Marvel going digital only on some titles -- Yikes! 2 2

[Legion HQ]

So I received cancelation notifications from DCBS today for several Marvel titles, with the reason being 'Canceled by Marvel. This title is now only available digitally.'

Titles include:  Ant-Man, Ghost-Spider, and Star

And those are only the ones that I'm aware of simply due to those books being canceled from my order. I'm sure there are other titles as well. Not a good sign. And I'm more than a bit peeved that Marvel cannot commit to finishing a 5-issue limited series in print for those fans / collectors that invested in the first two or three issues. Makes me not want to buy their books as they come out anymore. Forever going to be unfinished limited series in my collection. Ugh.

[followtheleader]

I also would not purchase the digital versions. 

Guess it's an easy way for me to drop some titles.

Patrick

[Key Largo Comics]

I'm surprised it took this long.

[Key Largo Comics]

So let's say hypothetically we are 100% digital on new comics in the next two years.

Are you a buyer of physical comics right now because people will hoard them and their scarcity will increase?

-or-

Are you a seller because it's a soon to be obsolete medium and no-one will care about them anymore?

I've been pondering this for a while, what say the Boards?

[littledoom]

9 minutes ago, Key Largo Comics said:

So let's say hypothetically we are 100% digital on new comics in the next two years.

Are you a buyer of physical comics right now because people will hoard them and their scarcity will increase?

-or-

Are you a seller because it's a soon to be obsolete medium and no-one will care about them anymore?

I've been pondering this for a while, what say the Boards?

Who wants to buy the trash flooding the market right now? ... Doubt anyone 20 years from will say "Say Mister.. Do you have any comics from 2020?"

[maidenmate91]

Support independent creative teams on indiegogo. Leave the politics to CNN/FOX. These are real people making great comics/graphic novels. They actually LISTEN to their fans, and don't spit in their eyes. 

Cyberfrog, Jawbreakers, Graveyard shift, and more! 

[Myowncollector]

1 hour ago, Key Largo Comics said:

Are you a buyer of physical comics right now because people will hoard them and their scarcity will increase?

Buyer for sure. Look what covid did for back issue sales. Now multiply that. People need something to read. People who buy every Campbell or artgerm that comes out will have to buy their older work. Disney keeps rolling creating new fans.

[Myowncollector]

I will only buy a new comic for speculation. Those things aren't worth $4. $4 I can buy a back issue that might turn into $40 Just said this in another thread. Besides the price there is draw the line at 2.99, taking writers and artist off the title, endless crossovers and event tie ends. 

Digital will flop. For books, music, movies it is great. I don't collect those things. Listing reasons I buy a comic, reading it isn't one of them. 1. Speculation. 2. Have it just to have it, maybe like the artwork or story or character. I want the physical copy. If I only wanted to read it I would but wouldn't pay to. Poor Brittney is going to have to settle for the smaller private jet. 

[Myowncollector]

1 hour ago, littledoom said:

Who wants to buy the trash flooding the market right now? ... Doubt anyone 20 years from will say "Say Mister.. Do you have any comics from 2020?"

The kids and grand kids of the people right now who are buying spawn and jim lee xmen and valiant. They people who are paying $50 because the hulk is yellow. If you build the drek he will come. 

[littledoom]

38 minutes ago, Myowncollector said:

The kids and grand kids of the people right now who are buying spawn and jim lee xmen and valiant. They people who are paying $50 because the hulk is yellow. If you build the drek he will come. 

Funny... comics at $3.99 $4.99 to $7.99/9.99 anniversary spectaculars plus tax are WAYYY too expensive for my taste! Imagine just buying 5 comics a month plus tax.. were talking close to $30... That's just 5. When I stopped they used to be $2.99 which is decent..

[Myowncollector]

7 minutes ago, littledoom said:

Funny... comics at $3.99 $4.99 to $7.99/9.99 anniversary spectaculars plus tax are WAYYY too expensive for my taste! Imagine just buying 5 comics a month plus tax.. were talking close to $30... That's just 5. When I stopped they used to be $2.99 which is decent..

The price is why I don't buy them from a local comic shop. You can still get them for $2.99 or less from the mega comic stores. Doesn't change the fact that unless it has a good 1st or becomes a hot cover you are losing $ on it. Like a new car, soon as you drive it off the lot. Can only store so many books. I am going to get back in the game. I haven't bought a new comic in years. All speculation books and maybe treat myself to a regular series or 2 that has good people working on it if that is still possible. Will share my spec advice with those interested haha

[fastballspecial]

Digital is where I get off the bus. 
They can find a new generation to fleece with that.
If I can't hold it then I don't want it.

 

[mec3437]

If Marvel goes all-digital, I will most likely stop buying Marvel titles.  I don't buy many of them now.  Some of the Star Wars titles, and some Punisher stuff.  I got back into reading new comics somewhere around 2012.  I'm not of the persuasion that all new comics are trash.  People look back fondly on the stuff they grew up with, or what got them into the hobby.  I liked X-Men and Transformers comics back in the day.  Then I went back and re-read some of that stuff.  It can be pretty bad too.  I'm not going to be that guy that says that new comics are garbage.  If I do that, I may as well yell at someone for being on my lawn when they are on the sidewalk.  Going back to Marvel, my main gripes are the price point and the paper stock.  $4 for just a regular issue is outrageous, especially when you can walk into a shop or get your pull list mailed to you from whichever online source and the books all have color rub and waves.  I don't intend to buy digital comics so that would be my jump off point.  I'll still be able to read the dreck from my youth and remember how cool I thought it was before I hit puberty.

On a side note, everyone feel free to throw all your post 2012 stuff in the trash so it increases scarcity and the perceived value of the stuff in my short boxes.   

[Tec-Tac-Toe]

If all comic books go digital at some point, my monthly cost for such, as others have commented, will be $0.

[Lurker89]

I'm of the belief there will always be some physical form of comics. I'm also of the belief they won't be from DC and Marvel. I don't necessarily think that's a bad thing.

I think Marvel and DC will go fully digital at some point. The market for for physical books will always be there and other publishers will fill the void. We could see a renaissance  in content and style. A shakeup is much needed IMHO.

The digital age has been pushed to death, at the end of the day we still live in a physical world. I think eventually people will get tired of the oversaturation of digital and push back towards physical in some regards. Digital will be King in most mediums but everything can't be all digital all the time.

Going fully digital could be the death knell for the big two. It will be interesting to see what unfolds.

Edited June 10, 2020 by Lurker89

[Keys_Collector]

2 hours ago, mec3437 said:

If Marvel goes all-digital, I will most likely stop buying Marvel titles.  I don't buy many of them now.  Some of the Star Wars titles, and some Punisher stuff.  I got back into reading new comics somewhere around 2012.  I'm not of the persuasion that all new comics are trash.  People look back fondly on the stuff they grew up with, or what got them into the hobby.  I liked X-Men and Transformers comics back in the day.  Then I went back and re-read some of that stuff.  It can be pretty bad too.  I'm not going to be that guy that says that new comics are garbage.  If I do that, I may as well yell at someone for being on my lawn when they are on the sidewalk.  Going back to Marvel, my main gripes are the price point and the paper stock.  $4 for just a regular issue is outrageous, especially when you can walk into a shop or get your pull list mailed to you from whichever online source and the books all have color rub and waves.  I don't intend to buy digital comics so that would be my jump off point.  I'll still be able to read the dreck from my youth and remember how cool I thought it was before I hit puberty.

On a side note, everyone feel free to throw all your post 2012 stuff in the trash so it increases scarcity and the perceived value of the stuff in my short boxes.   

[dzminn]

16 hours ago, Legion HQ said:

So I received cancelation notifications from DCBS today for several Marvel titles, with the reason being 'Canceled by Marvel. This title is now only available digitally.'

Titles include:  Ant-Man, Ghost-Spider, and Star

And those are only the ones that I'm aware of simply due to those books being canceled from my order. I'm sure there are other titles as well. Not a good sign. And I'm more than a bit peeved that Marvel cannot commit to finishing a 5-issue limited series in print for those fans / collectors that invested in the first two or three issues. Makes me not want to buy their books as they come out anymore. Forever going to be unfinished limited series in my collection. Ugh.

They mentioned their plan last month. It will be interesting how far it goes.

https://www.marvel.com/articles/comics/marvel-comics-to-release-select-new-digital-only-titles-on-may-13th-and-may-20th

[Legion HQ]

1 hour ago, dzminn said:

They mentioned their plan last month. It will be interesting how far it goes.

https://www.marvel.com/articles/comics/marvel-comics-to-release-select-new-digital-only-titles-on-may-13th-and-may-20th

So, probably a test run to see how well digital-only books do. I hope it failed miserably.

[lighthouse]

I think more than anything they didn’t want to release comics under their own banner with print runs as low as these would have been. But they didn’t want to abandon the story arcs unfinished either. 
 

They’ve had a few weeks to see how retailers are slashing and burning at FOC time and it’s the third tier titles getting the sharpest axe. 
 

My shop is top 20% in Marvel accounts and I had 5 total subs for those three titles combined. In better times I might have ordered 25-35 copies total for those titles. (Perhaps slightly higher if there was a 1-in-25 cover a sub wanted to preorder). But my last combined FOC order was for those 3 titles was 8 total copies.

 

Rather than viewing this as a test of digital sales I view it as Marvel honoring its commitment to writer and artist that they’d at least get to see their story “published”.

[divad]

On 6/9/2020 at 9:09 PM, Myowncollector said:

On 6/9/2020 at 8:54 PM, littledoom said:

Funny... comics at $3.99 $4.99 to $7.99/9.99 anniversary spectaculars plus tax are WAYYY too expensive for my taste! Imagine just buying 5 comics a month plus tax.. were talking close to $30... That's just 5. When I stopped they used to be $2.99 which is decent..

The price is why I don't buy them from a local comic shop. You can still get them for $2.99 or less from the mega comic stores. Doesn't change the fact that unless it has a good 1st or becomes a hot cover you are losing $ on it. Like a new car, soon as you drive it off the lot. Can only store so many books. I am going to get back in the game. I haven't bought a new comic in years. All speculation books and maybe treat myself to a regular series or 2 that has good people working on it if that is still possible. Will share my spec advice with those interested haha

Hey Arch, Are these two the same guy? Perhaps you can do a digital DNA check on them.