What’s the current status on your Micro Comic Fun Pack line?
Bennington: We had intermittently put out some launches the last couple of years. We’ve had okay success to very good success depending on the title and timing. We’ve played around with the format quite a bit, trying unique and different ways to stimulate purchasing and getting the consumers involved with it more. We were quiet, for about eight months we hadn’t released one. We sat down and said, let’s look at the information that we’ve learned over the last couple of years, and try come up with a format, to get back to the goals and objectives that we had for this product line, and apply it.
One of the big things is that we really want to use this format to engage new readers into comics, particularly younger demographics, being able to expose them to comic content, especially in places where they may not be totally familiar with it, whether it be at a mass market or specialty store, like a Walmart, Target or Toys R Us. But even when you walk into a comic store, there are some people that this is a type of product that they can enjoy and learn very quickly what comics are all about.
Where are you with the format now? How many pages? Is it one panel per page, or how do you handle the story?
We just basically keep it at the same format. Depending on the word balloons, we will re-balloon the whole comic. If the balloons are fairly low in count we can bring it down in size and do nothing. For our Star Wars line (see “IDW Gets 'Star Wars'”), we did not have the luxury of doing any re-ballooning on that because those comics were originally released back in the 70s. We bring them down in size and make them a little more pocket sized. We try to do stand-alone stories and not “to be continued” cliffhangers because you buy one and there’s a chance you may not buy the second, third or fourth one and it allows you to get a complete story in one comic.
So you shrink it down and that’s still a full page?
Absolutely. A full page at exactly the way it was originally intended, originally produced. And then page count is generally between 16 and 22 pages. We don’t trim them down, they’re not abridged, just reformatted in a smaller package.
What’s the price point?
$3.99.
So what’s changing with this new approach?
We’ve tried to add more collectability to them by adding incremental bonus items beyond the units you’ve purchased. Let’s say there’s six different comics. We’ve played around with having 12 different posters or 24 different posters, or trading cards, tattoos, but they were beyond the scope of the number of packs you would buy to build a set, so if you bought all three comics you’d have to keep buying them in order to get all of the bonus items. We played around with it that way to mixed results.
Was that with a blind pack and rarity scheme?
Yes. We’ve done it with a foil pack for Star Wars which had trading cards that were randomly inserted, that’s why they were blinded foil. And then we’ve done them in the cello pack, but still had it blind because you couldn’t see the bonus item that was sandwiched between the poster and the comic.
What we got back to was, it’s a beginning collector. If there were four or six different comics, buy your four or six comics and have your set complete. Don’t make them chase and spend more dollars to try to pick up some bonus item. Really get it back to getting it to focus on getting the comics. The new format we have now is when you buy a Fun Pack, you get your comic, you get your poster, you can get an oversized card or perhaps a sticker sheet, but it’s the same for that comic. So if I buy the four or six-pack of comics, I know what I’m getting and don’t have to keep buying multiple units in order to keep enjoying what’s in the pack.
You mentioned that a particular comic range might have six comics in it. Is that like six comics from a story arc?
More often than not, they’re all single issue stand-alone stories so one isn’t dependent on the next pack to it. You read it, and if you like the format, buy another pack spotlighting maybe a different character or different story and it will be done within that one comic.
What about Star Wars?
Star Wars is formatted slightly different because it generally doesn’t have stand-alone single issues, although we are going to put out a Fun Pack based on the relaunch of those new #1s, called Star Wars Icons. Those will be the first issues that introduce those characters to the storylines. There will be a Darth Vader issue, Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia. Each of those were designed to get you introduced into the story. I believe they do have cliffhangers but if you want to read it, go buy the trade paperback.
When does that come out?
November.
Here’s our releases plan between now and first quarter next year. We’re going to be launching a new My Little Pony Pack, followed up by Star Wars. Those will be out by November. We have a Power Puff Girls and a Disney pack. It’s Classic Disney. Those two will be out at the end of December. Early next year, brand new, we have Hello Kitty partnering with VIZ Comics. That’s scheduled for February.
When I spoke to Ted earlier this year, he said you have a Skylanders pack coming out (see "ICv2 Interview: IDW's Ted Adams--Part 1"). Is that out yet?
That one was a Toys "R" Us exclusive that we partnered with Activision on. That ships in October/first week of November. That is an exclusive for all Toys “R” Us stores in the U.S. and Canada. The content that was created in the Fun Pack was included as well. It’s not a repurposed Skylanders story, it’s an original story, three different issues written specifically for this product launch. It’s a comic, poster, and it will be packaged with a Skylanders toy.
He was saying you’re trying to do a lot of retailer exclusives on these, trying to line up with a mass merchant to really get behind the product. Are the other ones you’ve mentioned retailer exclusives too?
The lines that we have are standard for retail, none of them are exclusive. They’re predominantly hobby and specialty. We will have some sales into mass market but that’s all title dependent and time dependent.
So not all of those products will go into the mass market?
No. That applies intermittently on different titles. Right now, the Pony Packs, the Star Wars Pack, and Disney are all hobby-only. The Skylanders, Power Puff Girls, and Hello Kitty are being solicited to mass, but they haven’t made the commitment yet.
What’s the support been like from the hobby channel?
It’s been very good. I find that stores that utilize the value of them being packed in a color display box find them being a good impulse purchase at the register. So when used appropriately, like packaging them and putting them right near the register, they sell extremely well. If you hide them, put them on a shelf somewhere, it reduces the impulsivity of it and the results of the turnover aren’t as favorable as the store could have enjoyed. But the fact that they’re in the color display box does help a lot. Because not a lot of stores peg things.
They’re specifically well designed for entry level collectors of comics looking for new customers that are coming into the stores. There’s a lot of offerings in a comics store and we provide a great way to help a customer walk away with something that is not a huge commitment.
Are you selling those into both comics and game stores?
All levels of hobby in comics and gaming.
Is specialty retail doing anything with Fun Packs?
If I recall, we have on Star Wars packs, we’re going to have sell-in to the ThinkGeek stores. They’re going to be bringing it into all of their locations.
How many releases are you doing a year for Fun Packs?
Our target right now is to come up with six and seven releases a year, approximately a bi-monthly strategy but also focused on the time of year as well. The plan is having two more incremental launches in the back half of the year when you move into the holiday season and foot traffic is a little heavier and then back off as we head into the beginning of the year in the spring. Then come back with maybe one in the summer. Summer seems to be a lighter time for these types of items. Traditional, just like toy-buying season, spring and fall tend to be the heavier cycles.
Other than Star Wars, have you licensed from other publishers?
The one for Hello Kitty is a partnership with VIZ Comics.
Is that going to be a growing area, bringing in other people’s content and repackaging it?
It hasn’t been a large focus because we have a substantial library of IDW titles, but if the opportunity is right and it makes sense, we’re certainly looking at that as another option.
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