Daniel McAbee of The Tangled Web in Spartanburg, South Carolina saw Marvel COO Bill Jemas' remarks on ordering Namor #2 (see 'Namor 25 Cent Book Kicks Off 'Tsunami'') and had this response.

I find myself listening to Bill Jemas (once again) belittle the intelligence of Comic Retailers in general and thought I would give my thoughts on my M-Q or 'Marvel-IQ'.

Jemas is still playing the part of the Vince McMahon Jr. and he still seems to think we are his wrestling audience.  He seems to believe that inciting the fans/retailers with insults and inflammatory comments will get us talking about his product, thus generating free publicity for his products.  To his credit, he is right on most counts...but the publicity doesn't seem to be good.  If Jemas believes that ANY publicity is good publicity, then I guess I understand what he is doing; I just disagree with his methods.  Bill Jemas likes to muddy the waters and use diversionary tactics to keep us looking elsewhere while he pulls the rabbit from his hat.  Controversy seems to conveniently pop up to distract us from the price increases and the late ship dates that are more and more frequent.

After taking all of these things into consideration, I decided that I needed to make a list of what Marvel DOES for me to help me determine how to order shelf copies of their titles.  Feel free to use this list if it helps you in ordering your extra copies.

Marvel DOES make me lots of money each and every month. (and I am thankful for it)

Marvel DOES put out more high quality books than their competition currently does. (IMHO)

Marvel DOES have some of the best creators in the business creating for them.

Marvel also DOES a few things that the other companies DO NOT do:

Marvel DOES force me to order upcoming books WITHOUT any useful content information in Previews.

Marvel DOES print to order keeping reorder copies, and in many cases, shortage/damage replacements unavailable to me.

Marvel DOES ship more 'high profile' comics LATE than any other company (Spider-Man: Blue, Daredevil: Target, Black Cat EMD, to name a few).

Marvel DOES force the retailer to bear the COMPLETE burden for pre-ordering these same comics listed above.

I can only speak for myself and my own store in regards to my M-Q.  After ordering lots of extra Truth based on Marvel's declaration of a HUGE media blitz for this book (that apparently happened while I went to the restroom), I have decided to go and look at the STACKS of Truth 1's and 2's sitting in my back room every time Marvel wants me to make an order on 'faith'.  

I will order HUNDREDS of Namor #1 (25 cent issue) and I will give them away to my customers to promote the title as we have done with the previous 'cent' books, but if my M-Q score is based on how many 'faith' copies of Namor #2 that I will order for the shelf...