Marvel Comics Chief Creative Officer and former Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada must be having a particularly boring Sunday, because he’s taken to Twitter to discuss the comics business with fans and fellow industry professionals. In one notable thread, Quesada reveals his philosophy on who Marvel should cater to (hardcore fans) and whether or not the fondly remembered days of the newsstands were as rosy as people remember (he says they were not).
It started with a question from Comic Book Addicts about the possibility of Marvel returning to the glory days of the 1990s speculators boom.
@JoeQuesada Do you think comic book sales will ever go back to numbers of early 90s?
— Comic Book Addicts (@comicbookaddt) January 28, 2018
Of course, Marvel seems to have spent the past decade doing its best to copy the techniques used in the ’90s, from #1 issue reboots to holographic variant covers to super-mega-crossover events, but according to Quesada, it’s a pointless endeavor because those comics weren’t selling to actual readers.
@comicbookaddt Right. And the sales of the 1980s weree double the number of readers because of how newsstands worked, and the extra copies were destroyed!
— Steve Horton (@tropicalsteve) January 28, 2018
Though superstar 90s writer and Liefeld Lottery winner Fabian Nicieza chimed in with a bit of a correction for Quesada and comic creator Steve Horton:
What I meant was, the print run didn't correspond to actual readers. Even the sales to newsstands didn't, as front covers were routinely stripped and returned in large numbers.
— Steve Horton (@tropicalsteve) January 28, 2018
Quesada explained further, revealing his belief that it’s the “hardcore fans” who drive the comics business.
Here's the interesting thing about comics that I don't think we often realize but that I love. The actual consumer pattern, the act of buying comics if your a hardcore fan is unlike any purchasing pattern I'm aware of. https://t.co/kRI71oaO5V
— JoeQuesada (@JoeQuesada) January 28, 2018
First let me define a few things. By hardcore fan I mean a person who loves getting there fix as close to pub date as possible. Casual hardcores pop in once in a while to see what's new or if the latest TPB or OGN has shipped. https://t.co/kRI71oaO5V
— JoeQuesada (@JoeQuesada) January 28, 2018
Casuals are basically that, if they've seen a movie, hear of something cool, interesting or controversial, they look for a title. There are shades in-between and digital may be a little different but lets talk physical books and lets focus on hardcores. https://t.co/kRI71oaO5V
— JoeQuesada (@JoeQuesada) January 28, 2018
Hardcore fans to me run our business. Every Wednesday new product comes out, and every Wednesday or thereabouts customers show up to shops looking for that product. https://t.co/kRI71oaO5V
— JoeQuesada (@JoeQuesada) January 28, 2018
Lets think about that. What thing that you buy that is not a necessity like groceries do you go out on the same day of the week, every week to buy? That is a tremendous amount of motivation to get something when people aren't really motivated to leave their house for anything! https://t.co/kRI71oaO5V
— JoeQuesada (@JoeQuesada) January 28, 2018
It's an amazing thing when you think about it, the love that so many people have for the medium. And then there are those who don't live near a store who get their books sent or get them digitally, it's pretty awesome but those are real readers. https://t.co/kRI71oaO5V
— JoeQuesada (@JoeQuesada) January 28, 2018
And while the newsstand holds a warm place in the hearts of those that remember them, or the check out aisle at the local drug store, it was a dreadful business to be in… that's why newsstands are virtually extinct, the business model sucked for publishers. https://t.co/kRI71oaO5V
— JoeQuesada (@JoeQuesada) January 28, 2018
Sorry another longwinded way of saying, you're right Steve! https://t.co/kRI71oaO5V
— JoeQuesada (@JoeQuesada) January 28, 2018
So there you have it.
Though, we are left with the question: if Joe Quesada doesn’t think it’s worthwhile to spike sales numbers if actual readers aren’t buying the books, why does that seem, to us at least, to be the core of Marvel’s business strategy, pressuring retailers into ordering more copies of books that they can’t sell by using incentive variant covers, relaunches, and super-mega-crossover events?
Some questions, we may never know the answer to.
About Jude Terror
A prophecy says that in the comic book industry's darkest days, a hero will come to lead the people through a plague of overpriced floppies, incentive variant covers, #1 issue reboots, and super-mega-crossover events.
Scourge of Rich Johnston, maker of puns, and seeker of the Snyder Cut, Jude Terror, sadly, is not the hero comics needs right now... but he's the one the industry deserves.