Readers, let’s give a hearty welcome back to Rich Johnston. As he recently announced, his long-running “Lying in the Gutters” has closed up shop at CBR, and he has taken up residence at the freshly-minted Bleeding Cool. Rich’s first piece, on Marvel price increases, landed today on the Avatar Press-backed site.
Johnston’s piece related how Marvel’s General Counsel and Executive Vice President to the Executive Office, John Turitzin told investors how the price increase from $2.99 to $3.99 is not as much a move to cover increased operating costs, as previously reported, but rather a test to see how much the market can bear - in order to maximize profits.
From Johnston’s report:
Turitzi stated “We’re always testing our pricing on our comic books to see the extent of which we can, you know, it is inelastic, and we can increase our profit in that business.
“We sell comics at different price points, we sell more popular comics at higher price points, we sell other ones at lower price points, we differentiate in pricing in that way, some of our comics aimed at kids, Marvel Adventures line is a lower priced line. We’re just looking to maximise our profits for business.without alienating our own fanbase without making them feel that they’re gouged which I hope you don’t feel.”
Joining Johnston in short order will be Warren Ellis, who shall be contributing there on a weekly basis. And, for old time’s sake, “The original version of this announcement appeared in LITG.”
June 1st, 2009 at 7:26 am
Glad Rich has found a new place. Maybe now he’ll ease up on getting actual comics creators like Dwayne McDuffie fired from THEIR gigs.
June 1st, 2009 at 7:32 am
i think it’s pretty silly to blame LITG for the sacking of Dwayne McDuffie, given that LITG merely collated posts that Dwayne had posted on the DC forums himself.
June 1st, 2009 at 7:33 am
Rich didn’t get Dwayne fired, Dwayne got himself fired for talking about “backstage” problems.
June 1st, 2009 at 8:03 am
Actually DC got McDuffie fired, since they allowed him to detail the negative side of his dealings with them on their own message board for two years, and then took an agressive position on it when they were given prominent exposure. And frankly they were treating him like shit in the first place…
June 1st, 2009 at 1:23 pm
“And frankly they were treating him like shit in the first place…”
QFT.
McDuffie, as lousy as JLA has been, was not really his fault. If anything, he was probably relieved to be taken off of JLA. He’s got other, better stuff going on.
June 1st, 2009 at 1:58 pm
What Rich did with the Dwayne McDuffie thing constitutes snitching. I know that’s the nature of gossip columns/ columnists, the whole, :digging up dirt on good and bad folks alike, but that doesn’t make it right or honorable. But I’m sure there are a million ways to rationalize it - hey, it’s all about getting ahead at another’s expense, right?
June 1st, 2009 at 2:22 pm
Greg, if you think no one at DC knew what McDuffie was posting on his site and on the DC Boards until Rich Johnston pointed it out, you’re kidding yourself. There’s no way that entire company just happened to miss someone talking badly about their job as often and as long as he did.
People have been fired in many other industries over things said on Twitter or Facebook, and Facebook at least has some semblance of privacy to it. We’re talking about public message boards here.
June 1st, 2009 at 7:18 pm
Let’s talk about how Warren ellis destroyed the Thunderbolts…
June 1st, 2009 at 8:15 pm
Lucas, it’s only okay because it didn’t happen to you. How would you like it if someone put together a collection of all of the occasions that you’ve vented or expressed frustration at your employer, in that employer’s break-room or at the watercolor, ON company time (admit it, we’ve all done it and we will all do it again), and then that someone publicized that collection of frustrated comments, and ultimately getting you fired …, all for the sake of trying to fill space in a weekly gossip column? Tell me your attitude would be this dismissive? So yeah, I get that it was was company boards. Big effing deal. Rich has done some cool work, but this was not something that should earn him our admiration. Bottom line - he casually hurts people in the industry to further his own fringe-dwelling status.
June 2nd, 2009 at 9:23 am
@Greg
I’d say there is a difference between recording conversation in the breakroom and what you say on the public message boards of your empolyer and other sites. It’s not as if the writer in question did this once; he repeatedly asserted that he was unhappy.
June 2nd, 2009 at 10:19 am
@Greg
“Bottom line - he casually hurts people in the industry to further his own fringe-dwelling status.”
As opposed to talking smack about people online under the cover of anonymity, right?