Comic shop in your future

Posted in: Comics, Comic Publishers, Image, Marvel Comics | Tagged with: Comic Shop, Todd McFarlane

Dan Buckley of Marvel Comics said, “The days of 500-issue runs are probably over, but we want to do fewer limited series.”

Article overview

Examining Todd McFarlane’s successful series of Spawn titles compared to Marvel’s short-form series approach.

Marvel is criticized for the high turnover of titles and the dependence on relaunches and one-shots.

Fans have problems with Marvel’s overextension through several spin-offs and numerous mutant titles.

Considerations on Marvel’s pricing and product strategy compared to McFarlane’s methods.

President of Marvel Comics Daniel Buckley said, “I think the days when we had a 500-issue run are probably too far-fetched, but we want to do fewer limited series and more ongoing ones with all of our characters. I’m not going to say there won’t be limited series, but right now I’m approving some series for ten issues each, not 4 or 5. Hopefully I can get to 15 or 20. That’s the intention. Because, to be honest, it’s a lot of work for our editorial staff too to keep re-releasing books; there’s a lot of work for our marketing people to re-market a book that comes out. It’s beneficial for everyone to figure that out.”

Comic Book Store in Your Future – Can Todd McFarlane Do What Marvel Can’t? — Spawn and Marvel Comics. Photo by Rod Lamberti

Why don’t you just ask Spawn creator Todd McFarlane? His long-running Spawn title has over 350 issues – no renumbering, no reprints. Gunslinger Spawn has over 30 issues, Burnt Spawn has over 30 editions and Royal Brood has over 30 issues again. That’s more than the “hopefully” 15 or 20 issues that Dan hopes for with Marvel titles.

Is Spawn more popular than most of the Marvel characters? However, that would be questionable given the various Marvel films.

Joe Quesadaformer EIC and CCO of Marvel, once said of DC: “I mean, they have Batman And Supermanand they don’t know what to do with it. It’s like being a porn star with the biggest dick and not being able to get it up.” Marvel has more well-known characters today than ever before because their films reach so many people. Iron Man, Captain America, Avengers, Doctor Strange, Captain Marveland more, over the years it has not been possible to survive long periods without a new edition.

Spawn and the various Spawn Spin-offs cost an average of $2.99. Good luck finding a current Marvel title for $2.99. What does Marvel do with the extra money they make from the higher retail price? Invest in new talent? Many would argue that it doesn’t.

Buckley answered ICV2’s question posed to him: “We’ve heard from retailers that the shortening of series, with more and more one-shots, more and more mini-series, and fewer and fewer longer series, is making it harder to maintain the collecting habit. Marvel is definitely in that role.” As a comic book store owner, I would say that’s very true. Over the years Captain Marvel various reprints are keeping me from ordering their title. It’s just an attempt to get me to overorder the first edition.

Marvel gets a hot title that sells well, and they’re going to ruin it by making too many spin-offs. How many short-lived Spider-Man Spin-offs have there been over the years? I still remember the House And Powers of X limited series of Jonathan Hickman and how excited people were about the return of the X-Men. And what is Marvel doing? They are releasing so many mutant titles that people feel like they can’t keep up financially or don’t have enough time to read them all, so they stop buying them all.

If Marvel GI Joe – The Movie license currently and publish the characters, they would kill the demand and popularity that GI Joe – The Movie can be seen at Image. Duke and Cobra Commander were only limited series, which were then replaced by Scarlet fever And Destroy title. Marvel would have duke And Cobra Commander as an ongoing series, while Scarlet and Destro Marvel would not only release the GI Joe – The Movie Fans filled their wallets to bursting trying to read everything they released. Snake-eyes, would certainly be a Marvel GI Joe title; each GI Joe character would get his own title, from Snake-eyes To Sergeant Slaughter. Holding back is not something Marvel is willing to do.