If you’re wondering who to blame for the onslaughts of movie-related product from Marvel Comics that gave the world more than four Thor books a month last year, or multiple Captain America and oneshots in the same month a few weeks ago, former Marvel Comics editor-in-chief and current Marvel Entertainment CCO Joe Quesada has the answer for you in the latest episode of the Word Balloon podcast:
Yeah, you know, look: These are decisions that are made by our sales department, ultimately. They let us know exactly how much product that they need, and how much product they believe that retailers need in order to, you know, basically sell some books. And sometimes we do rely on the older published stuff, because there’s a lot of it out there, and sometimes we need new stuff. So, you know, this is an alchemy that I don’t partake in – You know, especially now, I don’t partake in – but basically, the sales guys, they know their stuff. So I don’t pretend to understand exactly how they do their magic, but they generally tend to be right in predicting what the audience wants.
Am I the only one who is (a) not surprised, but (b) disappointed at the news that the Sales Department are behind decisions about getting projects off the ground, instead of editorial? Also, what retailers were really asking for Thor, Thor: The Mighty Avenger, Astonishing Thor, Ultimate Comics: Thor, Thor: For Asgard and Thor: First Thunder all to be running at the same time?!?
May 5th, 2011 at 2:47 pm
Retailers as fans probably aren’t asking for them, but retailers as retailers are — because the books sell.
Until readers get over the need to buy every single comic book that features a character they like, this will go on and on. And, hey, that’s fine, if the goal is to get as much money out of the small audience left reading comics. You just have to wonder how long they’ll put up with it…but history would suggest a long, long time.
May 5th, 2011 at 3:03 pm
If the books are priced well, with good story and art, this isn’t a problem if you like a character that much. Its when the stories suffer and the cover art is way better than interior art that this begins to fail. They can put out the product but they need to be sure its good, the audience can tell the difference… even if it takes a few months.
Still, its sad that its less creative and more bottom line.
May 5th, 2011 at 4:02 pm
Anyone who finds this in any way surprising just hasn’t been paying attention.
May 5th, 2011 at 8:27 pm
This is the way it’s always been. Why is anyone even remotely surprised? Comic books wouldn’t exist if the publishers didn’t see a way to repackage old comic strips.
May 5th, 2011 at 8:42 pm
No shit, Sherlock! A company wants to make more money!! Bloody Hell! We need better columnists across these sites, god awful Graeme at more than one site is rubbish.
May 5th, 2011 at 10:35 pm
Those darn capitalists!
May 6th, 2011 at 7:36 am
I’ve always had the sense that movies rarely increase sales of monthly comics that much.
Also, why the heck did Marvel cancel Thor The Mighty Avenger, which is the one Thor comic I have ever liked?
May 6th, 2011 at 10:43 am
It is strange that Marvel canceled TMA before the movie was released, given that it would seem to be a good gateway comic for people who see the movie.
It’s probably a pretty clear indication that Marvel knows that movies don’t bring in new fans, at least not for more than a month or two.