Something occurred to me while reading Wolverine and The X-Men this week: Almost ad in the book is for a Marvel product. Of the nine ad pages in the issue, only two aren’t Marvel related, and those are a double-page spread for Harley-Davidson motorcycles. It’s not just this book, either; last week’s Fear Itself #7 had ten ad pages (Eleven, if you could the “Follow…” page pointing to the epilogue books), and only one wasn’t Marvel related – and even that was for a Disney sibling, ABC’s Once Upon A Time.

DC is doing slightly better; looking at The Flash #2 from this week, I count six ad pages – twelve, if you include the Batman: Noel preview – and four aren’t DC-related. That said, two of those are interesting; one is for syndication of The Big Bang Theory, which is a Warner Bros. sibling show (DC and WB are doing a cross-promotion for that show in comic stores, I think?), and another is for the IFC show Onion News Network, which is one of the shows that ran DC New 52 advertising before the relaunch last month, which makes me wonder if there was some kind of ad-swap going on at some point (BBC America ads used to run in DC books when the channel was running TV ads for the Vertigo line, earlier this year, as well).

So is outside advertising down in comic books in general, or is this an oddly coincidental blip that I’ve noticed? And if it is down, would bringing in more advertising help lower the cost of the comics themselves – assuming, of course, that the DM provides the right audience for advertisers to want to reach?

Heeeeee’s baaa-aaaack:

Well, now I understand [Bill Jemas] will be working for Wizard Comics, on their digital publications side. Whether this will be a full expose of his time at Marvel, some entertaining anecdotes or insisting that one issue of Wizard have no words at all, I don’t know.

I can’t tell you how much that I would enjoy a tell-all about the Jemas years at Marvel, but somehow I doubt that’s what he’s doing. That said, I’m not that surprised to see Jemas return to comics right now; there’s something romantically nostalgic about his era at Marvel right now, what with all the troubles the publisher is currently facing – or, for that matter, the success that DC is having, with an all-reader-friendly step-away-from-the-crossover attitude that recalls some of Jemas’ ideas for the House of Ideas way back when. It’ll be interesting to see if the Jemas at Wizard rumor turns out to be true, and if so, what he’s doing there. After all, if he rescued Marvel from disaster way back when, there’s no reason why he shouldn’t be able to do it for Wizard…

An interesting twist in the Barnes & Noble/DC/Amazon kerfuffle: 2000AD/Rebellion has stepped in to fill Barnes & Noble’s empty shelves with a new deal that’ll see the line get what is probably its broadest US release to date:

A major part of the deal involves 2000 AD’s extensive library of Alan Moore-written comics. Having published some of Moore’s earliest material for decades, the British company has struggled to find a firm foothold in the giant US publishing business. DC’s loss is 2000 AD’s gain, however, as orders of titles like “The Complete Alan Moore Future Shocks” and “Tharg’s Terror Tales” have been increased by B&N in significant quantities in an effort to fill the hole left in the chain’s stock by the DC Comics purge.

This is great news for 2000AD/Rebellion, although I wonder what will happen if/when the bookseller decides to add the DC titles back to its stores. But as someone who grew up reading 2000AD, and who’s been disappointed by the lack of penetration the title has made in the US to date, this seems like a great opportunity; now I hope there’s going to be enough promotion to ensure that potential readers know what these books actually are.

Brian Hibbs, owner of legendary San Francisco store Comix Experience, explains why he won’t be stocking Marvel’s Avenging Spider-Man #1 on his shelves:

Over time, Marvel Comics has unilaterally decided that the initial solicitation [for a comic] is fairly meaningless, and that books are not finalized until before the FOC date (typically 3 weeks before publication), and anything about the solicitation can change for any reason. I think this is a low down process because, as a working comic book store, a significant amount of our consumer education and outreach is done in the subscription model — I really do need 10-12 weeks to get the information out, and collect it back (not from my capability, mind, but from how fast the typical consumer reads and responds).

Marvel and all of its employees are well aware of solicitation and marketing deadlines — they fall in the same ways and means each and every month, there are no surprises anywhere in the process. I find it personally impossible that something as significant as full, free, digital codes in every copy wasn’t decided well in advance of catalog deadlines, just from a manufacturing standpoint, so for Marvel to not announce it until well after orders have started to be collected is thoroughly dirty pool.

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I keep coming back to this Warren Ellis post about the state of web comics, digital comics, and why they’re different things for different audiences, and feeling like there’s something I’m missing in it. Not that it’s badly written, because it’s not – It’s Ellis, after all – but it feels incomplete, somehow, and I can’t work out why. File under Food For Thought, definitely (Anyone interested in comics that aren’t just print, which should really be anyone interested in comics as a medium at this point, you should go and read it, if you haven’t already), but this part bears repeating:

Also, it’s a hell of a lot easier to take your time telling a story when you’re not charging people.

And, while there’s a smile in that comment, there’s also a degree of truth.  Compressing comics down to twenty pages, nineteen pages, probably eight or ten or twelve pages when people get to producing original material through digital comics services… while it’ll certainly make a nice change for a lot of people, after a decade of spacious and airy commercial comics, I’m compelled to point out that the crushed-in nature of commercial comics in the 1970s was one of the driving forces behind the big changes to the commercial medium that came in the 80s.  People were desperate for longer episodes and arcs that allowed them to tell stories more novelistically – and, in large part, they did that by using the then-new process of selling to the direct sales comics store market.

We’re all looking at compression techniques now, because we need them for commercial comics and we’re going to need them for digital comics.

It’s not just digital comics, I’d argue; with both DC and Marvel essentially formalizing “20 pages” as the length of a comic book now in the same way that 22 pages was the formalized length previously, comics in general are going to become more compressed in future.

Also, Ellis is totally right about American Flagg and how essential and overlooked it is.

We mentioned the rumor yesterday, and now it’s official: Barnes & Noble is pulling the print versions of the DC Comics graphic novels that are being offered as digital exclusives through Amazon’s new Kindle Fire device off their shelves. Talking to Publisher’s Weekly, a spokesperson explained “We pulled those 100 DC Comics graphic novels that we were not offered in digital format. Our policy is that unless we receive all formats of a title to make available to our customers, we will not sell those physical titles in our stores.”

The 100 print titles will, however, be available via B&N’s website, as well as to customers who make special orders from the stores themselves.

When contacted for a response, DC released the following statement:

We are disappointed that Barnes & Noble has made the decision to remove these books off their shelves and make them unavailable to their customers.

DC Entertainment will continue to make our content available to our fans and new readers through multiple distribution channels including locally-owned comic book retailers, independent bookstores, other bookstore chains and other widespread means such as online through Amazon and through our apps on iOS and select Android powered devices as well as new and exciting devices going forward.

As one of the largest book publishers in North America, DC Entertainment’s publishing strategy is to give our consumers the choice to read our stories in whichever format they prefer but we also know that nothing will ever take away from the joy and collectability of physical books, comics and graphic novels.

Marvel is continuing to decline to comment on the rumor that its Chief Operating Officer Jim Sokolowski has been let go from the company, as first reported by Bleeding Cool this morning and seemingly confirmed by Comic Book Resources. The latter report suggests that “basic economic realities” were behind the layoff and that it was not performance-related, unlike August’s firing of the entire Marvel Studios marketing department.

As COO, Sokolowski had been in charge of production, circulation and talent management at the publisher. It’s unknown at this time who will replace him, whether the position will be filled within Marvel or, like the Marvel Studios marketing department, whether the responsibilities will end up going to someone within the larger Disney structure. Developing…

I’m not too surprised to see that Barnes & Noble is considering pushing back in some way against the DC Comics/Amazon Kindle Fire exclusive deal announced last week, although the possibility of the chain taking DC books off the shelves of physical stores seems like the kind of upping of the ante that’ll cause a lot of concern for the publisher.

It’s unlikely that DC would be able to back out of the exclusivity clause with Amazon at this point, so I’m not sure what the solution would be for them if other retailers were to follow this route (Remember, the Amazon Kindle editions also look to be significantly cheaper than the print versions, so a direct market retailer protest isn’t out of the question, either) – unless, of course, the potential gain from the Amazon audience is going to be seen as being worth the risk and loss of business elsewhere. I wonder if this is the start of the much-anticipated print/digital war…?

Over on his blog, writer (and Black Lightning co-creator – And, DC? There’s a character who could be easily revived for a new series if and when you need one) Tony Isabella shares his 1996 “manifesto for comics”: a list of 10 demands – or, requests, perhaps – for the comic industry in order to get its house in order. Looking at it now, 15 years later, it’s depressing to see how many of these still seem necessary. There’s only one I don’t think we still need – the “Commissioner of Comics” mentioned in the final demand – and that’s only because I don’t agree with it in general. Have we really progressed that little in the last decade and a half?

I wrote about this earlier today for Time’s Techland blog (Look at me, crossing the streams of my writing gigs), but as I was doing so, I couldn’t stop thinking about the digital comics world: Multiple publishers and digital booksellers are facing a staggering seventeen class action lawsuits over the pricing of digital books, specifically something called “agency pricing,” which is essentially how digital comic prices are set.

Agency pricing is when publishers set the price of their digital releases, and that price point is used across whatever retailer sells said releases. It’s a system that’s been adopted by the big US publishing houses in response to fears that digital prices were so low that they were undercutting print prices and hurting the print retailers in doing so… Does any of this sound familiar yet? (more…)

Action Comics, Justice League, and Batgirl previously were announced by DC Comics as going to third printings of their first issue, and now Detective Comics and Swamp Thing join the crew.

Detective is a natural: along with Action and JL, it is absolutely considered a flagship book for the company. Likewise, Batgirl received a lot of attention from the media (us included) due to the miraculous healing of paralyzed Barbara Gordon, placing her back in a walking, running, jumping costume. Swamp Thing is a bigger indication of the diversity of stories being told in the New 52, though, and the fact that they are also selling well.

Justice League #1, so far, is the only one of the titles on its fourth printing. The second issues of the week one titles, including both of these new additions to the third printing club, hit stores tomorrow.

I think we’ve got a different speed. We go hyper fast. There’s going to be – and people have noticed this, and it’s not going to change – regular catch-up captions at the top of each issue. There’s going to be people as unobtrusively as possible – but still pretty obtrusive because we’re not writing for the trade anymore but for single issues – saying “I am so-and-so, and this is what I do.” We’re making once again a comic that people can join at any issue. We expect people to join in on issue #3, and this is what it takes to find the mainstream audience again. You can buy issue #5 of “Stormwatch,” and it should be easy enough to just go from there, or you can buy the back issues if you like.

It’s an interesting brew all-in-all. It’s a very interesting time to be a comics writer. We’re changing everything very, very fast, and there’s a lot of people out there who haven’t read a comic in decades or at all who are reacting to this. Some of them don’t know how to read comics, or they aren’t used to the speed of the stories or just what’s going on. We’re here to make sure we catch those people as well, and that we come to suit them.

That’s Paul Cornell, talking about Stormwatch at CBR, commenting on a couple of things that have been floating around the comics internet concerning the writing of DC’s New 52 books: Namely, the “not writing for the trade” mentality, as well as how understandable these books are for all-new readers. While I applaud the move, it makes me wonder how existing readers, more used to the Marvel model, are going to appreciate the new style in the long term…

Color me fascinated by the news that SLG has made the jump to offering all of its single issues through digital only, especially given publisher Dan Vado’s reasons why (In the announcement, he’s quoted as saying “The market has been pushing us away from serialized comics and more towards books and graphic novels for some time… However it is difficult to publish a 200 page graphic novel from an unknown artist without having some sort of lower-cost entry point like a comic book series to help build an audience, so going digital first seems like a good way to introduce readers to new creators and build an audience which we can build on for potential book releases”). This feels oddly important, both in terms of an indicator of where the direct market is at these days, but also as a test of the strength of the digital market: Will there be enough of an audience there to subsidize – and advertise – the eventual print editions, or is this more of a “Whatever we can make from digital is a bonus” scenario?

It’ll be interesting to see if other publishers follow suit, and if so, which ones – For all of the news of DC and Marvel both claiming various digital victories in the last few weeks, I can’t help but feel that the real strides in digital are being made by indies (SLG, Archie and IDW in particular). If we see companies like Boom!, Dynamite or even Dark Horse pushing a similar strategy – pushing some titles as digital-only until the collection, say – I wonder how long it’ll take before the Big Two follow… and what that will do to the direct market.

A question on Tom Brevoort’s Formspring touches on something I’ve been thinking about lately:

This is what I’ve been wondering: Why is the DC New 52 as successful as it is? (more…)

This roundtable with the publishers of Boom!, Dark Horse, Dynamite, IDW and Top Cow on what effect the DC relaunch will have on them is well worth a read, for two reasons. Firstly, almost all of them argue that their books didn’t see drops in sales in September, despite the massive push on DC’s behalf. Secondly, Nick Barrucci speaking truth:

Do I agree with other publishers that this is generally good news for them? Yes, it is on so many levels. Not on every level, but on so many levels. It’s generally good news for the whole industry because if retailers are making more money they are more stable. The drop in sales have been so bad this summer, that one of the biggest and best retailers in the country was affected. And it hurts the industry. Atomic was one of the top retailers who carried comics, and help “move the needle.” Mike was, and always will be, a mainstay in our industry. If Atomic Comics were still around during this DC launch I would say, not knowing all the reasons why they closed down, that this would have impacted them positively sales wise to where the money would have helped them where they may not have needed to shut down. Would they make all of the money last week, this week, or this month? I don’t know, but over the course of the rest of the year I believe it could have. It’s terrible that they closed down literally a few weeks before they DC re-launch happened, terrible. But DC is going to put more money in retailer’s pockets both from outside the industry and inside. This will help stabilize retailers cash flow. And the marketing that DC is putting behind this, is incredible. It’s unprecedented. Between the news coverage, the advertising they are doing, the co-op, it is historic. This is better than a movie bringing awareness as I feel few movies push the industry, and today do not push comics sales as they may have. On select titles and characters, yes. Across the board, no. DC is working to promote comics. The periodicals. The bread and butter of the industry. They are creating the awareness that only DC or Marvel could. Long-term will it help? Yes. Does a rising tide float all boats in other words? Sure, why not. A rising tide will float boats, but is it today or long term. I’m betting long term. But today, the rising tide allows DC’s boat more than anyone’s, and again, as it should be. They made it happen.

The entire article is a fascinating look at what some of the leading indie publishers are thinking about the state of the industry, and well worth checking out. Go read.

The short answer is no, but that’s not how one retailer felt after a tweet Kurtz put out into the internets inquiring about Justice League #1. The webcomic creator told the story on his Google+ account, seeming not to be picking a fight, but just genuinely baffled.

“”So wait, can I just buy Justice League #1 on my iPad now? Do I even need to go to a shop?”

Immediately my followers let me know the facts. Yes. I can purchase it via the comixology app. For the exact cost of the print version (no discount). If you want to skip the store today. Fair enough.

And the truth is, I do. I want to skip the store today. I do not want to drive to Lynnwood to purchase a $3.99 comic out of curiosity. I don’t collect floppies. I don’t polybag. I don’t fill longboxes. I’m fine reading this digitally with the idea that I’m kinda only “renting” the comic anyway.

Then, I got a twitter reply from a retailer who said:

“@pvponline with the disdain you seem to have for us brick and mortars, it makes me wonder why I carry PVP books in my shop”

Which I found unsettling and very telling. He followed up to let me know that “the tone of [my] post made it seem as though comic shops don’t provide any value-add or service.”"

Kurtz goes on to analyze the retailer’s statement, and finds that in some cases, the answer is unfortunately, “no, they don’t.”

He told about how personally he makes more money selling PVP books directly than he does selling them through Diamond. He talked about the simple ease of getting books digitally or from an online store.

So it does beg the question: What do retailers need to do to continue providing “value-add” to customers who have an increasing ability to pick up their wares more easily?

The spectacular Sonia Harris addresses sexual objectification in superhero comics:

When I recommend comic books, or explain that the earliest, strongest female role models I had were female superheroes, feminist friends often tell me that comic books objectify women and ask why I’m not uncomfortable with this. This shocks me, how can they be missing the half-dressed, overly muscular, totally unshakable men in these comic books? Surely no woman thinks that men are realistically portrayed in super hero comic books, at least no more than women super heroes are? I frequently explain to feminist friends that comic books have objectified men for longer than they have objectified women. While the early super hero comic books might have given men more action-oriented roles, those men were always physically perfect and wearing something skin tight. Who’s the sex object in Action Comics #1 (1936)? Is it fully-dressed Lois Lane or that big guy in the tight clothes?

Go read the whole thing.

In a spectacular edition of his Tilting at Windmills column, retailer Brian Hibbs considers the ComiXology retailer contract, DC’s shifting relationship with retailers, and why the content of modern mainstream superhero comics may have moved away from new readers:

We keep seeing attempts to bring back the mass audience to serialized periodical comics, whether it is efforts aimed at what’s left of the “actual” newsstand market (7-11′s have probably replaced the “general store” in most locales), or whether it’s pushes to get material into generalist book stores like Barnes & Noble or Hastings, and none of these experiments seem to garner anything but the mildest of responses. Some of that is that the last time comics did well on the newsstand, the average issue was extremely new reader friendly, and also generally a self-contained reading experience, which is hardly the case for most comics today; and some of that is that comics, especially with the bulk of books today being multi-issue story arcs, have lost a great measure of the perception of value-for-the-buck. But the reality of things really is that if you don’t already know comics, comics are crazy confusing, and a guide, a Sherpa, the retailer is really very valuable. Perhaps essential.

It’s good, if depressing and frustrating (on behalf of the direct market retailer community), reading. Go check it out.

Paul O’Brien asks what might be the core question in his look at Marvel sales in July:

[High-selling ongoing titles] never seen that much gain from the crossovers, presumably because the event audiences are buying them already.It’s more striking that we’re seeing the same pattern on the other tie-in books further down the chart. The impact gets more noticeable the further down we go – but not by much. Which kind of begs the question: how much did Marvel actually gain from making FEAR ITSELF into a line-wide crossover?

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Excuse me while I steal this blog for my soapbox even more than usual, but… Well, let me tell you what I thought about yesterday’s Justice League of America #60. No, wait, I can’t, because my local store didn’t get any copies. In fact, JLA was just one of a staggering thirty-eight titles that my local store was shorted by Diamond yesterday, with others including all but one of the Flashpoint tie-ins for the week, Generation Hope and X-Men: Schism and the deluxe We3 hardcover with additional story pages.

Apparently, this isn’t even an uncommon occurrence these days. Sure, most weeks don’t see 27% of the titles ordered not show up in time thankfully, but from asking around, it seems that it’s far, far more rare that Diamond shipments show up complete to any store in the area than show up missing at least one title or with a number of damaged copies (Another local store apparently had more than 100 books arrived damaged this week). From what I’ve heard, this is just the way things are these days: Retailers order books, and maybe they’ll show up on time, and maybe they won’t.

This is insane. I get that Diamond is essentially a monopoly and therefore can get away with this kind of behavior because of that, but, I mean, seriously. Retailers have pretty much no recourse here; they can (and, I’m sure, do, on a regular basis) call up their Diamond rep and complain, but beyond that, what can they do? They can’t go elsewhere. So who can fix this? Readers? Publishers? Everyone ganging together and demanding that Diamond improves shipments? I have no idea, and really just wanted to vent my frustration on behalf of the various retailers who, it seems, are getting completely screwed by their distributor here. Consider this an open thread for retailers to commiserate, Diamond reps to explain why distribution is so spotty, and everyone to agree that this kind of thing is what may make DC’s day-and-date New 52 more of a success than they might have expected.