Posted: 08 March 2021 at 9:26am | IP Logged | 2
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There are things Marvel could do on its own, there are things Disney could do as its corporate owner, and there are things retailers could do. So...
Marvel (and DC) could: - deemphasize events and start to dial down the scale of these superhero stories. At a glance, too many titles seem to be about saving *at least* a city at a time. FFS, why not have a hero try to stop a series of bank robberies? Or resolve a hostage situation where a superpowered criminal takes a building for ransom? Not every last freaking thing has to be super high stakes. - part of the above might be just having these teams fight their classic bad guys again. How long has it been since the Avengers fought any incarnation of the Masters of Evil? How long since Iron Man took on Titanium Man or Crimson Dynamo? It is no crime to bring back the old, established villains--and NOT turn them into grudging allies. - stop with the reboots, resets, restarts, etc. and just do the freaking books. If you have a change, make it; if you want to "forget" something, don't mention it. Readers (me included) are getting seasick from all the "changing the whole world!" event aftermath. (Maybe worth noting how I couldn't care less about DC's FUTURE STATE or Marvel's King in Black super-stories.) - put the "extra stuff" in the single monthly issues and take it out of the collected editions. Want those extras? Buy the monthly book. If you "wait for the trade," you get the story pages and that's it. This would give readers a reason to buy the monthly books again.
Disney could: - include an ad for the comics IN EVERY SINGLE THING THEY DO. "Want more great stories? READ MARVEL COMICS!" - include a QR code that lets them subscribe in every single DVD of a Marvel movie or TV show. - feature a comic book store locator on the Disney home page. - include ads on Disney+ or add a Marvel subscribe notice on every TV ad for WandaVision or Falcon/Winter Soldier, etc. They're already buying the ad, including a comic book plug would be pennies on top of that. (So far, Disney doesn't seem to give the smallest damn about Marvel except insofar as they can exploit its vast library of IP--which is pretty fucking shortsighted.)
Retailers could: - form local trade associations to support each other and establish best practices. Sure, they are in business for themselves but collectively, they could be more effective at marketing and building their customer base. - evolve the "clubhouse" model most currently use. My LCS held all sorts of social functions on weeknights and weekends, most featuring current titles, from discussion groups to social hours. Getting people in the store can be real hard and having opportunities to invite in new customers can help. - face that the days of the direct market might be limited. If monthly sales continue to decline, there might not be enough to support small local retailers. As such, they may want to plan for closing down when they reach a point of seeing more red than black in the ledger.
Just a few thoughts. It's been a great discussion thread. I hope this medium stays around a while but it will depend on lots of people making smart decisions... and so far, there's not a lot of evidence that's happening.
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