Does infinity gauntlet count?
Otherwise I’m going back to secret wars I.
1 Like
I rather enjoyed King in Black and Absolute Carnage and the guy pricing the Blood Hunt bundle got bundles for both of those with every ratio. We even got a surprise mix in with King in Black #1 that sold out at better than double cover. Absolute Carnage had the lottery chances at finding those sketches mixed in the back of #1. Hopefully Marvel has enough sense to do something nice and surprising this time again.
The nice part about the Red Bands is there appears to be no ratio’s or anything else directly tied to them so that should help keep order totals down.
You searched for red band - Penguin Random House Comics Retail (prhcomics.com)
Vampires may be coming back around again. Even image just lead out with their Universal Monster Dracula series.
2 Likes
I just hate that there’s always a big event now. I skip all of them.
Marvel sales dept: “What sells?”
“Number 1 issues and events.”
“What if every book was a number one and a big event? Then we’d sell a ton, right?!?!!?”
3 Likes
I’m not doing Blood Hunt because I’m annoyed about the promotion where you have to pay more for increased story pages that are supposedly extra bloody or extreme. I understand charging me more for variant covers but I’m not gonna pay extra for more story content.
They offer 2 versions,
Blood Hunt $5.99 cover price, 40 pages, 15 cent a page roughly.
Blood Hunt Red Band $6.99 cover price, 48 pages, 15 cent a page roughly.
I’m not really sure I’m understanding what there is to be upset about? You have a clear choice on getting it the way you want it for the same price per page either way you chose to go.
1 Like
It’s the principle of it. I don’t want future comics to say that I can pay an extra dollar for a prelude to a story or something. When I buy a comic I want to get the story I don’t want there to be all these different versions that cost more or less, it’s confusing from a storytelling perspective as well.
4 Likes
To use another metaphor, it’s a little bit like video games and how they try to add on micro transactions for more story content or gameplay content. Whenever that happens I just wait for the version that includes everything. Other words, I might wait for a graphic novel collection of Blood Hunt to read.
Marvel used to do this with Deluxe and standard editions. You paid a little more for better cover stock. I would love Marvel to go back to this. If you are ok paying for a better cover. If not. You pay to read a little less.
1 Like
It’s like I said, there’s literarily only 2 choices. Not much real confusion there.
If they charged everyone $5.99 and left the other option out, then you’re taking something away from others who would enjoy having it and at the same time taking work and income away from the people who produced the extra 8 pages and money away from the places that are capable of selling the additional 8 pages.
If they only offered the $6.99 version then you’re cutting off part of the market that could enjoy the story if it was a little more age friendly while forcing others that don’t want the extra to have to pay more.
Omnibus and Hardback deluxe type editions and “Director’s Cuts” frequently offer up something extra that’s not in the regular versions. It rather reminds me of the options for extended cuts of movies or theatrical release options. Pick your poison. I’ve even seen the “Unrated” options for some. Feels like the same thing to me. Options catering to people with different preferences and as mentioned, in this case there’s only 2 options and the extra content option is currently outselling the milder version with more covers.
This is why I just subscribe to Marvel Unlimited and I wait for all the issues or read via arcs for dirt cheap per year in comparison.
1 Like
Nobody is confused, it’s clearly a money grab.
Are you not on a sight dedicated to helping you make more money? I’m not seeing that as a problem either.
Pretty sure David was saying it can get confusing following along the story, not the buying part of it. You buy one book with story but it has chunks missing from the whole story they want you to pay extra for, that can cause confusion for those that aren’t aware they have to buy multiple variants/editions just to get the complete story.
I agree with him, it’s a shitty cash grab if you ask me and it’s setting a bad precedent for other publishers to follow suit with these same schemes.
Director’s cuts are completely different ballgame. Sure they include extra content but most of the time it doesn’t take away from the original story telling.
2 Likes
I’m ok with these red band options. They cost more, but you’re getting more content that you want.
What I hate is DC charging a dollar more because there are more pages, but the “more pages” are the back-up story in the back that may or may not be related to the main story at all. It feels like we’re paying an extra dollar for an extended ad for a different story/title/character. I’d prefer to pay a dollar less and trim that backup story out.
2 Likes
My impression is there isn’t anything taking away from the story. It’s like when they used to have a hand slip a “Do Not Disturb” sign on the motel room door. The rest of the story keeps going and ends the same but the taste for readers and viewers now it seems is to want to see what happens in the 3 minutes of extra content that wasn’t being shown behind the door.
I didn’t see the theatrical release for Suicide Squad so I can’t comment directly but I did buy the extended cut which I enjoyed that added in some extra Harley/Joker time without changing the story in anyway other than making it more enjoyable for me.
You could even say the $5.99 edition is actually the cash grab. By leaving out some content, you’re basically trying to pull from a larger age range market and then topping it off by tossing a bunch of different covers and ratio choices at them as well. They could just offer the one $6.99 version with the single cover and tell thousands to just search it out in a few years from the dollar bins when they’re older.
This makes me think of Stephen King’s “The Stand”…he wrote his book the way he wanted/envisioned it. The publisher’s said “no way…too long…cut it down”. At the time, he wasn’t in the position to argue.
Eventually he was in the position to tell anyone/everyone…I do what I want so he put out the extended version.
I paid for both and loved the extended version.
If someone has a story to tell, product they are creating…just do it and release it the way it is “supposed to be”…not all this other business.
Makes me think of the “Unrated versions” of movies also (usually horror)…also. Although, I don’t believe I ever have to pay extra for those versions…just a choice in download version.
1 Like
I would understand calling it a money grab if the price for page was higher but essentially being the same seems like a “directors cut” vs “standard edition” with the difference being more blood and more pages. I don’t think the standard edition is going to be missing any storyline just blood and additional content.
I get a little confused sometimes. I was under the impression the discussions here were to point people towards items that may have a chance at making them some money.
In terms of sales the content is pretty much irrelevant if it’s selling. I’ve now sold 49 out of 50 pieces of toilet paper covered content that I’ve never even attempted to read the contents of. One away from the finish line.
In this case, the early preorder #'s I can speak to from in person say people want the title and so far more people I know want the Red Band.
A quick count this morning, as near as I can tell e-Bay has taken more presales for Red Band than A cover of the none Red Band.
There’s a bunch of ratio’s up to 200 including some ArtGerms people will be chasing so I expect massive ordering by stores for the regular ones and in my own experience, that usually tightens the budget up forcing me to cut back on extras that don’t count towards the ratio’s I have to have to keep someone happy.
My expectation as of right now is, come release day, the regular A cover and most of the open orders will have ample supply to meet demand but it appears Red Band may not since I’m seeing actual evidence of more people wanting that version the A cover.
It feels like it makes it a safe bet to grab a few extra just in case. If it takes off I’m covered with a chance to make decent change and never having to read it at all. If it doesn’t and people ordered before FOC when they could get discounts, they still have the option of dumping at cover and still making something.
As always, I’m much better off if everyone ignores it, makes up excuses not to buy it and leaves the entire market for me to supply. That would be great. Thank you for not participating. 
4 Likes
This is just an FOC mega topic. It’s a mix bag of what might be hot, what might be good read, what’s great artwork, etc. Not everything here is for speculation purposes.
There is a bit of a difference between retail sales and secondary market sales as well. Not sure this will do much on the secondary market as marvel vampires was done to death by Jason Aaron in avengers. But if it is making you money on the retailer side that makes me happy.