I preordered 6 different books over the last 3 months. I only ordered one book in June Previews because I was worried it would sell out like the previous issue. Otherwise, I’d just wait for a sale. July and August previews catalog looks better. I’m not buying $7-$10 books unless I really want them for the pc.
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I have cut way back on my new book spending. Kinda doing some value play stuff to sell to buy stuff I want
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I read most of my Marvel titles now on Marvel Unlimited. $70 or so a year and most new issues show up in around 4-6 weeks after they’re released.
Some tidbits from the SDCC Energon Universe panel…
- Q&A – Clear separation between what Paramount does with Transformers and what Skybound is doing with Transformers
- Q&A – Plans to republish older comic content (from IDW Publishing and Marvel Comics) exist
Glad they are not letting the old cannon stuff fall away. Image kind of ignored the old stuff when they published previously.
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I’ve noticed a great deal of posts lately from Stephen Platt regarding comics, his art, and even planned comic con appearances.
Good to see. I’ll never forget seeing his art in that Moon Knight run of the nineties. Such a talent and I sure hope to meet him someday. He himself stated his plan is to attend more cons.
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I plan on grabbing the new titles in hopes of them diving into more of the history.
I have a huge soft spot for Platt’s work.
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I just saw that video come up in my queue on YouTube at work and had it open to watch.
Comic sales…
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Sadly manga and TPB are robust in sales but floppies, not so much
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Just goes to show, more readers out there who care about stories over chasing the hot new issue that comes out. For every flipper out there, there’s probably 20 or more readers who don’t care if the book is hot or not.
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yeah while people are arguing about 1st apps , 1st cameos, 1st whatevers and crapping out variants, manga sells so well because the demographic cares way more about the story and art. I think dark horse said their highest seller is manga despite them not selling much manga, They make an absolute killing on selling their berserk editions.
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There are definitely market space for both. The real problem, if you ask me, even if you all didn’t I will tell you, is the way TPB’s and graphic novels are released need to match more of the Manga format. Have you ever collected a series of graphic novels and half way through they changed them up to the point you cannot even tell the books are sequential? The other part is you need to keep books in print in order for people to start at the beginning.
Just like Field of Dreams… write it (and make it interesting and good) and they will come (buy)… Everything else will follow. It all starts with good story telling and at least decent artwork or better.
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Funny thing is manga doesn’t have the greatest artwork (imho). They also target different groups, and I think that is where the US comic market goes wrong. The US market wants to just try to lump all different genres into one comic. Let’s make this book for everyone… that seems to be the mentality.
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Manga when released are in weekly magazines with several other chapters, shonen jump comes out every week and will have new chapters for one piece, my hero academia, chainsaw man, etc then when enough chapters are out theyre published into graphic novels. Of course a ton of people will also read translated versions of the japanese releases online, thats what I used to do when I was keeping up with naruto or bleach
I saw a YouTube video by Perch that Dark Horse only publishes 1% of their titles of manga but it makes up 66% of their revenue. This fits the eye test at my local bookstores that has shelves and shelves of manga while the US graphic novel section keep dwindling.
US publishers really need to rethink and overhaul their entire business model. They have killed virtually all the aspects of comics that were fun when I was growing up. Huge crossover events used to be a huge effing deal but now when you run one after another, nobody gives a damn. Character “deaths”? Lol @ Ms Marvel. They’ve run all their gimmicks to the ground and are reliant on ratio variants to boost up their sales of books no one is reading making retailers act like consumers.
Enough with the gimmicks and rethink the entire business model. It’s going to hurt in the short term but if you get A list creators for a tiltle and have them on for a long run, I’ll be all over it. Pay their creators more so they won’t leave to do their own thing.
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Let’s just say this, if the story telling doesn’t get any better, they’re gonna go the way sports cards did for me back in the early 90s that made it all about chasing the insert cards rather than buying, collecting the full set to trade with friends where you got 10+ cars per pack now down to 3-5 cards per pack and packs went from 50 cents to $2 and up…