Default Bleeding Cool: "Marvel NOW! a bit of a Damp Squib"

[Prof. Warren]

I don't see it as Rich "trolling Marvel" . In fact he reported quite a few of the Marvel Now books months ago. Sure he's comparing lousy models here ...but its not trolling a company.

There is a persistent strain of negativity towards Marvel at BC. Of course it's done in a very passive aggressive, faux-objective manner but it's there nonetheless.

[RDMacQ]

He is not anonymous though.

And that would be an interesting point if it actually meant anything at all.

The "Anonymous" criticism is a strawman argument. Nothing more, nothing less.

[RDMacQ]

We're obviously a VERY badly run business who won't last much longer anyway at this rate. 10 minutes top. Why even flatter us with your attention?

SW

This would be a lot more biting if Marvel wasn't a company that declared bankruptcy in the past and laid of 14 people last year.

I'd gather the people who lost their jobs last year would LOVE to hear a Marvel employee brag about how well the company that laid them off is doing.

[Rosebunse]

Hm, comics are not the business to get into if you want stability, that's for sure. It's not just Marvel or DC.

Comics just aren't what they used to be. Heck, I bet the smaller prints would love it if the Big Two were doing well, because then it would trickle down to them.

[USERNAME TAKEN]

Sure Rich is 50/50 on things he reports. But I think as he posted here...its still too early right now to decide if Marvel Now is gonna be a failure really. Because as much as I like what Rich reports , he's comparing it to a whole different model that DC did. DC launched in 1 month and had in a 2/3 month window moved 5+ million comics. Marvel meanwhile is taking its time and spreading NOW across 4-5 months and slowly rolling out #1's.

We won't really know if Marvel Now is a failure til next year really. Its too soon to say it. Sales show fans wanted Uncanny Avengers (I even got it) . So lets wait til 2013 and fully see how the all new #1's do .

Good one.

It's basically too early to tell.

I think an analysis can only be made months into the intiative.

[JaggedFel]

Honestly going to be hard to judge until May really. We need the Feb Marvel Now Books to get a few issues under their belt first.

[HapersRow]

"damp squib"? I've never heard it used must be that it is some common British slang like "wanker"

The only thing I see is that Marvel has spent most of the previous years at the top of the charts but now seems its DC that will be the market leader for the foreseeable future with Marvel playing catch-up.

If Marvel Now! was a huge success it would slightly surprise me but not as much as nu52 having staying power when most had condemned it to fail.

[stewart48]

This would be a lot more biting if Marvel wasn't a company that declared bankruptcy in the past and laid of 14 people last year.

I'd gather the people who lost their jobs last year would LOVE to hear a Marvel employee brag about how well the company that laid them off is doing.

A company that sold for 5 billion laid off 14 whole people? I wonder when the marvel bail out is comin'

[USERNAME TAKEN]

"damp squib"? I've never heard it used must be that it is some common British slang like "wanker"

The only thing I see is that Marvel has spent most of the previous years at the top of the charts but now seems its DC that will be the market leader for the foreseeable future with Marvel playing catch-up.

If Marvel Now! was a huge success it would slightly surprise me but not as much as nu52 having staying power when most had condemned it to fail.

Marvel and DC have been trading leadership at the top of the charts since the launch of the new 52.

They are essentially on an even keel with no one company dominating.

[RichJohnston]

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2012/11/...-and-discount/

Seems a bit early to be making any judgements...

Default? This is the first time I've written this.

[RichJohnston]

Bleeding Cool in poorly-thought out hyperbolic 'reportage' incident designed to get click-through traffic via controversy?

Must be a day ending in a "y".

Not at all. Huffy, Stephanie Brown, that's click through. This isn't.

[RichJohnston]

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2012/11/...-and-discount/

According to that article from Bleeding Cool, response to the relaunch hasn't been too exciting. Although it's rather early and we won't know until the sales actually start, it's worth discussing right now (see what I did there).

That being said, there's always a caveat from what comes out of Bleeding Cool as a lot of stuff from there is flat out wrong (like the whole 5 week shipping thing that they kept repeating during the sales discussions some months ago, the whole talk of Marvel being the only company adopting variants for there initial re-launch issues which is absolute nonsense because DC did the same exact thing or DC failling behind Marvel after a few months after the new 52 or AVX sales being artificially inflated e.t.c). However, in between the hyperbole and inaccuracies a lot of correct scoops come out of Bleeding Cool as it seems Rich Johnston has contacts inside the big two and seems to be close to some retailers. However, it must be noted that its much too early to conclude on the success or failure of the initiative and Rich Johnston just might have completely dropped the ball on this one.

I know for a fact that the new 52 created a lot more hype and DC spent a lot more money publicizing the initiative. Say what you will about the new 52 but I'm pretty sure that more people are reading DC comics now than before the reboot. It seems Marvel isn't drumming up the same sort of excitement (probably because it's not a full reboot) and aren't publicizing through other media (like TV) like DC did. Not to mention the fact that DC offered retailers a fantastic returnability scheme on most of their titles which allowed retailers take risks on titles that might not otherwise be successful (like Swamp Thing or Animal Man).


So the question I ask is, what if Marvel NOW fails, what happens? What will Marvel do? Re-boot?

Puts on helmet and runs away

The five week shipping this is exactly right, Marvel fills every week in a five week shipping month, with extra issues of titles, DC puts odder comics and late shipping titles in that week. Their monthly numbers hardly rise, marvels rise by larger amount.

I have not said Marvel are the only ones using variants for launch, I've said that Marvel are using it more, and for higher profile books, exacerbating the effect in the market.

I was quite measured in talking about the limited nature of what has been published so far in Marvel NOW and the differences between a staggered launch and an all-in-one launch.

[RichJohnston]

It might be better to judge the success of the Marvel NOW initiative once it's actually been completely launched. But then I guess there'd be nothing to throw stones at.

So no comments on its success or not until the end of February?

[RichJohnston]

This is true. He does get it right every now and then, but gets it wrong just as much if not more of the time. I do like the idea of an informal poll to see how books are doing. Especially since the Diamond numbers are only one half of the equation.

For rumours, I think I have around an 70% accuracy rate. More if you count that observation often changes results!

[Talisman]

And that would be an interesting point if it actually meant anything at all.

The "Anonymous" criticism is a strawman argument. Nothing more, nothing less.

Why is everything a strawman argument with you, unless it's your scarecrow that's being bandied about?