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Marvel has lost its way

Started by Hulksdaddy1,

230 posts in this topic

herc2000

herc2000

Posted
Posted

Marvel has lost sales, DC is also going to be in decline soon.

 

Shops were buying to their normal levels, but the stock is not shifting, therefore orders will get smaller and smaller.

 

A top London shop told me yesterday, they will no longer be doing current issues anymore soon, because the sales are so bad. They are going to just focus on back issues and forget all about latest imports as they said the sales are so bad now, the writing and content from both Marvel and DC has deadlined.

 

Apparently some other shops are going to go the same way!

 

I think it's going to be a very sad day for the market soon when the realisation hits home, how, if this will affect the back issue market I don't know?

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ComicConnoisseur

ComicConnoisseur

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Posted

 

What companies plan, and what happens, often don't jive. Like here. Marvels market share has plummeted. There are no new readers coming in.

Marvel hasn't lost sales, it's just that DC gained sales. Not readers, sales. People who had five book on their pull list now have 25. It will get back to where it was just like it did when the New 52 launched and became the New 51 and the new 48 as titles got cancelled. And when you look beyond the direct market, they're both losing marketshare in staggering numbers. Bookscan, NYT, Amazon, and B&N bestseller lists have far different demographics than Diamond and the local comic shop.

 

Where do you think young readers are going to buy their comics, the weird nerd hole 30 miles from home with the angry shop owner and the overpriced merchandise, or the bookstore in the mall, Amazon, their Kindle marketplace?

 

One of the biggest markets for comics, believe it or not, is school book fairs, which is why Scholastic is KILLING the big two on the NYT bestseller list. On any given week, half that list will be books by Raina Telgemeier, and it's been that way for about five years. Marvel might pop up once or twice a year on the list, DC might have one or two titles a month on it. She dominates the top five 52 weeks out of the year. And yet she's never been on the Diamond top 300.

 

Marvel isn't doing anything DC isn't doing, which is a problem in itself, but it pretty much means Marvel's loss of marketshare is due to DC's Rebirth having taken place just recently and not because Cap said Hail Hydra. Belive me, when Marvel puts a shiny new #1 on 80 titles for two months in a row, their marketshare in the direct market will be back to where it always was. And believe me, they already got the next reboot scheduled.

 

It won't bring in any new readers, but it will make the ever shrinking pool of current readers add more titles to their pull list, which is what the real cause of these sales bumps is.

 

If they wanted to actually bring in new readers, Iron Man should be all ages friendly, be a 100 page prestige bound magazine for $6.99, and be available in toy stores, book stores, book fairs, Wal Mart checkout lanes, and in vending machines at the movie theater where 60 million people lined up to watch the movie.

Very good post.

 

 

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ComicConnoisseur

ComicConnoisseur

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Marvel's current strategy seems to to chase after new, younger readers and do so by changing things up so drastically that the old readers/ buyers no longer are interested.

 

And those new, younger readers are a mirage, and Marvel is just chasing its own tail.

Speaking of tail. Anybody notice what Marvel's big breakout hit is in it's graphic novel sales on Amazon?

It's Squirrel Girl. 4 of her graphic novels are Marvel's biggest sellers on Amazon. You put that with Ms. Marvel another best-seller and that tells me Marvel is catering to the female audience and not catering to the 40 plus middle-age crowd.

It's an interesting strategy.

It could work or backfire.

New readers or old loyal readers who made Marvel?

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Forbush-Man

Forbush-Man

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Foolkiller

Prowler

Great Lakes Avengers

Occupy Avengers

Cage with artwork that's just :facepalm:

 

Plus an agenda that seems to be to do away with their iconic characters.

 

All great ways to make sure your market share declines.

 

And let's make sure we reboot these titles every 4-6 months so people don't get the idea that they could actually collect these things. That way dealers can't make money selling the previous runs, cause no one will care about them. :facepalm:

 

Don't even get me started on the mediocre artwork....

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romanheart

romanheart

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Marvel is really losing market share not total sales which was correctly already stated. DC decided to adopt a faster frequency for reboots and are now in the game.

 

Truthfully, DC has better overall quality over Marvel for that last 5 yrs. I don't collect any modern DC or Marvel title. Rebirth was the end for me.

 

I liked the one time New 52 reboot but I'm over getting the next new thing. If I like it I buy it. I think all the good new reads are in the other publisher titles, although I would love to see a great superhero title again. I'm pouring all my resources in getting the old titles that made me happy.

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Hulksdaddy1

Hulksdaddy1

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Marvel is really losing market share not total sales which was correctly already stated. DC decided to adopt a faster frequency for reboots and are now in the game.

 

Truthfully, DC has better overall quality over Marvel for that last 5 yrs. I don't collect any modern DC or Marvel title. Rebirth was the end for me.

 

I liked the one time New 52 reboot but I'm over getting the next new thing. If I like it I buy it. I think all the good new reads are in the other publisher titles, although I would love to see a great superhero title again. I'm pouring all my resources in getting the old titles that made me happy.

 

Not true. Marvel has lost Market share to DC since Rebirth, but overall comic sales are down for the year. So, yes, Marvel total sales are down. Rebirth has been the lone bright spot this year.

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F For Fake

F For Fake

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We seem to have this conversation a lot. Marvel doesn't have any agenda other than making money. They wouldn't be chasing diversity and younger readers if they didn't think they could ultimately make more money off of them. I don't keep up with sales because I don't have a dog in that race, but if the newer, younger, different takes on their established characters are selling, then they're going to keep going down that road. If they're not selling, then I'm sure you'll see a return to the classic iterations of those heroes, sooner rather than later.

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Hulksdaddy1

Hulksdaddy1

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Marvel's current strategy seems to to chase after new, younger readers and do so by changing things up so drastically that the old readers/ buyers no longer are interested.

 

And those new, younger readers are a mirage, and Marvel is just chasing its own tail.

Speaking of tail. Anybody notice what Marvel's big breakout hit is in it's graphic novel sales on Amazon?

It's Squirrel Girl. 4 of her graphic novels are Marvel's biggest sellers on Amazon. You put that with Ms. Marvel another best-seller and that tells me Marvel is catering to the female audience and not catering to the 40 plus middle-age crowd.

It's an interesting strategy.

It could work or backfire.

New readers or old loyal readers who made Marvel?

 

Amazon is a different animal. SG's book sells less than 14k a month. As a floppy, it's very floppy.

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Buzzetta

Buzzetta

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Sad but true I believe.

 

I want to clarify this statement by stating that I believe that they have lost their way when it comes to Spider-man.

 

I am a comic store's worst customer. I read the Marvel Universe 6 months behind everyone else for the price of Unlimited.

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Wall-Crawler

Wall-Crawler

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The only book I am picking up right now is ASM and I am months and months behind on my reading. I have a stack to read going back awhile now.

 

I was flipping through Previews just yesterday at my LCS and nothing from Marvel interested me...I didn't sign up for any DC books either but their offerings seemed a heck of a lot more appealing.

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Buzzetta

Buzzetta

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The only book I am picking up right now is ASM and I am months and months behind on my reading. I have a stack to read going back awhile now.

 

I was flipping through Previews just yesterday at my LCS and nothing from Marvel interested me...I didn't sign up for any DC books either but their offerings seemed a heck of a lot more appealing.

 

Prepare to be disappointed.

 

 

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Wall-Crawler

Wall-Crawler

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The only book I am picking up right now is ASM and I am months and months behind on my reading. I have a stack to read going back awhile now.

 

I was flipping through Previews just yesterday at my LCS and nothing from Marvel interested me...I didn't sign up for any DC books either but their offerings seemed a heck of a lot more appealing.

 

Prepare to be disappointed.

 

 

:cry:

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