Plan In Advance, Fail in the Moment
Two Things the Big Two in the Comics Industry Lacks: Planning and Execution.
You can probably add âlead timeâ to that list, too.
If thereâs one thing that baffles me, itâs this comparison between two industries:
In the childrenâs book market/juvenile fiction market, books are completed as much as a year ahead of their publication date. Done and dusted. Complete. Not going back to edit a thing. Marketing is taken into consideration. Solicitations are made a couple of seasons ahead of time. Advance review copies â print, not PDF â go out to reviewers.
When the publication date arrives, so does the book. As solicited. As expected. As already read by dozens of people along the way. Deals are worked out with the booksellers long in advance.  Endocarps are decided.  Marketing pushes are systematic, author signings are well considered, etc.
In the comic book industry, they hold creative meetings to decide what the next big crossover will be two years out. Then, when the series is being published, it changes how many issues it runs, it runs incredibly late, and the artist needs to be replaced or assisted by multiple inkers just to finish the book, causing a domino effect down the rest of the line.
Does anyone else see anything wrong here?
Itâs great that comics can be produced with so little lead time, and that they can be nimble enough to make changes based on audience reaction, cultural zeitgeists of the moment, or unexpected developments elsewhere in the line-up. But at what cost?
Thankfully, Marvel and DC have found the fix for this issue â they just switch out artists as often as possible inside the same series/story to keep up with the deadlines, especially when the deadlines are poorly chosen in the first place. Â (Bi-weekly shipping, anyone?)
Donât worry; if the sales flag, they can always make up for it by selling six extra covers to the same audience.
Iâm sure none of this has any effect on long-term sales, readership, or enthusiasm for the material.  Nope, none at allâŠ
Sigh.
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So, Secret Empire #10âŠ
I wrote the above a few weeks ago. Â I always meant to flesh it out a little bit with some examples.
Then, today, Marvel gave me a timely one. Â They announced that âSecret Empire,â a series that Marvel has been working towards for years (or so they tell us) and which has published two issues so far (three, if you count #0), is going to have another issue.
Given the way itâs been received by so many, I was betting on them shortening it somehow just to get on with their lives. Nope, theyâre doubling down and going long.
I admire that tenacity, actually.
But, still, theyâre extending the series in the middle of the series â a series that theyâve worked towards for years. Who didnât see this coming?
That hasnât happened since, well, the previous company-wide crossover event series, âCivil War II.â Â There was a delay when the artist had a baby, then they added an extra issue, though that extra issue was filled with guest artists to tease possible future events.
To be fair, two situations like this does not constitute a pattern. Â Except the same thing happened with âSecret Warsâ a couple years ago, too: another extra issue added after the seriesâ regular schedule ran late.
Now Iâm sensing a pattern.
Insert that gif of Picard shaking his head in his hands here.
Nobody is surprised by any of this anymore. Heck, itâs expected.
Thatâs a shame.
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We talk about the difference between book and comics publishing a lot at the shop â is the answer as simple as capital? Comics canât/wonât make the necessary investment that far out?
And donât get me started on the absence of marketing support, but I think thatâs the another symptom.
Oh, yeah, the marketing piece is a whole ânother rabbit hole, worthy of devoting thousands of words to. But, yeah, I think the lack of up front capital is what keeps these companies with âplansâ from truly ever being able to follow through on them.
And given that these are multi billion dollar media compnaies, with far more resources than any publisher*, even more infuriating.
though I bet most of those publishers are owned by someone bigger âŠ
You make it sound like this is new⊠This attitude from the big two is there from the moment they got started back in the 1930s.
Donât you remember how Stan Lee was making it up as he went along in the silver age of Marvel Bullpen? How the Golden age for both companies was mostly trial and error on a constant basis: the DC implosion? The post COIE continuity? Bill Jemas? I could give you dozens more illustrations of this.
Bottom line is, they donât publish books, they publish Periodicals. Thatâs a whole different ballgame.
This may look worse now because, you know, more books, more visibility due to social media, but this is hardly new.
Only one notable difference I could point out though: In the old days, both DC and Marvel were run by Finance people, up until Ike Perlmutter and Jenette Kahn; now theyâre run by overgrown fanboys. Thatâs about it. Everything else is pretty much the same.
I agree on all counts. My issue is with the inability to successfully execute something they specifically have planned for years. Not that any of this is necessarily easy, but the inability to follow through on plans is ironic.
I didnât get that impression. I donât think he thinks itâs new which makes it even worse as there have been decades to adapt.
Fanboys, ânuff said.
Businesses should be run by business people in a totally dispassionate way, and the creative side kept separate.
Then again, comics buyers are a captive audience for the most part, so why bother managing properly. Thatâs not where the real money is anymore, after all.