MARVEL Adjusts LEGACY Lenticular Variant Ordering Program

Only gonna post the highlights.

>"Literally, you are being asked to purchase comics you can’t sell, in order to gain access to comics that you can," said San Francisco's Comix Experience retailer Brian Hibbs in of the program in his column at The Beat. "While a small handful of people are willing or able to buy multiple copies of the same insides, the largest majority of customers just want a single version to buy."

>Dennis Barger, owner of Detroit's Quickstop Comics and Wonderworld Comics, is one of those that like the "Meet or Exceed" sales strategy, and sees a silver lining in it.

>"These variants are great: they're the carrot, 100-200% of the regular is the stick," Barger told Newsarama. "Sure it's a stick retailers don't want, but with Marvel throwing deep discounts, making variants count towards the increases etc, I think Marvel is doing everything right with this rebooting re-mergering that they need to to make it a success, including, making retailers order enough."

sauce: newsarama.com/35809-marvel-legacy-lenticular-cover-variants-retailers.html

Other urls found in this thread:

comicsbeat.com/tilting-at-windmills-261-marvel-comics-and-the-deck-chairs-of-the-titanic/
twitter.com/SFWRedditVideos

There is a very lengthy article/opinion piece over at comicsbeat about how ordering Legacy has been a clusterfuck:

comicsbeat.com/tilting-at-windmills-261-marvel-comics-and-the-deck-chairs-of-the-titanic/

>What does meeting that gate get you? Well, again, this is only for now, because Marvel has this nasty nasty habit of changing and adding permutations as we get closer to “Final Order Cutoff” (which sucks because that means as a retailer you have to do your math and calculations multiple times unless you don’t place “initial orders” [which can carry its own consequences, see below]) – but currently if you meet that gate, then you’ll be allowed to order 1) “INVINCIBLE IRON MAN #593 DAVIS LH VAR LEG” (which despite lack of that word in the actual product name is the “Lenticular Homage” Variant) 2) “INVINCIBLE IRON MAN #593 ZDARSKY HOW TO DRAW VAR LEG”, and if you “only” match 200% of your orders, then you get blessed to be able to order 3) “INVINCIBLE IRON MAN #593 TRADING CARD VAR LEG”. This doesn’t include the 1:10 and 1:50 covers. Three of these five covers don’t even yet have art for which a retailer can base a decision upon, either!

>But, in short if you don’t order 225% of a previous issue of “Iron Man”, then you are not allowed to order any copies of those two variants. None at all.

>Now the Lenticular covers are fairly new – in fact, originally the announced plan was to simply have a “Homage” variant for each “Legacy” book. The one for IM #593 is a call-back to IM volume 1 #150. These covers were originally announced as not being lenticular at all, and, oddly, the lenticular is a replacement and not an addition – there’s no longer a non-lenticular edition of any of them.

c r a s h .

I don't know what I expected from a history of shady practices, but I'm still disappointed

>At least one prominent retailer has already openly embraced such a plan, gleefully saying that he intends to sell these for double cover price to all of the customers the less ethically-challenged amongst will be turning away

Christ, this is what makes the industry cancer. And double is even already lowballing it, I've seen fucking covers going for ten times cover price

Bro, I see some batman issues going for 20.

I laugh at the faggots who pay that much. Kinda scummy on the resellers part. Even mroe scummy when it's the shop itself.

>>"Literally, you are being asked to purchase comics you can’t sell, in order to gain access to comics that you can," said San Francisco's Comix Experience retailer Brian Hibbs

Brian Hibbs there, apparently oblivious to the way comic books have been sold since the late 1980s.

eBay regularly sells this shit.

Hell, I've seen signed #1s go for $500.

Sometimes casuals come in handy I guess lol.

This shit only works with characters the speculators actually give a fuck and can re-sell like Batman and Deadpool. I doubt anyone will pay more than 6 bucks for a cover with America Chavez and Exterminatrix.

Which shows you how dumb speculators are.

There isn't a batbook or poopbook that would ever be worth more than cover price in years. Maybe the proposal issue, and even then it's likely going to be forgotten.

No he's illustrating a point for people that don't know how it works you retard.

The Batman issue that I'd say is worth anything in last decade has to be the issue Damian debited in, Morrison's Batman and Robin #1 and maybe Snyder's Batman #1. That's it.

That isn't Damian's first appearance but I agree it'd have gained some marginal value. Snyder's #1 will only hold what marginal value it has now for a few more years until he'd forgotten.

>until he'd forgotten
Nigga, his stuff is modern classic, I doubt it'll be forgotten. Look at the bookstore/trade sales.

I was going to get into a big debate but you know what, Scott Snyder fans are worse than Zack Snyder fans.

I disagree and in five years we'll see how well known scott snyder is. Especially on the resale market.

>there’s no longer a non-lenticular edition of any of them
What the actual fuck. I even planned on getting some of the homage variants but I don't want some gimmick cover like it's the fucking 90s. I didn't when DC did it and I won't when Marvel does it.

>Those comments trashing on Jaime Reyes
>Saying the Giffen run is miles better than the Rogers' run because Ted is in it
I hate this.

>I disagree and in five years we'll see how well known scott snyder is.
This. All the fame and prestige that comes from writing Batman and other critical and commercial favorites is just going to fade away and he'll be a nobody because I don't like him as a writer.

Name 5 other batman writers.

I recognize you'll likely google them but my point will have been made, if only to you. You likely can't. And then keep in mind that any normie that reads scott snyder likely can't even name the one before him, even if he's one of the most famous creators of the last 30 years.

I wish I had that free comic book day spongebob page. Seems fitting for this thread.

Engleheart, Grant (the good Grant), O'Neil, Barr, Monech. These are the ones I like a lot.
In terms of popularity (writers who got popular because they wrote Batman Batman) would be Rucka, Brubaker, Loeb, Dixon (not technically Batman), Paul Dini, Miller. I really shouldn't bunch up Miller and Dini with the other hacks but I'm only making a point.

>And then keep in mind that any normie that reads scott snyder likely can't even name the one before him, even if he's one of the most famous creators of the last 30 years.
I fully assume this was you're own recalling. I'm not going to assume you googled them. But the above is really the crux.

A bunch of casuals and normies are the reason scott sells well. And that's because it was post -bale-bats when the normies wanted be "nerdburgers xD".

Not one of the could name any of the names you listed besides maybe Loeb due to TLH. The market will be changing radically (if it doesn't just collapse completely.)

Old guys with massive collections are selling off or dying. And those comics that are now a couple hundred, because the old nostalgic men who have the money to pay for them, are going to be worth pennies when the nostalgia doesn't tickle collectors the same way.

Maybe snyder resales find some more play with that change as people begin to see his tec and bat work as their fond memories.

The collectors are all older though. Younger collectors don't have the money to pay a few hundred for a comic they didn't read the week or month it came out 20 years ago.

Just to be clear here, I'm making more a point about actual sales of the comics and not about the collector value. Misunderstanding on our part there.
>A bunch of casuals and normies are the reason scott sells well. And that's because it was post -bale-bats when the normies wanted be "nerdburgers xD".
That's not entirely true, a lot of people jumped back in with new 52 as well. There was an article about it which was demystifying the whole "so many new people jumped on the new 52 train."
>Not one of the could name any of the names you listed besides maybe Loeb due to TLH.
Well that and Hush and yeah, Batman runs don't actually sell, stories do. That's why Morrison's run which is one of the most memed run on the internet doesn't actually translate into great sales.
Also everybody knows Frank Miller and Paul Dini.
>The market will be changing radically (if it doesn't just collapse completely.)
That's just assumption. The most growth comics are seeing in any form is TPB/Bookstore market. That's where Snyder's Batman is huge
Also we're entering the era where value of the character will be judged by how popular they get outside of comics. That's why older Iron Man/Guardians stuff rocketed in collector value. So if a character from some run makes it to big screen in a major role, collector value of their first appearance will go up.

>The most growth comics are seeing in any form is TPB/Bookstore market

That doesn't really affect speculators and resellers.If anything it bolsters my point about that side of the business disappearing.

I'm not talking about directs or ongoings. I'm talking about resellers. Which is what speculators and collectors are. They don't really factor into TPB unless they're limited pressings.

So they're doing the same thing they always do with variants. Is it a slow news day?

>I'm not talking about directs or ongoings. I'm talking about resellers. Which is what speculators and collectors are. They don't really factor into TPB unless they're limited pressings.
It does say how a lot about a particular story/character. Also resell value of comics is dictated by how popular it ends up becoming and movie/television has a lot to do with that.

This " last minute surprise lenticular cover" tactic is actually a new thing.

>Snyder's #1 will only hold what marginal value
If anything it's the first issue of the first relaunch of the core Batman title. I'm sure fuckhead "collectors" will find a way to keep the price up

I remember for AvX the Scottie Young chibi-marvel characters variants were like $50+ right off the bat, whether there was a demand or not.