Trying to understand MARVEL AGE...

[Kevin Boyd]

A discussion on Marvel's children line can be found here:

 

http://newsarama.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=19963

[plitch]

Viva la Power Pack!

[Kevin Boyd]

What's interesting about the Marvel Age line is that it's pretty dead in the direct market, selling between 15000-27000 copies per book. (Using September's stats - Mary Jane was the lowest ordered, Emma Frost the highest).

 

I could see the best selling DM books in the line - Spider-Girl, Emma Frost and Thor Son of Asgard - being the poorest selling mainstream outlet titles.

 

If the Marvel Age line is the sales phenomenon that JQ and this fellow seem to indicate it is, what effect does it have on regular DM Marvel Comics? Are we seeing a saturation of titles/milking of the DM by Marvel as a means to get as much out of a dying animal as possible before shooting it in the head?

 

Trying to understand how much money Marvel's publishing division is in fact making outside of the direct market is like trying to discover the Anti-Life Equation. There was an excellent attempt in the latest Comics Journal (Ed Brubaker cover) to do just that, but they couldn't do it because the information in Marvel's quarterly statements seems to vary wildly from report to report.

[awe4one]

I recently bought Marvel Age Fantastic Four #6 and quite liked it. It's not geared for readers of the flagship title. They would hate the faux-manga art and relatively simple storylines.

 

On the other hand, I can see kids loving the title...

 

Jim