*biting my nails hoping that I don't lose the Sonic comic when this is over.

 

British Comic Shops Can Open Back Up on June 15th, Boris Says So

 

Here it is.

 

Geppi is really milking this virus to increase his profile.

 

DC Comics and All WarnerMedia Employees Working From Home Till 2021

 

Nah. The comic shops don't matter.

Shouldn't matter, anyway.

It's just the nerddom tunnel vision resulting in an insistence of heading into this dead end again and again resulting the industry barely making it.

But the business conservatism of the industry showed that it, frankly, deserves to die out.

Diamond+comic book shops=/=comics.

 

Cheap assurance. They never cared.

 

Wonder if there's a chance that certain comic divisions over at other countries will end up making books/graphic novels of certain Marvel,and DC characters should both companies fold up here in America? Like how Marvel's having some manga be made of some of their characters like Spider Man recently.

 

There is zero chance of Marvel and DC folding.

 

You'd be surprised, they are owned by two different mega corporations who owe shit loads of money. Neither Marvel or DC make them much profit, but cost a lot and at best are breaking even. AT&T/Time Warner, owes a lot from all the mergers, what they have going for them is that they also sell internet and phone coverage, which wasn't affected by the recent down turn. However their movie and TV divisions were. (Not to mention comics as well). So they are down in profit and will have to start streamlining and merging accets. I expect them to merge all their various streaming services with HBO Max with in a year or two to save money.

Marvel may be in the most danger right now, Disney lost money like water over the virus. They had to borrow something like 50 Billion just to keep paying their creditors. That's like getting new credit cards to pay interest your old credit card bills. As such their credit rating is down big time. Disney obviously needs money. They owe way too much. Eventually they will have to start finding money to pay all these bills from both new and old creditors. They can't keep borrowing and they will now owe money to these groups for decades.

In both cases it would be cheaper for them to just shutter their comic companies and license out their characters to other companies to make comics. (basically other companies pay them to use their characters.) In that case comics don't cost them any money and they are making money by other companies making comics with DC or Marvel characters.

So while DC and Marvel characters will not be going away, you may not see them being done in house anymore.

Both these companies are no longer as profitable as they pretend and when the creditors come calling expect them to start making major moves. The bean counters will get their money one way or another.


Lots of companies are having to do this type stuff. Newsarama just announced today they are now part of Games radar.
Newsarama Is Joining the GamesRadar Team

 

This is an insane statement. The value of the IP overall is worth a ton more than any loss that might be happening in the print market. You keep that alive just to keep the IP going and it's worth every penny it might lose. And I'm not even convinced the losses exist as the Doom Sayers insist they do. But even granting the losses, HBO Max is not investing $30 million into a Snyder Cut because DC Comics is a money loser for their shared parent company.

A) It was only $5 billion, not $50 billion and B) it was a line of credit, to be held if needed. Which is like getting a credit card to...have a credit card on hand if you need it.

 

No they kept borrowing
They borrowed another 1.3 Billion from canada in addition to that first 6 billion(the five was only part of it.
Disney Raises $1.3 Billion in New Debt in Canada
Then they borrowed another 11 billion
Walt Disney Company Borrows $11 Billion In Order To Stabilize Itself | Inside the Magic
https://www.piratesandprincesses.ne...-help-mitigate-losses-from-covid-19-shutdown/

Not sure some say they borrowed money again others say they are stuck at 11 billion, so I may got the numbers jumbled a bit,Thought it was 2 times they borrowed 11 billion. but they borrowed a lot more than 5 billion. At the least they borrowed 5, then 1.3 billion, then 11 billion.
They are currently losing around 30 million a day.

As the New York times put it Disney is now fighting for it's life.
Bob Iger Thought He Was Leaving on Top. Now, He’s Fighting for Disney’s Life.
https://7news.com.au/business/finan...s-at-risk-from-coronavirus-disaster-c-1019599

Many of these companies are borrowing money like crazy
World’s top companies, including Apple, borrowed $1 trillion in just five months

The Ip has nothing to do with making comics either way they keep that. But the weekly selling of comics isn't making them a lot of money, ad they could actually earn money by jst letting other comic companies pay them to make comics of their characters. (They keep the IP the comic companies would be paying for them to use it) They currently do it all the time with IDW paying to make comics of Disney characters like Ducktales and even some marvel characters. They do this currently
Marvel Action | IDW Publishing
Disney | IDW Publishing

 

I didn't know that, thanks. But, all totaled, that's still a huge degree of margin from your $50 billion number.

And there's still the issue that Marvel and DC are worth a ton. They'll be sold off before they're closed up. They're too valuable to die.

 

As I said I keep seeing different articles on how much the borrowed, and it gets confusing as many start mixing in other companies and how much they borrowed into the mix. Then you have to keep checking back month by month.

They keep the IP either way as I just said,they wouldn't sell DC or Marvel, just shut down the comic divisions and stop self publishing. They wouldn't sell the characters just license them out like they do with toy companies like Hasboro or Mattel.
As said they currently do that with several Disney and some marvel characters to IDW
They could actually earn money by just letting other comic companies pay them to make comics of their characters. (They keep the IP the comic companies would be paying for them to use it) Lucas film did this for years with Dark Horse comics till Disney bought Star Wars. Then Marvel wanted to make comics and since Marvel was owned by Disney they said why not.

They currently do it all the time with IDW paying to make comics of Disney characters like Ducktales and even some marvel characters. They do this currently.
Marvel Action | IDW Publishing
Disney | IDW Publishing

 

I know they do that on a small scale now, but I don't think it will ever work as their new business model overall.

If Marvel (or DC) can't turn a profit with their characters by paying for an editor, a writer, an art team, printing, and marketing, then why would Company X publish those characters in a way that would require them to also pay an editor, a writer, an art team, printing, marketing AND ALSO a fee to Marvel for the right to do all that? It made sense for Lucasfilm (and Hasbro and a thousand other licenses) because they didn't have a comic publishing infrastructure. Marvel and DC obviously do.

If there's a way that Company X could make money publishing licensed Marvel comics, that's a model Marvel can copy. Now, that might mean huge changes at Marvel to adjust to that model - different distribution model, fewer execs (or less well paid execs), changes in page rates and cover prices, etc. For example, the IDW books you linked to are distributed to book stores through Penguin Random House. Which gives IDW a shot at a market Marvel doesn't reach as easily and makes the deal work for all involved. But if Marvel was looking at needing to stop publishing altogether, I think they'd be more likely to just evolve themselves*. After all, it would mean just as many huge changes to become a license-out only operation. So if you have to do the overhaul, why not opt for the overhaul that lets you keep everything in house and keep all the profit?

The irony is if Marvel made huge changes in either direction, it'd be claimed as evidence of collapse instead of proper business stewardship. Marvel and DC just can't win with a certain segment of fans.



*And this, BTW, is my prediction for the future of comics. Graphic novels are becoming a huge part of the book market. Marvel and DC are going to evolve their business model to become more like the traditional book publishers and become players in that market (DC has already begun. I predict Marvel will make big moves in that direction in the next couple of years.) This will, essentially, kill the comic book direct market and a lot of local comic stores, but Marvel, DC, and the comic book medium will survive.

 

Only time will tell what will happen, but if they keep doing what they are currently, they are doomed. I know too many people who dropped their pulls and no longer buy comics.