IDW net income down 91% in 2017

[DrSpengler]

Originally Posted by plastroncafe

People should be doing this anyway, since pull lists are how the retailer knows how many books to order in the first place.

I have it on my pull list. The problem is that maybe 1 or 2 other people have it on their lists and my shop doesn't buy shelf copies of Universe or most of the minis. In Universe's case, it's because the price point is too high and nobody buys it on impulse. In the case of the minis, it's because nobody buys them period.

But what happens is that Diamond routinely fails to ship issues when my shop only orders 1 or 2 copies. Or maybe they'll ship 1 instead of 2, which isn't enough to fill pull list orders, so someone gets the shaft. Or there's the problem with damaged copies; the shop owners I've talked to say that routinely they have to return upwards of 10% of their stock each week because Diamond delivered them in damaged condition. If they're only getting 2 copies of an issue, there's a good chance one or both of them will come in damaged and have to be returned. You're only really guaranteed to always get your books if you subscribe to popular titles they get lots of copies of.

It sucks, but this is where the comics industry is at, now. I can understand why consumers are going digital, but I personally want to stick with floppies for as long as I can.

[TurtleWA]

Originally Posted by DrSpengler

It sucks, but this is where the comics industry is at, now. I can understand why consumers are going digital, but I personally want to stick with floppies for as long as I can.

From my perspective floppies are losing appeal lately for a couple reasons it seems. Consumers switching to HCs & TPBs to collect for saving space and money. With digital comics increasing in popularity it's like history is repeating itself with the idea that comics are thought of as disposable. It's like the majority of consumers, companies and shops don't even care about the single issues anymore. It's about the collected volumes and digital stuff.

[plastroncafe]

It really is.
Space, resources, and just the sheer volume of stuff out there makes floppies a difficult purchase to make.

I'm not full digital yet, but considering how long it's been since I've been in a brick and mortar shop, I might as well be. And I miss it. Them.
Both the shop atmosphere as well as the financial resources that allowed me to make weekly pilgrimages.

New Comic Day was always the best!

[Andrew NDB]

I miss New Comic Day as a kid. Now I'm mostly just buying comics I don't like and mostly don't read (I'm too invested in a few at this point), cringing at the covers as I pay for them.

[Candy Kappa]

I think floppies are losing appeal due to that increasing $5 price mark and availability, not everyone wants to go to a specialty shop to find their comic or have a specialty shop that do sell comics.

Alterna Comics is doing something interesting and is going back to newspaper prints and going back to newsstands pushing the cost down to $1.50, who really needs that high quality glossy paper on floppies anyway.

[neatoman]

Originally Posted by TurtleWA

From my perspective floppies are losing appeal lately for a couple reasons it seems. Consumers switching to HCs & TPBs to collect for saving space and money. With digital comics increasing in popularity it's like history is repeating itself with the idea that comics are thought of as disposable. It's like the majority of consumers, companies and shops don't even care about the single issues anymore. It's about the collected volumes and digital stuff.

I honestly don't see much point in collecting floppies. Sure, I did it for Dimension X and 45-50 but I only did that because of the connecting covers gimmick. In most cases it just seems hard to keep them in order and I'm pretty sure 5 floppies are slightly more expensive than the TPBs.

[CyberCubed]

I order the IDW trades off of amazon, I usually get them for about $13-14 there most of the time. Whereas in retail they're supposed to be $17.99-19.99.

[TurtleWA]

Originally Posted by Candy Kappa

I think floppies are losing appeal due to that increasing $5 price mark and availability, not everyone wants to go to a specialty shop to find their comic or have a specialty shop that do sell comics.

Alterna Comics is doing something interesting and is going back to newspaper prints and going back to newsstands pushing the cost down to $1.50, who really needs that high quality glossy paper on floppies anyway.

I think that is amazing to be $1.50. How could kids even afford comics nowadays. Expensive and hard to find. Comic books weren't even on my radar as a kid growing up in a rural area. We had zero comic shops or 7/11 stores. So I never encountered the floppies in your typical ma&pop type stores. Currently my closest comic dealer is almost an hour drive from my house. It would be great if affordable comics could be available for kids to buy when in a small store/gas station while they got some candy. Places within walking distance. Not all kids have computers or credit cards for digital. Are comics just going to die with our generation. Or maybe be a niche adult market.

Originally Posted by neatoman

I honestly don't see much point in collecting floppies. Sure, I did it for Dimension X and 45-50 but I only did that because of the connecting covers gimmick. In most cases it just seems hard to keep them in order and I'm pretty sure 5 floppies are slightly more expensive than the TPBs.

Yeah collecting floppies does have its challenges.

[CyberCubed]

I remember in the 90's when I was a kid there was a comic shop on almost every corner. By the time we got to the 2000's they were all closed or out of business. The only places around me that sell comics are the big stores in Manhattan.

[Mewzard]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

I order the IDW trades off of amazon, I usually get them for about $13-14 there most of the time. Whereas in retail they're supposed to be $17.99-19.99.

I fell so far behind I just decided to get the TMNT: The IDW Collection hardcovers. Do like reading through things all collected together like that.

[DrSpengler]

Making comics high-end boutique items when they used to flourish as cheap compulsory purchases has always struck me as a mistake, but they had to make a lot of bad choices in the 90s during the implosion, so what's done is done.

I just know that $4 for 20 pages is a rip-off and I don't care how glossy the paper is, you can't justify a price point like that. And remember that just a couple of years ago, it was $4 for 22 pages. In 5 years, are we going to be paying $5 for 15 pages? The prices are just going to keep going up while the page content continues to shrink until the consumer base finally taps out.

Honestly, if I didn't have my website making me feel obligated to keep up, I'd have dropped my subs a while ago. When I say I want to continue with floppies, I mean in terms of collecting TMNT comics and not comics in general; I went all-trades on everything but TMNT and Ghostbusters years ago.

[Candy Kappa]

Originally Posted by TurtleWA

I think that is amazing to be $1.50. How could kids even afford comics nowadays. Expensive and hard to find.

Comics geared towards kids seems to be the exception, now most (superhero) comics is catered and marketed to adults in their 30's and 40's

[TurtleWA]

Originally Posted by DrSpengler

Making comics high-end boutique items when they used to flourish as cheap compulsory purchases has always struck me as a mistake, but they had to make a lot of bad choices in the 90s during the implosion, so what's done is done.

I just know that $4 for 20 pages is a rip-off and I don't care how glossy the paper is, you can't justify a price point like that. And remember that just a couple of years ago, it was $4 for 22 pages. In 5 years, are we going to be paying $5 for 15 pages? The prices are just going to keep going up while the page content continues to shrink until the consumer base finally taps out.

Honestly, if I didn't have my website making me feel obligated to keep up, I'd have dropped my subs a while ago. When I say I want to continue with floppies, I mean in terms of collecting TMNT comics and not comics in general; I went all-trades on everything but TMNT and Ghostbusters years ago.

Is the glossy paper really all about the reader? Probably not so much.

I don't understand why companies couldn't keep the price the same for content pages but make the books have a few more pages of advertising. For example 22 pages of story and 16 pages of ads for Hostess, Coke,Verizon,McDonald and similar. And then keep collected volumes ad free. Similar to commercials during a TV show but the collected series on DVD is released ad free.

Would readers rather have a lower price but put up with ads or less ads and a higher price. Also bring back the mail away ads. I need a pet monkey with a "live delivery guarantee."

[Vegita-San]

Originally Posted by Erik Burnham

That said, I'd be happy if GB sales were higher, too. See you folks in November. 😘

I can't imagine that stupid new Feigbusters comic doing all that great either. just diverts further resources from the main comic.

I stopped buying GB101 when the feigbuster teamup started Issue 3. The humor of that team was the same crappy style of the movie, and turned me off instantly. damn shame because the REAL Ghostbuster stuff was top notch interesting as always, and i'm left wondering where that far more interesting plot line was headed. instead i saw a brain dead kevin dressing up in a vegetable costume for some reason? sigh...

I truly hope sony is forcing this feigbuster crap on you guys. I can't imagine much of a call for it.


but i'm glad to see tmnt is doing well. I think IDW would do with cutting down on some of the titles though. If I didn't read these boards, I wouldn't have known about the excellent dimension X series. and while tmnt universe is not bad, keeping up with it and the main series is rather annoying. i'd rather have it just be all in one place, even if we got two new issues a month.

I mostly just pick up BTTF, Ghostbusters, and Turtles anyway. although I did enjoy the galaxy quest one shot.

[CyberCubed]

TMNT has always had two ongoing comics at the same time most of the time even in the same continuity. Mirage had Volume 4 and Tales going on at the same time in the 2000's. Even back in the 80's/90's besides Tales we always got one-shot specials, mini's or crossovers alongside Volume 1 and 2.

Archie has the 72 issue ongoing but also tons of specials and mini's about the Mutanimals, 3-issue specials, the 11 Archie special releases, April O 'Neil mini's, Merdude mini's, etc. There are over 100 Archie published TMNT comics overall when you count everything.

IDW having the main TMNT series, and Universe and specials/mini's is the norm most fans are used to. If they actually stopped making specials/mini's and we only had 12 issues of IDW TMNT a year, that would be very disappointing.

[DevilSpooky]

Well for what it's worth I'll keep on buying everything TMNT related IDW releases in HC, and I'll stick to it until they stop releasing them.

[myconius]

Originally Posted by Vegita-San

and while tmnt universe is not bad, keeping up with it and the main series is rather annoying. i'd rather have it just be all in one place, even if we got two new issues a month.

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

TMNT has always had two ongoing comics at the same time most of the time even in the same continuity. Mirage had Volume 4 and Tales going on at the same time in the 2000's. Even back in the 80's/90's besides Tales we always got one-shot specials, mini's or crossovers alongside Volume 1 and 2.

Archie has the 72 issue ongoing but also tons of specials and mini's about the Mutanimals, 3-issue specials, the 11 Archie special releases, April O 'Neil mini's, Merdude mini's, etc. There are over 100 Archie published TMNT comics overall when you count everything.

IDW having the main TMNT series, and Universe and specials/mini's is the norm most fans are used to. If they actually stopped making specials/mini's and we only had 12 issues of IDW TMNT a year, that would be very disappointing.

Cubed summed it up very nicely.
the world of the Tmnt is much to large to contain in a single comic series. always has been.

while it's cool to get new mini-series, i love the fact with Tmnt:Universe i don't have to always be on my comic store to add new mini-series titles to my pull-list.
it's all in one nice neat title.

Originally Posted by TurtleWA

From my perspective floppies are losing appeal lately for a couple reasons it seems. Consumers switching to HCs & TPBs to collect for saving space and money. With digital comics increasing in popularity it's like history is repeating itself with the idea that comics are thought of as disposable. It's like the majority of consumers, companies and shops don't even care about the single issues anymore. It's about the collected volumes and digital stuff.

as much as i enjoy the convenience on reading/buying digital, i can never give up my floppies!
for series that i really love that is.

[DK2]

I can't imagine how Alterna Comics will last as well with their comics? Will it make it to corner stores or the Macs and 7-11's? From what I recall when they announce their plans earlier this year was to hit the newsstand racks again. Will they be able to survive out there with that corner store or not and will they be at all the other comics stores too? They'll need as much revenue as they can when titles are ordered. Its admirable they're going back to newsprint paper but will anyone care? It'll be interesting to see how far they can last. I don't see why other publishers can't follow suit? I mean I really don't need glossy shiny paper in my comics. The glare when your under a light is so annoying.
I agree maybe one day comics could go down to less pages one day with an increased cover price. I mean the 15 page story could easily happen one day. Thats like going back to comics in the 1970's when they were only 16-17 pages. DC's Suicide Squad now is an example of this. Even though it has the extra back up story.

[mrmaczaps]

Originally Posted by Vegita-San

I can't imagine that stupid new Feigbusters comic doing all that great either. just diverts further resources from the main comic.

I stopped buying GB101 when the feigbuster teamup started Issue 3. The humor of that team was the same crappy style of the movie, and turned me off instantly. damn shame because the REAL Ghostbuster stuff was top notch interesting as always, and i'm left wondering where that far more interesting plot line was headed. instead i saw a brain dead kevin dressing up in a vegetable costume for some reason? sigh...

I truly hope sony is forcing this feigbuster crap on you guys. I can't imagine much of a call for it.


but i'm glad to see tmnt is doing well. I think IDW would do with cutting down on some of the titles though. If I didn't read these boards, I wouldn't have known about the excellent dimension X series. and while tmnt universe is not bad, keeping up with it and the main series is rather annoying. i'd rather have it just be all in one place, even if we got two new issues a month.

I mostly just pick up BTTF, Ghostbusters, and Turtles anyway. although I did enjoy the galaxy quest one shot.

I agree here. I was reading GBs in floppies until the damned movie busters showed up. Quit with the first issue of that series.

TMNT is doing decently, but I'd rather have just 2 main titles and tell mini series like stuff in Universe. BTTF has been great.

Price is getting high too... space is limited... Also have to say Diamond does a crap job packing books without damage. My little shop gets stuff damaged all the time and it pisses off the owner because he orders 3 extra copies of TMNT just so I can have the 1 in 10 issues... And a few times, the 1 in 10 ends up damaged and they won't replace it. So he winds up losing the sale there and then having extra copies on the shelf... We had a mini con up here and he had 2 full sets of TMNT Universe minus issue 1. If the publishers would go back to 1 cover, no variants that would help things a bit far as I'm concerned.

Any who. I know most of you all will skim this, roll your eyes and mutter that you hate me. Thanks for the free space in your head.

[Vegita-San]

Originally Posted by mrmaczaps

Any who. I know most of you all will skim this, roll your eyes and mutter that you hate me. Thanks for the free space in your head.

welcome to the club . don't go with the flow, you get sneered upon .

hurts being a free thinker!