2016 a terrible year for comic industry?

[romanheart]

Maybe readers are getting tired of the variants and reboots.

 

and low quality movies and tv series

which tv series, as they all seem high quality.

 

Flash, Supergirl, and Arrow couldn't catch my interest to name a few.

[MadGenius]

The independents really boomed.

For Image, it's been positive. But for many other companies, it's been a marginal improvement or flat out tons of garbage.

I really noticed it this week.

I can see why Image's success has caused stores to buy so much.

But I can it's going to shift again very soon.

 

Marvel is FAR too focused on garbage like Squirrel Girl and GwenPool.

They had some momentum at the beginning of the Secret Wars minis. But completely blew like they usually do.

Both Marvel and DC need a major culling of titles.

Vertigo has to be the most disappointing I've seen in a LOONNNNG time.

 

Patrick

Squirrel Girl is actually one of the most well-written books Marvel produces. The world is better off with that title in existence than yet another Spider-man, Avengers, or X-Men book.

[MetalPSI]

I like how squirrel girl came from Tick.

[ComicConnoisseur]

Observations.

The cover price is way too expensive! $3.99 to $4.99 for a 10 to 15 minute read?

Are they kidding us in the day of Spotify,Netflix,Game Fly and Marvel Unlimited?

Not to mention I can buy thousands of Kindle books for under $2.99.

 

A bright side.

Imagine if there were no speculators who were buying up all these extra copies to flip?

Sales would be lower than they are now.Imagine if Loot Crate went bankrupt?

 

What they need to do is lower their prices,add more pages and get the comic books into big time stores like Wal-Mart and Toys R Us.

 

If not than monthly floppy comic books will slowly be replaced by digital comic books just like stream music has replaced CD sales in the music industry.

 

The readers will win in the end because of easier accessibility and better stories,but the middle men suppliers and comic book creators will suffer the most monetarily.

 

 

 

[ComicConnoisseur]

American publishers should take a page from manga.

Two modern hits.

 

 

Both books have sold in the millions. Millions!

Both books costs less than two modern comic books and unlike being 15 minute reads both books have over 200 pages!

[rjrjr]

Observations.

The cover price is way too expensive! $3.99 to $4.99 for a 10 to 15 minute read?

Are they kidding us in the day of Spotify,Netflix,Game Fly and Marvel Unlimited?

Not to mention I can buy thousands of Kindle books for under $2.99.

 

A bright side.

Imagine if there were no speculators who were buying up all these extra copies to flip?

Sales would be lower than they are now.Imagine if Loot Crate went bankrupt?

 

What they need to do is lower their prices,add more pages and get the comic books into big time stores like Wal-Mart and Toys R Us.

 

If not than monthly floppy comic books will slowly be replaced by digital comic books just like stream music has replaced CD sales in the music industry.

 

The readers will win in the end because of easier accessibility and better stories,but the middle men suppliers and comic book creators will suffer the most monetarily.

 

 

 

There are people paying thousands of dollars for months old variants. I doubt the price of comics is an issue for the publishers otherwise we would have seen the prices come down by now.

[ComicConnoisseur]

Observations.

The cover price is way too expensive! $3.99 to $4.99 for a 10 to 15 minute read?

Are they kidding us in the day of Spotify,Netflix,Game Fly and Marvel Unlimited?

Not to mention I can buy thousands of Kindle books for under $2.99.

 

A bright side.

Imagine if there were no speculators who were buying up all these extra copies to flip?

Sales would be lower than they are now.Imagine if Loot Crate went bankrupt?

 

What they need to do is lower their prices,add more pages and get the comic books into big time stores like Wal-Mart and Toys R Us.

 

If not than monthly floppy comic books will slowly be replaced by digital comic books just like stream music has replaced CD sales in the music industry.

 

The readers will win in the end because of easier accessibility and better stories,but the middle men suppliers and comic book creators will suffer the most monetarily.

 

 

 

There are people paying thousands of dollars for months old variants. I doubt the price of comics is an issue for the publishers otherwise we would have seen the prices come down by now.

Slow decline.Give it time.

Even video-games which were the benchmark hobby for collecting media are being replaced with digital downloads of the games.

 

 

 

[Red84]

Observations.

The cover price is way too expensive! $3.99 to $4.99 for a 10 to 15 minute read?

Are they kidding us in the day of Spotify,Netflix,Game Fly and Marvel Unlimited?

Not to mention I can buy thousands of Kindle books for under $2.99.

 

A bright side.

Imagine if there were no speculators who were buying up all these extra copies to flip?

Sales would be lower than they are now.Imagine if Loot Crate went bankrupt?

 

What they need to do is lower their prices,add more pages and get the comic books into big time stores like Wal-Mart and Toys R Us.

 

If not than monthly floppy comic books will slowly be replaced by digital comic books just like stream music has replaced CD sales in the music industry.

 

The readers will win in the end because of easier accessibility and better stories,but the middle men suppliers and comic book creators will suffer the most monetarily.

 

 

 

There are people paying thousands of dollars for months old variants. I doubt the price of comics is an issue for the publishers otherwise we would have seen the prices come down by now.

 

You are making the false assumption that the publishers understand economics and actually know what they are doing.

[the blob]

Observations.

The cover price is way too expensive! $3.99 to $4.99 for a 10 to 15 minute read?

Are they kidding us in the day of Spotify,Netflix,Game Fly and Marvel Unlimited?

Not to mention I can buy thousands of Kindle books for under $2.99.

 

A bright side.

Imagine if there were no speculators who were buying up all these extra copies to flip?

Sales would be lower than they are now.Imagine if Loot Crate went bankrupt?

 

What they need to do is lower their prices,add more pages and get the comic books into big time stores like Wal-Mart and Toys R Us.

 

If not than monthly floppy comic books will slowly be replaced by digital comic books just like stream music has replaced CD sales in the music industry.

 

The readers will win in the end because of easier accessibility and better stories,but the middle men suppliers and comic book creators will suffer the most monetarily.

 

 

 

There are people paying thousands of dollars for months old variants. I doubt the price of comics is an issue for the publishers otherwise we would have seen the prices come down by now.

 

You are making the false assumption that the publishers understand economics and actually know what they are doing.

 

Publishers are only thinking short term to keep their numbers from dropping.

 

At $4 they have made them too expensive for an impulse buy. I honestly think those could still exist. And retailers might carry comics if they weren't so damage prone. The 3 for $5 or $6 pack all sealed with a carboard backer to prevent damage might be a way for these to sell in 7-11s and other retail venues. I don't know if these places want them, but if they are sealed people won't be milling around reading them and someone can buy a three pack for the road. Were I marvel I would focus on trying to get these in areas where there aren't comic shops.

 

(Why is it that Walking Dead can still be $2.99? Color does not cost an extra $1 to print.)

[shadroch]

To the publisher, the difference between a $2.99 and a $3.99 book is only about forty cents. I think the difference between B& W and color is more than that. That is to say, it traditionally was. With todays technology, I am not at all certain that still holds up.

[revat]

To the publisher, the difference between a $2.99 and a $3.99 book is only about forty cents. I think the difference between B& W and color is more than that. That is to say, it traditionally was. With todays technology, I am not at all certain that still holds up.

 

I assumed TWD and other Image books stay at a lower cost because Image has less overhead and the creators have more control over how much they want to get paid. And they also don't have corporate stockholders pushing for ever increasing profit margins as a company, or zillions of employees collecting retirement. And they see the price point as a competitive advantage they need to exploit.

[the blob]

To the publisher, the difference between a $2.99 and a $3.99 book is only about forty cents. I think the difference between B& W and color is more than that. That is to say, it traditionally was. With todays technology, I am not at all certain that still holds up.

 

I assumed TWD and other Image books stay at a lower cost because Image has less overhead and the creators have more control over how much they want to get paid. And they also don't have corporate stockholders pushing for ever increasing profit margins as a company, or zillions of employees collecting retirement. And they see the price point as a competitive advantage they need to exploit.

 

 

 

according to jim zub, creator of skullkickers (image) and a few other titles, printing a color comic with a 5-6K type run costs about 75-80 cents (so I presume marvel and big image books like WD get a much better rate), so I wonder if it being in color really doubles the cost from 40 or less cents?

 

 

Marvel went bankrupt. I am sure any retirees owed anything got completely skrewed. DC on the other hand has been owned by TW for eons, so they probably do have liabilities.

[shadroch]

I think they need to raise cover prices to $4.99

Experiment with a dozen titles.

Change them from 32 pages to 96, and reprint classic stories in them.

[AlexanderM]

if I was Marvel or DC I would really make a push for Asian markets. Comics has a huge potential there.

 

American movies made it globally and now sell more abroad than domestically. Comics can do the same, but it will not come by itself - it will take time and clever plans.

[the blob]

I think they need to raise cover prices to $4.99

Experiment with a dozen titles.

Change them from 32 pages to 96, and reprint classic stories in them.

 

yup, worked well for DC 40 years ago.....

 

 

With that said, at $3.99 they really should be 64 pages, even if 3/4 reprints. Will people feel like they're getting their money worth then?

 

Or is the complaint about $3.99 is that they aren't worth buying new because 90% will be in a dollar box at some point in the near future?

 

People don't seem to have such a problem paying whatever $3-$4 an issue amounts to per page for TBPs and/or stuff they are really in love with like WD.

 

I am curious how many copies WD TPB Volume 1, 2, etc. have sold each, including all the various printings?

 

Is volume 1, which you figure a lot of people buy as an intro, pushing 7 digits now after being out 10 or whatever years?

[Bookery]

More comic shops??

 

Two by me closed within the last 12 months and four or five within the last 2 years. I hear there is a new place, have not found it yet though.

 

Just finished working out the quarterly books. First quarter vs. a year ago... new comics sales down 8%. Graphic novel sales up, however. We're one of the largest shops in the nation, so take that for whatever it means.

 

A nearby city with population 60,000 just lost its only comic shop this month... but no details on why it closed.

 

 

[aardvark88]

The store may have closed due to poor ordering from Diamond. My LCS used to take 1.5 days to figure out his monthly Diamond order. Now it takes him a week to figure out whether to gamble by increasing his order to 50, 100 or 300 copies of an issue to get the chase variant comic(s) that some collectors love to pay a premium price for each Wed.

 

The problem comes with what the heck to do with the unsold regular covers (e.g. Marvel's Star Wars #1, Dark Knight volume 3, etc.) My LCS is running out of space to warehouse the 6,000 overstocked regular covers just from the last year. He will not blow out these issues at a local comicon because Sunday is his day off, he is already paying for 2 staff to man his shop on Sunday so don't want to pay for 2 other staff to set up and blow out at local con or weekend flea market.

[Prince Namor]

The only thing I can agree with in that 'article' from BC is that titles need to be dropped. Say for example, drop Detective Comics and run only Batman. And, drop all the other Spider-Man's except Amazing. Or something like that, as well as drop titles that are floundering or have been floundering for quite some time.

 

Maybe focus on YTLM types of series' rather than more indefinite series'. Perhaps readers would respond better knowing the run is limited and won't have any crossover between other titles or any other shenanigans

 

 

Jerome

 

Yes, drop the very comic DC is named for.

nevermind that Detective Comics is one of DC's best selling books.

 

Detective ranks around the 30's and sells about 45,000 copies a month through Diamond - about half of what Batman sells.

And that actually makes it one of DC's best selling books! (Usually #4 or #5!)

Yikes.

[loadstone]

Hmm I feel like I've seen this 90's movie before. For some reason I can't quite recall how it ends. Oh well I'm sure everything will work out fine.

[Tony S]

Seems to me that 2015 numbers would have been inflated by the Star Wars books. Been a long time since anyone shipped a million of something.

 

That said, comic circulation numbers have been deplorable compared to historical numbers for a long time now. Print everywhere struggles. It's just sorta a slow spiral down. Gimmicks and higher cover prices have been propping it up for some time now.