A recap is in order. Over the past month and change:
- Marvel has shifted ALPHA FLIGHT back to a mini series
- Two mini-series, VICTOR VON DOOM and now DESTROYERS, are canceled amid speculation about whether it was due to a production issue (the former) or the inevitable low sales (the latter).
- Roughly 16 staffers have been laid off from Marvel Comics, including quite a few who had been there for years if not decades. These include a few junior editors and production people.
Clearly, Marvel is trimming costs. This isn't to say the company is in the red again; it still is a profitable company. Sure, Disney didn't buy it for the comics (but rather the licenses), but Marvel Comics still operates in the black, despite the roughest economy since the end of the Carter administration. However, their CEO is a penny pinching billionaire (Ike Perlmutter), and Marvel likely isn't making AS MUCH profit as he'd like. DC Comics has not only sought to capture the imagination of the public, it also trimmed some fat along it's line as well; despite the New 52, Vertigo, and Johnny DC, DC STILL publishes fewer comics than Marvel does.
Maybe the decision was made somewhere that publishing mini-series that any pedestrian who looks at sales can predict will not make much profit is counter productive. Lord knows Marvel has needed to trim their line for years now.
On the other hand, we see more "doubling down" on "safe bets". Brian Wood on yet another Wolverine mini series (which is next to WOLVERINE AND THE X-MEN, yet another X-Men book). Two new ASM spin-off's. Brubaker on a third Cap book, and Bendis on a third Avengers book. Thor now has two books and I wouldn't be stunned if that goes to three when his death is inevitably undone in 2012. While Marvel does have to publish certain niche products to maintain trademark copyrights, maybe someone twigged that wasting X amount of thousands of dollars clinging onto the trademark for RAZORBACK with a low selling one shot every few years is counter productive, or something. It was embarrassing when Marvel lost their trademark to CHAMPIONS to a gaming company, but, did it cause them to implode? No.
However, we can see their immediate response to the New 52 here. It isn't a universal reboot, and it isn't innovation. It's cutting some fat, and more of the same. For better or worse. As I said elsewhere, we may be in the midst of Marvel's midlife crisis - we're at a point where DC Comics is suddenly looking edgy and bold, while Marvel is looking stodgy and corporate.
FVL is good and I'm sure this would have been a solid read. If Marvel has paid for 1-2 issues to be produced that they aren't willing to commit to, that implies sales figures were so bad that it's worth eating a short term loss, or it's just that the expense account has been lowered. However, would this have been essential? Probably not. And that may become a problem; any creator who hasn't managed to entrench themselves into a franchise may at this point find Marvel a cold place to do business with. That would be a boon to creator friendly publishers like Image, or DC Comics naturally.
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