Marvel boss says diversity's killing sales

[Brian Peacock]

I'm talking about comics, not the movies.

So?

[pErvinalia]

You said movies, guvnor.

[Brian Peacock]

I guess I did. The hero archetype is pretty universal though regardless of the medium.

[pErvinalia]

As i said, though, it's not the content, but the medium which I find simplistic and not to my tastes.

[Brian Peacock]

Get with it granddad and don't be such a snob. I bet you're one of these people who thinks Willian Shakespeare is better than Eric Carle and who delights in letting others know just how bad their taste is if they don't agree.

[pErvinalia]

That second sententce is too long to process in my current high state..

[Animavore]

Between the Panels: Diversity Isn't the Real Problem for Marvel Comics

From a PR standpoint, Marvel didn't have a particularly good weekend. The company held a retailer summit last Friday to discuss their shifting publishing strategy and address concerns about slumping sales. These retailer summits are always interesting because, ostensibly, they are private events where Marvel's reps seem more willing to speak frankly about industry matters. However, ICv2 was there to cover the meetings for the public, which is how we came to hear about the controversial remarks made by Marvel's Senior Vice President David Gabriel.

Essentially Gabriel said that, according to retailers he talked to and sales data, Marvel's push towards diversity was the reason for the sales drop.


...

Gabriel isn't wrong that Marvel's diversity push failed to result in higher sales. However, it's misguided to suggest that Marvel's sales slumped last fall specifically because of that push. This is a very clear example of that old truism, "Correlation does not imply causation." Marvel's current books aren't struggling because of the emphasis on diversity. They're struggling because of Marvel's questionable, often short-sighted publishing strategies. Diversity is simply a convenient scapegoat masking a much larger problem.

One need only look at the sales charts to see that the diversity question is largely irrelevant in this context. Ignoring their Star Wars comics, Marvel's two best-selling ongoing series in February were The Amazing Spider-Man and The Mighty Thor. One features a female lead character, while the other features a familiar hero in a very nontraditional status quo. There are various diversity-focused Marvel books that still seem to do just fine relative to their traditional cousins. Ms. Marvel remains a reliable seller (particularly among digital readers and trade-waiters), while the Miles Morales-focused Spider-Man actually tends to sell better now than when Miles was a resident of the Ultimate Universe. The new Riri Williams-focused Invincible Iron Man also seems to in better shape than that previous, Tony Stark-centric volume was a year ago. None of this suggests that readers are inherently bothered by the increased focus on diversity or the influx of newer, younger characters.




The difference between consistent sellers like The Mighty Thor and Ms. Marvel and under-performers like Red Wolf or Mosaic is that the former earned their fanbase. Jason Aaron spent two years paving the way for Jane Foster to take over for the Odinson before that switch happened. Ms. Marvel filled a crucial void in the Marvel U. and built on the Captain Marvel legacy in a clever way. But lately, Marvel seems content to throw new, diversity-focused books on the market without giving readers adequate reason to care. What incentive did anyone have to give an unproven character like Mosaic a shot, particularly when his series launched with a $5 first issue?

Similarly, Marvel did little to build up Red Wolf as a compelling character worthy of his own solo comic. If anything, the character's prospects were harmed by the controversy over his depiction in the early All-New, All-Different Marvel teasers. Had Marvel worked to build up the character before dropping him into the middle of a massive relaunch like a tiny fish in a vast ocean, perhaps readers would have been more willing to give his solo series a chance. It seems the problem is less about a backlash to new, diverse characters and more about Marvel's inability to make those characters feel as unique and relevant as Jane Foster or Kamala Khan.


Many fans weren't happy with Red Wolf's appearance in this teaser. Art by David Marquez. (Marvel Comics)

This teaser did little to build interest in a red Wolf solo comic. Art by David Marquez. (Marvel Comics)

Based on Gabriel's comments, it seems pretty likely that Marvel is gearing up for another major relaunch, one that will strive to take a more "back to basics" approach and shift the spotlight back to traditional heroes. In the short term, the next relaunch will probably help alleviate Marvel's sales woes. No doubt we'll see a few newsworthy character returns and a general attempt to cater to nostalgia like we're already seeing in the ResurrXion relaunch. But just as diversity isn't the reason for Marvel's struggles, focusing on more traditional, familiar heroes isn't going to suddenly boost the company's sales back to pre-Secret Wars levels.










Marvel also needs to be very careful about the message it sends to readers right now. Regardless of whether the recent diversity push helped Marvel's bottom line, creating a more diverse and inclusive Marvel U. is a noble, necessary goal. Perhaps Gabriel didn't intend to send the message that Marvel no longer cares about promoting diversity or reaching out to readers who don't fall into the stereotypical adult, white, heterosexual male mold. But regardless, that's what the takeaway from his talk has been. And with all the other problems Marvel faces, the last thing it needs is to be seen as a publisher stuck in the past.

http://ie.ign.com/articles/2017/04/05/b ... vel-comics

[JimC]

There is the similar issue of some people blaming the dying of small street corner pubs in Germany on smoking bans. But if you consider how many people nowadays spend their evenings in Gyms (the number is constantly rising. You can hardly throw a stone without hitting a gym nowadays), something else has to suffer.

In Australia pubs have closed chiefly due to the advent of random breath testing. People buy their grog in bottle shops instead and drink it at home, or they go to parties after organising a "designated driver" or a taxi to return to their abode. That's been the trend for quite some years anyway. The pubs' chief means for survival are the poker machines now, but internet gambling sites have begun to demolish that one too.

In Melbourne, some have transmogrified themselves into "gastro-pubs", where the emphasis is on good wine and food rather than ingesting vast quantities of beer...