What's new with the big two: Marvel and DC Comics discussion thread.

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Darrin Kelley
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Re: What's new with the big two: Marvel and DC Comics discussion thread.

Post by Darrin Kelley »

DC pulled the plug. Ended the Diamond monopoly in one swift stroke. Now it is up to the remaining comic book stores to see if they can survive without that monopoly.

If they can weather the short term losses, this means that Diamond and the industry as a whole will soon be forced to reduce cover prices to a reasonably affordable level. Which will be nothing but good for the comics customer in the long run.

The prices had been way too inflated for decades. And Diamond was gouging both comic book stores and customers with high prices. This starts a change that was really needed before the '90s. Course correction for the whole industry that has been needed for way too long.
Jabroniville
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Re: What's new with the big two: Marvel and DC Comics discussion thread.

Post by Jabroniville »

Are they definitely, 100% going to be cheaper? Stuff doesn't just scale back in price very often.
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squirrelly-sama
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Re: What's new with the big two: Marvel and DC Comics discussion thread.

Post by squirrelly-sama »

Jabroniville wrote: Mon Jun 08, 2020 12:24 am Are they definitely, 100% going to be cheaper? Stuff doesn't just scale back in price very often.
It tends to when a monopoly gets broken. Monopolies set the price to as high as they can get away with because they have no competition, once other people are able to get into a new and potentially big market share they try their hardest to undersell everyone else in said market share in order to secure a good spot while they can before things settle into place and the market can determine the most stable price for it.

However it does depend on there being existing potential competitors that can pounce on the opportunity, and their ability to do so. If there's neither then things will mostly stay the same.
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saint_matthew
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Re: What's new with the big two: Marvel and DC Comics discussion thread.

Post by saint_matthew »

squirrelly-sama wrote: Mon Jun 08, 2020 5:53 amIt tends to when a monopoly gets broken.
Sure, but as I understand it this isn't really breaking the monopoly, it's simply replacing one monopoly with another monopoly, at least it will be once Diamond collapses, which given that they've just lost roughly a third of their revenue from DC's departure, is pretty likely at this point.

Because comic stores won't get to pick & choose which distributor they want, they'll either be in distributor A's territory, or distributor B's territory, which is just a case of "meet the new boss, exactly like the old boss."

Sure the new monopoly might be marginally cheaper due to newer plant & business model, but it'll still basically be the same exact monopoly, just with a smaller area of coverage.

At least that's how I understand it's being run, but please someone correct me if I've got the wrong end of the stick.
Darrin Kelley
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Re: What's new with the big two: Marvel and DC Comics discussion thread.

Post by Darrin Kelley »

Actually, the Distributors that DC is using together cover the entire United States. They have one for each coast. With each of them meeting somewhere in the middle. So there is no loss of coverage at all for the United States.

Midtown Comics owns one of the Distributors. And they have been coordinating the whole thing. Getting things set up.

I'm not ready to speculate on how the market will be impacted or changed. But this is one huge rock dropped in the water. Time will tell in how this plays out.

DC may be only the first to leave DIamond.
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Ares
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Re: What's new with the big two: Marvel and DC Comics discussion thread.

Post by Ares »

So they finally released a new issue of the Shazam series, and while I'm not a fan of the book at all, I have to admit I was curious how Johns was going to resolve the crisis he set up and I'm even slightly curious how the whole Superboy Prime thing would go down.

So how does it all get resolved?

It doesn't. Issue 12 is a fill-in issue that takes place before the first issue, and is . . . well, it's terrible. It takes the fun concept of Billy teaming up with Batman and just completely wastes it.

The issue opens up with one of the Crocodile Men (Golden Age Captain Marvel foes that are actually aliens) showing up and threatening people. Billy and Freddy are there, and Billy transforms to fight the alien. The fight is over shortly, and Freddy comments about how Billy's villains are lame. Billy defends himself and says that his enemies are cool, to which Freddy says "You have two cool villains: Dr. Sivana and Black Adam."

"What about Mr. Mind?"

"You fight a smart bug. Do you want that to count?"

And Freddy then goes on to say how Batman, Superman and even Wonder Woman has better villains than Billy.

This . . . actually made me mad. I looked up the writer, Jeff Loveness, and shock of shocks, he wrote for Jimmy Kimmel and Rick and Morty. It comes off as mean-spirited, but I will agree. Nu-Shazam has terrible villains. Meanwhile I'd argue Captain Marvel has a collection of villains at least as good as Superman or Wonder Woman, if not better.

In any case, Freddy tells Billy that he has lame villains because he never really does anything with his powers, and that he needs to grow up. So Billy decides to go to Gotham to show what he can do against some "real" villains. Freddy calls him on the phone, they have banter about how "it's against the rules to just go fight crime in another hero's city", and Billy winds up looking like an idiot because he apparently doesn't go on patrols or now how to look for a crime.

Eventually he finds the Scarecrow, who's set a trap for Batman. Billy just barges in and gets a face full of Fear Gas, which makes Billy start to hallucinate.

I remind you, Billy's powerset includes "The Courage of Achilles". He should be immune to this.

Batman shows up, and Billy's freak out distracts Batman enough that the Scarecrow can hit Batman with the fear gas too.

Billy is shown drowning in his fear, but somehow he's able to "connect" with Bruce, see Bruce's own fear, and feeding off of each other, the pair are able to overcome the fear and defeat Scarecrow.

Afterwards they have a heart to heart, with Billy again talking about how lame it was that all he did was punch a crocodile man. Batman tells Billy that he fights a crocodile man (Killer Croc) all the time. But more to the point, Batman talks about how when he lost his parents, he felt like he was forced to grow up and become who he is, and that Billy should take his time to decide what he wants to be.

Billy agrees, then asks if this counts as a team up. Batman says "no" and leaves, while Billy says "Definitely counts as a team up".

I get what they were trying for, but it's again really sad how a direct to video LEGO movie does a better job of capturing the character than professional writers. Heck, the team-up with Billy and Batman is better in the movie as well.

This was just bad.
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greycrusader
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Re: What's new with the big two: Marvel and DC Comics discussion thread.

Post by greycrusader »

That...is dreck. DC shouldn't have accepted that script even if every available regular title writer took ill and and the only person left was an intern fresh out of school.

A writer who clearly couldn't be bothered to do the least bit of research on Captain Marvel (or Junior), just wanted to toss off a little "Damn, Batman is cool!" story, and clearly didn't even put effort into that.

At least I don't know how much he got overpaid for this, because otherwise I'd be freaking depressed.

All my best.
greycrusader
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Re: What's new with the big two: Marvel and DC Comics discussion thread.

Post by greycrusader »

IBAC? Mr. Atom? Kull the Beastman? Oggar the Immortal? The Red Crusher? Captain Nazi? The Seven Deadly Sins? Chain Lightning? Indestructible Man? Levram the evil Captain Marvel? Circe?

And I'm not even the big Cap fan Aries is.

All my best.
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Ken
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Re: What's new with the big two: Marvel and DC Comics discussion thread.

Post by Ken »

No one is as big a Captain Marvel as Aries. I know for this place I rank pretty high, but Aries is #1.
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Ares
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Re: What's new with the big two: Marvel and DC Comics discussion thread.

Post by Ares »

Heh, yeah, I take my whole love of Cap and the Marvel Family to ridiculous levels ar times. With few exceptions, the last 15 years have been pretty rough. Luckily there's always a few bright spots here and there. And you guys to help me vent.
"My heart is as light as a child's, a feeling I'd nearly forgotten. And by helping those in need, I will be able to keep that feeling alive."
- Captain Marvel SHAZAM! : Power of Hope (2000)

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Ken
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Re: What's new with the big two: Marvel and DC Comics discussion thread.

Post by Ken »

Darrin Kelley wrote: Sun Jun 07, 2020 2:39 pm DC pulled the plug. Ended the Diamond monopoly in one swift stroke. Now it is up to the remaining comic book stores to see if they can survive without that monopoly.

If they can weather the short term losses, this means that Diamond and the industry as a whole will soon be forced to reduce cover prices to a reasonably affordable level. Which will be nothing but good for the comics customer in the long run.

The prices had been way too inflated for decades. And Diamond was gouging both comic book stores and customers with high prices. This starts a change that was really needed before the '90s. Course correction for the whole industry that has been needed for way too long.
The comics industry has been living in a Jim Jones Town compound for decades, and the only reason it is still here is because they can't decide on what flavour of Flavor-Aid to use.
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When the most powerful super hero on Earth marries an ordinary man, hilarity ensues.
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Voltron64
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Re: What's new with the big two: Marvel and DC Comics discussion thread.

Post by Voltron64 »

Denny O'Neil has passed away at 81.

https://www.cbr.com/denny-oneil-dies-at-81/

The man almost single-handedly started the DC Bronze Age with his works on Batman and GA.

Man will be missed.
greycrusader
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Re: What's new with the big two: Marvel and DC Comics discussion thread.

Post by greycrusader »

Yeah, Denny O'Neil was a giant in the industry. It's not as if he were a young man, but he's still going to be missed.
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Ken
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Re: What's new with the big two: Marvel and DC Comics discussion thread.

Post by Ken »

He's been missed.
My Amazing Woman: a super-hero romantic comedy podcast.

When the most powerful super hero on Earth marries an ordinary man, hilarity ensues.
Shock
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Re: What's new with the big two: Marvel and DC Comics discussion thread.

Post by Shock »

DC put out first issues of a whole bunch of new comics today, free on Comixology. There's a "For Kids" batch and a "For Young Adults" batch.
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