book and the 3.99 price point, but there isn't. There are lots of good 2.99 books on the market too. Although not intentional, buying a 3.99 book when there is a quality 2.99 book with the same amount of content besidemitmon the shelf is a vote to keep the 3.99 price point.