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Rick Senger
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| Posted: 02 December 2017 at 5:11pm | IP Logged | 1
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Matt Hawes
Byrne Robotics Member
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| Posted: 02 December 2017 at 5:30pm | IP Logged | 2
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Rick Senger wrote:
| ...Matt, you're saying the fact that comics were lower-priced than most magazines was a main motivator for retailers to let comics go even though the return model was still open to them?... |
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Yep, that was a good part of the reason. Comics simply aren't profitable enough for most retailers using newsstand distribution (which would mostly be businesses such as department stores, convenience stores, etc.) that those retailers feel its worth the space where other, more profitable items could be displayed. Not just higher priced magazines, but any other product that would be more profitable to the retailer.
QUOTE:
| ... Huh, I had no idea that was the case; I assumed the comics industry abandoned the returns model and that was the reason for comics disappearing from traditional retail... |
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The return-ability of product through newsstand distribution hasn't ever changed, and the comics industry, if sold through that form of distribution, has to play by its rules and not its own.
Comics publishers didn't abandon the returns model, that stayed in place for newsstand distribution. What they abandoned, more or less, was the distribution through the newsstand itself. In the early 1990s, when this really began to happen more, it was because sales through the Direct Market was more profitable for the publishers, and there was no worry about returns (for the most part).
Comic publishers, like too many in the comic book industry at that time (and even today, sadly) were too shortsighted and greedy to worry about the future.
QUOTE:
| ... So if DC and Marvel had put out thicker, more expensive books they would have stayed on the stands and drug stores, etc.?... |
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It's only speculation, but, yes, I think a format change has been needed for some time. I even have discussed this years ago on the board here:
LINK to post "Shape of The Future" (2006)
Edited to note:
I used "Wizard" magazine changing their format as a sign of going in the right direction. Admittedly, "Wizard" folded not long afterwards, but that had to do with many things (for example, the Internet scooping the magazine on news, the price guide becoming increasingly irrelevant, and "Wizard" really pissing off Marvel, DC, and other publisher by their actions at the conventions Wizard runs).
That noted, I still say comics need to change the format to compete more in the general marketpplace. Format change is but just one of many symptoms to an ailing industry, but it is an important one in need of examination.
Edited by Matt Hawes on 02 December 2017 at 5:35pm
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Matt Hawes
Byrne Robotics Member
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| Posted: 02 December 2017 at 5:38pm | IP Logged | 3
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Vinny Valenti wrote:
| ...Apparently the artist is a man by the name of Mort Meskin, and Steve Ditko had been quoted as being a fan... |
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Mort Meskin was a great artist. Definitely one of the finest from comics' Golden Age.
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Matt Hawes
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| Posted: 02 December 2017 at 8:28pm | IP Logged | 4
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Matt Hawes
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| Posted: 02 December 2017 at 8:33pm | IP Logged | 5
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Matt Hawes
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| Posted: 02 December 2017 at 8:37pm | IP Logged | 6
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Matt Hawes
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| Posted: 02 December 2017 at 8:42pm | IP Logged | 7
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Matt Hawes
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| Posted: 02 December 2017 at 8:45pm | IP Logged | 8
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Matt Hawes
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| Posted: 02 December 2017 at 8:48pm | IP Logged | 9
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Matt Hawes
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| Posted: 02 December 2017 at 9:15pm | IP Logged | 10
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Matt Hawes
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| Posted: 02 December 2017 at 9:37pm | IP Logged | 11
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This one is hard to identify, as in the photo you pretty much only see the logo. However, it is the closest issue to the approximate date of the photo which has some parts around the logo that seem to match those seen in the photo.
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Matt Hawes
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| Posted: 04 December 2017 at 9:12pm | IP Logged | 12
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Whoops! The cover I posted was already in the thread. My bad!
Edited by Matt Hawes on 04 December 2017 at 9:19pm
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