Marvel Digital Comics

I feel betrayed. I went in with Marvel on their whole Digital Comics Unlimited. I felt that it could be a great tool to get people reading more comics. Letting them read some older stories that now tie into current storylines. Read the first issue of a trade that is coming out soon. Huge possibilities. Then the iPad came. And I still saw the same possibilities.

But yesterday they announced that they are going to release Invincible Iron man Annual #1 online the same day as they release it in stores. They are pricing it oddly, so that it actually costs more digitally than the print version. And they are calling it a test. But my big fear is that no matter the result, they will announce it as a huge success and will go forward with releasing digital content the same day as print sales across the board.

Was this inevitable? Yes, probably. But I don’t understand the big jump into the lake. They didn’t even bother to get their feet wet first. IDW, who has been doing online sales for the PSP for a while now, started with a one month delay between print and digital release. Fair enough. But Marvel decided to throw caution to the wind and do same day, because that’s what the internet wants.

Here are my problems with this:
1. I buy my books from Marvel non-returnable. If a book sucks, I am stuck with it. I have no more information about an issue that you do from the info in Previews or the internet. Now, I am going to have to compete with Marvel directly for sales. How much of an impact will this have on my sales? I have no idea. If my Marvel sales drop 10%, not only do I lose those sales, but I am also stuck with more books than I need because Marvel cannibalized those sales. Do I start cutting my orders now as a preemptive strike? Probably.
2. Marvel has the largest percentage of the new comics sales in the industry right now. Cutting that country-wide will have a very negative effect. Stores that are just hanging on will close. And if this proves not to be the be all and end all of the comic future, there is no way to bring those stores back. Comic stores are not great money makers. No one does this to get rich. We do it because we love the products and the medium. Chasing those people away is a bad idea.
3. Does Marvel even have a plan? I don’t know. My biggest problem with this is that Marvel didn’t tell us. We learned about it the same way as everyone else. No press release to stores. No mention even on the Marvel Retailer Resource Center, that I have to pay for to get Marvel information. I have a question on the retailer forum there as to how soon they expect to got full-line digital. I am very interested in how it is answered.
4. The iPad has only been out for 2 months. That really is not enough time for Marvel to have been able to really see how their digital download system is working. Its still so new and a fad. I was interested in seeing how it was going in month 6. To see if it was really viable for comic reading. My fear is that Marvel is jumping too fast and doijg irreparable harm to the industry with out getting the necessary data first. Kind of like they did in the 90s with heroes World. That didn’t work out too well for everyone (Marvel went into bankruptcy after that I recall, Diamond became a monopoly). Its disappointing to see them making the same kind of leap again.
Digital distribution has been hanging over our heads for a while now. No one knows what impact it will have. Same day distribution cannot be a good thing for us. I can’t compete with cheaper. Marvel sets the price on the books and I get a discount off that price. It has already be shown that the iPad has a built in mechanism to allow the copying and distribution of files online, so not only will I lose sales, but the pirates are now going to have nice digital files rather than scans to get. I get the impression that Marvel is expecting to get a large percentage of illegal downloaders to now suddenly pay for them. Good luck with that, guys.

And while this may be well and good for Marvel, I think it will really be bad for the industry as a whole. I bet that everybody has bought something they did not expect either through a recommendation or just by seeing something in the store and flipping through it. Now imagine looking at hundreds of covers on and iPad and trying to determine what is good. I also think that trades will suffer a huge hit with fewer comic book stores. Go look at the selection in a book store. They don’t carry 1/10th of what I have here in the store. Amazon? Great if you know what you are looking for. But not so good for browsing.

It is going to be a very interesting summer for comics. I will be glued to the news wires, since that seems to be the only place I can find out what is going on.

Comments

No, I haven't been deleting comments I don't agree with. I have been getting a ton of spam comments lately. So just now I changed the setting to only allow registered users to comment. I am sorry if this in any way keeps you from commenting. I am just tired of having to delete spam comments every day.

Cancellations

Every week, I get a list of orders that are cancelled. Many are due to late shipping, some are cancelled by the publishers. Most are backorders I place that do not fill. I am including this weeks because it demonstrates one of my biggest problems with publishers. Now, most of these are Image books. And most of these will probably be resolicited at some time. Maybe. I don’t know. All I know right now is that my orders are cancelled on all of these books.

APR082168 AMERICA JR TP VOL 02 (C: 0-1-2) 9.9900

JUN082241 TELLOS COLOSSAL HC VOL 02 (C: 0-1-2) 39.9900

JUL082174 YOUNGBLOOD BLOODSPORT #2 (RES) 2.9900

JUL082178 YOUNGBLOOD BLOODSPORT #1 DIRECTORS CUT 3.9900

JUL082198 GEMINI #5 (OF 5) 3.5000

AUG082274 M-THEORY #2 (OF 3) 3.5000

SEP082230 AMAZING JOY BUZZARDS GN VOL 02 MONSTER LOVE 19.9900

SEP082266 M-THEORY #3 (OF 3) 3.5000

OCT082288 FIREBREATHER SERIES #5 3.5000

OCT082296 PERHAPANAUTS #7 3.5000

NOV082251 WONDERLOST TP 14.9900

NOV082256 FIREBREATHER SERIES #6 (RES) 2.9900

NOV082264 JACK STAFF #21 (RES) 3.5000

DEC082240 DISPLACED PERSONS GN (RES) (C: 0-1-2) 19.9900

DEC082278 KITE DAY HC 9.9900

JAN092376 GOLLY TP VOL 01 CATCHING HELL (MR) 14.9900

JAN092394 FIREBREATHER SERIES #7 (RES) (NOTE PRICE) 3.5000

JAN092395 GOLLY #6 (MR) 3.5000

FEB092385 SMASH (ONE SHOT) 3.9900

FEB092392 MOBY DICK HC 12.9900

FEB092401 DAWN TP VOL 02 RETURN O/T GODDESS (NEW PTG)14.9900

MAR092409 ARMAGEDDON NOW JADA (ONE SHOT) 3.9900

MAR092426 DAWN TP VOL 03 THREE TIERS 16.9900

MAR092454 LUCHA LIBRE #7 6.9900

MAY090298 ARMAGEDDON NOW THE BEAST #1 (OF 5) 3.9900

MAY090308 LIBERTY MEADOWS SUNDAY STRIPS HC VOL 01 29.9900

MAY090349 GUERILLAS #5 (OF 8) 5.9900

MAY090352 LUCHA LIBRE #8 6.9900

MAY090992 CURSED PIRATE GIRL #3 (OF 3) (C: 0-0-1) 4.9500

JUN090372 ARMAGEDDON NOW THE BEAST #2 (OF 5) 3.9900

JUN090375 BAD DOG #4 (MR) 2.9900

AUG090349 BOMB QUEEN VI #2 (OF 4) (MR) 3.5000

SEP090321 BOMB QUEEN VI #3 (OF 4) (MR) 3.5000

SEP090330 FOUR EYES #4 (RES) 3.5000

OCT090412 BOMB QUEEN VI #4 (OF 4) (MR) 3.5000

DEC090059 STAR WARS DARK TIMES TP VOL 04 BLUE HARVEST 7.9900

Now this very well just someone cleaning out old orders. It is a lot from one publisher at once. I left the order codes in to show how old the orders are. APR09 means it was in the April 2008 Previews catalog.

Now none of these were ordered in huge numbers. But it did take me time to read each solicit, look at my orders for previous issues, sales numbers for previous issues and decide how many to order. So a little bit of wasted time. But the ones that kill me are books like Gemini #5. I have people who bought 1-4. I know one customer who asks every once in a while where the last issue is. Well, I ordered it in June 2008. And we have been waiting since. There are others where I received just issue #1. I sold some and have some left. So, some customers may never find out how the story was to go and I have some books that are pretty worthless. So, when these creators wonder why the orders for their books are so low, its due to the fact that I don’t trust them to finish the series. Now, sadly, I can’t remember who they are. I don’t keep a list of creators who cancel their titles (maybe I should). But it makes me take a cautious look at every small title by people I don’t know. Some are ones I do. Liefeld, Faerber. Some had big buzz. Remember being at the Diamond Summit in Las Vegas in Oct 2008 and Joe Keatinge from Image telling me how much buzz he was getting on Guerillas. Well that’s great, but we only got half of the story. So what good is that buzz now?

So, what is my point with all of this? It’s to say to the creators, when you ask me to purchase issue #1, you are making a deal with me that you are going to finish the series. If it is 1 of 4, I expect you to put out all four issues in a reasonable amount of time. When you ship #1, you are also making a deal with the readers that, if they spend their money on #1, you will also make the rest of the issues available for them to buy if they like #1. Issues 1-5 of Golly shipped, but you are not going to finish it? That’s not fair to them. What recourse do they have? Not to even bother trying the next book that comes out. So, not only are you hurting yourself, but you are hurting your colleagues and people who haven’t even started yet. Yes, I understand that there are unforeseen circumstances. Real life gets in the way. But, once you start down the road of putting out a book, you need to finish it. That’s all I am really asking for here.

Clarification of a Point

In my last post, I made a point about DC needing to cut the crap. I used some examples. I want to clarify this point a bit.

I did not mean to imply that the books I mentioned are crap. To be fair, I have not read some of them (Magog and Azrael). DC did not do a good enough job to convince me that I needed to read them. I have enjoyed Great Ten, but I don't really see the need for this book.

Here is what I want to see:
- If you are doing a mini-series on a character, make it the best story about that character ever. Make it a story that I can sell as a trade for years. Stop the random mini-series that tie into some big overarching story that no one will care about in a year.

- If you are going to do a new ongoing series about an obscure character (Web or Shield) there has to be a publicity blitz. Everybody reading a DC comics for the weeks leading up to it need to see an in-house ad telling them why they have to read this book. If you can't, don't put the book out.

- Keep your books important. I stopped reading Justice League when it was Vixen and Company. That's not the Justice League, and I don't think I was alone in stopping reading. Lets get back to books needing only to be relevant to themselves. Tell some great Titans storylines, without anything crossing to any other book.

- I want people to come in and ask if I had read a certain book because it so excited them and they want to talk about it. I've been getting that with Blackest Night and Green Lantern, but not with anything else. In a long time.

- Find a way to get new readers into your books. Why should I read this book? Why should I jump on board? Make some buzz. Get the internet talking about it.

- Keep what you have worked so hard to get. Green Lantern has doubled for me with the Blackest Night story. Now keep them. Batman and its family of titles have grown with Reborn. Keep them. As soon as you hit a stinker of a story, they will find a reason to walk away. Keep them relevant.

- While I understand the desire to spin off from other titles, be careful not to cannibalize you audience. Putting out books like Justice League Lost Generation is that it is really only targeted at your core DC audience. It doesn't look like something I can switch a newly won over Green Lantern fan onto. Give me more books that I can. Give me more books that you don't need 15 years of DC knowledge to enjoy.

They cannot become #1 by getting the DC fans to simply buy more. They need to get more readers buying more. When I was growing up, I read Avengers AND Justice League. I read Uncanny X-Men AND New Teen Titans. Now, my Justice League sales are half my New Avengers. My Teen Titans are 1/4 of my Uncanny X-Men. That is what they need to change. Build it and they will come. Put out books that they cannot NOT buy. They have the characters. Write the stories!

Things I'd love to see from all companies:
- Thought balloons. That is one of the things that made comics unique. You could see a characters actions, but you also knew what they were thinking. The Beat had something about Stephen King wanting to use thought balloons in American Vampire and was told that they weren't used anymore. I think that is a big mistake. I truly think that there are two reasons for the disappearance of thought balloons:
1. Decompression of comics. When a story was told in one issue, the writer had to maximize each page. A well-placed thought balloon could go a long way to moving the story along. Nowadays they can use 4 pages of non-dialogued action to show it.
2. The Hollywood factor. Comics now look like storyboards for comics and if you can't see it, it doesn't happen in a movie.

- Better house ads. When was the last time you saw a house ad and it reminded you to grab a book? Its been a while. Or a page promoting all of the books shipping the next week? Somebody call Stan Lee and ask him how to promote a new book. You could all use the help.

- Better covers - When was the last time you bought I book you had no intention of buying solely because of the cover? This weeks Power Girl was the first book in a while I have flipped through solely because of the cover. Enough of the pin-ups. It is the best sales tool each book has, but companies are ignoring them. The last Irredeemable had a guy sitting in a chair. 1, that didn't even happen in the book and 2, who would pick it up because of that? If there is nothing in the book that is exciting enough to put on the cover to grab a shoppers eye, you need to rethink your strategy. I am sitting here thinking of classic covers and very few are pin-ups. The issue before last of Uncanny X-Men had Magneto meditating. Ooooh. Gotta read that! But there was an Iron Man a bit ago with Ghost coming through him on the cover that would make you want to see what happened.

- A Plain English Retailer Version of Previews - It would be much easier for me to order if I could get the info without the hyperbole. Ie, Captain America #605 - Cap and Falcon continue their search for bad guys, Part 5 of 6. The Previews solicits are now written for consumers and I have to read between the lines to get what I need. And when I have to do that I am going to miss stuff, like that stupid Deadpool Rank and Foul book that shipped this week. Just say Deadpool Handbook.

OK, that's enough for today.

DC Wants to be the #1 Publisher

So, one of the news bits coming from the ComicPRO meeting in Memphis is that DC wants to be #1 in the Direct Market. First some explanation. ComicsPRO is a group of Comic retailers who have gotten group together as a means of speaking to publishers, distributors, et al with a united voice, rather than 3000 individual voices. And some publishers have decided to listen. Which is a good thing. Sadly Marvel has not, which is a problem, but also a great opportunity for DC. More on this in a bit. I did not go because I couldn't really figure out a way to be closed Weds-Fri and survive. Maybe next year.

As of February, Marvel led DC in Unit sales 45% to 34% and dollar sales 41% to 31%. Now part of the dollar figure can be based on more Marvel books being $4, but that is just conjecture on my part. The more DC gains, there will be some erosion of Marvel, presumably, DC need less than a 10% swing. How they go about this will be interesting to see.

Over at Bleeding Cool, Rich Johnston suggests DC is going to expand their line, greenlighting more projects than usual. This is scary, because I only have so much room for titles. Seeing one publisher flooding the shelves in an effort to push other books off is a scary thought. Comic shops like me buy the books on a non-returnable basis. We generally have very little to go on when ordering, especially with new titles. Action Comics has a track record and barring a major shake-up, I have a general idea of how many copies of each issue I will sell. New titles are a total guess. And if what Rich Johnston hints at says is true, there may be a lot of titles by unknown talent that will be a total guess. Now, having it coming from DC rather than Left Foot Comics is a little better, unless they are advertising and promoting each one, they are going to die on the shelves. My shelves. Books I paid good money for. I gamble on a lot of books every month, but the thought of a publisher intentionally flooding my shelves is scary. The fact that returnability is mentioned is intriguing if they are going to offer returnability with all of these new books, but I haven't read that yet, Just read it into what is being said.

Another problem is how much can my customers support. Generally, a customer drops a book they haven't been enjoying to try a new one. I know they don't have infinite money to add books. They can spend X amount. Throwing too much out there will result in stagnation. "I can't try them all so I will pass on them all." I don't know, but its scary.

When I first heard DC wanted to be #1, I started thinking about what they can do. What has worked lately. Well, Green Lantern has been a fantastic sales story for, what, 2 years now? Now, it was a well thought-out and executed series. Some stuff has been a little much, crossing over through all of the books, but the ring promotion was a great success for me. Do I want to see every lone go through something this expansive? No. Here is what I would like to see:

1. Core Characters - These are the bread and butter for publishers. Spider-Man, Captain America, Batman, Superman. From these, everything else grows. DC needs to shore up their core characters. For the last year, Superman was not in Superman. Not good. Its very hard to get that new or returning reader into the book. "Where is Superman?" and after you spend 10 minutes talking about New Krypton and Mon-El, their eyes glaze over and they move on to something else. The Batman change has been very well received here in my store, with all new titles doing very well. Better than all of the Superman line. But it is still a problem for new readers. "This is Batman, but its really Nightwing who used to be Robin." "Is Spider-Man still Spider-Man? I'll get that instead."

2. Too much crap - There is too much crap out there to wade through for most people, so they ignore it. It would be different if the stories were brilliant or cutting edge, but they haven't been. Was there really a pressing need for a spin-off character from a team book (Magog) or a new character with an old name from, what 20 years ago? (Azrael). Or a spin-off from a low selling spin-off (Nemesis). Or a spin-off from a 3+ year old story (Great Ten). Someone needs to tell me why I should order these books. Why will my customers be interested in them. I would love to get a little retailer insert for Previews for all of the new titles. Oni Press does it in their listing (Will appeal to...). I need it for many of these.

Lets have some fun. I just pulled out the current Previews. Lets look at DC's new offerings:
Brightest Day - No idea how these will sell, but DC is making them returnable, so I will guess a little higher than I may have.
Justice League: Generation Lost - Tying into Justice League International from the 90s. Why do I need this? Considering Justice League has lost about half its readers since it restarted, what is going to make this special.
Birds of Prey - OK, Gail Simone back on the title she is best known for. Good. I have known demand for this.
Flash - Good, about time. Just make it special.
Titans: Villains for Hire Special - New team, new direction. Trying to spur interest in this? Will sell less than regular series, so why not just make it part of the regular series and promote that?
DC Universe Legacies - Old guys telling old stories. Why is this special?
Batman: Return of Bruce Wayne - OK. Batman is doing well. This will do well. hopefully it will finally explain what happened to him because the "Omega Beam" answer wasn't doing it for most people.
Superman War of the Supermen - Big Free Comic Book Day intro. This will do well. Only a 4 parter. Good. People will stay for 4. Not so much for 12. Even better, its weekly.
Mighty Crusaders Special - Please just let this bad idea die.
Legion of Super-Heroes - Paul Levitz. Good good good. Known audience and may regain more.
Doc Savage - Old character, but great creative team and lots of buzz. Good.
Spirit - Last series tanked bad. may get some buzz, but with creative changes already taking place before it starts, I have little hope this will fly.
Zatanna - Really? Good creative team, but is there really a lot of demand for Zatanna. My hope is that they have a brilliant idea for the first arc that will make every reviewer scream that this is a must read. That's about the only way this will do well.

Now, what I'd like is a one page promo from DC about why I should order these. What is it going to be about, not "Things will never be the same!!!" Tell me the truth. Help me help you.

3. Less Editorial Edicts - What I mean by this is less crossovers. Less tying issues into other stories. Wonder Woman died an early death because I don't think the writers were able to tell their stories. Everything had to fit into something else (Amazons Attack). Let the writers tell the stories they want. Things get too herky jerky. Was Adventure supposed to cross into Blackest Night when it was pitched, or did that just happen? Let the stories flow. Let the writers find their way. I was reading a review of Starman saying how it took Robinson a while to find his voice with it. How would it have worked if he had to crossover into other storylines once a year. Let the writers write.

4. Don't Give Up Editorial Control - Books need to be on time. And each book has to be good. No space fillers. And I really wish there was a tighter gauntlet for getting books done, not a looser one. Why did we need a Red Tornado mini-series? Why did we need Black Lightning Year One? Sell me on the book. Don't just put it out there.

5. Wildstorm - No idea, but something has to happen with this. Or let it go for a year and then bring it back. Take a year to figure out what you want to do with the titles. The relaunch was so badly botched. And the Authority: The Lost year? Did anyone really think this was going to pull big numbers? Pick some writers and artists and have a conference, like Marvel does. If you come at me with a plan, I'll push it. Just throwing stuff out there is not working.

6. Creative Continuity - Changing writers and artists willy nilly does not help readers get comfortable with a title. Titans started strong, but has floundered down to Teen Titans levels.

Now, I like the people at DC. I like the effort they give to getting me promo material, overprinting books so I can get more when it is hot. They have the best trade paperback backlist out there. If they can make me care about their characters and want to read stories about them, they should have no trouble being top dog.

I am not a creative guy. I couldn't write my way out of a bag and a stick figure is the extent of my abilities. But, I know what I like to read. And right now, DC is a little staid and boring. Other than Blackest Night, there is no DC buzz. Lots of Marvel, IDW, Boom buzz. But other than BN, there is no DC buzz. If they can fix that, they may be able to do it.

Snow, Snow Everywhere

I didn't open Saturday. 20 inches of snow overnight. I didn't finish getting the driveway shoveled until 1:00pm (and I started at 7:00am). Plus the township issued a State of Emergency. Sunday was really light. Closed today. And more snow coming tomorrow. Couple that with a very light week of new releases and this week is looking like a bust.

Gah. I know that February is traditionally a slow month for comics sales. The publishers certainly arent' helping in that respect. We got Siege last week, but no other tie-in books (don't get me started on Embedded). No Blackest Night or Green Lantern books. And nothing coming out this week either. Why are the publishers back-loading the months lately? January was like this as well. I just don't get it. There are 4 weeks in a month. There is really no excuse to ship all of you main books in the last 2 weeks.

Or, if they are going to make a habit of this, and I was a small press publisher, I'd make sure my stuff came out the 1st two weeks of a month. People would be 50% more likely to at least see your book. With no Avengers, X-titles, Justice titles or Green Lantern titles shipping, people are looking for things to read.

OK, enough complaining. Time for me to concentrate on selling things other than new comics.

2009 Sales Breakdown

I found this interesting, so I thought I'd share.

Apparel .33%
Back Issues 2.99%
Card Games 3.04%
Games 3.65%
Graphic Novels 24.23%
Magazines (& Lead Figures) 3.36%
Miscellaneous 1.72%
New Comics 47.97%
Posters .04%
Supplies 1.76%
Toys & Statues 11.14%

A few clarifications.
Sadly, the system groups Toys and Statues together. I would like to see those separate. Maybe something to work on for 2010.
The lead figures are classified as Magazines and that is the bulk of that category. I don't sell that many Wizards.

So, my quick analysis-
- I sell more lead figures than I do back issues. The new side should change that, or I am going to have to seriously rethink back issues.
- For as much as people are screaming that comics are dead and trades are the way to go, comics outsell trades 2:1 here. I am happy with both of those numbers though.
- For the new side to really start paying for itself, I need to get games and cards both up to 5% and back issues up to 10%. in store gaming and the new back issue racks should help that.

Now these are only for March-Dec because that's when I got the new POS system.

Top Selling Comics
1. Blackest Night #1
2. Blackest Night #2
3. Green Lantern #43
4. Green Lantern #44
5. Captain America Reborn #1
6. Blackest Night #3
7. Blackest Night #5
8. Blackest night #4
9. Batman & Robin #1
10. Green Lantern #45

Top Selling Graphic Novels
1. Boys TP Vol 4
2. Boys TP Vol 2
3. Boys TP Vol 1
4. Boys TP Vol 3 (Yes, I feel shame for pushing these so hard)
5. Walking Dead TP Vol 10
6. Watchmen TP
7. Mini Marvels TP Secret Invasion Digest
8. Pride & Prejudice & Zombies
9. Walking Dead TP Vol 9
10. Joker HC
(tie) 10. Wolverine Origin TP New Printing

For fun, Top Selling Lead Figures
1. Green Lantern
2. Robin
3. Batman
4. Flash
5. Deadpool
6. Wonder Woman
7. Superman
8. Hawkman
9. Green Arrow
10. Catwoman