Comments on: Comics A.M. | The comics Internet in two minutes

By: BobH

BobH — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 21:40:08 +0000

“customers who demand the variant covers, and throw fits when the stores don’t get them.”

But I assume those customers are willing to pay for that variant cover, so I’m not sure I see the problem.

Customer wants 1-in-250 variant
Retailer says, okay, that’ll be my wholesale price for 250 copies, $400 (or whatever), deposit due when I place my final order
Either customer agrees, in which 100% of what he sells the other 249 copies for is profit, or customer says that’s too much, in which case retailer orders as normal

By: Corey Bean

Corey Bean — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 18:22:13 +0000

I did read the article, yes. I don’t diagree that Marvel made a huge miscalculation… like they always do. I’m pretty tired of the whole manga (all genres) vs superhero comics riff that comes up whenever these issues are discussed.

And how do you know whether or not I have a “limited knowledge of manga”. Have we met? My apologies for not recognizing your name.

By: Aaron Poehler

Aaron Poehler — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 18:09:56 +0000

Anyone expecting Marvel Divas to be anything but adolescent male-oriented tripe hasn’t been paying attention.

By: Kirk Warren

Kirk Warren — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 17:13:34 +0000

For those complaining about the Guardian link, did you read it? It sounds like you are judging the article based on the blurb and your limited knowledge of manga, which amounts to probably Naruto, DBZ or Bleach.

Divas is being marketed towards females, yet is horribly, horribly out of touch with that audience based on all things we’ve seen so far. The Guardian article talks about the various genres of the manga market that focus on females, something lacking from the North American market.

Yes, we have the occasional indy book, like a Strangers in Paradise, but that is not the norm and that’s all the Guardian article is pointing out.

By: Corey Bean

Corey Bean — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 16:16:25 +0000

Regarding the Guardian piece: Why do so many folks act as if japanese comics are some sort of paragon of male & female equality? Are there Marvel or DC (since that’s ALL american comics…) equivalants of lolicon, tentacle rape, etc? There are good comics & bad comics everywhere.

By: Eric

Eric — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 16:10:23 +0000

No one is forcing the retailers to do anything…

Oh except the customers who demand the variant covers, and throw fits when the stores don’t get them.

By: kwaku

kwaku — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 15:13:18 +0000

I’m I missing something? Is there anything forcing retailers to buy 250 for a single variant cover? If you only sell 25 copies why not just buy 25 copies?

I would argue that women are treated just as badly in Manga as they are in American comics.

By: zombied

zombied — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 14:45:06 +0000

A fool and their money are easily parted. Anyone stupid enough to pay orders of magnitude for a limited variant cover deserves to get robbed.

Let’s see…I can either buy roughly 80 comics at $3 a pop, or I can buy one $250 variant, whose only difference is a cover. It reminds me of all those brand spanking new 5 figure print run comics I see on eBay that are CGC graded.