IDW becoming the next big comic company?

[Allyn Gibson]

Marvel's current market share hovers around 50%.

Wait, what? How did Marvel get up there again after the fall from early 90's grace in the early 2000's?

The same way they got there in the 90's, really -- they're publishing a lot more stuff than they were a few years ago.

As I said, Pocket's been thriving for decades with a property that they don't own, Star Trek. Paramount/CBS could take the ST license to some other publisher, sure. But it's been with Pocket for 27 years now, with no sign of any future change.

What are you talking about? Viacom owns Paramount. Viacom owns Simon & Schuster, which owns Pocket. Certainly they could take it to another company, but why would they? The way you describe it is, at best, disingenuous.

It's still a license, though. Pocket is paying their parent company for the right to publish Star Trek novels.

Similar things have happened with novels based on the DC heroes. Time Warner owns a publishing house -- Warner Books -- but they've sold licenses to Pocket Books, Del Rey, Warner Books, and iBooks in the past decade.

Therefore, to me as a layman, IDW`s approach makes much more sense. I can imagine that they keep the print run of the singles low and instead concentrate on the trades. Another advantage is that these trades are not just found in comic shops but also in book shops.

One question, of course, is this -- are they making enough money on the single issues to justify doing the single issues? If they're at least breaking even (or taking a slight loss), then the bookstore penetration from the trades should push them over the top on a series into profitability.

The thing is, if too many people do the "wait for the trade" then what might have been a slight loss can magnify into a large loss, making future projects less likely.

 

[Ethros]

IDW may have a lot of licensed works, but then it's not like Dark Horse don't. They do comics on Buffy, Terminator, Aliens, Predator, AVP, Indiana Jones, Star Wars, and Angel before IDW got the rights.
So you know, just saying.

And what is the price difference in the US? I notice my Angel:ATF comics cost £2.40 compared to Buffy s8's £1.80 here in Blighty. But then it's 60p once a month... really not caring

 

[Allyn Gibson]

The Buffy season 8 comics are $2.99 an issue. IDW's Angel season 6 comics are $3.99 an issue.

And Dynamite holds the Terminator license now.

 

[sidious618]

IDW charges a bit too much for my taste. Dark Horse is still charging 2.99.

 

[Ethros]

A dollar difference? What's that, 50p? Wow must be really breaking your bank

 

[Nick Ryder]

Honestly I think the going to Trades is a route most of the companies should be taking anyway, considering that the local corner comic book shop is slowly but surely becoming a relic of a bygone age. And even the ones remaining are having a hard time, the lucky ones have been able to shoehorn in things like Anime dvds, toys and other merchandise that is typically online only or at the very least not found at your local big box retailer, things they could potentially get more money on than simply selling the floppies.

Altough floppies have one thing over the trades, they keep you coming in month after month, but then with the typical Marvel or DC title going for $2.99 to $4.99 that's a pretty tough pill to swallow when not that long ago, even $1.99 was a lot. And its not as if they've gotten bigger. When I have a choice between say, a $3.99 single comic or a $16.99 trade its pretty easy to see which will get me more enjoyment AND value.

With the IDW stuff, unless you have ready access to a comic shop the trades at your local B&N, Borders, Amazon or if you're lucky another book shop, you've got a pretty current story that didn't require you to constantly stop into a comic shop. And with IDW transformers stuff, honestly I'd rather just buy a trade than a book that's half ads.

 

[Ethros]

That's what I like about IDW, that they aren't full of ads.
The only comics I buy are Dark Horse's Buffy s8, and IDW's Angel:ATF & Spike: ATF. But with the DH it's a pain when every other frakking page is some crap advert, whereas with IDW you get a nice full 22 pages of pure story. And all the "ads" at the back are mainly for other IDW work anyway

 

[Capt_Piett]

I WISH the LCS would overorder on some IDW titles. I've had to resort to EvilBay a few times to get an issue of Fallen Angel when the local store either doesn't have any left or doesn't have any that meet my grading criteria (as I'm a condition snob).

But as long as the quality stays good, I don't have much of a problem paying $3.99 once a month per title.