This has not been Photoshopped.
In front – Marvel’s Free Comic Book Day The Avengers book. Behind it, DC’s Free Comic Book Day Blackest Night #0.
Marvel’s book measures roughly 9 and 3/8″ by 6 and 1/8″. DC’s, is standard comic book size at 10″ by 6 and 1/2″. For comparison’s sake, Marvel’s trim size isn’t as small as promotional comics that would come with action figures. In fact, it’s towards a digest size, but a little bigger.
It’s hard to fault anyone here – Free Comic Book Day calls on publishers to provide comics (in The Avengers case, by top creators, Brian Bendis and Jim Cheung) at minimal cost to retailers, and in this economy and market, everyone is looking to minimize costs.
What will be interesting to watch though, will be the reaction to the new trim by fans. Yes, there will be those who will fret that it won’t fit in a bag, but at the same time…the different size isn’t entirely unattractive.
April 20th, 2009 at 8:41 am
Not sure about this – I’ll have to hold the issue in my hands before I come to a conclusion.
April 20th, 2009 at 8:43 am
hey, if can keep costs down (or possibly even knock them under $3.00), i’d be all for it.
April 20th, 2009 at 8:45 am
Who cares? It’s a little smaller. It’s free for crying out loud. Anyone who complains is a wanker.
April 20th, 2009 at 8:49 am
pfeh, i prefer to wait for the 12-issue hardcovers or the omnibi to get BIGGER page size!!
for other titles like spidergirl tho i dont mind buyig in digests, so it’s case by case. jim cheung’s art deserves bigger size tho, not smaller
April 20th, 2009 at 8:55 am
I could see the “won’t fit in a comic bag” complaint if the free comic were bigger, but how exactly won’t it fit if it’s half an inch or so smaller?!?
April 20th, 2009 at 8:57 am
AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!
CHANGE!
April 20th, 2009 at 9:06 am
As long as this isn’t a sign of things to come. I’m okay.
Comics don’t need to be smaller than they are already. I like to be able to look at the art without a magnifying glass.
April 20th, 2009 at 9:10 am
I’ll wait and see how it looks/reads (some digests work really well font-size-wise, but I’ve seen a couple which were just basically shrunk down versions of the original floppies, and they were just painful to look at.
That said, I’m wary that Marvel will get the idea that it’s OK to go with the smaller size for other books while keeping the current/rising price point, under the umbrella of “keeping costs down in this economy”…
April 20th, 2009 at 9:15 am
free is free.
don’t complain.
i’m happy free comic book day isn’t free comic book online day or something.
i get something for free i can take home?
i’m happy.
any more of those picasso comics?
i hear those are good.
April 20th, 2009 at 9:18 am
at least it’s proportional, unlike the Malibu titles (which Marvel bought and whose trim size Marvel flirted with for a while before/after the existence of the Malibu line). That was extremely cheesy, and I suspect fans wouldn’t put up with a similar change this time around – look at all the huffing about the non-standard trim size for Wednesday Comics.
April 20th, 2009 at 9:34 am
Retailers actually toward FCBD books. I’m not sure how it works for Marvel since they are one of the gold-tier or whatever, but for standard FCBD books, there isn’t a cost because the retailers pay enough to cover printing and shipping fees. As for talent… that may be another issue altogether when talking bigger names.
And now is a great time to say hey… Hey check out Th3rd World’s “Stuff of Legned” on Free Comic Book Day. A ten page sample can be seen here:
http://www.newsarama.com/php/multimedia/album.php?aid=26003
April 20th, 2009 at 10:05 am
I wonder if this will start a trend among companies. It could be a way to cut costs. Newspapers like the New York Times have done it. Not that it’s helped tremendously…
April 20th, 2009 at 12:49 pm
Free Comic Book Day size doesn’t concern me unless it’s a sign of things to come. If Marvel standardizes this size for their retail comics then I’m jumping ship. I’d rather pay a higher price for a book then have the size diminished.
April 20th, 2009 at 1:13 pm
Just to be clear, I don’t mind if this is solely for FCBD – but if it’s a test to see the reaction, then it’s something that’ll need more consideration.
April 20th, 2009 at 1:55 pm
Marvel reprinted the X-Men FCBD issue from last year and slapped a $3.99 price on it. Sales for that issue were not that great, more than likely because everybody that wanted a copy got one for free.
Now, this year Marvel is releasing a very big Avengers story on FCBD and shrinking the book a bit. When they reprint this issue at regular comic size and charge $3.99 for it in a few months, it will sell pretty good. Why? Because most collectors are going to want a regular sized copy to have in their collection. Not an odd shaped issue that will more than likely have a comic store stamp somewhere on the cover. I predict the reprint of this issue will sell around 70,000 copies.
April 20th, 2009 at 2:13 pm
“Oh, NO! It’s a bit smaller! What ever will I do?! The smaller size might mean it’s not as well written or drawn! Waaah!”
Come on! Anybody who complains about the slightly smaller size really has nothing better to do with their time.
April 20th, 2009 at 2:50 pm
Thor is front and center on the cover.
I am intrigued.
April 20th, 2009 at 3:02 pm
On principle, I agree that “free is free, don’t complain,” but the problem is that if they’re using this as an experiment to test the waters, then NOT complaining simply because the book won’t cost you more money isn’t a legitimate approach. I’m in agreement, though, that I’ll have to wait and actually SEE the production value in order to determine whether the modified size is even an issue.
April 20th, 2009 at 4:16 pm
The “Wolverine” issue is also in that same size.
Marvel tried the smaller format a few years ago and changed it back (not THAT small though). And it’s a freebie. So who can blame them for trying to slash costs on something that they only charge a small charge for from retailers? It is also completely NEW content, this year even two comics and not one new and one reprint of various Marvel Adventures stuff. Or has the Wolverine story by van Lente and GuriHiru been published elsewhere before?
April 20th, 2009 at 4:22 pm
I will not be one bit surprised if down the road say 2-5 years, comics will not be this “smaller” size. If anyone has read a recent copy of Heroic Comics (i.e. Champions) will know what I mean. My copy of Champions was like 5 x 8; very small. And I just say a recent release of a Simpson’s book that was probably the same size! Comics will be getting smaller and smaller as prices go up.
April 20th, 2009 at 4:23 pm
if this is a glimpse at the size of comics to come…
April 20th, 2009 at 5:56 pm
I got this issue early from my LCS and for me it’s just too small. I love Marvel but is it really necessary to go all cheap on the books. The comic shops STILL have to PAY for them! So they really aren’t “free.”
April 20th, 2009 at 9:00 pm
WELCOME BACK ASHCANS…. haha… well hopefully it looks good and be ok.
April 20th, 2009 at 9:01 pm
This is almost assuredly a test market for Marvel. Frankly I don’t really care of the Monthly’s get a little smaller of it saves cost.
Marvel used to be smaller anyway and no one cared. plus Comics have been getting steadily smaller since the Golden Age! There are a lot of comics that already sell in a smaller format anyway.
Rolling Stone even just reduced it’s size by 40% to keep costs down.
April 20th, 2009 at 9:06 pm
It’s smaller. Whoopie. I think I can handle it.
April 20th, 2009 at 11:22 pm
Having read the issue, I can say that the slightly smaller size does not decrease enjoyment of the issue.
By the way, this comic is amazing. Worth trekking to your LCS on a Saturday for.
April 21st, 2009 at 7:57 am
Hey, let’s make em even smaller in that case!