Retailer Russ Toney of C&C Comics in St. Albans, West Virginia alerted us to the Walmart reprints of the Marvel Ultimate #1s (see 'Marvel Reprints Ultimate #1s for Walmart').  He also had some comments on the situation, which are reproduced here.

 

 

So much for Marvel's no reprint policy. I guess that changing the name

from Ultimate Spider-Man to Ultimate Spider-Man Special Edition does not make it a reprint?

 

As a retailer I want to attract new readers, attract readers from other areas, from people who never though of reading a comic. I want to bring back the former reader who gave up on comics. I want to attract the kid to comics, instead of the latest Playstation game. But when one of these [potential customers] hears all the reviews, all the excitement about the Ultimate Spider-man and Ultimate X-Men, and then tries to get the back issues and learns the price that they are going for, shock sets in. They are driven away and more than likely they will not come back, as well as those they tell. If the comic retailer had these reprints of the titles we could sell them to the new reader, get them excited, get them talking and most of all get them to buy more of these titles and many more.

 

And guess what? This means that I make more, the retailer down the street makes more, the hobby makes more. We get new readers. And believe it or not MARVEL will make more in the future, due to new readers that are not turned off because they cannot find the issues.

 

All this makes one wonder what will turn up next, what comic that Marvel has stated will NEVER be reprinted. Maybe Origin?

 

It seems that no matter what happens, Marvel finds a way around the questions. I wonder what the answer to this will be?