Tilting at Windmills - Feb 14, 2013

[Ruwan]

Hey Ruwan,

apologies for the slow reply.
Which Marvel NOW titles do you consider fast paced? Would you consider Jonathan Hickman's Avengers fast paced for instance?
Or were you just making a rate of sales based quip?
...and this is why its so confusing for new readers because there are no definitive timelines, just reboots/renumberings and these are becoming more and more frequent. I could understand it maybe every decade (since as you note; styles and tastes change, especially with regards art standards), but its every other year now for many Marvel titles.
According to the original article Marvel are not capitalizing on the movie successes at all.
I just want to point out at this juncture that I am a Marvel fan first and foremost. I own Civil War. I own Infinity Gauntlet. I understand why these are great stories, still selling well in the trades. I want Marvel to do well. But I am just being turned off by the amount of decompression in Marvel (and DC to be fair) comics which means I get less story at a grossly inflated price ($5.50 for a $3.99 comic here in the UK).
I wish Marvel every success, but it seems to me that while probably equal to DC in terms of Ongoing Franchise based stories, Marvel are far behind DC in classic books whichs operate outside the Ongoing Franchises.
I based my opinions from the article which states Marvel are #8 in Graphic Novel sales and only one such book sold more than 10,000 copies in a year when Marvel dominated the box office with the Avengers and Amazing Spiderman movies.
Certainly the comics model seems to be working. The Event spawns New Title(s) spawns Event spawns New Title(s) repeat etc. format of the past decade seems to be working very well. In effect using Events to 'jump start' new titles (Secret Invasion leading to Dark Avengers just to highlight one such example) meant that DC had to reboot their entire line to compete again. Surprised DC never really figured that one out.
If I have an axe to grind it is only against the decompressed style of storytelling that (as far as I can see) dominates Marvel (and DC) comics. This was something the article itself mentioned.
I certainly don't have a problem with Marvel itself. The prices are inflated, but I understand that with the current size of the market you need to turn a profi\t and people will answer with their money whether they like or dislike something.
I wish you all the best. I'm sure I'll keep supporting Marvel to some extent, since I cherish many of the characters.
I have an idea how you could solve this problem (for future books and the past back catalogue) while simultaneously creating new revenue streams. Might just be a silly idea or it could be revolutionary (unlikely I know). Who knows. I could always private message you I guess...?
None necessary.

1) Sales velocity of titles is "fast-paced." It continues now as series like All New X-Men go to collections and titles like Hawkeye do as well. While it is within everyone's right to make guesses as to whether these books are selling well enough or fast enough. The basic fact is you have no access to any accurate data feed on either the aggregate order or sell-through side. While I would tell people not worry themselves with things that they can't understand simply because they don't have the whole picture...it's not my place to...
2) We are doing fine w/ new and lapsed readers. Data may say otherwise in five to seven years (but I am only in past year 1 and 5 months in terms of holding the p&l for the Marvel Comics biz), but we're good as long as no macro factors like retail collapses etc. occur and obviously no one can plan for that.
3) I don't measure our "franchise" sales strength against DC's or any other company's--it's unfair to us and to whomever else. Other people may. Am I cognizant of what fellow publishers are doing? Yes. Are there key learning there? Possibly. Is it important to understand how actions within a common biz/retail/product sphere influence one another? Sure. However it's like my comparing the aggregate revenues of consumer products, interactive products, theme park, publishing revenues, etc. that are tied to the Avengers franchise vs. a similar revenue aggregate on The Dark Knight Rises.

First, my measurement wouldn't be accurate and secondly. I know that the revenue and OI of the Avengers outscales by multiples most if not all other ips at other companies. Because that's how you measure real "franchise" strength. Across all lines of business weighted to different customer demos.

4) You are basing your opinions on an article that paints one interpretation of incomplete data. Again that is the difference between being "in industry" at an entertainment company within the ecosphere versus being on the perimeter and using one report/interpretation and some very rough math to make sweeping observations. So I will restate: we are doing just fine capitalizing on our Studios and third party studios successes.

5) Your opinion based on the article is wrong. I can tell you that flat-out bc you're taking an interpretation of the book scan numbers (which is fairly incomplete when it comes to Marvel's sales) and trying to convince me of something that is not true. Is there room for improvement? Sure, but a a ranking w/o true actuals and real context will not concern me without of a lot of other metrics to digest and back up a fuzzy measurement. How it concerns anyone else is obviously his/her choice.

Thanks for the support (buying our books), the thoughts on improving our business (discussion), and continuing to be a consumer of comics, graphic novels etc. It is much appreciated and valued not just by Marvel Comics but all the companies who are trying to grow sales, products, and formats. But that about wraps up my commentary on this. I don't have much else to add nor will I.

Cheers,

Ruwan

p.s. not proofread.

[USERNAME TAKEN]

Conclusion:

We can not conclude on the issue because we have incomplete data.