Have Marvel comics changed for the better or worse?

[Rasputin9977]

Clearly the internet is failing to reach kids.

SW

I'll simplify it for you. Kids can't legally get a credit card therefore they can't buy comics online.

[CyberHubbs]

Yes because all kids have credit cards to purchase things online.

Oh my god. They would need someone with a credit card. Wherever would they find such a person?!

[Rasputin9977]

Oh my god. They would need someone with a credit card. Wherever would they find such a person?!

Parents give cash to their kids but their credit card? No. Remember, with a credit card there is a monthly bill.

[kelly_warrior_princess]

Oh my god. They would need someone with a credit card. Wherever would they find such a person?!

Still doesn't address the initial problem: Why would a child seek out comics if he or she has nad no previous experience with comics? An even then, is a parent really going to help there child seek them out online & then allow the child access to a credit card, to purchase a 24 page funny book?

In business you want as few obstacles between your product & your audience as is intelligently possible. Putting extra barriers in the way of children getting a thing, is the exact opposite of good business sense.

[StoneGold]

I'll simplify it for you. Kids can't legally get a credit card therefore they can't buy comics online.

Can they get a bank account? If they have a bank account, they have an ATM card that can be used as a credit card.


Or, there's the other option, pre-paid gift cards. Which is the way kids generally buy their online gaming points. Which means getting 7-Eleven or whatever to carry them, but it's a legit option.

[StoneGold]

Still doesn't address the initial problem: Why would a child seek out comics if he or she has nad no previous experience with comics?

So... basically what you're saying is if a kid hasn't done something before, they're never going to do it? Because I think you can follow that train of logic all the way back to clawing their way out of the birth canal.

As for purchasing, in-app purchases. You know, like how kids explode their parents phone bills because there were no parental controls on the Smurfs game.

[kelly_warrior_princess]

So... basically what you're saying is if a kid hasn't done something before, they're never going to do it? Because I think you can follow that train of logic all the way back to clawing their way out of the birth canal.

Lets put it this way: You know those things that you have no interest in & have no opinion of either positive or negatively due to having no experience with? What do you think you predominate characteristics of all those things are in relation to you?

Heres a clue, the answer is in the question.

[kelly_warrior_princess]

Can they get a bank account? If they have a bank account, they have an ATM card that can be used as a credit card.

The majority of cards are not usable online: They have to be either VISA or Mastercard & 99% of ATM's are not those. I think you may be mistaking ATM cards for Debit cards which you can use online, but still can't get until you are 18.

Or, there's the other option, pre-paid gift cards. Which is the way kids generally buy their online gaming points. Which means getting 7-Eleven or whatever to carry them, but it's a legit option.

Thata just putting another obstacle between the consumer & the product. See a comic book is the perfect impulse buy object. Using your theory, this teen would first have to seek out a place that sells the cards & then which card is it? Which ones will this online supplier accept? An then you spend a minimum of $20 to purchase a $3 book, in a medium they have no previous experience with & as such most likely wont seek out to start with. Comics need to go back to being innocous, or to put it in a slightly different way: Out of sight, out of mind.

[Joe Acro]

The majority of cards are not usable online: They have to be either VISA or Mastercard & 99% of ATM's are not those. I think you may be mistaking ATM cards for Debit cards which you can use online, but still can't get until you are 18.

I have limited exposure (as I don't go around checking people's wallets), but that number seems high. Every person I've seen with an ATM card and every bank that I've checked has a Visa Check Card, allowing for such online purchases.

[stephen wacker]

Parents give cash to their kids but their credit card? No. Remember, with a credit card there is a monthly bill.

You live in an imaginary world if you think kids aren't part of internet commerce.

It's gonna be okay. Don't worry so much. One thing Marvel is good at figuring out is how to make money.

SW

[stephen wacker]

The majority of cards are not usable online: They have to be either VISA or Mastercard & 99% of ATM's are not those. I think you may be mistaking ATM cards for Debit cards which you can use online, but still can't get until you are 18.



Thata just putting another obstacle between the consumer & the product. See a comic book is the perfect impulse buy object. Using your theory, this teen would first have to seek out a place that sells the cards & then which card is it? Which ones will this online supplier accept? An then you spend a minimum of $20 to purchase a $3 book, in a medium they have no previous experience with & as such most likely wont seek out to start with. Comics need to go back to being innocous, or to put it in a slightly different way: Out of sight, out of mind.

Excellent thinking. This is why we've seen iTunes fail so miserably.

I hate to break it to you people trying so hard to prove success is really failure, but overall comics are more easily available than they've ever been in history.

Also "innocuous" isn't the word you want there.

SW

[kelly_warrior_princess]

Excellent thinking. This is why we've seen iTunes fail so miserably.

There is a bit of a difference between Itunes & comics Wacker... The most obvious being that with radio still being the predominate way people listen to music, they are introduced to it from a young age. Comic books aren't likewise pumped into you home, car & business.

I hate to break it to you people trying so hard to prove success is really failure, but overall comics are more easily available than they've ever been in history.

Hahahahahahahaha, No. Comics may be more easily accessable to adults with an active internet connection, a home computer & a credit card: But for anyone not in that category you are all out of luck.

Whats funnier is you trying to convince people that you failure is actually success. Sure if you move the goal posts around any failure can be restated as a success: Oh no, the ship isn't sinking because we ran into some rocks, we've just discovered a great method for dousing shipboard fires, that doesn't require any man power whatsoever.

Also "innocuous" isn't the word you want there.

Actually i do mean Innocuous. Innocuous as used by the british, refering to something that is harmless & not objectionable. We want it in the hands of kids (because thats the best time to hook avid readers), so our books need to be readable by kids. Because if they aren't kids cant read them & if kids can't read them, they are unlikely to seek them out. Because if they aren't then corner stores & convenience stores aren't going to stock them.

We need comics to go back to being something a kid can pick up for a little pocket change from a news agent. We need slightly thicker newsagents anthology books for the teen audience & we need the books to start to appeal to a younger audience again. Bring back the super heroes.

[stephen wacker]

Hahahahahahahaha, No. Comics may be more easily accessable to adults with an active internet connection, a home computer & a credit card: But for anyone not in that category you are all out of luck..

This is false. You're ignoring a lot and assuming your limited vision of thew world is the same as everyone's.

"Comics" doesn't just mean Marvel comics. Also--and very importantly-- comics are widely and commonly available in libraries and book stores which is a huge generational shift.

I stand by my point that comcis are more available than ever and the fact they are a bigger part of culture than ever. Almost no one is surpised to see an adult reading comics in public anymore.

Basically you're arguments for the ails of the comics industry have been stale since about 1992. It's like Usenet was frozen in amber and defrosted for 2012.

You keep warning the "ship is sinking" and I keep asking you how long we have. Why wont you tell us? I know youre anxious to be yet another comic industry Cassandra, but keep in mind she had the benefit of being correct.

I wonder which of us is more likely to know what he/she's talking about?


SW

[Michael P]

I have limited exposure (as I don't go around checking people's wallets), but that number seems high. Every person I've seen with an ATM card and every bank that I've checked has a Visa Check Card, allowing for such online purchases.

I got my first bank account, and my first ATM card, when I was 16. It was a Visa, I think. The one I have now is a Mastercard.

On another point, most online retailers I've seen will take AMEX.

[CyberHubbs]

Still doesn't address the initial problem: Why would a child seek out comics if he or she has nad no previous experience with comics? An even then, is a parent really going to help there child seek them out online & then allow the child access to a credit card, to purchase a 24 page funny book?

In business you want as few obstacles between your product & your audience as is intelligently possible. Putting extra barriers in the way of children getting a thing, is the exact opposite of good business sense.

The same way they find out about anything else?

You have libraries, you have Free Comic Book Day (Imagine that. Their parents may need to drive them somewhere!), you have those booktruck things that come to schools, you have Marvel toys that promote their comic book website, and several action figure lines that come with comics included, the cartoons, and of course the parents themselves who have probably read a comic or three in their past.

Oh, wait. Is little Timmy an orphan? Is he trapped in a well? I'll admit that there are no comics down there. Got me.