Retailer Steve Bennett has a strange and interesting suggestion for the comics industry:
I know this will sound like heresy but you know what The Marvel should have done when faced with the fact Civil War #4 would ship six weeks late and cause endless headaches for readers and retailers?
They should have published it online. For free.
As I said last time, people have amply demonstrated their willingness to buy copies of movies, television shows and music they can download off of the Internet for free, so why shouldn’t it be the same for comics? Frankly, I don’t think publishing Civil War #4 online first would have affected its direct sales much, if at all.
The Internet is most often cited as a reason for declining comic book sales, but it can also be an incredible sales tool for comics, not that the industry is doing much with it at the moment. In a previous column I coined the pithy phrase “antiquated as an apothecary” to describe the current sorry state of the modern comic book, and nowhere is that more evident than when it comes to the Marvel, DC, Dark Horse and Image websites.
Bennett goes on to suggest that comic publishers should follow the example of NBC, which immediately puts not only complete episodes of their shows online after broadcast, but also two minute recaps. Much more – including his reasoning – in the link, as you’d expect.
