Tom Brevoort’s questions from the floor series of blog posts gets to the meaty subjects. First up, foreign royalties:
Like our editorial staff, our accounting department is lean, and the revenue derived from overseas editions isn’t so great that it woul justify the manhours it would take to determine that somebody was owed a three-dollar check for a story that had appeared in Zimbabwe and to cut it.
Then, Marvel’s increased output in terms of how many titles they publish:
Well, hopefully, the reason for the increased output is that there’s more business happening in the Direct Market (and judging by the sales chart, the competition isn’t tapping into it.)
Both of which are but cheap segments of the greater picture. Go see the context they’ve been cruelly ripped from.
April 8th, 2008 at 9:20 am
“Like our editorial staff, our accounting department is lean, and the revenue derived from overseas editions isn’t so great that it woul justify the manhours it would take to determine that somebody was owed a three-dollar check for a story that had appeared in Zimbabwe and to cut it.”
That’s complete BS. Either someone at Marvel is handing him a complete load or he’s lying. Either way, Brevoort just lost a great portion of his credibility.
April 8th, 2008 at 12:54 pm
How do you know it isn’t true? Have you ever handled comic book transactions with another country? Even if you’ve shipped *something* to another country, you’d have to know the profit margins, the number of sales, and everything else to actually claim to know if this is BS or not.
Furthermore, did you click on the link and read the rest of the answer to the question? He talks about other rewards that creators get that aren’t common knowledge.
If you don’t actually know something that shows what he says not to be true, then it isn’t fair to say that it is BS.
April 8th, 2008 at 1:18 pm
Well said, Chris. Anyone that has ever seen a comic rack in an European country full of Marvel reprints knows that’s BS allright. The notion that the writers and artists doesn’t deserve a cut of it while Marvel takes it all is just ludicrous, and the excuses given by Breevort just insulting. Zimbabwe?!? The nerve of this guy!
April 8th, 2008 at 5:30 pm
If Marvel started publishing comics with the sky being green with no explanation, and readers told him the sky was blue, he would still say Marvel is right and that we’re wrong somehow.
Show some willingness to get off your high horse once in awhile, Tom. You don’t have to be “on” for Marvel all the time.
April 8th, 2008 at 9:51 pm
Right on, Chris. Marvel isn’t paying the writers, artists, inkers, colorists, letterers, etc., money that is owed them.
April 8th, 2008 at 10:10 pm
Marvel has increased its output to try to steal an even larger percentage of the market. Soon, Marvel will have half the market to itself.