Marvel Solicitions for February 2011

[JewishHobbit]

I just feel like Marvel's gotten too big for their britches and needs a little humbled. DC making a good run for and getting the top spot, and holding it, would be fantastic in that regard.

 

[Dread]

I remember when Thor used to be in the top 10. Good times.

Yeah. Then the price went up a buck, it got later and later, and JMS started to not be good. Amazing how that can effect a book. It's still usually a Top 15-25 seller.

I just feel like Marvel's gotten too big for their britches and needs a little humbled. DC making a good run for and getting the top spot, and holding it, would be fantastic in that regard.

The problem is, though, what would Marvel do to counter? Would it just go back to shock-n-death crossovers?

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I almost wish Thor would drop like a rock just to get Fraction off it.

 

[Dread]

I almost wish Thor would drop like a rock just to get Fraction off it.

While that hasn't quite happened, Gillen saw higher sales gains over his run than Fraction has so far.

JMS' FINALE one shot sold at over 53.5k - Gillen's issue #604 jumped 15% above that to over 63k - which was less than JMS' issue #603, but not by very much. The peak of Gillen's run was #607 in Feb. 2010, that sold at almost 67k - higher than JMS' last issues. That was in the midst of ramp-up for SIEGE, however. After that, it saw many months of 5-7% sales drops as well as some occasional climbs, due to crossover or variant covers. Gillen's run ended at around 53.5k - right around where JMS' run ended, with less than about 55 copies difference.

Despite the promotion of Fraction/Ferry, issue #615 sold at under 52,900 copies - a fall of 1.2%. October's #616 sold at just barely over 51k - a higher drop. While Gillen had SIEGE to boost his sales, which Fraction doesn't, his name power hasn't been enough to stem the diminishing sales. I recall THOR winding up near 40k when it was canceled back in 2004, and it remains to be seen if it will return to such territory. It also is worth noting that quite a few of Gillen's early issues were sold at $2.99, which could have encouraged retailers to try it out. JMS' THOR was also sold at $2.99 an issue until #600.

For the first time in ages, not even CAPTAIN AMERICA can boast a 5 year sales gain anymore.

Sales rank are dependent upon the strength of the overall sales. While comics at the bottom of the Top 300 are selling better than years ago, there has been some weakness in the Top 100 for years. The #10 seller in October, KICK-ASS 2 #1, sold over 65,200 copies. 2-3 years ago, there is no way a comic under 66k would have been a Top 10 seller. It might have been lucky to crack the Top 20. In October, FABLES #99 just barely sold over 19,600 copies and made the Top 100; that was impossible even two years ago.

 

[JewishHobbit]

The problem is, though, what would Marvel do to counter? Would it just go back to shock-n-death crossovers?

I'm expecting that to happen anyway. I figure we're just on a break.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

You guys make it sound like DC isn't rife with shock-n'-death crossovers too.

 

[SpideyInATree]

PUNISHERMAX LIVES!! Awesome news.

Yes that is extremely awesome news. It was such a great book and it just suddenly disappeared. I'm stoked to see that it's back in business. The Spider-Man stuff does sound a bit flaky because Spider-Man has had enough dramatic changes and big storylines for a while. However, I see February brings back Marcos Martin doing the penciling chores and that makes me a super happy Spider-Man fan. I love Martin on Spider-Man I think he's the best.

 

[CConn]

I think it's likelier that we'll see DC creeping back up to the $3.99 price point before too long, personally. New readers, in any significant quantity at least, are a fairy tale print media likes to tell itself to pretend it's not becoming obsolete.

Oh, I'm sure DC's books will go up in price again (and relatively soon), but I hope they have the wherewithal to make it a 25-50 cent increase, and not a full dollar.

 

[hippie_hunter]

You guys make it sound like DC isn't rife with shock-n'-death crossovers too.

True, but at least DC doesn't have the arrogant attitude that treats its fans like chumps and doesn't milk them for all they're worth.

And dare I say.....DC's crossovers are also better.

 

[SpideyInATree]

I know a lot of readers who are dropping both DC and Marvel titles because of the pricing problems. I think this is a good time for the other comic companies to get while the getting is good.

 

[hippie_hunter]

I know a lot of readers who are dropping both DC and Marvel titles because of the pricing problems. I think this is a good time for the other comic companies to get while the getting is good.

When I drop a DC title, it's because of quality. Not pricing. DC really isn't hurting my wallet because they don't charge $3.99 for all minis, one-shots, etc.

Marvel on the other hand, I pick up far less Marvel now because of pricing. I used to be far more willing to try out new titles and stay on longer, but the excessive use of $3.99 is just killing me.

 

[CConn]

True, but at least DC doesn't have the arrogant attitude that treats its fans like chumps and doesn't milk them for all they're worth.

And dare I say.....DC's crossovers are also better.

Not to mention, DC doesn't mock itself for having too many pointless tie ins IN the their pointless tie ins. It's like Marvel's almost insulting their readers.

 

[Themanofbat]

Not to mention, DC doesn't mock itself for having too many pointless tie ins IN the their pointless tie ins. It's like Marvel's almost insulting their readers.

I don't know... if you look at it objectively, you'll find both companies guitly...

I mean, how many Batman: The Return One Shots did we have last month? (or was it the prior month?)

 

[Iron Man]

I don't know... if you look at it objectively, you'll find both companies guitly...

I mean, how many Batman: The Return One Shots did we have last month? (or was it the prior month?)

Not to mention the fact that a little while ago they released a Blackest Night tie-in book months after the actual event was over...

 

[CConn]

I don't know... if you look at it objectively, you'll find both companies guitly...

I mean, how many Batman: The Return One Shots did we have last month? (or was it the prior month?)

That's not my point. It's not that DC doesn't do it, it's that Marvel does it, then laughs in your face for buying it.

They'll make parodies like Deadpool Corps ongoing series. They'll mock renumberings (such as Deadpool Team-Up #1000) while continuing to renumber titles. They mock Wolverine being in too many books, while launching multiple Wolverine books. They say they're cutting prices, then release a bunch of those .1 issues.

I don't blame them for being cash cows. If that's what gets them the largest market share, so be it. But they should at least have the decency to not draw attention to what they're doing to bleed money out of people's pockets.

And not that I find DC faultless - they do do a ton of pointless tie ins - but they at least pretend then have some creative value to them. And there seems to be a lot less instances of baiting and switching with DC. They're a lot more straight foward with what they do to drive sales.

Not that I want to turn this into a Marvel vs. DC thing. I'm not trying to say DC's better. I'm trying to say Marvel's obnoxious period, their competitors needn't even be mentioned.

 

[hippie_hunter]

I don't know... if you look at it objectively, you'll find both companies guitly...

I mean, how many Batman: The Return One Shots did we have last month? (or was it the prior month?)

But the Bruce Wayne: The Road Home one-shots brought an end to Fabian Nicieza's Vicky Vale storyline that started about a year ago. And those one-shots replaced the ongoings that were going on for that month. At least they had some relevance......to the stories that Nicieza writes for the Batbooks .

Instead of releasing both Batgirl and Bruce Wayne: The Road Home - Batgirl, they just released Bruce Wayne: The Road Home. The same for Batman & Robin, Red Robin, Gotham City Sirens (Catwoman), Birds of Prey (Oracle), Outsiders, and instead of releasing Batman and Detective Comics, they released Commissioner Gordon and Ra's al Ghul. Batman: Streets of Gotham did not get released that month, and delays caused Batman & Robin #16 and Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne #6 to come out in November instead of their originally intended release dates. But DC intended not to release any regular Batbooks in October, just Bruce Wayne: The Road Home. And I would also like to add that the Bruce Wayne: The Road Home one-shots were all released with a $2.99 price point.

Marvel on the other hand, if they published Bruce Wayne: The Road Home, they would have put out both the regular monthly ongoing, along with the one-shots at a $3.99 price point.

Yeah, both companies are guilty. But DC is more like the guy who sells an ounce of marijuana while Marvel is more like the guy who is a Colombian drug lord. At least DC tries to add some sort of relevance like in the Bruce Wayne: The Road Home and the Final Crisis tie-ins, or add a fun gimmick like "resurrecting" dead titles to their unnecessary tie-ins. Marvel on the other hand....seriously, what the **** were they thinking publishing Zodiac, Skull Kill Krew, and Lethal Legion tie-ins to Dark Reign.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

True, but at least DC doesn't have the arrogant attitude that treats its fans like chumps and doesn't milk them for all they're worth.

And dare I say.....DC's crossovers are also better.

You can say it, but it still won't be true.

 

[kguillou]

Their Green Lantern crossovers are consistently good, everything else.....thats up for debate. Im still trying to figure out what happened in Final Crisis.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Their Green Lantern crossovers are consistently good to some. Personally, I wasn't a fan of The Sinestro Corps War and I was bored of Blackest Night by its halfway point. Now all the GL titles seem to have dropped several notches in quality after BN, too.

 

[kguillou]

Blackest Night is kinda up in the air too. I liked Sinestro Corps War cause it was a good old fashioned Good vs. evil epic battle. It was a nice breath of fresh air cause over at Marvel Ironman and Cap were busy arguing who's c**k is bigger.

 

[runawayboulder]

Bill Foster had them both beat and you saw what happened to him.

 

[CConn]

I think this talk of crossovers is distracting from the fact Marvel's a bunch of greedy money ****es.

 

[JewishHobbit]

Tis true, but back to the crossover talk...

I'm a Marvel fan through and through and only an occational, and fairly new, DC fan. But I'll actually admit that DC does better crossovers.

Infinite Crisis, Final Crisis, Sinestro Corps War, and Blackest Night (in my opinion) were all far superior to Disassembled, House of M, Civil War, Secret Invasion, Siege, Messiah War, and Shadowland.

Messiah Complex and Second Coming have been the better of the Marvel crossovers but I could be biased on the fact that I'm an X-Fan, so I don't know. Hmm... the Cosmic events have been as good as well but they've not really been Crossovers save for War of Kings. Annihilation was just a series of minis not crossing over with anything and Conquest was barely a crossover with Nova and a mini. Those are all the only real competitors to the DC crossovers though. And none of them are easy calls to be better than ANY of the DC ones I've read.

 

[Justkidding]

I think this talk of crossovers is distracting from the fact Marvel's a bunch of greedy money ****es.

Well, Disney needs to make their money back somehow, cus The Avengers cartoon sure isn't doing it

even though the show is awesome and I'm sad no one is watching it...

 

[kguillou]

No ones watching it because its on a channel no one has. Failed marketing on Disney's part.

Anyway, as for the crossovers. I think Marvel's best one was by far Siege. It was short and sweet, the way events should be. It felt like a big, epic movie, unlike Secret Invasion, WWH, House of M, Messiah Complex which all just felt like segue ways into other stories. Civil War was fairly solid but it fell apart towards the end and the ending is very unsatisfying and anti-climactic. I think relatively speaking, DC handles events a little better. Although like i feel like Final Crisis was a mess, everything else was fairly solid.