Marvel, Disney And The $1.99 Comic Book http://www.bleedingcool.com/2009/09/10/marvel-disney-and-the-1-99-comic-book/

Marvel, Disney And The $1.99 Comic Book

Submitted by admin on September 10, 2009 – 9:00 am (93) comments

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Marvel publishing makes millions.
Marvel films and related licensing can, over time, make billions.
Marvel films’ success are based, in part, by the good feeling towards their comics, the media buy in of the fans buzz, the A-list actors willing to take lower salaries to be in something cool, the genuine enthusiast experience that is infectious to the mass market.
If the comics get too expensive, the casual fans may drift away. Marvel may make more money at a higher price point, but with less readers, and less buzz. Which, eventually, may impact on the movies and licensing.
However, what if Disney was preemptive? What if Disney want to do something that makes a big impact on the comics business. It may make less money, it may cost them in instant revenue, but it also may reignite the kind of buzz that will help the slew of Marvel and Marvel-related films and merchandise.
What if the comics, rather than creeping towards the $3.99 price, suddenly dropped. To $1.99. Across the board.  Sales would rocket, market share would soar, other publishers would be squeezed off the shelves, plastic rings or no plastic rings,  comics revenue would fall. But buzz would increase, increase, increase.
It might even just save the direct market. Or it might doom it, if certain retailers have become used to the $3.99 price point. Volume might help though…
Naturally such a publisher would need deep pockets to do this on a mass scale.
Oh, it’s Disney.
Lose a million, make a billion. This is not just speculation, I understand it is seriously being discussed at the publisher right now.
And suddenly Vampirella and Fell won’t seem that special…
And it might just make Marvel’s reluctance to go below $1.99 for digital downloads of single issues moot, and see them support the 99 cent model rapidly becoming the norm…

he Ten Questions Marvel And Disney Have To Answer

Submitted by admin on August 31, 2009 – 4:01 pm (70) comments

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I say “have to”. They don’t have to do anything of the sort, of course. But it would be nice.
1. The Boom Studio Question. Recently Boom Studios entered a licensing agreement with Disney, initially publishing a line of Pixar-based titles such as Cars, Finding Nemo, The Incredibles and Monsters, Inc, as well as comics based on The Muppet Show. They then took the rights from Gemstone to the Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck line of titles. This would feel like a direct contradiction in the marketplace, for Marvel not to publish these comics now. However, Marvel do license their material to foreign publishers, and their characters to Del Ray’s manga line. So which way will this fall? And where will their Kingdom Comics proposed line end up?
2. The Diamond Book Distribution Question. Diamond distribute a great deal of Marvel’s trade paperback and hardcover line to bookstores worldwide. However Disney have their own publishers who use Harper Collins. If Marvel switch, this could have a severe affect at Diamond which, in turn, could affect the viability of the current direct market. Would Marvel risk such an impact to align its methods with Disney?
3. The Content Question. Joe Quesada points to the Pixar/Disney buyout which saw Pixar join the board of Disney and gave great autonomy to the computer animation studio. Pixar however generally makes content with a younger audience in mind, Marvel often goes to the extremes of mainstream comics with the likes of and Punisher, Dakota North and Kick Ass – with both extreme violence, nudity and the F and C words being sprinkled liberally. Disney distributes many other movies with similar content issues. But will the comics aspect be a sticking point with someone at Disney, unable to disassociate the message from the form? And with Disney’s long experience with movies, will interference occur not so much in the comics, but in the movies?

Spider-Mickey: Noir

4. The Market Imbalance Question. Given the resources of Disney, will Marvel be able to swing the market to far in their favour. Already the number one publisher, will they be able to squeeze competitors out of business? Will they take too large a slice of the cake? And given the publisher’s relative narrow content spread, will this further reduce the diversity of the artform as a whole? Or will the influx of money and the backing of a multimedia conglomerate enable to company to experiment further, wilder and wonderfully?
5. The Valuation Questions. Is Marvel worth it? Market analysts tell me that they believe price quoted is too high, well above traditional valuations based on revenue and profits. The worry is that, as happened with Ron Perelman’s purchase of Marvel, that expectations and need for profit will exceed the ability of the company to match them, leading to attempts to create short term gain even if it leads to long term loss. Ah bollocks, the Mouse can afford it. Apparently they overpaid for Pixar. And that worked out.
6. The Boycott Question. Disney is a beacon for protests and boycotts. One part of the company offends a customer, suddenly all parts are affected. How will Marvel cope with a boycott over a Disneyland ride – and more importantly, how will Disney as a whole react to a boycott over gay people in X-Men (probably quite well, given form), or, well, since we’re going there, scenes of child rape in Marvelman (ah, that might be a different matter)? The Disney ownership could bring a greater scrutiny of Marvel’s output than ever before by the people who like to get offended.
7. The Theme Park Question. What about the Hulk and Spider-Man themepark rides at Universal Studios? Tolerated for the length of the contract then shut down? Any chance of them being moved pipe by pipe to Disneyland?
8. Will this affect Howard The Duck for the better?
9. Who is stronger, Mr Incredible or The Hulk?
10. Any chance Marvel will be giving Promotional Purity Rings away with Jonas Brothers comics?
Sorry, I ran out of sensible questions, but I’d already written the title of this piece. So what questions do you have?
UPDATE: A damn fine question from AlwaysOptimistic in the comments – what abouit CrossGen? Bought by Disney to basically get the rights to Abadazad, it’s a fantasy comic universe with an existing fanbase and now, well, accessible to Marvel…

VIDEO: The DC Super-Heroes Pop Up Book

Submitted by Rich Johnston on October 4, 2010 – 4:46 pm (8) comments

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THat’s right folks it’s the DC Super Heroes Ultimate Pop-Up Book. Featuring work by Bernard Chang, Scott McDaniel, Aaron Lopresti, Shawn Moll, Freddie E Williams II and Andy Smith, all popped up by Matthew Reinhart – and thanks a lot to the Hachette person who thought I needed a copy. I did. Here, have a peep at all the pop-up-ness. Then go order your copy…
Apparently this is for ages 3 and up. No chance. No chance. Give this to a three year old is like giving them iPods made of sugar glass. My kids can watch while I turn the pages…