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

[carabas]

Heh...can you imagine?

Seriously though , why do you hate kittens so much?

SW

I don't hate kittens, I love them.


They're my favourite pizza topping.

[BrotherUnitNo_4]

That's kind of the point. It's not wise business to do this, as it's just an artificial bump in the market.

Keep in mind it's not a continual push, but just a push for the initial launch of the books. So if you are just focusing on the copies sold to retailers and not whether these issues are being sold to the customers, then it's not really responding to the customers buying patterns. It's just focusing on the retailers and retailers alone, and not the final customer.

I'm going to have to go with Username_Taken on this one. I'm still not sure why it's Marvel's fault that retailers order too many issues that they can't sell. I mean if the variants are really worth that much to them they don't have much to complain about. They can sell the excess stock at a reduced price, and possibly pull readers into being regular customers of different books, which would seem like the logical course of action.

And I disagree about Marvel not focusing on the customers. For one, they've pulled together mostly solid-to-strong creative teams for their Marvel NOW. Secondly, there are people who actually don't mind the double-ship. I like getting extra issues of books I really enjoy throughout the year, as long as they maintain a semblance of quality. Plus it results in a faster turn around on trades.*

That said, Marvel does double-ship a lot. Reducing that at least if not the $3.99 price point would allow readers to sample a wider selection of books instead of having to cut back on Morbius to get two issues of Thor or Iron Man.

*Waiting for the trade is probably the best thing people who don't want to support Marvel's double-shipping and $3.99 price tag, but still want their smaller publications to succeed. You can pre-order with an online retailer and show Marvel that there's still reader interest in the books like Morbius or YA. I think if books like that sold better in trade Marvel would be willing to take the monthly hit on floppies.

[aNamored]

I don't hate kittens, I love them.


They're my favourite pizza topping.

LOL...... I will keep my cats away from you sir

[DebkoX]

I agree that some of the titles are hit/miss but its hardly a damp squib. There are some great ones.

[aNamored]

I agree that some of the titles are hit/miss but its hardly a damp squib. There are some great ones.

Yes, a few look like fun.

And how can they predict this before the majority of the titles are even released? You need sales figures, not just the word of mouth from a few retailers.

[DebkoX]

Yes, a few look like fun.

And how can they predict this before the majority of the titles are even released? You need sales figures, not just the word of mouth from a few retailers.

Yeah, i mean, honestly? If my dad wasn't such a selfish spoon I'd get pratically all of the new titles, HONESTLY.

[okpanic]

It is very possible this article may have helped their stance within the company.

Thank goodness for opinions on the internet

[The Angry Comic Book Critic]

I'm counting Marvel Now! as a jumping off point they've cancelled all my series now anyway (Amazing Spider-man, Invincible Iron Man, Daredevil/Black panther Man without fear) so really for me there's no point to continue with marvel at least for a while because with the exception of black panther they'll all be back in a few years when they hit another milestone issue for the characters and Seriously Superior Spider-man is the best title Marvel could have came up with? Doesn't even have a nice ring to it like the other spider-man titles. Finally one last note what's the point of reverting a series to it's original numbering if it's just going to be cancelled or have a title change barely 30 issues after the change?

[CyberHubbs]

I'm counting Marvel Now! as a jumping off point they've cancelled all my series now anyway (Amazing Spider-man, Invincible Iron Man, Daredevil/Black panther Man without fear) so really for me there's no point to continue with marvel at least for a while because with the exception of black panther they'll all be back in a few years when they hit another milestone issue for the characters and Seriously Superior Spider-man is the best title Marvel could have came up with? Doesn't even have a nice ring to it like the other spider-man titles. Finally one last note what's the point of reverting a series to it's original numbering if it's just going to be cancelled or have a title change barely 30 issues after the change?

Who is canceling Daredevil?

[The Angry Comic Book Critic]

Who is canceling Daredevil?

Daredevil man without fear series was cancelled a way back you know the one they had black panther take over for after shadowland should have been more clear about that my bad

[Shingen]

Don't care. If the titles are good, happy. Bad? Unhappy.

I know this was ten pages ago, but it should be repeated over and over every time people complain about marketing and the system and market and evil Big 2 and etc.

If they make good titles, then good. If not, bad. The marketing is a way to pump sales, but the long term success of the event/gimmick will revolve around how good the titles are. People right now swearing off Marvel will come back if the titles are good. And since NOW is all about good creative teams, they have the chance to be.

Either way, it is ENTIRELY too early to judge it. I don't know that you can even judge the New 52 yet - it takes a while to judge if something is a success, and NOW hasn't even finished launching yet.

I do want to laugh at the OP article's "private poll of 80 retailers." As though conversations with a small sliver of shop owners is some kind of scientific survey with objective data. Especially when these are the same people ordering all the variants.

[CyberHubbs]

Daredevil man without fear series was cancelled a way back you know the one they had black panther take over for after shadowland should have been more clear about that my bad

Ah. Well, he's supposed to have a big role in Hickman's New Avengers. So BP is in good hands.

[Flashpoint]

Marvel periodically relaunches its core books every 3 or 4 years.

Marvel Now! is the latest version of that.

Like the Heroic Age and Schizm was before it.

So if you don't like Marvel Now!, just wait 3 years.

Its way too early to talk about its sucess or failure yet when only one of the
core books has been released (Uncanny Avengers).

Red She Hulk isn't exactly a cornerstone of the line.

No sarcastic tone here, but the current runs of Captain America and Thor ended after approximately 18 months. I don't think we'll have to wait 3 years. Just give it 18 months and the books will all be cancelled again and relaunched again with new creative teams to artificially juice sales. The thing is, Marvel has done this so much in the past 5 years that people don't bat an eye at it anymore. Ho-hum, Marvel is cancelling and relaunching everything all over again in less than 2 years.

This is actually why I'm going to wait for the next massive relaunch. I hate most of the books they're launching now anyway so why bother? They're all going to get cancelled and relaunched in 18 months anyway. I'm going to wait for the next relaunch and see if Marvel gets it right next time. Besides, there's no point to getting invested in any of these books anyway. They're all going to be cancelled in 18 months anyway so who cares?

[Flashpoint]

Perfectly fair/reasonable. But ultimately that's what happens when you follow a hobby, is you look ahead and make educated predictions.

You think his data or logic is faulty and therefore he's coming to false conclusions. What are your expectations for Marvel NOW!? When DC relaunched all their titles at #1 they dominated the Top 10 for the first 6 months. Obviously Marvel's launches will be staggered but how many Marvel ongoing, non-Event titles do you believe will be Top 10 by issue #6?

Also, do we have legit reason to believe that Bendis' X-Men will sell better than Bendis' Avengers? They're directly tied in to the Biggest Event since Civil War and they barely crack the Top 20.

Exactly. I couldn't believe how big the drops on books like Defenders were with the 2nd issue. They literally plunged down the Diamond sales charts. By the time Defenders got cancelled, it was totally on life support barely scraping by.

I was one of the early propenents for a massive Marvel relaunch. I was excited by the idea and really looking forward to Marvel's own version of the New 52. But this is terrible. It's all spread out over 4 months and there is absolutely NO buzz on Marvel Now at any of the shops in my neighborhood. They've got stacks of Uncanny Avengers unsold at my LCS.

Contrast that with the response to Justice League which sold out immediately. Even the 2nd printing was sold out before it even hit shops and DC had to schedule a 3rd printing then (which also sold out before it even arrived).

We will see how the Diamond charts look, but the anecdotal evidence Rich shared on BC is most definitely reflected by what I'm seeing at shops in my own neighborhood. The initial response is shockingly weak and as someone who was all for the idea inititally, I am very disappointed in the staggered rollout. It's just not appealing and so far it isn't working.

[RichJohnston]

Is anything truly sustainable?

Not according to the heat death of the universe, no. Entropy will out.

But the survival of the current comics industry has a few years left in it, unless someone is very silly.