IMAGE Publisher Calls Out Industry for 'Stunting' It's Own Growth

[VintageComics]

IMAGE Publisher Calls Out Industry for 'Stunting' It's Own Growth, Not Learning From Its Mistakes

 

Image Comics publisher Eric Stephenson addressed retailers Friday at ComicsPRO's annual membership meeting, calling out recent trends by publishers (including Image) and retailers as damaging to the industry.

 

The publisher shared a transcript of that speech, here below:

 

I'd like to talk about the future, but first, we're going to do some time travel, back to a time when there was no Internet, no Twitter, no Facebook, no Instagram. A time when there were no comic book stores.

 

No one here was in this business in the 1950s, but by all accounts, it was a bleak time for comics. Our industry was barely two decades old, yet it was on the brink of collapse.

 

Political posturing had rendered one of comics' most vital creative forces – EC Comics – all but mute. Crime and horror comics had been neutered by the Comics Code and for all intents and purposes were dead – shot by their own gun. Comics bowed to outside pressure and erected a self-regulating ratings system that all but outlawed any type of content that might appeal to older readers. Comics were for kids, after all, but even superheroes, so popular during the Second World War, were a faltering concern.

 

Martin Goodman's comic book imprint, then known as Atlas, was making due selling monster comics, but by the early '60s, things were looking grim. You have to look into the darkness to see the light, though, and it was in those dark times that comics found renewed hope.

 

<...more in the link provided...>

 

 

[Ken Aldred]

A history of comicbook publishing, distribution and marketing, and that we’re currently back in 90s mode re. variants and speculation; gambling on a happy ending, this time round.

 

[StuporMan]

A history of comicbook publishing, distribution and marketing, and that we’re currently back in 90s mode re. variants and speculation; gambling on a happy ending, this time round.

 

You know we're in 90s mode when pre-Unity Valiant books are selling like hotcakes

[Ken Aldred]

A history of comicbook publishing, distribution and marketing, and that we’re currently back in 90s mode re. variants and speculation; gambling on a happy ending, this time round.

 

You know we're in 90s mode when pre-Unity Valiant books are selling like hotcakes

 

They're good stuff, though.

[paperheart]

honestly, $3.99 cover price is a killer for me. i'd love to support my LCS and various creators but for 10 minutes of entertainment and an asset that depreciates 75% immediately, i'd rather dive into back issue bins for worthwhile reading at $1 a book.

[revat]

honestly, $3.99 cover price is a killer for me. i'd love to support my LCS and various creators but for 10 minutes of entertainment and an asset that depreciates 75% immediately, i'd rather dive into back issue bins for worthwhile reading at $1 a book.

 

seriously. and now some comics are 4.99? good day sir!

[StuporMan]

A history of comicbook publishing, distribution and marketing, and that we’re currently back in 90s mode re. variants and speculation; gambling on a happy ending, this time round.

 

You know we're in 90s mode when pre-Unity Valiant books are selling like hotcakes

 

They're good stuff, though.

 

Agreed. They really got me into *reading* comics during a time when all the other comics I was buying were going shelf to bag.

[techvoodoo]

I all but quit reading new comic. I'll sub to Marvel Unlimited. It's a good value at $69 a year. But $4 an issue for 15 minutes of entertainment is ridiculous.

 

Especially when you consider you're 50/50 or worse that the $4 comic in question is even going to be any good. Add on top of that the hassle of trying to collect all the books necessary to read an entire story arc (I'm looking at you Spider-verse). All I can say is screw it, I'm out.

[rjrjr]

honestly, $3.99 cover price is a killer for me. i'd love to support my LCS and various creators but for 10 minutes of entertainment and an asset that depreciates 75% immediately, i'd rather dive into back issue bins for worthwhile reading at $1 a book.

 

seriously. and now some comics are 4.99? good day sir!

 

There are plenty of people who are happily paying more for comics with different covers. You can't fault the publishers for raising the prices when they see people paying $10, $15, $50, or more for brand new issues.

[the blob]

honestly, $3.99 cover price is a killer for me. i'd love to support my LCS and various creators but for 10 minutes of entertainment and an asset that depreciates 75% immediately, i'd rather dive into back issue bins for worthwhile reading at $1 a book.

 

seriously. and now some comics are 4.99? good day sir!

 

while agree, personally, it's too much for me to justify regularly buying more than a couple of books and I even stopped doing that....

 

while marvel and DC were cheaper, many comics published by image/valiant were $1.95-$2.95 in 1992/1993. Adjusted for inflation those are practically $4-$5 comics today. People didn't mind paying those prices when they thought they were "investments."

 

Indeed, Image comics today (spawn/WD are $2.99) are CHEAPER than in 1992 ($1.95) when adjusted for inflation.

 

It was the same 10 minutes of entertainment back then, folks just thought they were going to get rich.

 

It is the easy availability of the discount box that makes these all seem too expensive. When a book is one you will almost never see really discounted (Walking Dead, maybe Goon when it comes out twice a year, Saga, Chew when it was hot...) the cover price doesn't seem so outrageous

 

 

[Aweandlorder]

I find it strange that he's talking about the dangerous state of the business without mentioning not a word about the properties being optioned hype/bubble. In my opinion thats more of a menace to our industry than any retail variant scheme

[ComicConnoisseur]

honestly, $3.99 cover price is a killer for me. i'd love to support my LCS and various creators but for 10 minutes of entertainment and an asset that depreciates 75% immediately, i'd rather dive into back issue bins for worthwhile reading at $1 a book.

THIS.

The cover price.

$3.99 is not worth it anymore for the short read.

For $9.99

we can get

Marvel Unlimited

Netflix

about 3 Kindle books with an average of 1000 pages to digest

or a used video game at Gamestop.

All the above will give me hours of entertainment and not a 10 to 15 minute read.

Comic books need to go back to under $1.99 to keep up.

 

[Mr. Hog]

I find it strange that he's talking about the dangerous state of the business without mentioning not a word about the properties being optioned hype/bubble. In my opinion thats more of a menace to our industry than any retail variant scheme

 

Nowhere men?

[the blob]

Comic books need to go back to under $1.99 to keep up.

 

--------------

 

I understand there are more cheap entertainment options out there, but

 

Image comics were $1.95 in 1992. Valiant, more. Like I said, that is more than $3 2016 dollars. Plus the print runs are like 1/10th or less the size, so they get less of a quantity discount from printing.

 

I agree, $2 makes more sense, but when were marvels that price last, 20 years ago? There has been inflation all around.

 

Sometimes things cost money to make. Prices on most things go up.

 

[ComicConnoisseur]

Comic books need to go back to under $1.99 to keep up.

 

--------------

 

I understand there are more cheap entertainment options out there, but

 

Image comics were $1.95 in 1992. Valiant, more. Like I said, that is more than $3 2016 dollars. Plus the print runs are like 1/10th or less the size, so they get less of a quantity discount from printing.

 

I agree, $2 makes more sense, but when were marvels that price last, 20 years ago? There has been inflation all around.

 

Sometimes things cost money to make. Prices on most things go up.

Yep. I agree things go up,but I think the comic book industry has gouged it's customers for years.

Compare how you can still get action figures and Hotwheels at just about or close to 1990s prices.

Comic books at $3.99 to $4.99 is unacceptable.

DC just got the message and will lower all it's monthly comics to $2.99 with it's REBIRTH reboot,but it might be too late.

[Unca Ben]

Comic books need to go back to under $1.99 to keep up.

 

--------------

 

I understand there are more cheap entertainment options out there, but

 

Image comics were $1.95 in 1992. Valiant, more. Like I said, that is more than $3 2016 dollars. Plus the print runs are like 1/10th or less the size, so they get less of a quantity discount from printing.

 

I agree, $2 makes more sense, but when were marvels that price last, 20 years ago? There has been inflation all around.

 

Sometimes things cost money to make. Prices on most things go up.

Yep. I agree things go up,but I think the comic book industry has gouged it's customers for years.

Compare how you can still get action figures and Hotwheels at just about or close to 1990s prices.

Comic books at $3.99 to $4.99 is unacceptable.

DC just got the message and will lower all it's monthly comics to $2.99with it's REBIRTH reboot,but it might be too late.

 

The early Valiant books may have been $1.95 -$2.95 or whatever, but they weren't 10 minute reads. Pretty dense storytelling.

 

I do agree with the gist of what's been said, though.

[miraclemet]

honestly, $3.99 cover price is a killer for me. i'd love to support my LCS and various creators but for 10 minutes of entertainment and an asset that depreciates 75% immediately, i'd rather dive into back issue bins for worthwhile reading at $1 a book.

THIS.

The cover price.

$3.99 is not worth it anymore for the short read.

For $9.99

we can get

Marvel Unlimited

Netflix

about 3 Kindle books with an average of 1000 pages to digest

or a used video game at Gamestop.

All the above will give me hours of entertainment and not a 10 to 15 minute read.

Comic books need to go back to under $1.99 to keep up.

 

Of the things you listed only the used video game has any secondary market value (it's also the only PHYSICAL item on your list. I wonder if the publishers consider this, or if it is purely a look at cost of talent+cost of production+cost of distribution=$3,99

[Ken Aldred]

For me it’s volume + price + value for money.

 

The volume, especially, makes it overwhelming and impracticable when one has a very broad-spectrum interest in comics.

 

As a comparison, I’ve just had two run-throughs of Mass Effect 2 and 3 with different difficulty levels, strategies and character abilities, playing on-and-off for 4 months. The videogame discs cost $20 total. Hardly surprising that I’m moving away from buying comics, more and more.

 

[james1miller]

I find it strange that he's talking about the dangerous state of the business without mentioning not a word about the properties being optioned hype/bubble. In my opinion thats more of a menace to our industry than any retail variant scheme

 

Nowhere men?

 

What about Nowhere Men? It didn't have any retailer variants or incentive variants.

[ygogolak]

I find it strange that he's talking about the dangerous state of the business without mentioning not a word about the properties being optioned hype/bubble. In my opinion thats more of a menace to our industry than any retail variant scheme

 

That's an interesting thought because it's definitely changed the speculation game just was much as incentive variants. I would also say that Image (more specific the Creators) has had a huge hand in the "option" game. The difference is, the company does not own the property like the Big 2. So, I would assume, they have less control as to whether or not someone decides to sell their idea to a low tier movie studio and it sits in the option position for eternity and never moves forward.