Marvel and TPB's

Bamfette · Post by **Bamfette** » Tue Oct 21, 2003 9:52 pm

Link to X-Fan article

Marvel has just announced that trades for ALL it's Tsumani titles will be canceled due to poor sales in the direct Market.

Sorry, Marvel, but i think this is an exceedingly DUMB move.

I for one was waiting for the trades on most of those titles with the exception of Mystique (which i buy the singles of)! i would have bought them, just not as single issues, and i know many people were doing the same. I know i wont bother tracking down the beginning of them in single issues, i was interested in checking them out, but not THAT interested.

The books in the Tsumani line were marketed as a bookstore presence. The whole POINT of the line, if the original press releases were to believed, was to reach new readers, a whole new audience, by releasing TPB's to bookstores where new readers would be more likely to pick them up. so, what happened to that? because sales in the ever diminishing direct market werent stellar, they are cutting off the TARGET AUDIENCE?

this is ridiculous. people don't get started buying comics because of single issues, they get started on Trades. i got started on Sandman trades. if it werent for those trades being there, i would not have begun reading comics at all. My sister loves Y: The Last Man, but she will NOT go to a comic store to get it. she will NOT get the single issues. i repeat, she lovesit, she enjoys it a lot, but she will ONLY buy trades. she is the future of the comic industry. Marvel seems stuck in the past, basing the success of a comic on the preformance of the single issues in the direct market sales charts, when more and more people are abandoning that market in favour of buying trades at more accessable bookstores, or buying those trades online at places like amazon.com or chapters.ca. money is money. screw the direct market. it's the past and it's crumbling away, the future is trade paperbacks, and Marvel is ignoring the future of the industry, here.

I mean, i realize they have to make money, here. but geez, the direct market is a dying market. they need to reach a new audience. an audience that never has and never will set foot in a comic book store. they have to take a chance! be a leader in the future of the industry, not be mired in the past!

I am a fan of Fables. i LOVE Fables. i think it is fantastic. but... i only buy the trades. do i not count as a reader of the series just because i don't buy the single issues every month? (yes, i realize it is Vertigo, but i don't do the same with any marvel books :p) but the reason i do that is there are just too many series out there right now for me to follow all of them in singles, so a lot of them i will wait until they become trades then take a look at them and decide if i want to buy them then. many of my favourite series, i am considering just getting as trades to cut down on costs for me and the inconvenience of getting all the issues,a nd the clutter they create in my apartment. it's so much easier and neater to have them all lined up on my bookshelf.

I mean, look at the sales of Enless Nights. it made it onto the Best Seller list in bookstores. the market is THERE. hundreds of thousands of potential new readers, if they would just tap it!

Crawler · Post by **Crawler** » Tue Oct 21, 2003 10:05 pm

They wont get it until someone who does really makes a killing off of it. Who knows when that will be.

Them saying that NONE of them will have them is the stupid part, IMO. I think Runaways at the very least has sales enough to warrant a trade.

Bamfette · Post by **Bamfette** » Tue Oct 21, 2003 10:16 pm

till someone makes a killing off it? what the hell to they call Endless Nights? that book sold more copies as a hardback book than the top selling ongoing series sells right now!

granted, a lot of that success can be attributed to Neil Gaiman's name and the fact that it was Sandman. but Sandman woud not be the success it is today if not for 3 (i think. the ones i have are from the 3rd print run) print runs of trades. that series has sold more as trades than it ever did as single issues.

kurtlover · Post by **kurtlover** » Tue Oct 21, 2003 10:30 pm

That sucks, people in a symilar situation as mine buy mostly trades because we have to wait months for the comics, so we decide to buy the trades instead, meh.

Siona · Post by **Siona** » Tue Oct 21, 2003 10:32 pm

Oh, this really bites! I read the article from Wizard on the issues, and I loved the idea of just about every one, even the Emma Frost one!! I'm sad to see such promising titles go.

~Sioa

Ult_Sm86 · Post by **Ult_Sm86** » Tue Oct 21, 2003 10:38 pm

Does this effect Venom cuz I've been following up on this comic and I'm loving it and they just brought in Logan too! I was really starting to enjoy an Eddie-less Venom.

Bamfette · Post by **Bamfette** » Tue Oct 21, 2003 10:41 pm

ok, guys, pay attention to the article. they are canceling the TRADES the trade paperback collections. they are NOT canceling the series (tho some Tsunami titles will be seeing a cover price increase)

I was ranting because the single issues were never intended to be the target audience of these series, the trade paperback buyers were. and now they are just cutting them off.

Ult_Sm86 · Post by **Ult_Sm86** » Tue Oct 21, 2003 10:45 pm

..ooo.. venom (paperback) trade or what not...bye bye?
That sucks. What the hell...How is Nick supposed to get 'em now.

Dracadancer · Post by **Dracadancer** » Wed Oct 22, 2003 12:52 am

Well cram it, and here I thought Marvel was learning something from the rising popularity of manga. Guess I was wrong. With decisions like this they're going to go into Chapter 11 again soon enough. The TPBs are one of the things that got them out of bankruptcy in the first place and with their stupid “no second print” policy some things you have to wait for the TPB to get a full set now. Blah. I don’t know what they’re thinking. I thought some of the Tsumani titles were certinly selling well enough to warrent TPBs, like Mystique, New Mutants and Runaways. I might even have given Runaways another shot with the TPB. Bad call Marvel, bad call.

Bamfette · Post by **Bamfette** » Wed Oct 22, 2003 7:57 pm

ok well now i feel downright silly for posting yesterday. my faith in Marvel has been restored:

http://www.newsarama.com/forums/showthr ... eadid=6286

go Marvel! now THAT is the right idea. digest sized trades released to bookstores. wee!

tho comic shops will be PISSED :p

Dracadancer · Post by **Dracadancer** » Wed Oct 22, 2003 10:03 pm

Well that makes much more sense. It's about time Marvel jumped on the manga bandwagon anyway. Still no word on a New Mutants TPB though....

It's such a good series, I wish they would promote it more as a regular X-title. I'm not sure why it was ever on the Tsumani titles in the first place.

Bamfette · Post by **Bamfette** » Wed Oct 22, 2003 10:20 pm

oh, i am sure NM will be included in the new format trades. i don't think what was listed on that article was a COMPLETE list of what will be released, just a selection.

sevati · Post by **sevati** » Thu Oct 23, 2003 12:29 am

Ok, Sev is confused yet again. I was in the comic store today and noticed these beatiful, big compiled stories of X-Treme X-Men in FULL color. Most notably the 'Mekanix' and 'God Loves Man Kills' (with the original story at the back of the book) arcs. They were like $15 or $20, I didn't look that closely since I didn't have the money to spend. Are these the TPB's you're talking about, or is it a different sized compilation/different titles?

What size are digest sized trades? Do they shrink down the art or something?

Bamfette · Post by **Bamfette** » Thu Oct 23, 2003 1:01 am

no. they arent canceling Trades in general, just trades of the Tsunami titles.the Tsunami titles are Mystique, Runaways, Sentinel, New Mutants, Namor, Human Torch, Venom, uh... i think I'm missing some. ANYWAY! X-Treme is not Tsunami, so is unaffected.

digest sized means the same size as mangas or Archie digests.

sevati · Post by **sevati** » Thu Oct 23, 2003 1:08 am

But manga books are SMALL! Ew ew ew to resizing the art to fit on tiny pages. I wouldn't buy them.

Also, these are color books, not black and white like the Essential X-Men stuff is, right?

Bamfette · Post by **Bamfette** » Thu Oct 23, 2003 1:11 am

but resizing them makes them HALF the price. there was no mention in the article about wether it would be in colour or not. guess you'll just have to wait and see.

Northstars Love · Post by **Northstars Love** » Fri Oct 24, 2003 2:12 am

Oh no...

please not the way of the Digest Archie Comics....:ick I have bought
Marvel TB's in the past for Ultimate X-Men and the New X-Men. Hell, they are a lot cheaper than the originals. The best way to go IMO. But it seems that those titles will not be affected. That's cool.

Elektra · Post by **Elektra** » Thu Oct 30, 2003 8:51 pm

This makes more sense now.

See, I buy Manga, and they have pretty much stopped selling the single issues of Manga and only release them as books.

I was thinking of checking out the Mystique series, but since I can't get ahold of the earlier issues any more, I was waiting for the TPB. At least Marvel IS releasing it in some form.

(unrelated to the main topic, but did a new X-Treme X-Men trade come out this week? If so, what is it called?).

Dracadancer · Post by **Dracadancer** » Mon Nov 10, 2003 11:43 am

Well the word on the street (or over atComix-fan anyway. Glad to see they're good for something over there

) is that the Marvel's Tsunami title's TPBs will be coming out starting in March of 2004. Interesting to see that several of the Tsunami titles will have hardcover collections, though release dates for them have not yet been given over at Amazon.com. Human Torch, Namor, New Mutants, Sentinel, Venom are listed as 12-issue collections, while Inhumans and Runaways will be 6-issue collections.

The release schedule for the Tsunami titles, according to Amazon.com, is as follows (but as we know this could always be subject to change where Marvel is invloved):

MARCH
Manga: Mystique Vol 1: Dead Drop Gorgeous TPB - $7.99
Manga: Sentinel Vol 1: Salvage TPB - $7.99

APRIL
Manga: New Mutants Vol 1: Back to School TPB - $7.99
Manga: Venom Vol 1: Shiver TPB - $7.99

JUNE:
Manga: Mystique Vol 2: Tinker, Tailor, Mutant Spy TPB - $8.00
Manga: Runaways Vol 2: Teenage Wasteland TPB - $7.99
Manga: Sentinel Vol 2: No Hero TPB - $8.00

JULY:
Manga: New Mutants Vol 2 TPB - $7.99
Manga: Venom Vol 2: Run TPB - $8.00

Amazon has yet to update its listings for now-cancelled trades, including Runaways Vol. 1, Human Torch Vol. 1, and Inhumans Vol. 1. Namor Vol 1: Sea and Sand trade paperback, scheduled for an April 2004 release, is not listed at Amazon as an $8 Manga digest, but is instead listed as a $12.99 Marvel Heroes book.

Bamfette · Post by **Bamfette** » Mon Nov 24, 2003 9:21 pm

Manga: Marvel Tales Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man by Stan Lee and Udon.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/de ... e&n=507846

... this one is new to me. anyone else hear anything about this one? the price and everything seem to earmark it as a 'Marvel Manga' style book, but there has been no series by that name... is Udon re-illustrating Stan Lees original Spider-man or is Stan writing new stories, or what?