THERE ARE TOO MANY MARVEL COMICS

YFW even shill sites are noticing Marvel's putting out too much.

>Is the comic book industry in trouble right now? It depends largely on whom you ask. New comic shops are springing up all over, but other shops seem to be shutting down almost as rapidly. And while there are more comics being published than ever, that's not necessarily a good thing. Forget Peak TV; we've reached the era of Peak Comics. And no publisher is doing more to flood the market than Marvel.

>You can see this disparity in Diamond Comics' sales figures for January 2017. As Comichron reports, January saw more comics shipped to stores than any month in the past 20 years. It even managed to top January 2015, the month where Marvel sold nearly a million copies of Star Wars #1. But while more comics were sold in January, publishers weren't necessarily making more money. Total dollar sales for comics in January were still down 7.5% compared to the previous month.

>Lately, Marvel has adopted a policy of "overshipping," where they send more copies of a given comic to stores than were actually ordered. That practice helps drive up the unit sales and help Marvel regain some of the market share they've lost to DC over the past year, but obviously those freebies don't count in terms of dollar sales. You can see the impact of this strategy by looking at the growing gulf between Marvel's dollar share and unit share figures. Normally those two figures tend to be pretty close for most publishers. But in January, Marvel controlled 42.62% of the market in terms of unit share and only 37.09% in terms of dollar share. They're shipping more comics than ever, but they aren't necessarily making more money off those comics. And it's hard to say whether those extra comics are even winding up in the hands of more readers. That's always been the biggest flaw with Diamond's sales figures - they only indicate what's been shipped to stores, not what's actually been sold to consumers.

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ign.com/articles/2017/03/17/between-the-panels-there-are-too-many-marvel-comics
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>Marvel's publishing strategy of late boils down to "more, more, more." They're continuously expanding the number of titles they publish, and they're employing every trick in the book to ensure they ship as many copies of those books as humanly possible. But while that helps inflate Marvel's market share, it's hard to see how this aggressive approach is actually benefiting readers.

>Too much entertainment sounds like a great problem to have. But the whole reason FX's John Landgraf coined the phrase "Peak TV" in the first place was to point out a very real danger TV networks now face. Viewers are slammed with so many options that it becomes almost impossible to choose what to watch. Good shows die on the vine because there's simply too much competition to attract a viable audience and too few advertising dollars to fight for. That sounds very much like the predicament the comics industry is in right now. Keeping up to date with Marvel and DC alone is a huge undertaking, to say nothing of the many excellent small publishers out there. Good, worthwhile books are constantly being drowned out by all the noise.

>Honestly, I can't for the life of me figure out why Marvel churns out as much content as it does. They published a total of 104 comics in February, which is more than twice that of any other publisher besides DC. And where DC makes an effort to cater to readers of varying tastes with imprints like Vertigo, Young Animal and the Hanna Barbera line, Marvel's focus is almost exclusively on traditional superhero comics. Is there really a demand for 100 different books featuring Marvel's heroes every month? Based on the sales numbers for some of the lower-selling titles, not really.

>At some point the quality of these books becomes irrelevant. There's simply too much content to wade through, and too much of it feels redundant or repetitive. I very much enjoy Ta-Nehisi Coates' Black Panther, but do the numbers on that book justify Marvel's decision to publish not one, but two different spinoffs in Black Panther: World of Wakanda and Black Panther: The Crew? Yes, Black Panther #1 sold over 250,000 copies back in April 2016, but Black Panther #11 barely cracked 35,000 last month. If the main series has experienced that steep a drop-off in less than a year, what chance do these ancillary books really have?

>In the same vein, was it truly wise of Marvel to debut three different Daredevil spinoffs - Kingpin, Bullseye and Elektra - all in the same month? How many Daredevil fans will be forced to make difficult choices because they can't afford to follow all three at once? Does Marvel need a different solo series for nearly every single member of the Guardians of the Galaxy, especially with the main series about to switch to a twice-monthly schedule in April? The same for the upcoming Defenders relaunch - is there truly enough of an audience to support solo books for Daredevil, Luke Cage, Jessica Jones and Iron Fist as well as a team book featuring all four characters?

>No recent announcement has frustrated me more than Spectacular Spider-Man. Sure, the idea of Chip Zdarsky and Adam Kubert jamming together on a Spidey book sounds enticing. But why did Marvel greenlight a new comic that attempts to deliver a more traditional, "down on his luck" take on Peter Parker when Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows already has that ground covered? Renew Your Vows is one of Marvel's best books, but I fear for its future in a market where it has two flagship Spider-Man comics to compete with.

>One of the reasons DC's Rebirth relaunch has been such a breath of fresh air is that DC made an effort to consolidate their output. The days of 52 ongoing superhero titles are gone. With the switch to a twice-monthly schedule on most of their core books, DC's strategy is now to focus fewer comics and deliver them more often. Sure, there are still a heck of a lot of Batman comics, but in general DC's output is streamlined to the point where it doesn't feel like their books are cannibalizing each other in a bloody battle for attention.

>It's pretty clear that Marvel is drawing at least some inspiration from DC as they chart a course through 2017. Several books are switching to a twice-monthly format, and the ResurrXion relaunch seems motivated by a similar sense of nostalgia and desire to recapture a lost era. I'd like to think ResurrXion can accomplish on a smaller scale what Rebirth did for DC. But already ResurrXion seems a little too big for its britches. X-Men Gold and X-Men Blue haven't even debuted yet, yet Marvel is throwing a new volume of Astonishing X-Men into the mix. Old Man Logan will be a member of three separate X-Men teams in addition to starring in his own solo comic. While Marvel is embracing the opportunity to sell more X-Men comics, they're not making the necessary sacrifices by pruning their overall output or reducing the cover price on their twice-monthly comics.

>The comics industry is certainly in better shape now than it was during the crash of the mid-'90s. But that crash was the direct result of marketing gimmicks running amok and publishers bombarding readers with too much material. Marvel would do well to take a deep breath and slow down before history winds up repeating itself. They aren't the only ones responsible for the Peak Comics problem, but they are the biggest culprit.

ign.com/articles/2017/03/17/between-the-panels-there-are-too-many-marvel-comics

Never thought I would live in a world where having tons of options would be a bad thing for a publisher/company

But , holy hell , Marvel Comics is really trying to make the case for it , and its fuckin sad

>They published a total of 104 comics in February, which is more than twice that of any other publisher besides DC. And where DC makes an effort to cater to readers of varying tastes with imprints like Vertigo, Young Animal and the Hanna Barbera line, Marvel's focus is almost exclusively on traditional superhero comics. Is there really a demand for 100 different books featuring Marvel's heroes every month?
Hilarious truth.

Well it's true, I only keep up with maybe 10 to 15 of their books, so what is the point of the others

they have like 10 Avengers titles, 10 X-Men titles, etc.

and it IS too much. For me that doesn't even have anything to do with cost since I read them all online, but on Wednesday when the new shit comes out there's always plenty of books that I don't even want to invest time in because I don't want to spend 3 hours reading comic books


They should trim the fat a bit and focus on the writers and artists that are really doing good work instead of throwing everything they've got out there and hoping it catches on

I've seen it said that having a lot of books is bad for the industry in general and it's why monthly attrition has been going much longer in recent years. Too much new stuff out there for stuff even at 20 issues to maintain an audience.

>Marvel is crashing the comics industry because they know only movies matter and DC doesn't stand a chance in that area
Clever clever Marvel

Too many comics is just one problem Marvel has. They need to replace their shitty editorial that's not reigning in their writers and enforcing really shitty status quos. I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one who's not willing to buy ASM until they get rid of Slott or overturn OMD, or X-men until they recover Cyclops from his character assassination or bring him back to life.

Honestly I'm still surprised I keep up with a lot of Marvel series, if only through pirating. It's probably a mixture between a stupid attachment to the characters, hope that they just might change gears next issue and the fact that I can't seem to look away from this train-wreck.

Marvel Comics and Marvel Studios are different companies with different people.

Having variety isn't bad

But marvel has too many comics and not enough variety
It's pretty much just Star Wars and their main universe

At least DC has Young Animal, Vertigo, Hanna Barbera and soon to be Wildstorm

Have you been reading Wildstorm? I've liked the first two issues of the main book.

>But marvel has too many comics and not enough variety

Pretty much this. Even if you're a big Marvelfag, your wallet's gonna spread really fucking thin if you try and follow all the capeshit they're spewing out.

This. Price is also a problem. It severely lessens the choices of which books to get. I'm not saying they need to make their main book 99 cents. But if feels like they have a $10 book every other week (especially with Deadpool). And it's hard to buy event tie-in when said books are 5-6$.

I don't really care about OMD but Slott is definitely keeping me away from one of my favorites.

>Hey, DC is having a lot of success with this double-shipping Rebirth thing.
>Basically just brings back Stark and Banner.
>Adds double-shipping on some titles.
>Keeps the same amount of titles.
>Keeps the same high price point.
Marvel's not learning the right lessons as usual.

>104 fucking cape comics per month
>not even one of them about the Fantastic Four
Why Marvel?

even if they wrote one, it wouldn't be any good

Me too, I am not buying a spidey comic until they bring Peter x Mary Jane back into canon.

And Fuck Renew your vows, I want it in 616.

>But marvel has too many comics and not enough variety

This right here. Absolutely this right here.

Are they bringing back Stark and Banner already? Civil War 2 ended, what, last month? what was the point to kill them?

If it wasn't so late in shipping and shit they could pretend it lasted more than it actually did.

but at least you have a choice instead of 5 comics about guardians of the unfunny galaxy

>Why Marvel?

Movie rights. Nothing but movie rights.

Aren't the real money, at least for the publishers, in trades now? Do you guys remember that thread about the sales numbers on trades from regular bookstores in the U.S? TPB's are selling better than EVER today, and DC is dominating there too.

The comics industry might be bigger today than even the early 90's or 80's or whatever golden era comics has had, as long as you factor in the reades. Today there's the regular book stores selling trades, there's digital and the good old comic book shops.

The thing is there AREN'T tons of options from Marvel, because the options are larely crap. Tons of current and upcoming X-Men books, for instance, and fans aren't really excited for any, at best I've seen people here saying they're gonna give a couple a shot.

Marvel makes less than half as much as DC via bookstores. Someone needs to be fired over this. They have a successful film universe, they should be able to translate that to normie dollars in their trades but they're fucking it up. DC only needed a year to get DC Super Hero Girls selling better than nearly all of Marvel's backlog.

>DC only needed a year to get DC Super Hero Girls selling better than nearly all of Marvel's backlog.
It's been a year already? And that does sound kinda tragic and hilarious.

OH HEY DISNEY LOOK AT OUR SUPER PRINCESSESS BOOK
LOOK AT IT
BASK AT ITS SALES

I don´t understand. Marvel are the bad guys? I always fought they were the good guys fighting the establishment and looking for what fans wanted.

There are not bad guys. Only bad choices. And when it comes to comics, Marvel fucked them up, through a loooong list of poor choices.

And really how many fans asked for Riri, Whore, or any other SJW invention as replacements, of beloved and long established characters.

I think the actual line started in 2015 but the books weren't out until 2016.

Marvel fans are obsessive fags who will buy anything of course, but it's frustrating to see Marvel treat them with such contempt. And they never pass an opportunity to shit on DC, which DC almost never does.

>Marvel fans are obsessive fags who will buy anything of course,
>this is what Marvel still believes

They are still selling, aren't they?

And take a look at Reddit, the place that REFUSES to dislike anything Marvel.

X-Men is a nice micro-cosm to observe Marvel's mistakes in, without having to look at the other 90 books.

>a team book that keeps everything fans want to see changed
>classic X-Men book written by bottom of the barrel writer
>classic book written by guy who says he doesn't care about classic fans
>look there was a new movie out! solo ongoing
>a GIRL can be [character] too! (except for in any of the team books)
>Finally an ongoing about the blandest character in the history of the franchise! Now it even fills the diversity quota!
>More girl power! This time with a character nobody likes and with a writer nobody asked for.
>hey, this guy might know how to write an X-Men comic. Let's assign him Greg Land.
>teenage book featuring the same stale characters as the last 5 attempts, with a literally who writer all covered up under a nostalgia pandering title
Oh and then there's a Cable ongoing. Hope you are a fan of him, because your other options are looking rather bleak.

Marvel literally can't give them away

Not true.

They've had threads dedicated to shitting on Bendis and Civil War II

>And take a look at Reddit

I think I'd rather drive a railroad spike through my dick.

>I always thought they were the good guys fighting the establishment and looking for what fans wanted.
Sup Forums doesn't want to admit this but that's Image.

That's going to back fire on them in 3 years when they run out of stories to rip off.

No, Marvel IS the establishment. They're out of touch with what makes good comics and they think only in manager-think, only about profits, only about marketing.

>Marvel

>fighting the establishment

Jesus Marvel fans are retarded. They've been the establishment for decades.

And still failing at it all.

Consistently dropping, man. Like it's said in the OP and , a LOT of comics are free* for the stores to dobson sales numbers.

Yeah, those couple I keep seeing people say they'll give it a shot? One of them is Cable.

And yes, what's worse, you probably only listed like, 70% of the problems.

To be fair, it got a huge push by WB.
There's new merchandise all the time, and the youtube webshow format worked great for advertising.

Well, yeah. It's the toys first, then the cartoon, THEN the comics.

But if it's still beating Marvel's backlog? Without any number inflation? Winning sweet advertisement space money? Without pissing off lots of the regular fanbaseIt's beautiful.

*There might be some pissing off due to SYNERGY, actually. Killer Frost just got turned into a kawaii waifu to join the Justice League in the regular comics, for instance.

Jezus Fucking Christ!
Wasn't there once a containment board for you pricks?
All the little anons aren't going to start burning their books because you can't stop wetting the bed about your butthurt.

Nah, they've been pushing Frost as good across all media since the new 52 started and it did start with comics.

Still doesn't excuse why Marvel can't do it. All their 'MCU synergy' books aren't big success and they aren't even trying to capitalise on the kid market outside of the usual merch kids have been buying since forever.

Wrong thread? There has never been a containment board to separate comics from the comics and cartoons board.

Oh, disregard it then.

that's the sad thing, is all the merchandising, the movies and the tv.