|
Post by commond on May 23, 2022 18:38:22 GMT -5
Whoa, a lot of discussion based on a variant cover.
|
|
|
Post by wildfire2099 on May 23, 2022 21:14:22 GMT -5
INdeed! I kinda agree with Supercat though... why CANT Marvel and DC make the next My Hero Academia or Attack on Titan? They've tried the format (you can find Ms. Marvel and Runaways on Manga shelves, and DC reprinted Elfquest in that format, which I thought was a great idea) but it just doesn't take. Is that the disjointedness of seeing an American Comic in a Manga format? Could they sell something that was not part of the main universe, or would the name alot create certain expectations?
These are definitely things I think about quite a bit... and I think the reason is exposure. Before the current manga hit gets a series and monthly tankobon releases, it was usually coming out in some cheap anthology magazine and had some momentum already. Marvel and DC don't ever have that.
|
|
|
Post by berkley on May 23, 2022 22:18:01 GMT -5
I'm a bit surprised that the monthly floppy is still hanging around as even a semi-viable format. Does anyone think it'll eventually die out - perhaps when the generation of fans who still like that format drop off?
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on May 23, 2022 22:31:19 GMT -5
INdeed! I kinda agree with Supercat though... why CANT Marvel and DC make the next My Hero Academia or Attack on Titan? They've tried the format (you can find Ms. Marvel and Runaways on Manga shelves, and DC reprinted Elfquest in that format, which I thought was a great idea) but it just doesn't take. Is that the disjointedness of seeing an American Comic in a Manga format? Could they sell something that was not part of the main universe, or would the name alot create certain expectations? These are definitely things I think about quite a bit... and I think the reason is exposure. Before the current manga hit gets a series and monthly tankobon releases, it was usually coming out in some cheap anthology magazine and had some momentum already. Marvel and DC don't ever have that. Who would carry it if they did that? You can't put out a product in a format none of your retail partners want to carry or will order in sufficient numbers to make it viable. The heart of the matter is the core of the customer base who wants to buy stories of Marvel and DC characters in print are hardcore comics fans who seem to only want to buy those stories with those characters in print in monthly periodical comics and have shown themselves resistant to ANY format change. There not a big enough core audience to keep monthly periodical viable as anything but a niche product, though just large enough to keep that format viable as a niche product. However, there's not a large enough audience in the mass market for those types of stories and characters in print to make other formats viable unless that hardcore customer base also buys in to make it a viable launch to give it a chance to grow an audience, but that customer base has proven time and again they are resistant to any change from the way they traditionally buy comics, so making that switch is a non-starter. It would take a year, maybe longer for that format to build an audience and customer base IF it ever did, and to produce and distribute product in that format requires an infrastructure that is not in place already at the big 2, meaning it would require a large capital investment and a long lead time where they would be spending with no revenue generated form it, so such a launch would have to have big numbers right away to make such an investment worthwhile and even have a chance of being sustainable. With the track record of resistance to change of the fans of the characters and stories, they're not going to buy in, and with the lack of interest in the characters and stories of customers of that format, where is that large initial revenue surge going to come from? The retailers, who would have to shoulder all the risk in this venture, and have to be the ones to order enough copies to make it viable already know the buying habits of their customer bases for both things, and are not going to take that risk because they know it's a losing bet for them and they don't have the liquidity to eat the unsold copies when it doesn't catch on with either customer base. So unless Marvel and DC (and by extension Disney and Warner) are willing to dump boatloads of capital into this and lose money for a year or two to try to grow the customer base enough where it generates enough revenue to not only make it profitable as a product on a monthly basis but also pay back the large initial investment it would require to create market partners willing to order and carry it, distribution channels outside the direct market for a product like this, in house staff creator production studios to handle the demands of producing at a rate those formats require, additional editorial to handle the higher levels of traffic control the schedules for those products would require, and such, why would they even consider such a venture? -M
|
|
|
Post by commond on May 23, 2022 23:30:08 GMT -5
There are a lot of factors to consider here. The majority of weekly and monthly manga magazines get thrown away in Japan. The reason the collected volumes are the size they are is because they don’t take up a lot of space in tiny Japanese apartments, and you can carry them around easily in your bag and read them on the train or in other places like a waiting room. Sales of collected volumes are down slightly as mote people are starting to read manga digitally, but there are reasons why people prefer the small collected volumes instead of larger hardback editions. In terms of the content, there are very few mangas where the creators are working with existing licensed characters. It’s almost always original content with a much better royalty system than in mainstream American comics. Personally, I can’t see the big two making a huge push toward publishing creator owned material that doesn’t feature their trademark characters. The big selling titles are almost always connected to a successful anime series as well. Usually, it’s because the series is popular enough to warrant an anime adaptation, but if the anime series takes off then the manga sales go through the roof. Then there is the relentless merchandising and advertising that comes with a successful manga series. The characters end up being literally everywhere on every piece of merchandising you can imagine. These are some of the reasons why manga is successful in Japan. At least the titles that are popular enough to reach American shores.
|
|
|
Post by wildfire2099 on May 24, 2022 5:55:30 GMT -5
I suspect the old timers would change if they had no choice, and there are certainly plenty of outlets that sell Manga... it would be there. Yes, that involves risk, but not as much risk as the industry completely dying I'd think.
OTOH, since Disney and Warner only care about it as an IP holder and don't expect much, maybe it doesn't matter to them.
|
|
|
Post by impulse on May 24, 2022 8:51:49 GMT -5
Disney is pretty conservative when it comes to things like that. Their book publishing has always been geared around new film releases (or re-releases), as ancillary marketing and they have been more focused on toys and games aimed at young girls. Part of their reason for acquiring Marvel and Star Wars was to grab a young male audience, after seeing the viewing numbers of the X-Men cartoons, on the Disney cable channels. They do have things like Kingdom Hearts; but I still think they see themselves as a film company and that everything else serves that. Star Wars is a bit different, since Lucas pioneered a lot of exploiting content in other fields and they inherited a going concern, rather than developed it on their own. That's the thing funny thing, though. In 2022, video games isn't risky. It's where gobs of money are. It's larger than the film industry even if I recall correctly. If they simply partnered with a respected developer and used their advertising muscle, as long as the game was at least pretty good it would likely make gobs of cash. I suspect the old timers would change if they had no choice, and there are certainly plenty of outlets that sell Manga... it would be there. Yes, that involves risk, but not as much risk as the industry completely dying I'd think. OTOH, since Disney and Warner only care about it as an IP holder and don't expect much, maybe it doesn't matter to them. I doubt Disney or WB would spend too much to artificially prop up the floppies direct market, but I also think they would not want the image of Marvel or DC comics failing and shutting down. I think the PR hit, or the perceived one, would be more damaging in their eyes than keeping it going in some form or fashion. I think the creators of the MCU would want Marvel comics to still exist more than they would not want it to exist. I could be wrong though. Not to say they would keep it in its current form, but I doubt they would want those characters to go fully out of print.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on May 24, 2022 9:45:12 GMT -5
Disney is pretty conservative when it comes to things like that. Their book publishing has always been geared around new film releases (or re-releases), as ancillary marketing and they have been more focused on toys and games aimed at young girls. Part of their reason for acquiring Marvel and Star Wars was to grab a young male audience, after seeing the viewing numbers of the X-Men cartoons, on the Disney cable channels. They do have things like Kingdom Hearts; but I still think they see themselves as a film company and that everything else serves that. Star Wars is a bit different, since Lucas pioneered a lot of exploiting content in other fields and they inherited a going concern, rather than developed it on their own. That's the thing funny thing, though. In 2022, video games isn't risky. It's where gobs of money are. It's larger than the film industry even if I recall correctly. If they simply partnered with a respected developer and used their advertising muscle, as long as the game was at least pretty good it would likely make gobs of cash. I suspect the old timers would change if they had no choice, and there are certainly plenty of outlets that sell Manga... it would be there. Yes, that involves risk, but not as much risk as the industry completely dying I'd think. OTOH, since Disney and Warner only care about it as an IP holder and don't expect much, maybe it doesn't matter to them. I doubt Disney or WB would spend too much to artificially prop up the floppies direct market, but I also think they would not want the image of Marvel or DC comics failing and shutting down. I think the PR hit, or the perceived one, would be more damaging in their eyes than keeping it going in some form or fashion. I think the creators of the MCU would want Marvel comics to still exist more than they would not want it to exist. I could be wrong though. Not to say they would keep it in its current form, but I doubt they would want those characters to go fully out of print. Disney has licensed their characters to other publishers for decades. They've experimented with it with the Marvel and characters with IDW (new content) and Archie (reprints in digests) and with Star Wars characters (IDW & Dark Horse) in the last few years. I suspect if continuing to publish comics by Marvel themselves became non-viable, they would look at licensing the Marvel characters and Star Wars characters to other publishers to keep them visible in the marketplace and simply collect licensing fees rather than having to spend on production costs and sell the products themselves. -M
|
|
|
Post by arfetto on May 24, 2022 9:45:55 GMT -5
My question is why can't a Marvel or DC create the next My Hero Academia anymore. This question is interesting to me as well (well, not Marvel or DC exclusively), and it is one that has been asked by the Japanese creators to the US creators (well, Canadian creators also attended the following event) since at least the '90s haha.
(well, My Hero Academia obviously didn't exist then, so just replace it with Dragon Ball or Saint Seiya or Slam Dunk or another "internationally/universally popular" manga of that era - though the key to that universal popularity is in having animated adaptations that closely match the comic story, while the comic does not need such an adaptation in its "home country" as long as there is good distribution, animation adaptations seem very useful in increasing a person in another country's desire to read the comic version)
|
|
|
Post by impulse on May 24, 2022 9:51:27 GMT -5
Disney has licensed their characters to other publishers for decades. They've experimented with it with the Marvel and characters with IDW (new content) and Archie (reprints in digests) and with Star Wars characters (IDW & Dark Horse) in the last few years. I suspect if continuing to publish comics by Marvel themselves became non-viable, they would look at licensing the Marvel characters and Star Wars characters to other publishers to keep them visible in the marketplace and simply collect licensing fees rather than having to spend on production costs and sell the products themselves. -M That certainly seems like a plausible way to do it.
|
|
|
Post by codystarbuck on May 24, 2022 11:23:41 GMT -5
My question is why can't a Marvel or DC create the next My Hero Academia anymore. This question is interesting to me as well (well, not Marvel or DC exclusively), and it is one that has been asked by the Japanese creators to the US creators (well, Canadian creators also attended the following event) since at least the '90s haha.
(well, My Hero Academia obviously didn't exist then, so just replace it with Dragon Ball or Saint Seiya or Slam Dunk or another "internationally/universally popular" manga of that era - though the key to that universal popularity is in having animated adaptations that closely match the comic story, while the comic does not need such an adaptation in its "home country" as long as there is good distribution, animation adaptations seem very useful in increasing a person in another country's desire to read the comic version) That last part is the key for the worldwide manga boom. It was the expansion of anime that primed the pump for manga. Manga had been exported before the 90s; but, with middling success, overall. By the late 90s, anime were well established globally and manga quickly followed, as a new generation that was familiar with more modern anime were ready for the print forefathers of those properties. It took hold in Europe at roughly the same time as it did in America, leading the traditional publishers to start to complain about it eating up their market. Asterix even ran a parody, in one album, poking fun at both the American and Japanese imports.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on May 24, 2022 13:14:00 GMT -5
I just can't say no to a really nice Goblin cover, even though I am fuming about yet another Amazing Spidey relaunch. Be quiet Jez, and indulge....
|
|
|
Post by badwolf on May 24, 2022 13:35:24 GMT -5
I just can't say no to a really nice Goblin cover, even though I am fuming about yet another Amazing Spidey relaunch. Be quiet Jez, and indulge....
Is there an in-story reason why Spider-Man looks like he is five years old?
|
|
|
Post by Icctrombone on May 24, 2022 18:03:27 GMT -5
I just can't say no to a really nice Goblin cover, even though I am fuming about yet another Amazing Spidey relaunch. Be quiet Jez, and indulge....
It's not a relaunch, it says # 896 on that cover.
|
|
|
Post by Icctrombone on May 24, 2022 18:18:33 GMT -5
The only interesting iteration of Hal Jordan was when he was Parallax.
There I said it.
|
|