[In recent weeks there's been much discussion of comics pricing, and both Marvel and DC have made changes to their pricing levels in order to face the realities of the current economic climate. While DC has announced an across the board roll-back of prices from $3.99 to $2.99, Marvel's policy announcements have been somewhat less clear. At the ICV2 conference last month marquee-President Sales & Circulation David Gabriel announced a rollback on selected titles, but no details. In addition at a retailer meeting, Marvel announced that they would be putting out fewer titles. An interview earlier this week with VP-executive editor Tom Brevoort made it clear that the rollback was limited but left details to Gabriel.
In order to clear up what Marvel's policies are in regards to pricing, Gabriel and Chief Operating Officer Jim "Ski" Sokolowski sat down for an interview, discussing some of the business realities of publishing, the growth of digital and how to reach new readers as older ones cycle out.]
THE BEAT: Just to give this some background, at the ICv2 digital conference and Diamond retailer breakfast you made some statements about pricing changes at Marvel and there has been controversy about just what that announcement entailed. So can you explain the details of the price rollback?
DAVID GABRIEL: The pricing structure is that for limited series in the Marvel Universe that we roll out, we will price as many of those as we can for $2.99 for a 32 page book.
THE BEAT: What would be the factors that would affect whether they can be priced at the lower price?
GABRIEL: If someone has 30 pages they want to put into those stories or [special issues], especially a one-shot, those will be at $3.99 as they have been. If there is back up material, the book will be at the higher price. If a series is already is in the works, again, we never made any announcement that we were lowering prices on series that were out already. If the first issue has been solicited at $3.99, the second issue will be at $3.99. There’s not a strict policy thing that we’re lowering everything to $2.99 but there will be pricing structures that will help everyone stay profitable.
THE BEAT: So with a marquee title like a Spider-man or Avengers, it would be at the higher price point so everyone can make as much money as possible, if the sales warrant it.
GABRIEL: Yes, and where we did listen to retailers and the industry months back, most people will agree that that is an okay pricing strategy. I’ve never heard anybody argue about that. Where I have heard them argue is that if we have too many titles coming out at that price, some of the bottom titles that aren’t marquee titles are going to get dropped. Some of the other titles that we want people to sample, that aren’t necessarily the marquee titles, are still going to get stomped on a bit. The titles that people aren’t testing or trying them out. They are the first ones people won’t pick up, if they are a non-marquee title, at $3.99 and we definitely recognize that we need to fix something on those books. Bringing back $2.99 for limited series, that’s where we started that program.
This is for limited series in the Marvel Universe. We’ve got limited series that are third party licensed books, they will stay at $3.99 and the Ultimate line is still our marquee line—it’s staying where it is. There may be a few limited series that will still ge
Surely he means “marquee” and not “marquis,” right? The lack of sales strength in those non-marquee titles is pretty worrying because most of my favorite Marvel titles either hover toward the bottom of the sales chart or have already been cancelled, stuff like Nova, Guardians of the Galaxy, and Incredible Hercules. I’m just glad Cap and X-Factor are still selling well!
Interesting interview, and it’ll definitely be interesting to see how the pricing shakes out. I will say I was indeed one of those individuals who like Incredible Hulk, but not enough to keep paying $3.99 for it. Having been out of it for months now, I’ve kind of permanently lost interest in getting back into it.
“We had to look at the books that are doing the best and those aren’t necessarily the books that are reviewed the best”
I don’t understand what this means. Does this mean that Marvel is more interested in selling any old book, as long as it sells lots, than in putting out quality?
Hats off to these guys for the most effort ever in a backpeddle.
Marvel, the $3.99 price became “sort of a barrier” to me staying with CAPTAIN AMERICA, THOR, the AVENGERS titles, and possibly INVINCIBLE IRON MAN and FANTASTIC FOUR in the near future. Any chance you could drop those prices as well?
“Yes, and where we did listen to retailers and the industry months back, most people will agree that that is an okay pricing strategy. I’ve never heard anybody argue about that.”
Really? No retailers or industry people argued that $3.99 would be a bad strategy? NO ONE??
Wow. That’s some blinders right there.
I’m just glad that I’m a DC fan.
It does seem unusual for a publisher to price issues of series at $3.99 because “that’s what readers will pay,” based on inelastic demand. That’s more of a monopolist mentality than it is pricing material to the market norm, as with books and magazines. There’s also, still, the question of value for money. A comic that can be read in ten minutes or less, whether it’s priced at $2.99 or $3.99, is still a worse deal in some ways than other forms of entertainment, such as videos and video games. The high price of comics is a barrier in itself to attracting new readers.
SRS
Marvel definitely seems to have selective hearing. I love that bit about retailers begging Marvel to reduce the price on HULK, but only HULK.
Still, a man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest
“I’m just glad Cap and X-Factor are still selling well!”
At this point X-Factor is the only regular series at Marvel I’m still reading in monthly format. I get nervous that the price will go up and make me reconsider.
And what about collection prices? Recent FANTASTIC FOUR and IRON MAN hardcovers have had just four issues worth of content for $19.99 (not including tax, more than 40% more expensive than just picking up the single issues). Worse, the recent INCREDIBLE HULK: World War Hulks hardcover was $19.99 for just three issues of new content! In the past, picking up a hardcover or trade would be cheaper than the individual issues…
There is NO VALUE in picking up these collections, which are priced seemingly without consideration of quality or quantity. At least with the FF collections, Hickman puts in the extra effort to design something worth owning – the rest are dumped onto the stands, the already-paid-for content slapped into cookie-cutter packaging.
And then there is the maddening inconsistency of deluxe collection pricing… The first Brubaker CAP Omnibus is 25+ issues for #75, a reasonable value. The Brubaker/Fraction/Aja IRON FIST Omnibus is just 14 issues for $75. The recent JMS THOR Omnibus is $65 for about 20 issues. The Fraction/Lorocca Iron Man deluxe hardcover is less than $40 for 19 issues (a great value for a superb story)!
And none of this scratches the surface on Marvel’s incomprehensible strategy for what they choose to keep in print and available to the direct market.
This is all nuts! Folks need to look away from the cover price on their floppies for a second and look at the price tag on their trades and start demanding some more consistency, logic, and VALUE in THAT department. While there may not always be individual issues of comics, the trade is more likely to endure and cause hair-pulling over pricing in the future.
Jeffrey O. Gustafson
I *can’t believe* anybody is saying “Keep the Nomad series in the back of Captain America to keep that at $3.99″.
Show me those retailers so I can avoid their stores!
I actually don’t mind paying the extra buck for Nomad…
“I *can’t believe* anybody is saying “Keep the Nomad series in the back of Captain America to keep that at $3.99″.
Show me those retailers so I can avoid their stores!”
What, you don’t like paying an extra dollar for a back-up NO ONE demanded?!? LOL
It seems the approaches by DC and Marvel are like this,
DC: Lower cost of titles line wide and expect more sales by fans snatching up the cheaper books.
Marvel: Cut the number of titles – that will save money on production costs – and hope the fans will transfer their money into the Marvel books not being cut.
“I don’t understand what this means. Does this mean that Marvel is more interested in selling any old book, as long as it sells lots, than in putting out quality?”
Of course. They are a business with shareholders to answer to, not a non-profit organization. Why would this shock anyone? Regardless of anyone’s subjective view of a particular book’s “quality”, an Avengers title that sells 90,000 monthly will stay around, while an Atlas book that sells 20,000 will not.