[ SECRET POST #2682 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #2682 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 01 pages, 024 secrets from Secret Submission Post #383.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

The funny thing is they do stuff like this to make the comics more 'accommodating' for potential movie fans crossing over when less than 10% of the people who go see the movies will set foot inside a comicbook store. They're aiming for an audience that doesn't exist.

[ozaline]

Where then are they to look for new readers?

[(Anonymous)]

The audience definitely exists. 10% of the movie audience is absolutely an audience worth going after. That's huge when you think about the proportionate sizes between the movie audience and the comic audience. That's plenty of crossover.

And just as a general rule, it's hard for me to see anything that tries to be accessible instead of continuing cater to the same hardline reactionary comics fan constituency that they've been going hard for over the last couple decades now. Gotta get those new fans.

[(Anonymous)]

And how much crossover have we gotten? Avengers was one of the most successful films ever made. Did that affect the direct market?

[(Anonymous)]

I don't know because I don't really give a shit about sales figures!

[(Anonymous)]

Then don't talk about sales.

[(Anonymous)]

It's hard to tell for sure, but it does look like print sales are relatively flat since Iron Man came out in 2008. Marvel actually looks to have taken a dip right around then, but sales have been rising since the beginning of 2012.
Source: http://www.comichron.com/vitalstatistics/alltime.html, 2nd graph.

I'm having a much harder time finding sales figures for digital comics, so I can't speak for that. Articles seem to indicate that that's where a lot of growth is currently happening, although how much is due to movies/tie-ins vs. general comics awareness and ease-of-purchase isn't clear.

[(Anonymous)]

digital sales would be a key thing to want info on in this case I think. I haven't bought a physical copy of a comic (other than a classic or two) since I got my kindle.

[(Anonymous)]

DA

Marvel actually looks to have taken a dip right around then, but sales have been rising since the beginning of 2012.

Well, anecdotally, I and most of my comics reading friends got into comics just after The Avengers, which was released April 2012, so Marvel's relatively recent rise in print sales certainly meshes with my experiences.

And chalk me up as yet another person who thinks it's ridiculous that digital sales figures aren't widely available; it really is impossible to have an informed discussion about comics sales without them.

[elialshadowpine]

Yeah, I'd be interested in seeing digital numbers, or subscription numbers for the Marvel Unlimited app, which is the route we've gone. (For those who don't know, it's an app that for a monthly fee lets you have access to all the Marvel comics they've uploaded, with the exception of brand-new comics. If you want the very latest, you have to pay extra for that, but if you're not in comics fandom and don't mind waiting a few months for trickle-down, you'll still get it.)

[nyxelestia]

As far as I knew, it's been a bit up and down but largely, yeah, there seems to have been an overall upstick in comic sales. It goes unnoticed because most of the sales have been in digital comics, whereas comic sales are usually only discussed in relation to pull lists and hard-copy sales.

[(Anonymous)]

Digital sales aren't released so there's no way of knowing what kind of impact the movies have had on comics. I know plenty of people who got into comics from the movies including myself. We buy digital and trades.

[(Anonymous)]

Ooh, trades, yeah. Forgot about that too. When you see the numbers for a book, it doesn't include the trade-waiters, which a lot of people do these days because let's face it--trades are cheaper, easier to organize and store, don't have ads (usually) and it's easier to read or lend out a whole story arc.

But it's just ridonk that digital sales aren't factored in. I don't get digital comics myself (don't have an e-reader, don't really want to use my computer), but I think it's just fantastic that they're so available. I remember how hard it was getting comics before I could drive myself to the comic shop, and how intimidating it was to go into some shops, and some towns that didn't even have a decent comic shop. Digital availability is fantastic and makes comics more accessible to new readers.

[(Anonymous)]

A lot of the audience probably won't set foot in a comic store. Because, well, we hear stories.

But hey, comixology is a thing now, virtual readers are a growing market with un-virtual dollars. Comics need new readers, and they have to come from somewhere. Less than 10% of the audience starts picking up a related book? Holy CRAP do you even REALIZE how many new readers that is? A movie, especially a giant summer blockbuster has an ENORMOUS audience compared to even a best-selling superhero book. If even a tenth, or hell, a fifth of those people who hadn't been reading comics before decide to go and give a comic a try because of a movie, that is a HUGE boost in sales.

[(Anonymous)]

It's been two years since Avengers. When are we going to see that huge boost?

[(Anonymous)]

why are you so angry about trying to get movie fans to read comics

[(Anonymous)]

Because it's a pointless endeavor.

[(Anonymous)]

as a cute single white female, I have been in comic book stores and say it's about 50/50 to those stories being true. It's better to have a friend with you. You get treated better.

But pseudo related story, I like MCU, I like comics. Guardians of the Galaxy is coming out and it looks FUNNY, but I know nothing about it. So I walk into my local B&N (because comic shops where I live are non-existent) and go "Oh, they've got the hard bound collections, awesome." I pick up the GotG, look at the back and go "Okay, so I need Avengers Age of Ultron to actually meet these guys." Look for it... they don't have it. I go, "Well, shit." And set the GotG book down on the shelf and walk away. I want to start from the beginning. I'm FUNNY like that.

I have money! I would buy comics. If I could FIND them. Which is why comixology would be a great thing, you know, if I wasn't so addicted to PAPER.

So added problem of.... if they want people to read these things, they have GOT to keep them in print and in stock.

Plus, it'd be great if they'd move OUT of the comics story lines in the movies and come up with new stories for these characters, because just, really, how many Spidey reboots and Superman reboots and Batman reboots do we NEED that have the same story over and over and.... you get the idea.

[thezmage]

Actually, Annihilation: Conquest is the first (ish) appearance of this group as a team.

[(Anonymous)]

SA

*nods* thank you for the info, I appreciate it!

Standing in a book store reading back covers without anything handy for reference, you aren't going to know that :P (Which is why this comm is so awesome.)

[(Anonymous)]

You don't read to need Age of Ultron. The best place for a new person to start is at the beginning of the Bendis series. The first volume is called GotG: Cosmic Avengers and the second volume is GotG: Angela (the third volume isn't out yet). It's a lot easier to start there than with the 2008 series which first introduced the team (which can be very confusing at times). The current series is more straightforward and you don't need to read everything else which was being released at the time.

[(Anonymous)]

I don't think they're in the AoA comic (which isn't very good and i think the only thing the movie will be using from the comic is the title and Ultron himself).

[(Anonymous)]

Eh, I don't know. I started reading Marvel comics because of Wolverine and the X-Men. The movies are as good a place to try to hook new readers as any.

[(Anonymous)]

Yeah, the X-men movies are what brought me back to the comic shop on the regular.

[(Anonymous)]

I didn't start reading comics until I got really into the Marvel movies and I just picked up $30 dollars worth at my local store where they know who I am when I come in and just give me the ones they know I'm going to want. It's not unreasonable.