This is the place to discuss the episodes of the Comic Book Page podcast, the Comic Book Page website or pretty much anything else of interest to the Comic Book Page community...
From the ComicsPro retailer summit, David Gabriel, Senior Vice President of Sales at Marvel Comics has announced that as a result of the Fantastic Four sales and media coverage, Marvel are going to kill a main character every quarter.
He also added "this is not a joke".
UPDATE: Gabriel did however specify that these storylines are NOT about killing characters. What's key is what comes AFTER the deaths. For example, after the Human Torch death, Spidey joined the team and the concept of FF?got an entirely new focus as Future Foundation.
Following that concept, he also claims that the new post-"Death of Spider-Man" storyline will result in the biggest media exposure Marvel's ever had. He didn't mention what it is, but he stated to the audience that this vague revelation is "confidential and not to be tweeted."
I guess a corollary will be to bring someone back to life every quarter as well so they stay "net neutral" on character headcount.
Even though they stress "these storylines are NOT about killing characters. What's key is what comes AFTER the deaths." It still seems to me that a company once known as "The House of Ideas" could come up with something a bit better to attract attention that a repeated string of character killings.
I suppose fans are encouraging this by buying up these "Death of..." storylines in record #s.
I (for one) have dropped Ultimate Spider-Man, I won't be contributing to sales for the "Death of Spider-Man"
When a character has been around for a long time, the easiest way to attract attention is say "We're killing him". Unfortunately, Marvel's history of just resurrecting the character a little later hurts the impact a little.
This is just another reason I don't read Marvel, except Spider-Man due to my collection.
From the ComicsPro retailer summit, David Gabriel, Senior Vice President of Sales at Marvel Comics has announced that as a result of the Fantastic Four sales and media coverage, Marvel are going to kill a main character every quarter.
He also added "this is not a joke".
UPDATE: Gabriel did however specify that these storylines are NOT about killing characters. What's key is what comes AFTER the deaths. For example, after the Human Torch death, Spidey joined the team and the concept of FF?got an entirely new focus as Future Foundation.
Following that concept, he also claims that the new post-"Death of Spider-Man" storyline will result in the biggest media exposure Marvel's ever had. He didn't mention what it is, but he stated to the audience that this vague revelation is "confidential and not to be tweeted."
I guess a corollary will be to bring someone back to life every quarter as well so they stay "net neutral" on character headcount.
Even though they stress "these storylines are NOT about killing characters. What's key is what comes AFTER the deaths." It still seems to me that a company once known as "The House of Ideas" could come up with something a bit better to attract attention that a repeated string of character killings.
I suppose fans are encouraging this by buying up these "Death of..." storylines in record #s.
I (for one) have dropped Ultimate Spider-Man, I won't be contributing to sales for the "Death of Spider-Man"
Y'know...it seems as if Marvel is actively soliciting fans to jump ship. Between their double-talk $2.99 NYCC announcement, their snarky and childish treatment of their competition, the overall self-agrandizing propaganda spouted by Brevroot, Bendis and C.B....
Then the gimmicks with the .1 initiative...and the 'death every quarter.' I am very disillusioned.
Word spread quick after Marvel Senior Vice President of Sales David Gabriel spoke to the assembled comic retailers that the publisher would be "killing a character every quarter this year" as New Orleans retailer BSI Comics put it, but CBR found after contacting Gabriel that the announcement was more tongue-in-cheek than straightforward sales platform.
"It's partially true and said as a humorous response to the question 'What can you do to bring more outside folks into comic shops?'" Gabriel explained with a laugh. The SVP added that after the recent chart-topping death of the Human Torch in "Fantastic Four" #587 and an expected increase in national publicity for the Ultimate line's "Death of Spider-Man" event, he made the comment. Though fans may not want to hold their breaths to see who would get knocked off come quarter three.
"The actual point made was that these stories should not be seen as merely death stories, but more important is the aftermath," Gabriel explained of Marvel's position on killing characters. He noted of the "killing a character a quarter" comment "It was hyperbole...we've already promoted the big 'deaths.' So that part was true."
From the ComicsPro retailer summit, David Gabriel, Senior Vice President of Sales at Marvel Comics has announced that as a result of the Fantastic Four sales and media coverage, Marvel are going to kill a main character every quarter.
He also added "this is not a joke".
This may not be a joke but that is what Marvel's management has become.
Just because Marvel had great sales and media coverage with killing a member of the FF and Captain America does not mean they will be able to capture lighting in a bottle again. The Cap death was shocking and it got a lot of attention and the ramification made for good comics even though his return was not the best. The FF "death" may have gotten a lot of media coverage but fan response to the actual "death" has not been what it was for Cap. I am sure sales for the "death" issue will be through the roof but I am not sure how fans are going respond to the new FF title.
Webhead wrote:
This may not be a joke but that is what Marvel's management has become.
But, as it turns out, it WAS a joke......or at least an attempt at one.
That's actually the biggest joke ... that saying something that sounds that dumb was actually taken seriously, and for good reason. That should tell them more than anything.
