Mark Craddock of Comic Book World, Inc. saw John Riley's comments about the limited availability of Captain America #25 (see 'Sharpening the Sword--Captain America Died') and agrees that not being able to reorder such a popular title hurts business:
I read Mr. Riley's thoughts on Marvel and Captain
My frustration is compounded by the fact that, DC Comic's 52, has been on time EVERY SINGLE WEEK. It's top quality and I can reorder EVERY SINGLE ISSUE. But our industry has been hooked by a mini-series that not only couldn't be published on time, but affected a large portion of Marvel's publishing schedule, and according to interviews, delayed the return of Thor and now means we move right from Civil War to World War Hulk. Now obviously Marvel's sales indicate that events like House of M and Civil War were successful, but events like Secret Wars and even Secret Wars II were successful twenty years ago. However, at some point we'll get diminishing returns and then we'll all be stuck with more fodder for our dollar bins.
At the very least, maybe Marvel could have publicized it like DC did with the Death of Superman BEFORE it occurred. Or given our industry a twenty-four-hour note, say in the form of a message through Diamond Comics. I'm glad to sell out on a title, but I prefer to do it around week 5 or 6, not in hour 3. And I would think that Marvel would prefer to sell the larger print run that this event would have supported.
Events are fine, but at the end of the day, I'd much prefer a sales tool that is dependable and encourages my customers to come see me every week and from a publisher that has enough faith in its product to allow me to have it in stock.
The opinions expressed in this Talk Back article are solely those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial staff of ICv2.com.
