Quick! Digital comics: Attempt by an industry to stay contemporary with new technology and reach a new (and lapsed) readership or attempt to destroy the direct market, printing industry and everything you hold dear? Don’t ask retailer Jerry Ringi of Virginia’s Amazing Fantasy Comics if you’re hoping for the former outlook:
Look at the history since the 90′s and it’s so obvious that publishers want it all and they do not want the Direct Market to exist and make any money at all. History inserts by Marvel telling our customers that comic shops are dark and dangerous to kids and also dirty and you have to watch out for that retailer. With a subscription you get free issues from them but they berated us for giving pull customers at our shops a discount. Charging us at every turn for promotional items to help sell their product. They even make money from Free Comic Book Day.
This made me curious: Do publishers actually make money on FCBD product? I know that retailers have to pay for the comics, but I always thought that that was, essentially, sharing the cost of the promotion with publishers as opposed to actually turning the whole thing into a profit generator. Admittedly, the rest of Ringi’s rant leads me to disbelieve this particular notion, but still: Can anyone shine a light on this matter?
April 18th, 2012 at 11:03 am
Last I heard the FCBD comics cost like 25 cents. Add in shipping and they retailers could be paying 30 cents a book. So retailers only lose out if they just give away the FCBD comics and don’t sell anything else. Usually FCBD is the best business day for retailers.
April 18th, 2012 at 11:15 am
CagedLeo, I’m not sure how the retailers in your area celebrate FCBD, but the cost of the books is our least worry. It’s the bouncy castle for the kids, the free SETS of Heroclix figures we give away (not just the promotional Thor figure), the promotion we do for the event, etc. And our FCBD celebration also doubles as a fundraiser day for our local Big Brothers / Big Sisters chapter. Last year we didn’t feel we had raised enough money and put what was, for us, a rather large sum into the pot to make sure BBBS got some much-needed funds.
As for Marvel, Jerry Ringi is dead on. When I went to my first Diamond Retailer convention back 2010, every other publisher was there to ask us questions, to see what they could do to help out the direct market. Marvel took their allotted 30 minutes and tried to sell us memberships in their new retailer site. My opinion of Marvel has not changed in any positive way since then. If the direct market dies, I imagine it will be largely due to Marvel’s underhanded machinations designed to bring about that exact result.
DC on the other hand… Our rep, Pat is simply amazing. Marvel could learn a thing or three from DC.
April 18th, 2012 at 2:04 pm
“Do publishers actually make money on FCBD product?”
Here, let me answer that for you: No.
April 20th, 2012 at 8:41 am
I had the misfortune to shop at Amazing Fantasy years ago, I would do anything to avoid that comics shop, certainly. The proprietor discouraged me from buying what I wanted to buy, made sexist comments, and was in every way the negative stereotype of the comics shop owner.
April 26th, 2012 at 6:00 pm
I dunno about you guys, but DC is as bad as Marvel at this point in time. It’s naive to say that either one of the big publishers is doing a great job with their publishing, period. Look at the overall picture — not just the actions of one good employee no matter how nice that person may be.
I found it sad to read today that one of the future animated DC films might be based on “Flashpoint,” the limited series that completely pulled me out of DC’s monthly comics for good!
At least I can read the reprints before they decided that the millionth time at retconning was worth doing. Whole histories are wiped out and people’s favorite characters are gone until the next regime change (although DC’s heads seems to have teflon flak jackets for the time being despite the lack of popularity for the one-third that’s the biggest mover behind the changes).
I dunno about you but I liked characters that actually LOOKED and ACTED like superheroes instead of all looking like and behaving like rejects from The Authority or Watchmen…. Don’t intend to diss those books but honestly what was the matter with having more lighthearted, fun, and adventure-filled stories????
This more than any negative stereotype of a comic shop/comic book guy is why I don’t buy monthlies… The Internet’s an alternative but even with the much cheaper online prices I don’t feel that the current product is worth the money.