Comments on: Who Is Winning The Bookstore Market, Anyway? http://blog.newsarama.com/2013/02/15/who-is-winning-the-bookstore-market-anyway/ The Blog@ Team and prominent comics personalities share what’s on their minds. Sat, 18 May 2013 18:37:26 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.1 By: jdinkhouse http://blog.newsarama.com/2013/02/15/who-is-winning-the-bookstore-market-anyway/comment-page-1/#comment-790744 jdinkhouse Sat, 16 Feb 2013 06:22:08 +0000 http://blog.newsarama.com/?p=35199#comment-790744 Marvel's inability to keep a back catalog in print pre-dates Disney's ownership. This has been a problem for a while. Marvel’s inability to keep a back catalog in print pre-dates Disney’s ownership. This has been a problem for a while.

]]> By: Kyle Garret http://blog.newsarama.com/2013/02/15/who-is-winning-the-bookstore-market-anyway/comment-page-1/#comment-790675 Kyle Garret Fri, 15 Feb 2013 16:33:08 +0000 http://blog.newsarama.com/?p=35199#comment-790675 And comparing the Avengers movie to the Walking Dead is apples and oranges. The Walking Dead remind people every week of the stories' existence. The Talking Dead mentions the comic in pretty much every episode. There are consistent comments about how there are things happening in the show that are taken directly from the comic. People saw the Avengers, thought it was awesome, maybe went back a second time, and went on with their lives. They weren't being teased with more stories every week or so. And comparing the Avengers movie to the Walking Dead is apples and oranges. The Walking Dead remind people every week of the stories’ existence. The Talking Dead mentions the comic in pretty much every episode. There are consistent comments about how there are things happening in the show that are taken directly from the comic.

People saw the Avengers, thought it was awesome, maybe went back a second time, and went on with their lives. They weren’t being teased with more stories every week or so.

]]> By: Simon DelMonte http://blog.newsarama.com/2013/02/15/who-is-winning-the-bookstore-market-anyway/comment-page-1/#comment-790673 Simon DelMonte Fri, 15 Feb 2013 16:10:30 +0000 http://blog.newsarama.com/?p=35199#comment-790673 The major problem at Disney in terms of this is that the biggest stockholder is currently Ike Perlmutter, who leveraged the buyout of Marvel to climb to the top of the meeting room pecking order. And it's widely known how little regard he has for a backlist. Until someone convinces him Marvel is missing out on big profits, there will be no backlist. And as long as he has both the power of the proxy and the profits of his old company's films, he will be hard to convince of anything. That said, I think that the Avengers movie didn't create any demand anyway. After each of the Batman films, and the first Iron Man film, and to a lesser degree Thor and Capt Amer, I found a lot of friends were asking for recs about what to read to get caught up. I didn't see that at all with Avengers. The film, for whatever reason, is its own universe a lot more than usual. The major problem at Disney in terms of this is that the biggest stockholder is currently Ike Perlmutter, who leveraged the buyout of Marvel to climb to the top of the meeting room pecking order. And it’s widely known how little regard he has for a backlist. Until someone convinces him Marvel is missing out on big profits, there will be no backlist. And as long as he has both the power of the proxy and the profits of his old company’s films, he will be hard to convince of anything.

That said, I think that the Avengers movie didn’t create any demand anyway. After each of the Batman films, and the first Iron Man film, and to a lesser degree Thor and Capt Amer, I found a lot of friends were asking for recs about what to read to get caught up. I didn’t see that at all with Avengers. The film, for whatever reason, is its own universe a lot more than usual.

]]> By: jaroslav hasek http://blog.newsarama.com/2013/02/15/who-is-winning-the-bookstore-market-anyway/comment-page-1/#comment-790668 jaroslav hasek Fri, 15 Feb 2013 15:41:10 +0000 http://blog.newsarama.com/?p=35199#comment-790668 there are no margins in selling comic books in book stores. Disney sharholders, to the extant that they know they still publish comic books, should be demanding more digital sales, where marginal costs are zero and the profits are much fatter. seriously, ESPN and cable tv makes like half of Disney's profits. comic book publishing profits are a rounding error if they are in the black to begin with. Disney doesn't seperate the publishing segment in its 10-K so for all the shareholders know, they could be losing money and the unit only exists to provide R&D for the movies. too much scrutiny may lead to shareholders demanding that Disney stop publishing comics altogether. there are no margins in selling comic books in book stores. Disney sharholders, to the extant that they know they still publish comic books, should be demanding more digital sales, where marginal costs are zero and the profits are much fatter.

seriously, ESPN and cable tv makes like half of Disney’s profits. comic book publishing profits are a rounding error if they are in the black to begin with. Disney doesn’t seperate the publishing segment in its 10-K so for all the shareholders know, they could be losing money and the unit only exists to provide R&D for the movies. too much scrutiny may lead to shareholders demanding that Disney stop publishing comics altogether.

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