Peter

What I'm missing here is.. by dumping Walter was that a ploy to later on introduce Diamond? Maybe? A longterm ploy? And then what of exclusivity, and where does it stand today. Still a contract or dead in the water?
Diamond has now entered the room..

Given that Walter and Geppi had always worked very closely together (for years, Diamond was not direct with DC and purchased its DCs through Comics Unlimited), it seems unlikely that any anti-Walter act would have been undertaken on Diamond's behalf.
Rather, this would have been in the interests of clearing out competitors to Heroes World.

I see Marvel's move against Comics Unlimited as a petulant act rather than part of a concerted plan to bring the distributors to heel.

By the time that they did this, the Heroes World acquisition was fait accompli. The attempts to make the distributors revamp their businesses (for example: the request that they devote space in their catalogues to publishers proportiately to publishers' market shares) had proven to be foolhardy. The fact that Marvel saw the distribution system as one that parasitically attached smaller presses onto the body (Marvel) that kept the system running, was the fundamental issue that Terry Stewart and Richard Rogers had identified. When they got no hearing from their distributors, it was a small leap for them to decide that they should go it alone. Buying Heroes World seemed sensible to them, because it was a local (New Jersey) company that was owned by a former executive of Marvel's former parent, Cadence.

The effects of the Law of Unexpected Consequenses were, of course, ignored. Marvel (and the entire field) paid a high price for that ignorance. But, there was no strategic value to shutting Comic Unlimited down a few months before they shut everyonbe else down.

More on this later.

[This message has been edited by Jim Hanley (edited 04-12-2001).]

Something tells me that there was more to just knocking off Walter and Ron. Having been through the days with them, I didn't see them as a threat to Marvel anymore than any other distributor at the time. (All who have since gone), except Diamond....

So, where does exclusivity stand today? Is it still in existence or a passe clause somewhere in the archives of the only distributor (to speak of), left?

[This message has been edited by Empires (edited 04-16-2001).]

The exclusives (or more precisely, the brokerage deals) have been renewed (or at least, some have.) While hope springs eternal, there is little likelyhood of a change until a publisher emerges whose success with alternative distribution makes the brokerage deals too costly to the brokered publishers.

Obviously, that's a long shot, but it seems the only scenario that would break the deals anytime soon. In the long run, I can't believe that the current situation is sustainable, but I've been wrong before.

What seems apparent is that outside of the "main couple" of publishers that are (Mavel, DC), who really want's the other publishers? I mean, no one is really stepping up to the plate. So, so much for exclusive. Kind of throws a wet towel on the matter.

[This message has been edited by Empires (edited 04-28-2001).]

It seems time for my annual revival of this thread. If nothing else, it shows the level of discourse that used to be common around here.

In looking through it, I am surprised that there were no comments from Kim, Tom, or Gary (who were all regular posters back then.) Kim & Gary had first hand experience with much of this history. It would be nice to hear from them. To say nothing of the lists of primary sources who couls add to the conversation.

Hey, thanks for reviving it.

This is going to be a long night. Going to take me some time to write all this out.. but anyway, here it goes.

Comic books are missing something that gives movies, novels and music mainstream success. It's called a free venue. You may have heard Kurt Busiek talk about this in the past. TV and music is free to consumers as long as they buy the equipment to see/hear it with. What keeps the broadcasters profitable and the content free are the ads. Books are different. They are free through libraries and kids are encouraged/forced to read through school, so this is a free venue, but paid for with tax dollars rather than advertising.

But because people are exposed to TV, Music and Books through these venues, they like it in general and usually really like some specific
content coming through it. People end up buying Cable, see Movies or rent/buy Video's or order PPV's. Music listeners buy albums of their
favorite artists at music stores (this prior to MP3's but that's not a debate for here and now). People become book lovers and go to bookstores and buy something to read. Or maybe they read something (or part of something) in a library or at school and want to read it again and keep it for future re-reading.

This is what comics needs. One retailer used this idea and posted it on this message board. He took a bunch of Kurt Busiek comics, ones that started a story arc and stamped the cover with his stores name on them. Inside the back cover he stapled a flyer giving directions to his store. Then he gave these away for free. Put them in waiting rooms of a variety of places and kids plus fathers read them and came into the store wanting to buy that and future issues. The retailer (which I could remember his name) said the freebie's easily paid for themselves with new customers.

My idea is bigger and more radical. Ever see those free newspapers/magazines in downtown stores? Notice how they are filled with (and paid for) by lots of advertising? We need to do the same thing with comics. Cheaply printed, thick anthologies of free black and white comics paid for by lots of advertising. Distributed anywhere
and everywhere they can get away with, with print runs that far exceed the current comic readership (to ensure we get *new* customers). Like any new venture the publishers would likely lose money at first, then break even putting them out. They make their money selling TPB's/GN's of the more popular material within the anthologies. These could be colourized (in some cases), have the full stories and be printed on better paper (and bigger dimensions) than the freebies. The free
anthologies should follow the 2000AD way with weekly publication, with stories by single creator(s) already in the can and being published without any story gaps between issues. Size should be smaller than a normal comic to help the costs, I think the the digest size of Archie
Comics and the new Astro Boy books by Dark Horse (and many other publishers have used previously) would be a good size.

Regarding comic retailing, TPB's and GN's are the way to go. For the immediate future bookstores are going to carry the publishers with a 2nd income as the direct market for monthly dwindles. I think the direct market, mixed in with comic stores selling TPB's/GN's in a bookstore type set up is what's needed for the long term. Places like
Barnes and Noble don't know or care to know enough about comics to be our main route to readers. There are a few stores already set up this way and they are successful saying their sales and profits are growing by double digits each year, along with the TPB market. My only hope is comic shops and publishers can convert to the new method quickly enough, as slow and stupid publishers can be, I fear many retailers will be even worse when it comes to adapting.

The unanswered question is: who will these advertisers be? How will you convince them that there's a target audience for your content that will match the target market for their product?

The freebie publications you cite as models are generally of two or three types:

1) Community newspapers--editorial content is little "newsnotes" about local happenings, school and church events, etc., stuff that's too small for the local "real" paper to cover. Ad content, similarly, is from small local businesses that can't afford the prices the "real" paper charges.
The match is between people who care about local newsnotes and want to support local businesses.

2) Real estate/auto--filled with cheap to get "syndicated" real estate or auto columnists (there are whole companies that supply these things) and ads from local real estate or auto dealers. The match is obvious--people looking for homes or cars.

3) Parenting--editorial content is a mix of both of the above: syndicated childcare columns and local newsnotes about family oriented activities. Obvious match--people with kids.

So--who's the target audience for your comics freebie? Who are the advertisers (probably local) who want to reach that same demographic group?

I suspect this is a model that requires finding an advertising base before you decide on your editorial content.