Over at Comic Book Resources’ “Ask Tom Breevort” thread, posters’ concern is for retailers:
Mr. Brevoort,
Alot of people are talking about the massive delays in Marvel’s CIVIL WAR project and how that will affect them as readers. Forget the readers– they’re Marvel Zombies: They’ll take whatever Marvel gives them and be happy. What I want to know is what will Marvel to do make up for this to the retailers. Not all retailers are big enough to take this hit. Some retailers depend on the sales of these books to make their necessary monthly bottom line.
Mr. Brevoort, what will Marvel do for retailers to make up for this VERY UNPROFESSIONAL event?
Also, at Millarworld, they are excusing this as being due to Mark’s health problems. Mark is so sick that he can’t meet his obligations.
Well, square this, then, with information posted on Rich Johnston’s “Lying in the Gutters” column posted on August 14:
“Last week, Mark Millar descended upon the sleepy British town of Bath. Home to publishers of SFX, Future Publishing, for whom who Mark writes a column. He opened an invite to members of the Millarworld website who descended from all corners of the British Isles and beyond, to drink, chat and take photos of each other wearing Mr T sweaters and viking helmets.”
So, Mark Millar is so sick he can’t meet his obligations, causing major problems in Marvel’s publishing schedule. Causing problems for retailers across the country. But he can go out drinking with friends.
Not good policy.
Mr. Brevoort, I’d really like to hear you and Mr. Quesada address these issues squarely.
Thanks.
Also:
Mr. Brevoort,
I’m sure the Civil War delays have wreaked havoc in the Marvel offices. I want to share some of my concerns with you (The following is similar to some other posts I’ve made on other boards regarding CW delays).
Personally? I can wait for a good story well drawn and told. I’m bummed about the delay, all the moreso because I also read ASM, FF, and other tie ins that are also delayed, but I’m a patient man.
BUT… and this is a big but… Professionally, this really sucks, for retailers immediately and for the industry, ultimately (no pun intended).
Retailers will feel the immediate brunt, as two core titles and the event books they were expecting go on a month’s hiatus. We all hope their profits are only delayed, not gone for good. We hope the audience that has returned to the racks because of CW will come back in a month… …not a safe bet in today’s attention economy.
Which leads me to my second point: this could ultimately hurt the comic industry and its credibility. “Civil War” could very well be remembered as the best and worst thing that happened to comics in the ’00s (the “oughts”).
“Civil War” has focussed attention on comic BOOKS like nothing else has in over 15 years. The comic properties have been making news at the movies for the last few years, but only CW has generated interested in the monthly serial books. Joe Q on Colbert? This event has generated historic attention and…
…now Marvel is killing all the momentum it’s built.
How does this happen? What excuses this seemingly institutionalized tardiness, this inability to maintain a schedule? I’m not saying Marvel is alone in this (Seven Soldiers comes to mind, for DC, but it has no where near the visability that CW does). As the wider world watches to see how comic books have changed, how the stories have matured and the artwork and printing have improved, Marvel, instead of shining in the spotlight, is caught with its professional pants down. The media’s attention is brought to bear, only to show that Marvel wasn’t really “ready”. Comic book publishing again looks incompetent, unprofessional, the redheaded stepchild of the publishing world that can’t get its ____ together.
It’s my hope we can still look back a few years from now and see “Civil War” as a great groundbreaking comic book event. It’s my fear that this could become the “Heaven’s Gate” of the comic book industry, costing retailers, losing customers, and painting us all as grossly incompetent and incapable of delivering results on a professional schedule, on deadline.
Your thoughts?
Of course, retailers themselves also have the internet to make their voices heard. After the jump, Brian Hibbs comments on the delay.
Look, man, this is fucked up.
CIVIL WAR has been one of the few legitimate home run hits that Marvel has had — it is both connecting with the core Marvel reader, but it is directly and specifically bringing “back” “Lapsed” readers, and new faces to their core properties.
To have the schedule slip this badly is, flatly, unconscionable.
History shows us that when books like this start to slip, they end up with a cascade effect. I laughed when I saw the projected dates for #6 & 7 as being back on a monthly schedule after #5’s big-ass delay — that seems… unlikely? improbable? pure fiction?
The momentum of the story (which has been, let me add, come in fits and starts, with the “waiting for a bus” plan of shipping [wait 20 minutes, then 3 show up at once]) is going to be gutted, and that means one thing: lost sales. How much, how many? Dunno, but there WILL be some… and who is going to have to bear the cost? Yessir, the retailer.
This is magnifying a thousand fold by it being a Big Ass Crossover That Affects Every Book — you know, it really sucks when ALL-STAR BATMAN AND ROBIN ships months late, but, at least, that doesn’t affect anything other than ALL-STAR. CIVIL WAR, on the other hand, affects each and every Marvel title, and is, at the very least delaying FF and ASM by a month. Books that I depend upon for their steady cashflow. It is, as noted above, delaying other books that were set to launch out of CW — that’s more cashflow I’m being denied.
So, it is fucked up.
There have been (and continue to be) a number of very high profile, spectacularly late comics lately, and it needs to S-T-O-P. Stop fucking soliciting things that aren’t far enough along the creation process to have a CHANCE of shipping. This isn’t Marvel-exclusive, by any means — how is it even POSSIBLE that ALL-STAR BATMAN & ROBIN #5 was originally solicited for April ‘06, then rescheduled for July ‘06, and now they’re telling us NO-FUCKING-VEMBER for it. How can that be?
…There is art, and there is commerce, but as a retailer, and for the sake of the industry, there has to be a regular churn of ongoing titles to provide the cash flow to keep everyone going. That’s just a bottom line reality.
But as pathetic as ALL-STAR anything and DAREDEVIL: FATHER have become, the problems are multiplied a thousand-fold for a core-universe crossover book like CIVIL WAR.
June’s sales chart says that $21.24 million dollars of comics were in the Top 300, of that, CIVIL WAR #2 was nearly $760,000 of that — what’s that? about 3.5% of the month’s total? CIVIL WAR is now “on hold” for a month (then another month, after that), and that’s more than 3% of the month’s dollars just gone *snap*, like that.
It kills confidence in Marvel as a brand among consumers, as the domino affect cascades across the whole line. YOU CAN NOT DO THIS WITH CROSSOVERS.
Even if you have to replace George Perez with Ron Lim.
There are theories of whose “fault” this is — maybe it is the artist, maybe it is the writer, and I say no, none of that matters: it is the publisher.
August 16th, 2006 at 1:23 pm
Even if you have to replace George Perez with Ron Lim? Yes. And even if you have to replace Mark Millar with Bruce Jones.
August 16th, 2006 at 1:26 pm
As a retailer myself, I don’t see this delay having THAT big of an impact on sales. The people that really want the book will wait. (I still get numerous requests for Ultimate Wolverine vs. Hulk #3 even though it’s months late.) It would be nice if Marvel did something for retailers, possibly a bigger discount or offering returns on all future CW related books, but I don’t think this is a reason for people to panic. There are still plenty of good books on the shelf, and any good retailer will do well to utilize the momentum of CW to try to get people reading other things.
August 16th, 2006 at 3:24 pm
The momentum of the story (which has been, let me add, come in fits and starts, with the “waiting for a bus” plan of shipping [wait 20 minutes, then 3 show up at once])
Mister Hibbs just re-established his San Francisco cred.
August 16th, 2006 at 4:23 pm
I have nothing to add re: the retailers’ side of things, as I agree that it’s a bad scene. However, just for those getting their news here, I’ll note that the original post’s concern about apparent lies concerning Millar’s health is a result of mistakes by the Millarworld moderators.
Today, Millar and McNiven themselves have confirmed, explicitly and in detail, that the delay is solely due to McN’s artwork taking longer. Millar’s health had nothing at all to do with it, and this was just something some overzealous board moderators started. So, while I agree with the idea that this can put stress on some retailers, it should not be used as the basis for any rumor-mongering about Millar faking an illness. For what it’s worth…
August 17th, 2006 at 3:24 am
For what is worth, and while I mostly agree with Mr. Hibbs stance on this whole delay fiasco and the flat-out unprofessionalism of major publishers, I must also warn him about that little ’boutade’ closing his tirade: no, Mr. Hibbs, you really do not want Ron Lim replacing George Perez.
As a reader, I understand how much this situation can hurt you as a retailer, but I really believe that not as much as a fill-in artist would.
I stopped buying those mega-cosmic Starlin sagas when Ron Lim entered the scene.
Botched up inking over Trevor Hairsine’s pencils stopped me from buying DEADLY GENESIS.
Same for his being replaced on Warren Ellis ULTIMATE GALACTUS trilogy (although Brandon Peterson’s art on the third series rekindle my interest enough to buy it as a whole, if someday it gets properly collected into a hardcover).
And we all know how poor, poor and dull INFINITY CRISIS looked due to such generic art.
And if McNiven disappears from CIVIL WAR, or even if he starts providing a dilluted, hurried-up travesty of his skills, I would definitely consider giving up on the book, too. On the other hand, if current standards are maintained, I will gladly buy the next issue one, two or three months down the line, or whenever it’s released. And, a few months from now, I may even fork out a handful of bucks to buy some lavish, carefully produced over-sized collection. But not if I have to put up with a parade of poor fill-in art and weak inking.
So, in the long run, I really think readers do not prefer fill-in art, and neither should you.
Of course, I could be wrong. Just my two cents.
April 16th, 2008 at 10:45 am
Delays do matter to me as a reader, especially with a new series that needs a chance. I’ve dropped a few books because the momentum just wasn’t there. There are always the trades down the road if I still want it.