Presented for your education and enrichment: the story of Marvel Comics’ implosion in two pictures.
First, a Twitter exchange in which a weeb comedian rushes to the defense of Moon Knight scribe Max Bemis.
And now, a Marvel sales graph.
According to the chart, in February 2017 45% of Marvel’s titles were selling at or below the 20,000 copy cancellation threshold. That was almost a year ago, and Marvel’s situation has only gotten worse.
This is a game-changing drop; sales have fallen over a cliff. Overall, year on year, that’s almost 7% down on 2016 at the same time. July’s figure was 3% down. Things are getting worse, not better. 2017 looks like it may be an annus horribilus for the comic book direct market.
The customer is king. Marvel and their sycophants may find the necessity of writing to market annoying, but the market doesn’t care.
Actually, it’s becoming more and more apparent that the market does care and is doling out some richly deserved punishment to Marvel’s wallet. It would take a total 180 degree attitude adjustment for Marvel to save themselves now, and based on their past behavior, you can kiss them goodbye.
If you want an example of what listening to your audience and working to please them looks like, check out my action/adventure/horror series The Soul Cycle.
