Well, this is kind of fascinating.
You’ll remember that Marvel announced last week that Wolverine & The X-Men #1 was dropping in price from $4.99 to $3.99 with, as the official press release said, “no reduction in content!” Imagine my surprise, then, when I see Marvel’s extended forecast for retailers from the end of last week, and find this line:
WOLVERINE AND X-MEN #1 will be 40 pages and $3.99, not 48 pages and $4.99 as solicited.
Let me get this straight: The book has lost no content with this switch from $4.99 to $3.99, but has lost 8 pages. Either one of these announcements is wrong and/or Marvel changed its mind between Wednesday and Friday, or the original solicit was charging a dollar for 8 pages of ads. I’m not sure which I find more believable, but I am sure which I find more depressing.
August 22nd, 2011 at 2:58 pm
Between this and the never-ending depression-fest that is Fear Itself, I have even less interest in giving Marvel my money that I did last year.
I really think if you are DC, or Image, or pretty much any other company with costumed heroes, you really are in a good position to steal some readers from Marvel.
August 23rd, 2011 at 5:50 am
It could easily have been eight pages of script, sketches, or reprints. None of that would have been surprising.
August 23rd, 2011 at 7:27 am
But the problem with that is that Marvel in the past has considered scripts, sketches and reprints as content.
August 23rd, 2011 at 10:48 am
WOLVERINE & THE X-MEN #1 is an extra-sized issue, just like X-MEN SCHISM #1 was, which cost $4.99. In cutting the price to $3.99, I can assure you that the content has stayed the same, as my story was written months ago. The price cut is exactly that: a price cut.
August 23rd, 2011 at 11:04 am
Fair enough, getting the same story for less money is a good thing. My only question is, what about the reference to 40 pages instead of 48? Is it just a mistake and the book’s staying at 48 pages, or was it always a 40 page book and the original solicits wrong?
August 25th, 2011 at 1:34 pm
I would guess there’s a mistake in there somewhere, as nothing has changed in regards to story-length or extras.