San Francisco retailer Brian Hibbs considers what (little) we know about Marvel NOW! and, well, gets nervous:
The problem as a retailer is that I don’t actually have a hook for “Marvel NOW!” because I don’t actually know the full contents of it. I can’t “talk it up” except in the most generic way. Instead, I have to make each of those sales connections individually by book as they announce them, and without the benefit of the global branding to tie them together. One thing we were able to do with “The New 52″ was to create a specific one-time sell-sheet for our customers outlining the whole program. That intensely focused interest because we’re urgently needed them to sign up for these new series within the next month (so we could accurately order!) — but I can’t create 20+ different sell-sheets, and, even if I could, that won’t work because by #3, people are going to be saying, “Ugh, not this again”… Unfortunately, the feeling I get from “Marvel NOW!” is “You know all that stuff we’ve been doing that you don’t seem to be responding to? Here’s more of it.” Which is a hard message to sell.
I have to admit, I’m surprised at the way that Marvel is rolling out Marvel NOW!; we’re, what, three weeks out from the initial announcement, and the most we’re hearing from the publisher beyond “It’ll be massive!” and the initial titles are things like Tom Brevoort talking about Captain America’s costume redesign, which feels… not like filler, per se, but certainly of less importance than revealing some of the other titles to be relaunched or new creative teams on books. On the one hand, I guess it allows Marvel NOW! to have a longer shelf life in terms of ability to get headlines, but on the other, how long can that actually keep going before people get sick of Marvel NOW! as a brand…?
July 27th, 2012 at 7:49 am
It’s just a branding thing. The content of the stories is what matters.
July 27th, 2012 at 8:50 am
The week DC announced the New 52, we were all racing to see what what coming. Even if we were then scratching our heads about what books were being launched and who was doing them, or spending hours lambasting DC for everything, we were paying attention. It was smart marketing. And something that Marvel could be emulating.
July 27th, 2012 at 8:57 am
WoW you really just can’t get enough about complaining over it Graeme . Truly milking that angle
July 27th, 2012 at 9:09 am
Hey guess what “Meh”? I feel the same way! People talk about these things. Sorry Marvel Zombie, try harder to get some brains
July 27th, 2012 at 11:26 am
Already sick of “Marvel NOW!” Not one of the announced titles holds any interest for me. And with Fraction wrapping up his Iron Man run, and Rucka’s Punisher story ending with “War Zone,” that means even less Marvel books for me to buy.
July 27th, 2012 at 2:52 pm
But, Graeme, is it “depressing”?
SW
July 27th, 2012 at 11:19 pm
A world where Brian Michael Bendis is no longer writing Avengers isn’t depressing to me.
July 28th, 2012 at 10:26 am
“You know a that stuff we’ve been doing that you haven’t been responding to? Here’s more of it.”
Giggity.
The New 52, on multiple levels, has disappointed me, (The awfulll Superman costume, continuing some really bad titles,every one featuring Wildstorm characters, and the inexcusable Green Arrow, and Hawkman), but all along there has been a sense of a plan of sorts. With Marvel these days the company is throwing things against the wall, and the lack of any binding idea of present day Marve universe is lost on me. I read only one Marvel book now though there was a time…
July 29th, 2012 at 1:19 pm
I would be concerned that the slow roll out of #’1′s will result in slowly diminishing sales for those #1′s if people aren’t impressed by the first batch.
Say what you want about the New 52, they got a lot of people to buy every stinking issue of that relaunch because they didn’t leave them much time to think about it.
I feel bad for retailers. So far it’s been mostly “new #1′s” as the selling point, but that happens every other month, so what are they supposed to be selling?
July 30th, 2012 at 11:13 am
I swear I read this same exact argument from Hibbs last year regarding Fear Itself or something. Almost word for word.
–J.