Trying to get NEW readers based on a movie coming out

[comicman66]

Does anybody think that because people go see a comic based move, that they will buy comics? I just don’t see this happening. Because of the new THOR movie, Marvel is coming out with yet another THOR comic and changing the current one to 'Journey into Mystery'. So know, do I buy both or just follow Matt Fraction? Did this actually work for Iron Man? Thanks.

[BobBretall]

Does anybody think that because people go see a comic based move, that they will buy comics? I just don’t see this happening. Because of the new THOR movie, Marvel is coming out with yet another THOR comic and changing the current one to 'Journey into Mystery'. So know, do I buy both or just follow Matt Fraction? Did this actually work for Iron Man? Thanks.

John would be best to answer this from a pure #s standpoint, but it sure does not feel like the Iron Man movie drive any kind of increased demand for the monthly comics.

[mikemclarty]

Does anybody think that because people go see a comic based move, that they will buy comics? I just don’t see this happening. Because of the new THOR movie, Marvel is coming out with yet another THOR comic and changing the current one to 'Journey into Mystery'. So know, do I buy both or just follow Matt Fraction? Did this actually work for Iron Man? Thanks.

John would be best to answer this from a pure #s standpoint, but it sure does not feel like the Iron Man movie drive any kind of increased demand for the monthly comics.

My guess is that the list that Brian Hibbs typically gets his hands on that describes bookstore sales would be a good gauge. I would guess that collected editions have the best chance of benefitting from crossover within movies or television.

[JohnMayo]

From everything I have seen, and that includes the BookScan data Brian Hibbs leaks, I think it is clear there is zero meaningful influx of new readers coming to comics as a result of the movies. It would have taken less than one half of one percent of the people that bought Iron Man II on DVD or BluRay to double the sales of the Iron Man comic book series. We didn't even see a noticeable bump in sales, much less a doubling in sales. So, no. Generally speaking, people coming to comics from a movie are the rare exception and not the rule.

[spid]

It depends on what you define as "New". A lot of the ongoing books do not see a big bump from completely new readers, but there maybe more people who already read comics who are willing to try a new book. Or those people will sometime go out and pick up one of the back catalog books. With the way things are structured as they are now we will never see a massive jump in numbers for ongoing books.

This being said there have been jumps for books which are essentially stand alone. There was a bump for 300, Watchmen, V For Vendetta, Scott Pilgrim, Kick A$$, and the Walking Dead. Again there may not be a jump in millions, but there is a jump of several thousands. Given the low readership of printed material in general I think that is about as good as it gets. The best we can hope for is a huge bump in merchandising surrounding the movie.

[Paul Nolan]

Marvel need to start including a link to an online comic: maybe printed on tickets or on the DVD so it's very obvious.

Have it as an Issuu style comic though, rather than one of the new-fangled online readers, so its near to a real comic as possible. and include the comicshoplocater.com address somewhere obvious on the page

[JohnMayo]

I am defining "new" as new to the title, not new to comics. The is usually zero noticeable increase in sales of a comic book title as a result of a movie. The Iron Man movies were well received but did not really help the sales of the title.

[BobBretall]

There was a bump for 300, Watchmen, V For Vendetta, Scott Pilgrim, Kick A$$, and the Walking Dead. Again there may not be a jump in millions, but there is a jump of several thousands. Given the low readership of printed material in general I think that is about as good as it gets. The best we can hope for is a huge bump in merchandising surrounding the movie.

The common thread to the books you name is that none of them are super-hero books (Kick-A$$ being closest, but not really a super-hero).

Maybe people are willing to give a try to these things that don't seem like standard capes&tights fare, but when it comes to Iron Man or Spider-Man, people are content to have the movie, they don't need to add on the ongoing comic to their entertainment agenda.

[IanG]

I'm one exception to the rule that comic book movies don't help sell comics. I was a lapsed reader who came back because of the comic book movies I was enjoying. That's not to say that Marvel or any cross marketing helped me to come back to reading comics. I have yet to see Marvel or DC try marketing comic books to people buying movie tickets or DVDs. Would it kill Marvel to push for a cross promotion with the millions of Iron Man DVDs they sell. Throw in a coupon for a free Iron Man comic at a comic shop.

[BobBretall]

I'm one exception to the rule that comic book movies don't help sell comics. I was a lapsed reader who came back because of the comic book movies I was enjoying.

It's great you came back, but I'm guessing it's several orders of magnitude easier to get a lapsed reader to come back and check out comics than to get someone completely new interested.

Would it kill Marvel to push for a cross promotion with the millions of Iron Man DVDs they sell. Throw in a coupon for a free Iron Man comic at a comic shop.

Working for a big company with multiple divisions and knowing the internal politics, cross-charging, and red-tape involved in getting something to happen in Div. A to work with or benefit Div. B, I'm guessing it's really not that easy to stick a coupon or mention of a comic into a DVD.
It seems like it should be easy, but I'm guessing it's really next to impossible.

[Perseus]

I used to get comics when I was a kid but just fell out of it. Years later, I watched the first Spider-Man movie and it really did spark me back into comics as a full time hobby. I was going through alot at the time, and the comics were a therapy for me in ways. I love the hobby and the medium so much now. It's the best medium in the world in my opinion. I am not sure how many people really wanna read a comic after seeing a comic book based movie. I don't see it being alot as I see less and less people read anything lately. That's including kids which is a shame.

[JohnMayo]

This being said there have been jumps for books which are essentially stand alone. There was a bump for 300, Watchmen, V For Vendetta, Scott Pilgrim, Kick A$$, and the Walking Dead. Again there may not be a jump in millions, but there is a jump of several thousands. Given the low readership of printed material in general I think that is about as good as it gets. The best we can hope for is a huge bump in merchandising surrounding the movie.

Most of those are movies based on a particular story. There is a very clear path from the movie to a particular trade paperback collecting the related material. We often see a boost in the sales of those trades for a short time as a result of the movie. What we don't tend to see is any impact beyond the short term bump for the specific item.

[spid]

There was a bump for 300, Watchmen, V For Vendetta, Scott Pilgrim, Kick A$$, and the Walking Dead. Again there may not be a jump in millions, but there is a jump of several thousands. Given the low readership of printed material in general I think that is about as good as it gets. The best we can hope for is a huge bump in merchandising surrounding the movie.

The common thread to the books you name is that none of them are super-hero books (Kick-A$$ being closest, but not really a super-hero).

Maybe people are willing to give a try to these things that don't seem like standard capes&tights fare, but when it comes to Iron Man or Spider-Man, people are content to have the movie, they don't need to add on the ongoing comic to their entertainment agenda.

The odd thing about that trend you point out is that almost none of those movies were gigantic hits like their cape and cowl counterpoints. Most of those movies are considered Hollywood disappointments.

[JohnMayo]

There was a bump for 300, Watchmen, V For Vendetta, Scott Pilgrim, Kick A$$, and the Walking Dead. Again there may not be a jump in millions, but there is a jump of several thousands. Given the low readership of printed material in general I think that is about as good as it gets. The best we can hope for is a huge bump in merchandising surrounding the movie.

The common thread to the books you name is that none of them are super-hero books (Kick-A$$ being closest, but not really a super-hero).

Maybe people are willing to give a try to these things that don't seem like standard capes&tights fare, but when it comes to Iron Man or Spider-Man, people are content to have the movie, they don't need to add on the ongoing comic to their entertainment agenda.

The odd thing about that trend you point out is that almost none of those movies were gigantic hits like their cape and cowl counterpoints. Most of those movies are considered Hollywood disappointments.

I don't think it is a question of what genre the property falls into. I think it is a matter of how close the property is between the movie and the comic and how clear it is what comic/trade to pick up if you liked the movie. People that liked either Iron Man movie had no clear path to any particular Iron Man trade or title. I also think that most of the people coming to comics from the movies are doing so through collected editions and doing so within the mass market, not the direct market.

[comicman66]

thanks for all the responses!