Aweandlorder

Having another successful comic book company doesn't necessarily mean that it has to be marketed in the same ways it was until now. Maybe it would be in digital form? Maybe a kickstarter?

Very interesting observation. I think that for that to happen, the "next marvel" needs to be as aggressive a company as Marvel is. As Shadroc mentioned earlier, it could've happened with Image or Valiant, but Marvel is just such a dominant force in the field, they know every trick in the book and will fight aggressively to beat any competition. Like you, I believe it can be done. I'm a great believer in marketing power. I think that for a product to sell you need 30% desirability and 70% marketing power. Not the other way around. Picture perfect you can have both. But pushing a product down consumer throats always yields better results than a FANTASTIC product hiding quietly at the bottom shelf. As someone who was involved in music production/writing I see this every day on that field. 90% of the songs you hear on the radio are garbage and would never make you shake your head unless there was a big fat oiled machine pushing these properties to the masses. And that is just a microcosm of Hollywood

Millar could only dream of becoming as an influential writer/creator as Miller, Gaiman or Moore were/are in comic books. The fact that he had a few movies adapted doesn't make him the giant that you put him to be. Having a few stories adapt to film doesn't make him "create a universe". Just makes him a good writer (opinionated) with possibly good ties to the film industry. While nothing to sneeze at, he certainly isn't as influential as these writers you quickly dismissed.

So? That made them leading in comic books sales for one year maybe. But that still didn't make them churn out more popular properties. Not in that one year, nor in the past 25 years

could it just be that there isn't any other marketing genius as Stan Lee in the comic book biz? Is he the Steve Jobs of comic-books? I mean, no one can deny the power of comic books (Marvel or not) and their influence in movies TV shows, games, and pop culture in general. In that regard, comic books are truly experiencing a renaissance! The fact that Secret Service is an unknown comic by many doesn't mean that it didn't make for a hell of a movie by most. Same could be said about tens (hundreds) of other similarly unknown modern comic book properties. Not all are as powerful as your Harry Potter example, but collectively maybe they are. It just so happens to be that Stan had a good chunk of that collective arsenal in one portfolio. Coincidence?

I think that Frank Miller could've pulled a Marvel miracle back then had he decided to start a publishing company. He is probably the only other influential person in the medium with as a diverse successful roster as Stan Lee

I also think that such companies as Eclipse, First, Now/innovation, Malibu, and Mirage had great opportunities. Either in terms of quality or popularity (in the case of Mirage) None came even close to Marvel's level

As far as numbers are concerned I would think that Kirkaman has a better shot at the title because of Walking Dead. The difference is that he doesn't seem to match that level of success he has with WD with other of his titles

Marvel was very popular within years of their brand new universe in the 60s. Certainly within a decade. No other surviving company other than DC has matched that level of success. Some will argue that Marvel beat DC at their own game

Even more so than, if Marvel was truly struggling more than Image/valiant did when they launched, than their success rate is much more remarkable! In fact, I'm sure that that's what Shooter, McFarlane, Liefeld etc had in mind when they formed their new line of titles. They must've thought nows a better time to do this than the 60s and we have the know how and business skills to set such a plan. Yet they haven't succeeded

I think music is actually not a good comparison. there are big selling artists still to this day. Just a different audience and different capital stream avenues. Heck, some of the kids nowadays don't even know who the Beatles are. But they know who spidey, wolverine and deadpool are. So many new genres have appeared since the 60s: Hip-Hop and EDM seem to have influenced the market tremendously. While with comic books, we still have the same retail traditions (for the most part), same genres, same format more or less.

When you think about it, Marvel Comics (circa 1961) catapulted while the industry was very healthy, with many comic book genres selling very well, not just superheroes. It would seem to me that it was more difficult back then to market and brand a new line of superheroes among such a fierce competition. Since then, many companies tried to take a shot at the title (Image, valiant et al) and failed to achieve similar results. Do you think it is likely that we will witness another Marvel success story with similar big titles and properties? What would it take to achieve such an impressive repertoire by a single publisher in today's market?

How come Action 710 is not in the front

Lethal Protector #1, Batman Spawn #1, spider man unlimited #1.. All 5-10$ books for me in the past month.. Fast cash since I have multiples and they sell quick

Or is it Divad'ed

No.. But it was Diva'd

There can only be one Nemesis

Those McFarlane bagged were the sh*t back in the day. Esp the ones with McFarlanes silver/gold sigs. I remember almost killing someone for a copy back in SDCC 91

Great story Dave. Do you still have that sketch of Longshot & Rita? Yes, Art does amazing commissions, I think they rate between 5k-7500 Those are certainly fine examples of some of them!

Nice copper DS right here

This is circa 1984 as well

Re: High Energy It baffles the mind how Art's art has changed tremendously since High Energy (1982) - Longshot 1 (1984) (or Alien Worlds 3D for that matter) In the interview Art gave to CI, he jokingly says it was very bad. He wasn't kidding!! I wonder if: A. Marvel recognized the artistic potential Art possessed and taught him how to utilize it accordingly. There is a "making of a cover" post out there in the blogosphere that adds to that notion, which showcases Classic X-Men #1 cover being developed from Art's preliminaries through Romita's instructional changes, back to Art's finishes. B. Art drew the High Energy story many many years before 1982, and just finished it around the time it was published.

Certainly. I wasn't aware of this one either ??

Congrats on finding this gem. i wonder if it would be worth while to give it a good press. Judging from just the front cover it seems like you would easily be able to bump it one or maybe even 2 points. Any tears or stains on it?

Did you find "black" amidst all the pumps?