X-Men - Part 6

[spideyboy_1111]

With the exception of the MCU breaking out lesser known characters into the mainstream (GOTG) this younger generation will have very similar properties and characters as 80s/90s kids. From 80s reboots and cartoon franchises like Transformers, to Harley Quinn and Deapdool. These characters are keeping their appeal and just getting more popular. Of course the new versions of films will be there's but I am not too sure how much the actual comics play into the younger demo right now. Surely nowhere near the appeal of the films.

that's because most of it hasn't died... but that also being said... Harley Quinn is kinda a different story.. she's currently not in the cartoons.. but for the teen < generation she's definitely around... but the >tween generation... she's not.

you have to really keep min mind what the >tween generation is exposed to... our teenage years didn't really shape our nostalgia.. it was our childhood that did. And right now there's nothing currently on tv or G to PG things featuring Harley Quinn..

has Deadpool appeared on the Spider-Man Cartoon? because i've seen a few kids with DP bookbags and i have no idea how they know anything about him (though it could be from there parents who knows)

but yeah... kids are exposed to what's on tv.. what they can see in movies, and toys.

 

[def28]

I think Harley has gotten a massive boost because of the Arkham games and the excellent rep of Batman TAS. Parents like showing their kids what they grew up with and those Arkham games are insanely popular and highly rated.

With Deadpool the social media trends of people posting cosplay videos and youtubers like Pewdiepie playing his game have gotten millions of hits and definitely boosted his popularity over the years with younger crowds. Some of them grab 12-17 million views. So that's helped him quite a bit. He's been in a few cartoons, Ultimate SPidey and The Hulk Vs film as well.

Both those two are hot sellers with Hot Topic and the social media trenders. So they definitely play into the teen crowd as you said. But I think that also grabs younger kids, since they are growing up always connected to video and social media. My friends kids don't have phones but always have a tablet with them, and prefer to just watch youtube reaction videos all day. Even with a big screen TV and PS4 or XBOX in front of them. I don't get it. A lot of those reaction vids are on comic characters be it news, trailers or video games, so I think that plays heavily on that demo. Curious on how their viewing habits of today will change the industry in a decade or two. I'm guessing good bye physical comics.

 

[spideyboy_1111]

I think Harley has gotten a massive boost because of the Arkham games and the excellent rep of Batman TAS. Parents like showing their kids what they grew up with and those Arkham games are insanely popular and highly rated.

With Deadpool the social media trends of people posting cosplay videos and youtubers like Pewdiepie playing his game have gotten millions of hits and definitely boosted his popularity over the years with younger crowds. Some of them grab 12-17 million views. So that's helped him quite a bit. He's been in a few cartoons, Ultimate SPidey and The Hulk Vs film as well.

Both those two are hot sellers with Hot Topic and the social media trenders. So they definitely play into the teen crowd as you said. But I think that also grabs younger kids, since they are growing up always connected to video and social media. My friends kids don't have phones but always have a tablet with them, and prefer to just watch youtube reaction videos all day. Even with a big screen TV and PS4 or XBOX in front of them. I don't get it. A lot of those reaction vids are on comic characters be it news, trailers or video games, so I think that plays heavily on that demo. Curious on how their viewing habits of today will change the industry in a decade or two. I'm guessing good bye physical comics.

id argue hot-topic and nearly all you listed aside from social media, is the teen crowd.. not the kids - preteen crowd

 

[Venomfan]

it's not about "not seeing them" it's about cross promoting.

you severely underestimate how Merch rights are strong advertising for film and television. the movie can sell the toys.. but the toys can also sell the movie...

for instance.. the Fantastic Four film's merch sold better than the film did...

the X-men movies have always had pretty poor merch... and those films also have never been "massive financial successes" either. Some do well, don't get me wrong, but they've never hit Avengers or Spider-Man numbers.

hell most of the cartoons we grew up with were created to sell merch. many even started off as toys before even becoming a tv show

You're right I don't know anything about merchandise. In this case though, if Marvel avoids the toys and just does comics, wouldn't that work out in their favour? X-men is one of the best selling comics right? I know it used to be anyway, and wouldn't losing those sales hurt them more? I would think (again not knowing anything about merch) that if anything there is a better chance the movies would cause them to sell more comics than the other way around. I imagine after DOFP, Marvel suddenly sold a lot more TPB's of that story than prior.

 

[spideyboy_1111]

You're right I don't know anything about merchandise. In this case though, if Marvel avoids the toys and just does comics, wouldn't that work out in their favour? X-men is one of the best selling comics right? I know it used to be anyway, and wouldn't losing those sales hurt them more? I would think (again not knowing anything about merch) that if anything there is a better chance the movies would cause them to sell more comics than the other way around. I imagine after DOFP, Marvel suddenly sold a lot more TPB's of that story than prior.

here's the thing about comic sales... you may have a best seller.. but what's a best seller now, is making far less than best sellers 10 and 20 years ago... its also part of the reason the prices sky rocketed on comics over the last 10 years.

Marvel IS avoiding X-men toys.. in favor of just comics... they characters are still in the comics.. just the merch is being cut. They arn't losing sales on X-men comics.. comic readers don't need movies or toys to get into comics... it's a pretty loyal self-sustaining community. Movie DO help comic sales.. but Marvel wants FOX to stop making money off their properties.. and can make MORE money off their properties if they're in house.

So ideally it's best for Marvel to keep the X-men and F4 restricted to the comics... merge or water them down into other groups (like they did with putting the X-men in the Avengers, splitting up the F4 into different teams, etc... delude the property. Stop the cartoons, the merch... let them sorta fade away in the minds of the general audience.

Kids want merch after they see it in tv or film if it's not available to them, they forget about it and move on to the next movie that does have the merch.

So by deluding the comics, and stopping the merch it's the best move to try to get ... lets say the most probable one... the Fantastic Four, to return home. If the movie bombs (which it very well could) FOX has no viable reason to keep it... it comes home and BOOM... Marvel rejuvenates the nostalgia wagon and makes a big-to do about the F4 returning to comics, movies, and merch... and suddenly they built alot of hype and a major cash cow...

similar thing could happen one day with the X-men

it's not about the now... but the future. 5, 10, 20 years down the road... Marvel i think is making a pretty smart move. sucks for us.. but business wise.. its very smart.

 

[chamber-music]

The comics are a much smaller part of Marvel's over all business these days. As Spiderboy said comics don't usually sell anywhere near as much as they did in the past despite the whole comic book movie boom.

Merchandising, licencing and movies are far more profitable than the comics. The Fantastic Four wasn't a big seller any more so was easier to get rid of. The X-Men comics are still too popular to cancel completely.

The movies don't really help individual issue sales that much. The biggest bump is in the collected trade stories.

 

[def28]

id argue hot-topic and nearly all you listed aside from social media, is the teen crowd.. not the kids - preteen crowd

I'd have to see numbers on the stuff, but I really only listed games, cartoons and Social Media. And the game part plays heavily into Social media nowadays with kids in particular. Obviously not 3 year olds, but def more then just the teen crowd. I don't really see how kids are unaware of that stuff with a computer always on their hands. Personally I've seen quite the opposite. Kids get a lot of their entertainment from youtube and for sure watch Ultimate Spidey and play Lego Marvel or Batman.

 

[Venomfan]

ok startin to make more sense now, thanks

 

[spideyboy_1111]

I'd have to see numbers on the stuff, but I really only listed games, cartoons and Social Media. And the game part plays heavily into Social media nowadays with kids in particular. Obviously not 3 year olds, but def more then just the teen crowd. I don't really see how kids are unaware of that stuff with a computer always on their hands. Personally I've seen quite the opposite. Kids get a lot of their entertainment from youtube and for sure watch Ultimate Spidey and play Lego Marvel or Batman.

Im just thinking some of those outlets are a little more adult for the youngins

 

[Sian]

No. And with Secret Wars going on I have no idea why people would think that.

There's plenty to complain about especially with merch, promoting and tv, but complaining that Wolverine finally died and they made a big deal out of it making it one of Marvel's highest sellers is not one of them. Same with Deadpool, he died because of incursion (his story death was a fake out) and now has 2 (3 counting Mrs Deadpool) other titles along with appearances in other books for the summer. There's no conspiracy with those deaths except making more money. They actually boosted interest and sales with both characters. And with Secret Wars that gave them a chance to kill a ton of characters without having much if any consequence.

Marvel kills characters all the time. Logan hasn't even been gone a year and already has numerous books with versions of him out there. Be grateful they didn't treat him like Richard Rider. 4 years waiting to return just to confirm he's dead.

Ironically, I believe Jackman is quitting as Wolverine, probably after the third Wolverine film.

 

[spideyboy_1111]

Ironically, I believe Jackman is quitting as Wolverine, probably after the third Wolverine film.

Hes already confirmed it

 

[Sian]

The comics are a much smaller part of Marvel's over all business these days. As Spiderboy said comics don't usually sell anywhere near as much as they did in the past despite the whole comic book movie boom.

Merchandising, licencing and movies are far more profitable than the comics. The Fantastic Four wasn't a big seller any more so was easier to get rid of. The X-Men comics are still too popular to cancel completely.

The movies don't really help individual issue sales that much. The biggest bump is in the collected trade stories.

I wonder, is that due to an overall decline in popularity of comics in general, or because the comics themselves have declined in quality - a lot of people aren't very happy with the direction Marvel are taking their favourites in these days.

 

[spideyboy_1111]

I wonder, is that due to an overall decline in popularity of comics in general, or because the comics themselves have declined in quality - a lot of people aren't very happy with the direction Marvel are taking their favourites in these days.

Its ALL comics. Not just marvel. All the big houses have taken hits

 

[chamber-music]

All comics are in decline.

People complain about the endless events from Marvel in particular.

The reason why Marvel and DC do so many events, crossovers and tie ins these days is to get the people that do read comics to buy more as individual issues aren't selling as much.

DC/WB film producer Charles Roven brought up the other day how millions of people see the films but the best selling comics like Batman generally average 100 thousand issues in world wide sales.

A book like X-Force was only selling 17 and a half thousand issues a month worldwide earlier this year.

 

[BoredGuy]

Seen this tagline at the bottom of Uncanny Inhumans #1?:

Spoiler

funk dat
I have no doubt that some X-men will still be present in the new MU
but this is all some serious bulls***, pull em off the merch, kill the most popular character, replace their role with the Inhhumans, and now UI steals a classic x-men slogan??

sorry Marvel, the Inhumans will never be as cool as the X-men

 

[Colossal Spoons]

I'm trying not to resent the Inhumans b/c I do find them interesting.

I am ready for Blackbolt to be their ruler again. I get Marvel's going through a girl-power phase but if BB wanted that throne back, all he'd have to do is whisper.

 

[BoredGuy]

yeah well in the interview on CBR where I got the image, they ask Soule about all the focus on Medusa, and he says basically she's amazing because she "jumps off the page" and is regal and strong and blah blah blah

and all I could think is "She has some of the dumbest powers in comics, if you want strong and regal, give Storm her solo back"

I do like some of the characters, Black Bolt especially
but they can still never replace the X-Men

 

[spideyboy_1111]

eh i have to agree with the guy.... Storm and Medusa are pretty much THE regal queens of the Marvel Universe....... they've got great poise and presents... Though.. i hate Medusa's "super-hero" costume... it's ugly and anything but "regal" I preferred her outfits during the War of Kings Era

 

[Mike Murdock]

I like Medusa. I think she's a more interesting character than Black Bolt, but they're best together (Black Bolt being silent and mysterious, Medusa taking on the action). I do agree with the more regal dresses being better than her superhero costume - no offense to Jack Kirby.

 

[Gee]

According to Bleeding Cool, rumour is going around that Jeff Lemire is the new X-Men writer.

 

[def28]

According to Bleeding Cool, rumour is going around that Jeff Lemire is the new X-Men writer.

Awesome.

Hopefully true.

 

[chamber-music]

I prefer Blackbolt and Medusa as a couple. I think the partnership between the two of them works well for both characters.

 

[JewishHobbit]

According to Bleeding Cool, rumour is going around that Jeff Lemire is the new X-Men writer.

Holy crap that would be awesome!

 

[Colossal Spoons]

I've only read his work on Animal Man, which was damn good.

 

[CaptainWagner]

According to Bleeding Cool, rumour is going around that Jeff Lemire is the new X-Men writer.

That would be incredible! Quite possibly enough for me to pick up X-Men again!