>Here’s a non-exhaustive list from Marvel of late – and on the way.
>Avengers #2 match to #1 >Champions #3 match to #2 >Nova #1 100% overship >Slapstick #1 100% overship >Guardians of the Galaxy #15 100% overship >Gwenpool Holiday Special Merry Mix Up 100% overship main cover >Hawkeye #1 100% overship >Jessica Jones #3 match to #2 >Mosaic #3 match to #2 which was already matched to #1 >Invincible Iron Man #2 match to #1 >Occupy Avengers #2 match to #1 >Gamora #1 100% overship >Mighty Captain Marvel #0 100% overship >Star-Lord #1 100% overship
>>Jessica Jones #3 match to #2 >>Invincible Iron Man #2 match to #1 BENIS ON SUICIDE WATCH
Robert Ramirez
Is it sad that the list is still missing titles like Great Lakes Avengers which were confirmed to be shipped to retailers for free?
Hunter Robinson
...
Nolan Johnson
I'm a little confused on the wording, does 100% overship mean they're doubling orders for free?
Nathan Garcia
Yes.
Ian Morales
>BC is now archive-tier
Andrew Sanchez
So how hard is Marvel panicking internally right now? Pity though that a couple of decent/good titles are DOA, too, but I can't say that I have a lot of sympathy for Marvel as a company here.
Daniel Perry
>now
Brody Turner
JUST
Carson Reed
Marvel wouldn't be dong as bad if they just fired Bendis and stopped letting slott write.
Eli Fisher
Just give Pym to Slott.
Xavier Wilson
I'm sure they're already planning their next relaunch.
Andrew Butler
I for one am glad to see bad comics not selling, but what do all these overshipped comic books actually mean for an LCS? What are they going to do with those and is it actually hurting their business or not?
Daniel Mitchell
what an asshole company. they're wasting their money and the comic stores with this bullshit, all to keep up appearances.
Noah Scott
They have to pay for shipping, store extra product, and find a way to get rid of it
See
Austin Allen
No wonder that Marvel Studios decide to ditch them and go to Disney after one too many unnecessary demands from Perlmutter and his toadies.
Dylan Wilson
The sad thing is that these are not the worst comics coming out from Marvel. Mid-tier.
Cooper Murphy
>What do all these overshipped comic books actually mean for an LCS? What are they going to do with those and is it actually hurting their business or not? Marvel ships them to LCSes with the stores having to pay for shipping costs. So if they don't sell any of these unwanted copies, they're still losing money. Additionally, they take up space in their stores if they're not sold.
Alexander Turner
It means they have extra stock they don't need. At worst, they had to pay a few bucks extra to compensate for the shipping difference and end up wasting space in their back-catalogue longboxes. At best, they do manage to sell them and end up getting money for issues they didn't have to pay for.
Bentley Walker
This is how those bargain bin boxes you always see at comic stores get filled up.
Hudson Price
>Use our restroom without a purchase, get Mosaic #2 and GLA #2 for free!
Evan Wright
Marvel JUST
Chase Lewis
...
Wyatt Clark
>I'll give you my sandwich, just take copy of Mosaic >please
Caleb Gomez
This sort of stuff never gets old.
Dylan Parker
This made my day
Brody Harris
I love this guy.
Elijah Clark
>At worst, they had to pay a few bucks extra to compensate for the shipping difference Do you know how heavy comics are? If they're not getting them in by freight, then they're basically paying an absurd amount in extra costs.
Asher Jackson
the biggest issue for LCS is space management 90 percent of the time
Very rarely is a comic shop JUST a comic shop, they do dnd, warhammer 40K, board games, local art, tpb, figures and statuettes, tcg etc.
Getting stock that you cant sell but STILL takes up space looses you money in the long run because you could use that space to move something that WILL sell
Luke Moore
with how sjw marvel is I imagine they'll just sell em off in the cheapy bin or just throw them out.
Jacob Murphy
him ordering zero is why Marvel is shipping free issues.
Caleb Davis
then you have sunk money in shipping cost, which is a lot more than you'd expect since comics are pounds and pounds of merch to ship cross country
so Marvel is basically fucking over LCS to make their numbers better, while LCS are throwing away money for shit they didn't even order/want
William Gutierrez
Based Marvel is supporting FLCBS unlike DShit
Angel Carter
Just pointing out that a lot of these aren't actually doing shit numbers in the first place; Marvel's just overshipping them to convince the Mouse that they haven't lost market leader status.
Gavin Flores
I eagerly await Marvel Nowest
Grayson Lopez
He ordered 0 and marvel sent 45 copies? Jesus
Xavier Adams
I know. All this is gonna do is make LCS stop taking any chances on marvel sidestories and order less, if not none of the alt titles. Which means all the SJW stuff they've been shilling is gonna sit in thier inventory, while only the classic characters like white spidey and cap will sell.
Unfortunatley this means the break out and good stuff will never see light of day, but on the bright side that cuck Bendis will be taken down a peg.
Liam Moore
I hope Marvel finds a bigger book for Randolph once Mosaic bites it.
Oliver Diaz
I hope Randolph goes back to DC when Mosaic ends
Angel Martinez
Pretty sure you can refuse delivery if you don't accept the item as something you ordered. Especially if they wanna charge you for the S&H. Prevents disingenuous shit like this. They do that enough and all lcs will be viable for a class action against marvel.
James Taylor
Wouldn't they have to refuse an entire shipment for that?
Hudson Baker
>refuse delivery I think they have to accept the package as part of their distribution deal with Diamond.
Ethan Gray
>match to What?
Christopher Cruz
the books aren't delivered separately though.
the choices are: accept delivery of all his diamond books that week or reject all deliveries for that week, meaning no real business that week.
Jacob Nelson
Every company's comics are all mixed together in the Diamond boxes. The box with 45 unwanted copies of Mosaic may well have the hyped new Image series.
Luis Ramirez
"Match to" means that they sent them the same amount of copies that they ordered of the previous issue. For example, if a store ordered 100 copies of #1 they sent them the same amount of copies for #2 even if they ordered less. "100% overship" means they basically doubled the store's order.
Nolan Evans
>him ordering zero is why Marvel is shipping free issues. Marvel: Why buy shit when they'll send it to you for free to keep up appearances?
Alexander Campbell
One shitty shop near me would sometimes take every box EXCEPT the one with the barcode. They won't be able to afford the comics on Tuesday, but will after Wednesday's sales. Then the UPS guy brings back the only box that matters, the one they get charged the whole order for.
They have customers, but the owners are morons who lose money on the dumbest shit.
Ayden Lewis
Cam you explain the chart at the bottom of the link. I can't really tell what's going on. Because to me it looks like DC is somewhat doing the same.
Jack Campbell
Every month is a new #1. No #2 issues, no #3s, all #1, all the time!
Brayden Gonzalez
>>Gwenpool Holiday Special Merry Mix Up 100% overship main cover
Ding, dong, the witch is dead!
Carson Brown
So what you're saying is, diamond has a monopoly over the comics distibution industry, and because of that Marvel can do shit like this? Pretty sure a class action could be made of this, even if they did sign a contract.
Carter Sanders
When will they learn that singles are a massive waste of time and money? Release them as singles in a digital format so that fans can follow on a regular basis, but in a convenient format, then do physical trades for the mass market and make sure to advertise them during commercial breaks on their cartoons/on the Disney channels. Plus, the money they save and all the extra printing machines they free up means that as soon as a comic hits #5, they've got the trade ready to be sent out to retailers.
Oliver Johnson
>And that also helps us spy anomalies. Marvel SVP – Publishing Tom Brevoort said that Diamond rankings doesn’t take into account free copies of comics that Marvel sends out to retailers. Well, Diamond has told me that they do, but only on the unit share side, not the dollar side – as they are free.
Liam Ward
>diamond has a monopoly That's been the case for a long time now. The courts don't give a shit about comics and lump it with other printed works like books, so legally Diamond is doing no wrong.
Thomas Mitchell
Yeah. Which is funny. See, back in the day, Marvel wanted to have their own distributors. That was nineties, unless I'm wrong. Marvel wanted to cockblock Diamond, Diamond got deals with absolutely everyone, from DC to, I don't know, fucking Archie. Year later Marvel's distributor was sold to Diamond for some mad cash. And best thing? Being only company to distribute comics isn't monopoly.
Easton Mitchell
Today's Marvel would still have done that even if Diamond wasn't a monopoly.
Dominic Jenkins
>Can you explain the chart at the bottom of the link. That's just the monthly sales chart with the Quantity Rank (number of issues sold) and the Dollar Rank (amount of money it made). DC's not doing the same thing as Marvel. Their Dollar Rank will generally be lower than their Quantity Rank because most of their titles are $2.99 right now compared to Marvel's $3.99 and $4.99.
James Myers
They actually tried suing Diamond over a decade and change ago. The courts decided that since comic books aren't "real" books and thus Diamond didn't have a monopoly over real book sales there was no case.
Isaac Russell
>When will they learn that singles are a massive waste of time and money? When everyone who works there dies of old age and people able to accept the changing times and realisties of the industry get their jobs.
Alexander Lopez
Wouldn't that outright kill LCSs too? It's like buying everything from amazon instead your local shop center.
Joshua Smith
There's the Qty Rank (which is number of copies ordered or gotten for free) and then there's the Dollar Rank (which is cost paid to Diamond, I think)
So on the Dollar Rank, Civil War II, All Star Batman, ASM Renew Your Vows, Batman Annual, Avengers, Star Wars, Batman/TMNT Adventures all "beat" Batman #10 in that category because their cover prices are $3.99-$4.99 while Batman's is $2.99. But remember that this is from retailers ordering and not sell-through. From the sound of the Bestseller list on BC and retailers on Twitter, I don't think Avengers is outselling Batman.
Jaxson Myers
Completely. Unless comics are just side money to Warhammer, MTG and whatnot.
Justin Garcia
LCS don't make most of their money from singles anyway.
Jacob Perry
So, damned if they do, damned if they don't.
Joshua Foster
You should read these. milehighcomics.com/tales/ Pretty good info about the comics industry, specially distribution.
Owen Edwards
>Wouldn't adopting computers put the typewriter salesman out of business? Can't make an omelette without crushing a few eggs.
Robert Thomas
You can say that about literally any product. If LCSs were appealing to new readers, or more convenient than buying digital copies, we wouldn't be in the current situation.
Justin Martin
Bullshit.
My LCS exists because of regular Wednesday customers buying single issues. Yes, they sell Magic and toys and stuff, but 75%+ of income is from Wednesday comic sales.
Retailers pay 50% of cover price (typically), so some guy buying $50 of comics is $25 profit. It adds up fast. Trades barely sell at all at the LCS level, except for evergreen stuff like Walking Dead.
Ryder Lewis
Well, if your gaming groups bring you so much cash that you can ignore comics, sure, go for it. But we both know it's not like that everywhere.
Cooper Nguyen
This is why you're not making business decisions.
Owen Johnson
You must live in a place with a very dead magic community. On an average Friday night, the LCS I go to makes about 2 grand.
Nolan Garcia
No, this is why LCS are dying and becoming obsolete. Survival of the fittest
Joshua Hughes
its Marvel saying "you aren't giving our books a chance sight-unseen (the normal process), so we're forcing your hand"
and it gives the stores an essentially no pressure way to sell books.
the only thing they're "paying" for with these deliveries is shipping, but its the same shipping they pay for their weekly books anyway, so thats a no sum loss.
if the stores can just give these books away (especially the #1s) people who maybe wouldn't have picked it up normally will read it and hopefully come back for the subsequent issues.
Easton Gutierrez
What do you play?
Aaron Jackson
My LCS underwent refurbishment a few months ago, was supposed to reopen last month. I went over there to see if they'd opened yet and they were gone. Have been going there since 1998.
Jack Morris
I love reading shop owner bantz. Top tier stuff.
Leo Roberts
I wouldn't be surprised if the stores get a shipping rebate for it. They almost always do for free copies of anything. It sometimes takes a few weeks after whatever shipped though.
I think my LCS said it works out to about 5 cents a book, so it's not like they're losing fistfuls of money from this.
The main problem is the LCS's don't need extra copies of the books. They know what to order and what can sell. It's a promotional tactic from Marvel. They know the LCS will likely give copies away, and they're hoping that taste will hook someone into continue buying them. My LCS has given me a free copy of all the overshipped books so far just for being a good customer.
Free comics (or 25 cent comics, like Red Sonja #0) don't work unfortunately. Remember that Cyber Force free comic? Nobody wanted that. My LCS had a pile of them with a sign. They still have some copies lying around.
Jaxon Jones
Jund in Modern and UW Flash in standard. I know Flash is complete bullshit, but all other decks in standard suck.
Alexander Cook
It's entirely dependent on the local gaming community. And without one, succeeding as a comic shop is a huge struggle.
>but its the same shipping they pay for their weekly books anyway, so thats a no sum loss. Well, no, more boxes add to the cost, but the difference is negligible. But if a customer is unwilling to pay for a first or second issue of a book, they most likely won't be willing to pay for the third issue either. Even if the first few were basically given to them.
Adrian Hill
>and it gives the stores an essentially no pressure way to sell books. They already know they can't sell the books. Comic sales generally don't go up from the #1 issue. For the vast, vast majority of books you generally don't get a "Oh, we ordered too little." Look at the tweets from various retailers talking about all this extra stock that they receive that they'll never be able to sell. This is purely to pad sales unit figures.
>the only thing they're "paying" for with these deliveries is shipping, but its the same shipping they pay for their weekly books anyway, so thats a no sum loss. They pay by weight. More weight = higher shipping cost that come directly out of their pocket.
Caleb Fisher
Nova is the only new title I'll be picking up.
It's a huge failure to me
Bentley Moore
JUST
Austin Price
Moment I saw you're playing Jund, I knew you're my nigga. As long as it's not some BU atrocity, I hate that color combo.
Samuel Brooks
Wait, wait. Hawkeye #1 is out yet?
Adam Davis
It comes out tomorrow.
Isaac Diaz
it's the biggest failure, i already dropped everything.
Ian Green
how does this work exactly ?
Jason Nelson
Jund is just so fucking good that all other decks seem pointless to me. Plus, the amount of hate you get from other people who can't afford makes it even better. Standard is just more aggro dominance than its ever been. Playing UB would be like asking to get raped with no lube.
Kevin Gutierrez
>Hawkeye #1 >Remember Hawkeye? No not that Hawkeye, our favorite Hawkeye >our favourite Hawkeye >Kate Gee, I wonder why no one made a big order of this.
Grayson Bell
Store ordered 25 copies of Avengers #1 Drop #2 to 15 copies because they didn't sell all 25. Marvel sends them 25 copies of #2 anyway, but they only pay for 15.
or Slapstick #1, store ordered 5 copies. Marvel sends 10. Store still pays for 5.
Ian Rogers
Marvel sends extra copies to comic shops in order to inflate their numbers.
Liam Davis
>They already know they can't sell the books.
but all those books that they're barely ordering are #1s.
the one user posted an image earlier with a retailer saying how he ordered ZERO copies of a number one issue.
thats literally just the retailer having no faith in Marvel. not knowing the book won't sell at all.
Aaron Bennett
It kind of sucks. Mosaic's not really bad or anything but it's going to go down as an example of everything Marvel did wrong in 2016.
Camden Flores
this looks illegal
Gavin Evans
Ah, makes sense. I didn't remember it being storytimed. I expect nothing from that book, and I'll be disappointed. >you ordered 50 Jessica Jones last month? You have to order 50 again. I mostly play EDH or make gimmicky lore decks. Vorthos is silly name. Yeah. I'm semi-interested but... eh. It's Marlel in 2016.
Hunter Russell
It probably is.
Austin Torres
its not. its a way to trick fucking idiots on this board who conflate the Diamond release charts with sales.
you know those monthly charts everyone creams their pants over? they aren't sales, they just track how books were ordered.
Levi Ross
It's not illegal, just scummy and annoying.
It's not the first time Marvel's horrible practices have had a negative impact on the industry as a whole.
Of course, that's pretty much what Ike wants. For the comics to be dead and gone so he can just focus on licensing.