I agree with you completely.  In these days when everything is financially tighter, Marvel are slowly hiking up their prices and churning out more crap or variant covers.  Part of me understands that they have to produce more because they don't have Warners to back them up if anything goes wrong, but surely Marvel has received a hefty bonus from the Iron Man proceeds (and will soon again with Wolverine). So they're not exactly fighting off Bankruptcy any more... Long gone are the days of 'quality over quantity'.  

I'm not too worried about losing Robin and Nightwing's books.  Remember, both of those characters are now much more central to the mainline Batman books.  The massive restructuring going on isn't just financial, its also to support the upcoming series of storylines.

"I'm not too worried about losing Robin and Nightwing's books.  Remember, both of those characters are now much more central to the mainline Batman books.  The massive restructuring going on isn't just financial, its also to support the upcoming series of storylines."

"I agree with you completely.  In these days when everything is financially tighter, Marvel are slowly hiking up their prices and churning out more crap or variant covers.  Part of me understands that they have to produce more because they don't have Warners to back them up if anything goes wrong, but surely Marvel has received a hefty bonus from the Iron Man proceeds (and will soon again with Wolverine). So they're not exactly fighting off Bankruptcy any more... Long gone are the days of 'quality over quantity'.  

There was a time when I would have bought all the variant covers to the titles that I regularly bought.  Hell, there was a time when I tried to buy all the No Man's Land tie-ins, and ended up giving away some of the smaller/less relevant stories before the year was out.  Now I just seem to buy what I can get my hands on.  I just wish that Marvel would stop looking at their customers as fan-boys who are easily fleeced, instead of loyal customers.  Does the Messiah War Cable/X-Force cross-over really demand a variant to every issue?  Do the general public deserve a 'Wolverine Appreciation Month' to con them into buying non-Wolverine related titles after they've seen the film?

"

I don't see what's wrong with Marvel still offering lots of titles. It just gives you more choice for what you do want to buy, even if you don't buy as many comics as usual.

"Gloom said:

"I don't see what's wrong with Marvel still offering lots of titles. It just gives you more choice for what you do want to buy, even if you don't buy as many comics as usual. "

for me personally, I see the problem being them offering so many comics and with money as it is, they're offering a lot of comics you want to read, but can't because of finances...though that may not be the problem IE's referring to...I think variant covers are a waste myself, as for reprints, well if they need a reprint, than those should be the titles they dedicate their efforts towards I guess"

Dark X-men is gonna be awesome though

"I don't see what's wrong with Marvel still offering lots of titles. It just gives you more choice for what you do want to buy, even if you don't buy as many comics as usual. "

"Dark X-men is gonna be awesome though"

"Dark X-men is gonna be awesome though"

I used to spend triple digits on books every month buying quicker than I could read them. I used to care about alternate covers. Things have certainly changed since then. Back then, I used to actually like a lot of the books I'd buy. Now, it seems there's a lot more crap to sift through and you're right.  Just because it involves your adored favorites doesn't necessarily mean it's going to hold up.  I have a hard time making the call when I follow artists as much as writers. If I loved one, the other didn't matter. Things are way different now and it almost feels like a chore visiting my LCS.

*sigh* I miss the days when I could wander in a shop, randomly grab something that catches my eye and not feel any guilt at all if it turned out horrible. Today the pangs are more real and that wasted money could have bought me lunch or something worth reading.

It's interesting to see how the two companies are dealing with it. We have one pulling in the reigns, and the other cutting lose. As long as I have something good to read, I'll be happy. I just hope the indy publishers weather out this storm, too. I already have too many unfinished treasures lining my bookshelves.

"MrMiracle77 said:

"I'm not too worried about losing Robin and Nightwing's books.  Remember, both of those characters are now much more central to the mainline Batman books.  The massive restructuring going on isn't just financial, its also to support the upcoming series of storylines."

Yes, it is to support BFTC, but at the same time, they were two of DCs lesser selling books, especially in the Gotham Department. Prior to the cut DC had these Gotham/Bat books, Detective, Batman, All Star Batman, Robin, Nightwing, Birds of Prey, Batman/Superman, Batman Confidential and a few mini-series. Cutting out Robin, Nightwing, & BOP not only saves them a chunk of change, but it also does help support BFTC. I'm sure a Nightwing or Robin book will resurface after BFTC though.

"I used to spend triple digits on books every month buying quicker than I could read them. I used to care about alternate covers. Things have certainly changed since then. Back then, I used to actually like a lot of the books I'd buy. Now, it seems there's a lot more crap to sift through and you're right.  Just because it involves your adored favorites doesn't necessarily mean it's going to hold up.  I have a hard time making the call when I follow artists as much as writers. If I loved one, the other didn't matter. Things are way different now and it almost feels like a chore visiting my LCS. *sigh* I miss the days when I could wander in a shop, randomly grab something that catches my eye and not feel any guilt at all if it turned out horrible. Today the pangs are more real and that wasted money could have bought me lunch or something worth reading.It's interesting to see how the two companies are dealing with it. We have one pulling in the reigns, and the other cutting lose. As long as I have something good to read, I'll be happy. I just hope the indy publishers weather out this storm, too. I already have too many unfinished treasures lining my bookshelves. "

I don't know about Robin and BOP but Nightwing was selling relatively speaking quite well, before his cancel a friend showed me a chart saying that they were selling a little over 50,000 units, while the lesser selling books of DC like Jonah Hex that are selling 11,000 are still going without plans to stop that"

"Nighthunter said:

I don't know about Robin and BOP but Nightwing was selling relatively speaking quite well, before his cancel a friend showed me a chart saying that they were selling a little over 50,000 units, while the lesser selling books of DC like Jonah Hex that are selling 11,000 are still going without plans to stop that"

Right, but if Nightwing becomes the new Batman the portion of those 50,000 fans who weren't already buying Batman books will switch over.BoP, I suspect, is just on hiatus while Babs is out looking for 'The Cure'."

"MrMiracle77 said:

"Nighthunter said:

I don't know about Robin and BOP but Nightwing was selling relatively speaking quite well, before his cancel a friend showed me a chart saying that they were selling a little over 50,000 units, while the lesser selling books of DC like Jonah Hex that are selling 11,000 are still going without plans to stop that"

Right, but if Nightwing becomes the new Batman the portion of those 50,000 fans who weren't already buying Batman books will switch over.BoP, I suspect, is just on hiatus while Babs is out looking for 'The Cure'."

what I'm saying is that it wasn't because of sales that it was cancelled"

Newsarama asked Didio and I don't remember who of them gave the numbers but they said 11k, it was a question regarding why Jonah Hex keeps going while Manhunter and Blue Beetle do not when they have almost the same sales numbers, according to me it's nopt about the movie (which I also thought it was and in some way must influate) but that they chose to keep the variety in their genres so they need a western and they say that Jonah Hex is an awesome western

I feel bad for the 14 year old Wolverine fan that has to somehow come up with enough money to buy the 10 books he's in every month. I don't feel bad for anyone flushing money on variants, reprints if they already have the issue, or the Secret Invasion tie-ins.

There's a certain degree of personal choice involved here, people have got to pick their spots as a collector or be willing to sacrifice the dough for obsessively needing every variant, reprint, etc. Marvel has to push paper somehow. That they resort to variants to do it sucks but if collectors weren't buying them, I'd imagine they'd stop printing them.

Good work on linking to all those issues btw.

Yeah I totally agree, Marvel puts out too much especially when they do major crossovers, which seems to be at a constant rate for them. We've pretty much gone from major event to major event without anything in between and they all seem to involve every book ever. My favourite marvel book is actually Marvel Adventures: Avengers. Yeah its literally targetted at kids but I get to see all my favourite avengers characters and the story is finished by the end, no one gets killed off for shock value and theres usually a guest star that doesnt crossover into their own book, its a sweet deal.

"I feel bad for the 14 year old Wolverine fan that has to somehow come up with enough money to buy the 10 books he's in every month. I don't feel bad for anyone flushing money on variants, reprints if they already have the issue, or the Secret Invasion tie-ins. There's a certain degree of personal choice involved here, people have got to pick their spots as a collector or be willing to sacrifice the dough for obsessively needing every variant, reprint, etc. Marvel has to push paper somehow. That they resort to variants to do it sucks but if collectors weren't buying them, I'd imagine they'd stop printing them.Good work on linking to all those issues btw."

"Yeah I totally agree, Marvel puts out too much especially when they do major crossovers, which seems to be at a constant rate for them. We've pretty much gone from major event to major event without anything in between and they all seem to involve every book ever. My favourite marvel book is actually Marvel Adventures: Avengers. Yeah its literally targetted at kids but I get to see all my favourite avengers characters and the story is finished by the end, no one gets killed off for shock value and theres usually a guest star that doesnt crossover into their own book, its a sweet deal."

I can't quit at anytime. *eye twitch*

"I can't quit at anytime. *eye twitch*"

Exactly, lol. I would like to think I could quit anytime, but there's always something that comes along that latches onto to my purse viciously grabbing at the green and clawing for the plastic. *sigh*

Well, I dunno about that.  I say we all take out loans and then invest it all in Marvel comics... if we spend spend spend then we can help improve the economy.  Marvel is just doing the good American thing by creating more products to sell to help out the economy in this time of need.

It is up to us to spend as much money on Marvel's comics.  They've done their part.  heck if we use up our loans and cannot pay it back, we can always get a bail out.  Once we get that money we can spend it on the DC comics!

:)