Marvel's Profits Way Up

[cougartrace]

I agree but young kids will go see movies not read comic books.

[RichBamf]

Originally Posted by cougartrace

I agree but young kids will go see movies not read comic books.

Agreed, at least partially.

I know plenty of friends who got back into comics because of the movies, or back in the nineties due to the cartoons (X-men, Spidey, Batman, Superman).

I also know kids like me, who were reading comics from about 4 or 5.

But one thing is true, the movies allow for greater exposure of Marvel's merchandise, which in turn leads to greater readership, whether the film is good or bad in most respects.

[rilynil]

Lapse in Marvel quality? There is no lapse in Marvel quality that I can see. Marvel is simply kicking every other comic book company's tail right now in a major way, and I don't see any indication that that will end any time soon.

Joe Q simply couldn't be doing a better job. Certainly not all editorial decisions have been universally popular, but I can't understand the people who love to rake him over the coals. When all is said and done, I believe the comic book industry historians will look back very favorably on Joe Q, because he's been good for the industry, Marvel specifically.

People can whine and cry about pimps and corporate wh0res and such, but the name of the game is creating and nurturing interest in the characters. If interest is high, that shows people LIKE what they see, they LIKE the characters, they LIKE the comics, they LIKE the movies, they LIKE buying the products.

And yes, people like Marvel right now.

[biglebowski9999]

Originally Posted by rilynil

Lapse in Marvel quality? There is no lapse in Marvel quality that I can see. Marvel is simply kicking every other comic book company's tail right now in a major way, and I don't see any indication that that will end any time soon.

Joe Q simply couldn't be doing a better job. Certainly not all editorial decisions have been universally popular, but I can't understand the people who love to rake him over the coals. When all is said and done, I believe the comic book industry historians will look back very favorably on Joe Q, because he's been good for the industry, Marvel specifically.

People can whine and cry about pimps and corporate wh0res and such, but the name of the game is creating and nurturing interest in the characters. If interest is high, that shows people LIKE what they see, they LIKE the characters, they LIKE the comics, they LIKE the movies, they LIKE buying the products.

And yes, people like Marvel right now.

well said

[Teague]

Originally Posted by rilynil

Lapse in Marvel quality? There is no lapse in Marvel quality that I can see. Marvel is simply kicking every other comic book company's tail right now in a major way, and I don't see any indication that that will end any time soon.

Joe Q simply couldn't be doing a better job. Certainly not all editorial decisions have been universally popular, but I can't understand the people who love to rake him over the coals. When all is said and done, I believe the comic book industry historians will look back very favorably on Joe Q, because he's been good for the industry, Marvel specifically.

People can whine and cry about pimps and corporate wh0res and such, but the name of the game is creating and nurturing interest in the characters. If interest is high, that shows people LIKE what they see, they LIKE the characters, they LIKE the comics, they LIKE the movies, they LIKE buying the products.

And yes, people like Marvel right now.

I agree with you, Neil, but I'm still no fan of Joe Q. Granted, he's helped usher in a new Marvel Age, for sure, with the movies, and the comics, and the properties assorted. But at the same time, he's done quite a bit of damage to long-term fans. He's willing to outright lie to the fans about what will and won't happen to their beloved characters, when just keeping his yapper shut is a viable option. He's willing to allow "star" creators to be shamefully late on books with no consequence. He's willing to do anything with any Marvel properties in order to increase sales. The shareholders are doubtlessly thrilled. The lifelong fans, even though (like me!) they might be enjoying some of the storylines right now--not so much.

I have no doubt that Quesada will be long thought of as having a successful tenure at Marvel; however, this era won't have the "classic" feel to it that Stan Lee was able to create. But...maybe that's asking too much. I don't know. (But in this, even Jim Shooter did a better job, I think...and I'm no Shooter fan.)

As I said, I'm enjoying the current books, despite the problems it seems to be having (a glut of unnecessary tie-ins, bad conclusions to promising storylines, "event" books that impede the natural storytelling of individual titles, etc.)...but I can't help but take exception to the way the guy treats Marvel's fans.

[RichBamf]

I still maintain that Marvel are doing some huge things wrong at the moment.

Spider-Man, X-Men, Fantistic Four and the Avengers are as far removed from what made them successful books throughout Marvel's history as they ever have been.

Marvel's best books are the books with no continuity to mess up. Anything with complicated backstory (X-MEN and Avengers prime example) has, at least in my eyes, been buried under constant rewriting and retconning.



But I think DC are doing as much wrong.

The Big Three Character's books are suffering under poor keeping to deadlines and poor characterisation. the other books are buried under the big three. Poor promotion for Flash's return and the Green Lantern masterpiece that is Sinestro corps haven't gotten them the huge readerships they deserve.

How many Crisis related stories do we need? How many Barry to Wally to Bart to Wally type character switches do we need. Why can't you get over Superman 1 and make a decent Superman movie? Why all the Batman/Superman merchandise?




I personnally think that Joe Quesada Marvel's biggest flaw is they forget the past too easily, and Dan Didio's DC has trouble letting go of the past.

[cma3]

Originally Posted by wktf

Money and profits come, though, when customers are happy and are buying your products. You cannot separate the two.

As some in this thread have said, Quesada's editorial direction (but also Bill Jemas' publishing business sense before he got canned) created success for Marvel's publishing arm.

To the stock price, it was the first Spider-Man movie that drove their stock from single to double digits, a high of about $35 a share. No doubt the movies are helping the publishing arm, too, but fans won't stay if they don't like what they're reading.

I respectfully disagree with this statement.

Spider-Man 1 did nothing, in the grand scheme of things, for Marvel's share price. It did, on the other hand, affect Columbia Pictures/Sony, they made a killing.

The movie was released in 2002; Between 1999 - 2003 the share price never got past the $10 -$15 mark. Then there was a spike into the 20's which called for a correction, this resulted in a 3:2 split. Marvel's share price didnt hit the 30's until sometime this year.

All in all from a shareholders pov...I'll keep Joe Q around.

[cma3]

Originally Posted by Teague

I agree with you, Neil, but I'm still no fan of Joe Q. Granted, he's helped usher in a new Marvel Age, for sure, with the movies, and the comics, and the properties assorted. But at the same time, he's done quite a bit of damage to long-term fans. He's willing to outright lie to the fans about what will and won't happen to their beloved characters, when just keeping his yapper shut is a viable option. He's willing to allow "star" creators to be shamefully late on books with no consequence. He's willing to do anything with any Marvel properties in order to increase sales. The shareholders are doubtlessly thrilled. The lifelong fans, even though (like me!) they might be enjoying some of the storylines right now--not so much.

I have no doubt that Quesada will be long thought of as having a successful tenure at Marvel; however, this era won't have the "classic" feel to it that Stan Lee was able to create. But...maybe that's asking too much. I don't know. (But in this, even Jim Shooter did a better job, I think...and I'm no Shooter fan.)

As I said, I'm enjoying the current books, despite the problems it seems to be having (a glut of unnecessary tie-ins, bad conclusions to promising storylines, "event" books that impede the natural storytelling of individual titles, etc.)...but I can't help but take exception to the way the guy treats Marvel's fans.

Agreed, but thats is why they are untouchable, even today, and will never be outdone; hence "Classic". And you are right it will always be a double edged sword with Quesada: Fans on one edge; Stockholders on the other.

[rychehitman]

Wait until the money starts flowing in from the SPIDERMAN MUSICAL!

[cougartrace]

how does he do it..lol