Superfan: John Jackson Miller episode

[thefreakytiki]

I LOVED this episode.

Quote of the year:

What saved the industry eventually puts the industry in peril.


Awesome observation. I would love to hear a Mayo report episode with all 3 of you gentlemen. fascinating points made by all.


Bravo!



the Tiki

[JohnMayo]

I LOVED this episode.

Quote of the year:

What saved the industry eventually puts the industry in peril.


Awesome observation. I would love to hear a Mayo report episode with all 3 of you gentlemen. fascinating points made by all.


Bravo!



the Tiki

Glad you liked the episode.

I thought JJM's line of reasoning on what saved the industry at one point became one of the major problems the next time the industry was in peril was really interesting. First the shift in content in response to the problems of the 1950s, then the shift to the direct market in response to the problems of the 1970s and then the shift to the trades in response to the problems of the 1990s.

This is why I'm always pushing for the business case whenever someone starts pushing for a simple solution to the problems. The "go digital" or "go direct to trade" seem like very risky proposals without a solid and viable business model for them.

I also think that the push for anthology titles discounts the evidence from places like iTunes which clearly illustrate that many people prefer to pick just the content they want versus having to pay for an entire album of music for just a few tracks. I suspect that the same holds true for comics and contributed to the short run of Marvel Comics Presents.

Having John Jackson Miller on the show was a ton of fun and I'm sure at some point we'll have him on again in the future.

[MobileHome]

I'll echo the Tikki...great discussion this episode

[thefreakytiki]

I also think that the push for anthology titles discounts the evidence from places like iTunes which clearly illustrate that many people prefer to pick just the content they want versus having to pay for an entire album of music for just a few tracks. I suspect that the same holds true for comics and contributed to the short run of Marvel Comics Presents.

It's funny, I viewed the Marvel vs music analogy as... just give me the content I want (at a lower price) and you can keep all the superfluous additional filler in the back. But I see both angles.


the Tiki

[JohnMayo]

I also think that the push for anthology titles discounts the evidence from places like iTunes which clearly illustrate that many people prefer to pick just the content they want versus having to pay for an entire album of music for just a few tracks. I suspect that the same holds true for comics and contributed to the short run of Marvel Comics Presents.

It's funny, I viewed the Marvel vs music analogy as... just give me the content I want (at a lower price) and you can keep all the superfluous additional filler in the back. But I see both angles.


the Tiki

iTunes essentially broke the record album business model in favor of people being able to buy just the tracks they want. Is there any real evidence that comic book readers would rather buy an anthology with fewer pages of story on a given character plus two or three other shorter stories about characters they may not care about versus just buying comics containing full length stories featuring the characters they are interested in?

If someone that like Blue Beetle isn't willing to spend $2.99 on a 22 page Blue Beetle story in his own title, how likely are they to pay $3.99 to get an 8 page Blue Beetle story plus three other 8 page stories not featuring Blue Beetle? The cost/benefit math on anthologies rarely works out well for readers that aren't interested in all of the features in the anthology.

The cheaper and more cost efficient format for most reader is a comic with a single full length story featuring the character they are interested in. This why most anthologies fail.

The first run of Marvel Comics Presents was a notable exception to that but also featured at least one multi-part story starring an X-Men character by name creators each issue. The biweekly frequency allowed the shorter length stories to maintain some story momentum which the more recent monthly run of Marvel Comics Presents was unable to do.

[Trev]

I also think that the push for anthology titles discounts the evidence from places like iTunes which clearly illustrate that many people prefer to pick just the content they want versus having to pay for an entire album of music for just a few tracks. I suspect that the same holds true for comics and contributed to the short run of Marvel Comics Presents.

It's funny, I viewed the Marvel vs music analogy as... just give me the content I want (at a lower price) and you can keep all the superfluous additional filler in the back. But I see both angles.


the Tiki

iTunes essentially broke the record album business model in favor of people being able to buy just the tracks they want. Is there any real evidence that comic book readers would rather buy an anthology with fewer pages of story on a given character plus two or three other shorter stories about characters they may not care about versus just buying comics containing full length stories featuring the characters they are interested in?

If someone that like Blue Beetle isn't willing to spend $2.99 on a 22 page Blue Beetle story in his own title, how likely are they to pay $3.99 to get an 8 page Blue Beetle story plus three other 8 page stories not featuring Blue Beetle? The cost/benefit math on anthologies rarely works out well for readers that aren't interested in all of the features in the anthology.

The cheaper and more cost efficient format for most reader is a comic with a single full length story featuring the character they are interested in. This why most anthologies fail.

The first run of Marvel Comics Presents was a notable exception to that but also featured at least one multi-part story starring an X-Men character by name creators each issue. The biweekly frequency allowed the shorter length stories to maintain some story momentum which the more recent monthly run of Marvel Comics Presents was unable to do.

Marvel has had some good luck packaging up essentially 4 or 5 previews of upcoming books into a single one-shot for $4 and then getting the readers to buy the follow on books as well.

Somehow Marvel convinces people to pay them for the right to sell them more stuff, and then completely reprints the content you just paid for as the first 1/4 to 1/2 of the *new* book you've bought.

It's to the point now where any unusually thick one shot that seems tied to a current major arc (SI, CW, WWHulk, etc.) is suspicious to me.

Sometimes they even write disingenuous blurbs in previews and I end up ordering it from DCBS only to be disappointed later.

[JohnMayo]

Marvel has had some good luck packaging up essentially 4 or 5 previews of upcoming books into a single one-shot for $4 and then getting the readers to buy the follow on books as well.

Somehow Marvel convinces people to pay them for the right to sell them more stuff, and then completely reprints the content you just paid for as the first 1/4 to 1/2 of the *new* book you've bought.

It's to the point now where any unusually thick one shot that seems tied to a current major arc (SI, CW, WWHulk, etc.) is suspicious to me.

Sometimes they even write disingenuous blurbs in previews and I end up ordering it from DCBS only to be disappointed later.

Marvel will pay the price for that overtime as the sales on those get lower and lower as people wise up to the practice.

[Frank]

I now understand the industry much better than I did before. I enjoy the books, of course, but I always like to understand the underlying economics behind it as well. My hats off to the reader comments in the forum that gave me a heads up to listen to this episode.

[HassanT]

This was a great episode, probably one of the best ones you guys ever did. Anyone that thinks they know how to "save" the industry, they need to listen to this episode.

And for someone who looks at the numbers month after month, John Jackson Miller is very positive. That says something about how much he love comics.

[comicm]

Great episode guys. The one one thing that John Jackson Miller mentioned that really interested me is the aggregate number and not the month to month. I have always been interested in the totals to see if comic sales go up or not because monthly numbers have always seem to trend down with the exception of event tie-ins, new creative team changes, new directions, deaths and/or first appearances.

I really enjoy these Superfan episodes

[Wood]

As a process junkie and unapologetic collector myself, having you two and JJM on an episode together was a treat. What I found most interesting is how different your approaches are to the numbers and how you slice and dice them, yet in many ways you come to the same conclusions. JJM is an interesting case of a diehard fan who has actually carved himself out a place at the table as a writer of a pretty darn good licensed comic at a quality publisher. That's great stuff.

Really enjoyed this one guys, thanks for taking the time to record it.

[JohnMayo]

As a process junkie and unapologetic collector myself, having you two and JJM on an episode together was a treat. What I found most interesting is how different your approaches are to the numbers and how you slice and dice them, yet in many ways you come to the same conclusions. JJM is an interesting case of a diehard fan who has actually carved himself out a place at the table as a writer of a pretty darn good licensed comic at a quality publisher. That's great stuff.

Really enjoyed this one guys, thanks for taking the time to record it.

One of the times I enjoy about JJM's analysis of the numbers is that he looks at it from a different angle than I do and therefore sees different things.

I do think that the new order thresholds from Diamond are a clear case where what makes the total sales can be more important sometimes than the total itself. Clearly with this new policy you are better off being a publisher with a single title selling over $2,500 than one with an large number of title selling under that level regardless of how much they add up to.

[Jeff_GNA]

Fantastic episode!

Jeff