Tom Brevoort wishes that it could all be different:
I’m a big believer in competition. I think that people most often rise to the occasion when they’re challenged. There’s not a lot of glory in coming out on top of a field of also-rans. There’s also less of an impetus to change the way business is done. You always need fresh blood, fresh ideas, fresh approaches. And sure, you can find that among the smaller publishers–and we do on a month by month basis. But a third publisher [the size of Marvel or DC] who’d really establish an aggressive position in the marketplace would be very much welcome, in terms of insuring a variety of product, give everybody a greater reason and impel to work for quality, and just keep everybody on their toes. Even among creators, there are only so many times you can hear about creator X going back across the street from one comany to the other before all of the energy of the move is dissipated.
Countdown until the “Tom Brevoort is looking to start a new publisher to challenge Marvel and DC” rumor does the rounds has started, I believe…
April 18th, 2007 at 9:50 am
It’s not going to happen, of course, but I wish we could see what would happen if a Mark Alessi-type financier backed a Tom Brevoort-run publisher. Tom knows all the big names, has a good reputation among them–as far as I know–and unlike Crossgen would have no qualms about working in the genre that actually makes money in the direct market.
I think he’d actually stand a pretty decent chance.
April 18th, 2007 at 10:22 am
Isn’t Breevort’s forte specifically Marvel continuity? I’ve never gotten the impression that he brings any creative juice to the table, certainly not on the level of an EiC or Publisher.
I think it’s pretty funny that he’s got such a blind spot to TokyoPop and Viz, too. He’s clearly referring to a third competitor in the direct market only, which will never happen, especially not while Diamond has its exclusive relationship with the “Big Four” that gives them the cushy positioning in the front of Previews and on its covers.
April 18th, 2007 at 10:39 am
Crossgen is mentioned above but does anybody remebere how Marvel reacted to Crossgen? Let’s see words like “cult” were thrown around. And I am sure Marvel had a significant hand iin Crossgen’ s problem with Diamond Previews (Crossgen wanted to be in the front like Darkhorse, DC, Image, Marvel, and Wizard. If memeory serves, those companies have a say in who can join them in the front)
April 18th, 2007 at 1:14 pm
For all the later problems CrossGen had, Marvel was very active in stoping competition before any real effect could occur. The Quality of the first two rounds of CrossGen books were equal and in some cases better than Marvel and DC at the time.
The only way Marvel wants a third major company is if they stay 1 with nary a chance of not being beat.
April 18th, 2007 at 3:50 pm
Guy is right – it’s only a two-publisher system if you still think that manga doesn’t count. Of course, I realise that what Tom has in mind is a direct competitor to Marvel and DC, but the reality is that nobody in their right mind is going to throw money into doing that when they could enter the manga arena instead.
April 18th, 2007 at 4:24 pm
Or, you know, just publish some good graphic novels and not worry about playing the short-term market share game.