Comments on: Fast Action by Marvel Over the Spider-Man/Obama Comic

By: Ryan Day

Ryan Day — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 22:24:35 +0000

just think this is just another example of Marvel becoming more “disney” … money, money, money. T… but if I’m paying to read Spider-Man I don’t want to read the “Marvel Team-Up” of Spidey and America’s real life President

Indeed, I miss the days when superheroes had classy teamups, like with the cast of SNL, David Letterman, and Don Rickles.

By: Apodaca

Apodaca — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 07:20:44 +0000

"i just think this is just another example of Marvel becoming more “disney” … money, money, money. True, it’s a big deal Obama is the President, but cashing in on it is lame. I’ve been reading comic books for 30 years and I’m sorry to say I’m not interested in reading a comic book like this."

Then you should know that Marvel and Dc have both been primarily concerned with financial profit for decades. That was the whole reason for the 90's bust, remember?

This is not even anywhere close to being something new.

By: patrick

patrick — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 04:38:19 +0000

my comic book guy said that the 2nd printing was indeed coming out on the 21st

By: I AM FeAR

I AM FeAR — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 01:02:27 +0000

I'm not buying it, but I sure hope for the people who do that, for the increased cover price, the Obama story is at least worth the read, unlike the ridiculously stupid Colbert backup they did during New Ways To Die.

By: meh

meh — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 21:09:45 +0000

i just think this is just another example of Marvel becoming more "disney" ... money, money, money. True, it's a big deal Obama is the President, but cashing in on it is lame. I've been reading comic books for 30 years and I'm sorry to say I'm not interested in reading a comic book like this. It might be one thing if it was some special give-away thing given out at the inaugeration ... but if I'm paying to read Spider-Man I don't want to read the "Marvel Team-Up" of Spidey and America's real life President.

By: karl

karl — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 03:01:30 +0000

why is any store forced to sell this anyways? if they dont think the unused non-obama covers will make up for the variants they can get, then they should just ignore it and order their normal amount... if any store is left with an absurd number of unsold copies, then thats their fault for not gauging demand correctly.

people act as if stores have to do what marvel/diamon tells them to do... these stores (in theory) should be run by intelligent adults.

By: R

Sun, 11 Jan 2009 00:00:48 +0000

Nice to see Scooter Libby chipping in with his opinions, there!

By: Brian Cronin

Brian Cronin — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 23:38:53 +0000

williams, you are so far off-base that I really have to wonder if you're being willfully obtuse.

Amazing Spider-Man #575 was an ordinary issue of Amazing Spider-Man. Amazing Spider-Man #583 withOUT the special cover is now automatically a FAR MORE salable item having the Obama back-up included in the issue than it was before the Obama story was added. In addition, just by ordering one more copy than #575 (an ordinary issue of Amazing Spider-Man), retailers are allowed to basically print money by purchasing the Obama variant.

The Cap #25 comparison fails because the issue then was that people felt that Wizard knew that Cap would die, so they were better prepared to order the issue in question (remember, retailers were not told that Cap would die beforehand). Here, EVERYone knew EXACTLY what this issue of Spider-Man would entail - an Obama back-up and an Obama variant cover.

There is no problem here (unless you are of the mind that companies should not attempt to profit off of the usage of Obama) - retailers win, Marvel wins and the readers win (as there is clearly a huge demand for this comic).

The only problem I could see would be if the book sells out and people can't have access to the book - but Marvel has quickly addressed this problem by having the second print rushed out to come out the next week.

There is no problem here.

By: Blackjak

Blackjak — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 22:46:30 +0000

Bugger

confused as usual...

and Ennis is Irish, so no excuse there!

By: williams

williams — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 22:46:18 +0000

Joe,
Please feel free to inquire of Diamond Distribution as to what the parameters were with regard to ordering this book. Oh what the heck I'll tell you myself: Ordering an amount of Amazing Spiderman #583 equal to or greater than total pre-orders for Amazing Spiderman #575 qualified retailers to order the Obama cover of #583. Sales for Amazing Spiderman #583 would have been down from #575 (an anniversary issue to boot) so this created a situation where dealers were FORCED to buy unsalable product so that they could then spend more mioney to get quantities of the Obama cover. This, in turn, makes the regular cover version less salable than it would have been. This is is a waste of paper and money not to mention usurious behavior on someone's (either Marvel or Diamond Distribution) part. Comic companies and distributors should not be in the business of manipulating the collectibles market. Remember: these are "dated periodicals."

By: kolya

kolya — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 22:08:47 +0000

Unfortunately for that joke, Warren Ellis is possibly the most English man in recorded history. Eamon Bannon, there's a bald Scotsman.

By: Blackjak

Blackjak — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 22:02:16 +0000

Warren Ellis isn't that bald!

By: Joe

Joe — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 21:41:21 +0000

Williams: I'm pretty sure that "small mom & pop" comic store owners aren't forced to buy anything. Although it does make business sense to sell as many comics you can. Can't make any money if you don't sell anything. More sales = more profit.

By: Apodaca

Apodaca — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 21:33:21 +0000

Go away, scooter.

By: Bill Reed

Bill Reed — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 19:38:33 +0000

So, this blog is going to become another Obama worship site a well? Lord knows there aren’t enough of those already.

Nope. We only worship bald Scotsmen here, remember?

By: williams

williams — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 18:31:16 +0000

Small comic store owner:
Let's see...I have to order additional copies of a comic whose sales are flagging in order to buy more copies of the same book with a different cover. Do I care about the environment and paper wastage? Do I want to throw good money after bad in this economy?
Massive publicity on the book and only deep pocket big time Diamond accounts are going to get it...well let's hope Marvel goes back to press with it the way they did with the death of Captain America so little mom and pop comic stores can make their customers happy...Oh! Second Print that no one wants...great! If this is like the Cap death debacle I wonder how many of the rip-off ebay listings are coming from within a few miles of Timonium Maryland (guess whose corporate offices are there) or out of Wizard's back door.

By: Lawrence

Lawrence — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 17:04:47 +0000

The blog post doesn't praise Obama at all, it only mentions his name and that he's on a Spider-man cover. If you consider the simplest acknowledgement of his existence praise, you're in for a very rough four years.

By: Rich

Rich — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 15:03:41 +0000

This comic has Marvel and comics in the national and international news. I don't see a problem with discussing it here, regardless of anyone's personal politics. I imagine retailers will be glad to know the release date has changed as well, especially since it's to a better day (presumably) for sales.

By: scooter

scooter — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 14:37:36 +0000

So, this blog is going to become another Obama worship site a well? Lord knows there aren't enough of those already.

By: Blackjak

Blackjak — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 10:31:55 +0000

Looks like this time they spotted the un-inked ear...

Anyone know if that was just the preview image that was unfinished, or if it actually came out with an unfinished ear?