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Marvel Produceth a Hit, Readers Giveth One in Return
“Marvel publishing dropped 4% in the first quarter.”
I know, this is old news to anyone who gets PW Daily, but I haven’t gotten a chance to write about it yet, so it’s still relevant! Marvel owns some of the world’s most popular comic book properties (though arguably not the two biggest), most of whom were created by hands down the world’s most famous comic book personality, Stan Lee. So what gives?
Marvel says the decline is in part because their big initiatives have either past or are forthcoming. This might be true. It might also be true that people just read less. It’s certainly true that the way people read comic books is changing. At the PW “Think Future” panel on graphic novels, the horse’s mouth spoke of the major shift from loyal comic fans buying monthlies at their comic shop (or “specialty store” as they preferred to call it) to the average Joe-book-reader buying the trade paperback from a chain. One thing they mentioned that really stuck out in my head: “These specialty stores don’t return.”
This shift didn’t happen overnight, and 2008 isn’t the first year of this boom, but the more anyone moves to alienate their core audience, the more problems their going to see. I hope that’s not the case here.
Not that Marvel has terribly much to worry about. With the success of “Iron Man,” the first feature from Marvel Films, I’m sure they more than made up for the $1 million lost from the publishing side. And since Marvel owns the properties that will be made into films, they can be as faithful as possible, and—much to the delight of their core audience—have as many crossovers as they want.
Maybe I was wrong about the alienation part. Maybe the focus just shifted ...
05/12/2008 12:05 PM Post Comment | Read More>
Guilty of Profiling
I’ve done a bad thing. I won’t name names, but I assumed that a certain person who’s other work I like, who published a specific book with a particularly reputable publisher would turn out gold. I was sadly wrong.
Now I admit that this other person’s work that I like was not a book. I haven’t read another book by this person ever, though I don’t think that was an option (I’m fairly certain this was his or her first book). But when I saw this on the bargain table, I thought to myself, “Score!!” How wrong I turned out….
Again, I won’t name names, but my excitement to see this person at BEA has dwindled. I still appreciate his or her other work, outside the literary arena, but it doesn’t seem right that I should seek this person out at BEA for his or her work in other areas of entertainment.
This is a lesson to be learned, and luckily for me it only cost $5. While I’ve been the naysayer of celebrity crossovers into books before, this person isn’t a particularly large celebrity, and I’ve never had a bad experience with a comedian’s book before (ok, that’s all the info I’ll give on identity). This is certainly a blow to my confidence ...
05/08/2008 08:05 AM Post Comment | Read More>
I'm a Bit Starkish
In case you didn’t know, I’m a bit Starkish because at the moment I’m a lot like Tony Stark. Tony Stark is Iron Man, and “Iron Man” just came out this past weekend. It’s amazing, and I recommend it for a million reasons. Marvel Studios has a good future if you ask me. Also, if you see “Iron Man,” stay after the credits—especially if you’re a fanboy.
05/06/2008 05:05 AM Post Comment | Read More>
Complaints from the Road
As a chocolate and book lover, this seems gratuitous, but I have some legitimate complaints after a full day in Hershey/the opening of the show. They've removed the breakfast buffet at the Hershey Lodge. If there's one thing I need for breakfast, its chocolate fondue. In fact, I must have mentioned this chocolate-fondue-for-breakfast feature as being my favorite part of the Lodge--and yeah, I'll say it--maybe even of the show. BUT, with the lack of breakfast buffet, there's a lack of chocolate fondue. You know what I had for breakfast? I'll tell you what I DIDN'T have: A *@#$ing CHOCOLATE COVERED GRAHAM CRACKER!!!!! I digress: that's probably not my favorite part of the show. PSLA is my favorite state library show because the attendees LOVE CBE. And what's not to love? We have over 600 books--most of which they haven't seen before--and they're all laid out there for them to peruse and enjoy. I however am noticing a growing trend that I don't like, and I'm not the only one. When I pick up a book to read its flap or back cover copy, I want to read about the book. I don't want to read review citations on the author's past books, I don't want to read a shortened bio of the author that's repeated in the back of the book on the "about the author page;" what I want, and what these things were created for, is to read something that will get me interested in the bound stack of papers in my hand at that moment. To quote my girlfriend, "when they don't talk about the book, I don't even care what its about, I just give up on it." I agree. Maybe I'm missing out on some gems, but it's not my fault. Ok, I'm done...back to enjoying myself! ... 05/01/2008 04:05 PM Post Comment | Read More> |
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