Jemas Comments on Batman & Superman Titles

[James Harvey]

I got this from www.cinescape.com/x-fan . How much of a jerk is this Bill Jemas guy?

X-FAN: Back to a hotly debated topic with the no overprint policy, and recent retailer reaction both in the U.S. and overseas has been that they're wanting more copies of books such as Origin to fulfil demand. Speaking with my local retailer (the Adelaide Comics Centre, one of the biggest comic shops in Australia), around 95% of his regular customer base prefer buying the single issues to trade paperbacks, and because they can't get the first few issues of titles like Origin or or the recent X-title revamps due to their selling out they're passing on buying them altogether. Alternatively, this same retailer has sold through four re-orders of reprintings of Green Arrow #1. So my question is are Marvel shooting themselves in the foot with this no overprint policy, given that there's an obvious demand for certain books that would sell if overprinted/reprinted (in non-TPB form)?


BILL JEMAS: Don't kid yourself, retailers run this industry. Marvel books are dominating the market like never before only because of unprecedented and enthusiastic support from the retailers. Marvel is the house of ideas, DC is the house of reprints, and the retail community is voting with their feet. To attribute Green Arrow’s success to DC policies is a joke. That's a great book, with huge demand, you could sell all of the copies out of a trailer park in Omaha and it would be a top ten book. DC's reprint thing is just to feed the speculator market for #1 books; otherwise you would see four re-orders of reprinting for #2. You wanna understand AOL Comics in action, look at the pathetic Batman and Superman sales and then ask yourself if Marvel wouldn't sell twice as many Batman and Superman books if we published those lines.

Does this guy deserve a kick in the arse or what??

[ZorBrak]

Im suprised he lived past highschool with that arrogant snot nosed little self important attitude of his

[Joker85]

Well, screw him anyway!

[James Harvey]

It's funny. He said that you could sell all the copies of GREEN ARROW to some trailer park and it'd be in the top 10, right? Well, GREEN ARROW outsells all of the Marvel titles, except for the 4 main X-Books and ORIGIN. What does that say about the Marvel comics that sell lower?

At least DC doesn't reboot a title every 2 years becuase sales are slipping...

[Brian Cruz]

To attribute Green Arrow’s success to DC policies is a joke. That's a great book, with huge demand, you could sell all of the copies out of a trailer park in Omaha and it would be a top ten book. DC's reprint thing is just to feed the speculator market for #1 books; otherwise you would see four re-orders of reprinting for #2.

Oh really? Then how does he explain this press release from Sep. 13th?


GREEN ARROW #2 TARGETED FOR THIRD PRINTING

As announced on Saturday, September 8 at the Diamond Retailer Summit in Fort Wayne, IN, GREEN ARROW #2 is going back to press for a third printing. This new printing is scheduled to be in stores on October 3.

"This new printing will let retailers continue building on the phenomenal momentum of GREEN ARROW, as well as the huge success of Kevin Smith's new movie Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back," says Bob Wayne, DC's VP - Sales & Marketing. "We're happy to respond to the resounding and continuing consumer demand by keeping the entire series available."

GREEN ARROW #2 Third Printing (JAN015184) is scheduled to be in stores on October 3. GREEN ARROW #1 Fourth Printing (DEC005203) is still available for reorder, as are issues #3 (FEB010412), #4 (MAR010412), #5 (APR010497), #6 (MAY010479), and #7 (JUN010441). Advance reorders on GREEN ARROW #8 (JUL010343) may be placed before its instore date of September 27; advance reorders on #9 (AUG010229) may be placed before its instore date of October 24. Orders also may be placed for GREEN ARROW #10 (SEP010206), featuring the long-awaited, startling conclusion to the storyline "Quiver," is scheduled to be reach stores on November 28.

[Xtreme557]

It's funny. He said that you could sell all the copies of GREEN ARROW to some trailer park and it'd be in the top 10, right?

No, He said that that the book could be sold OUT of a trailer park and it would be in the top ten. I don't really see how this is offensive, he's complimenting GA.


Well, GREEN ARROW outsells all of the Marvel titles, except for the 4 main X-Books and ORIGIN. What does that say about the Marvel comics that sell lower?

It doesn't say anything. GA may be DC's top seller but Marvel has like 22 out of the top 25 spots. Also Marvel sells more books than DC, even though they have less titles.


At least DC doesn't reboot a title every 2 years becuase sales are slipping...

Um lets see, GL, JLA, GA, Batman: NML, Superman, etc. I don't really see the problem, they're just trying to make the books better and so far it's working.

[James Harvey]

Guess I took his statement wrong. Anyways - I still think the guys a jerk.

[JLU Dude]

Marvel's move away from the code, no smoking in comics policy, and Jemas's comments is causing Marvel to shoot itself in the foot. The move away form the code is actually gonna limit Marvel's sales.

[Xtreme557]

Marvel's move away from the code, no smoking in comics policy, and Jemas's comments is causing Marvel to shoot itself in the foot. The move away form the code is actually gonna limit Marvel's sales.

Yeah, that's why Marvel's sales have been going up ever since Jemas took over. Like the man or not, the truth is he's getting the job done. This is one of the best times in Marvel's history, great writers, great art, great books. Jemas and Joey Q have been a Godsend.

[James Harvey]

Marvel has been experiencing a rebirth, as it were, with their new management. ORIGIN has been getting really high sales with around 190,000 issue sof that book being sold, a very high count by today's current standards. Marvel has been doing good lately, but give me BATMAN over X-MEN anyday.

[Calhoun07]

I am going to play the devils advocate here and agree with Jemas. While I may not like what I read to be his tone (of course, I am just reading it, so I really don't know what his tone was), Marvel DOES market their titles better than DC. And that's basically all he's saying. DC, Warner, AOL, whatever, sucks at marketing. They should be selling truck loads of their comics, but aren't. All Jemas is saying is, if given the opportunity, Marvel could sell more copies of Superman and Batman. And you know what? He's probably right.

[James Harvey]

Agreed. They are taking steps where DC isn't DC should be putting commercials on their DVDs and plugging them in shows and such. But nope. They ar emissing great oppurtunities by tieing the comics into the animated counterparts? Having a small banner on a WB website isn't gonna help at all...

[Calhoun07]

Is Marvel putting commercials on their DVDs?

[James Harvey]

They plan to begin adding comic book trailers to their DVDs. I'm assuming the first ones will be the BLADE 2 and SPIDER-MAN DVDs. I think this is a pretty good idea, actually.

Why WB isn't doing this is beyond me. They have so much potential for cross-promtionalization, it just blows my mind they don't take advantage.

[Calhoun07]

Another thing Marvel has going for it is the talent. And the fact that they don't spread out one story between 20 comic books in one month (which is a real turn off for me at DC). And better cover designs, which inevitably stand out more at the comic book store. DC has gotten too experimental with some of their cover designs.

[James Harvey]

Marvel does indeed have talent, as does DC. Just becuase some of DC's talent isn't big name, doesn't mean their bad (althought WIZARD tends to disagree). Plus - I alos like Marvel's new cover scheme, very retro yet modern. Then again, I really like the BATMAN logo as well.

[Calhoun07]

But big name talent sells books, that's just the way it is. That's not to say who is better or worse, just who'se name sells the most books is all. That's hardly a comment on quality.

[James Harvey]

I think whethe ror not DC pursues all those "big name" creators dpeend son the success of TDKR 2. If it flops, DC will probably have a nervous breakdown and realize they need big name talent to help sell their books. And that maybe they should cut their Superman and Batman titles down to a respectable level.

[Calhoun07]

I think cutting back on the number of Superman and Batman titles would be an excellent place to start, and limit the story lines to how many books they can cross over. I mean, look at how many books will take up that Bruce Wayne Murderer story line. Sure, you get the story line out of the way in one month, but I am not going to buy all those titles to read one story line. So if I am not going to buy all those titles to read one story line, what is the point for me to pick up Batman and Detective Comics just to read a fragement of a story line I won't see the resolution to? That is the biggest deterrent for me. I am picking up the new JLA comics but I know that they will probably wind up doing multi title cross overs so I will have to either ignore those issues or just drop it. And I'd be more likely to drop a title.

Multi issue cross overs were a novel idea back in the days of Secret Wars when comics cost 60¢ to 75¢ a piece. Now these days they can cost between two to three dollars. Who's got that kind of money to be throwing around on multiple comic book cross overs? It gets old quick. Well, it got old quick, but they keep doing it every year.

[James Harvey]

DC Comics desperatly needs to cut back on crossovers, no matter how big or small. A two issue crossover - I can dig. I don't mind. But in 2001, DC has had at least five crossvers, two of them DC Universe wide. 3 others were not as large. I would really like to see DC try to cut back on the crososvers. I bet we're gonna get another one in mid 2002, and then in the fall. Crossovers have become so old school and boring. DC is helping any with these crossovers. GREEN ARROW was one of the few books unaffected and it didn't suffer. Hell - it was better becuase it wasn't apart of LAST LAUGH - which I consider dissapointing beyond belief.

and DC really needs to streamline alot of their books. I think cancElling AZRAEL and BIRDS OF PREY is a good place to start. Personnally, the ideal Batman line would be something like:

BATMAN
DETECTIVE COMICS
GOTHAM KNIGHTS

There - three mainstream titles that the Batfans can get without worrying about the 1000 other titles. Now if any spin offs are to survive...

NIGHTWING
ROBIN
BATGIRL
CATWOMAN

There we go. We only need those, nothing more. But we could make CATWOMAN a mini-series. Plus, if GCPD comes to light, I say make that as well.

Marvel has been doing the right hting by axing alot of the spin off books and "merging" them into X-MEN UNLIMITED. Maybe the Batman books could do that. Bring up a new bi monthly or quartly book called THE BATMAN FILES or BATMAN FAMILY and have it focus on the characters whose books were axed.

I have so many ideas...

[Calhoun07]

and DC really needs to streamline alot of their books. I think cancElling AZRAEL and BIRDS OF PREY is a good place to start. Personnally, the ideal Batman line would be something like:BATMAN
DETECTIVE COMICS
GOTHAM KNIGHTS

There - three mainstream titles that the Batfans can get without worrying about the 1000 other titles. Now if any spin offs are to survive...

NIGHTWING
ROBIN
BATGIRL
CATWOMAN


See? I could deal with that! If there were only three main Batman titles I had to follow for one story line, I'd be on it! Just as long as they resisted the temptation to spill story lines over into the other four books, I would be all for a set up like that.

Of course, will this actually ever happen? Will there be an editor with enough pull and political influence at DC to see to it that something like that gets done?

[James Harvey]

I doubt it. DC sees Batman as their ultimate cash cow and they will milk it dry. With the unbelievably success of CATWOMAN's first issue (outselling Batman and becoming DC's 3rd highest selling title) no doubt we'll be saturated with more books. I would like to see crososvers stick witht he three main titles and that's it. That's what it should be. GOTHAM KNIGHTS can be the title that bring sin the sidekicks. There's nothing I hate more than a crossover interrupting an ongoing stoyline already running in a different title (ROBIN is a great example of this). Hell, even if GCPD was proclaimed the 4th main title (and I could see it happening - bring a cop's eye view of Batman) I would be for it. I would like to see how the GCPD cops have to deal with henchmen running around the city and ugly villians blowing up stuff.

I just want them to cut back...PLEASE!!

[Xtreme557]

Here's how I'd streamline the Bats and Supes books

Batbooks-

Detective Comics
Batman
Gotham Nights(make this a double size bimonthly anthology book, staring different Bat characters {huntress, GCPD, etc.}, like marvel does with X-men unlimited)
Nightwing
Robin
Birds of Prey


Supes-

Action Comics
Adventures of Superman
Metropolis Days(same thing as Gotham Nights except with Supes characters)
Superboy
Supergirl

There, six Bat books (one being bimonthly) and five Supes books (again on being bimonthly)

[kid_flash]

First, it's Gotham KNIGHTS. Y'know, like warrirors. There was a miniseries awhile back, that's how they got the name.

Second...this Jemas guy is being a total jerk. Praising your own stuff is one thing, but totally dissing the competition? Sure, he's got the right to do that, but it doesn't make it right.

But I respect Jemas in so many ways, he's doing an awesome job proving Marvel to be the #1 company (both in sales and fan polls, sad but true). I mean, he made Quesada EIC! That lead to the ULTIMATE line, the X-book reboot (which is either the greatest thing that's happened in comics, or a comic that should be burned upon printing), and not to mention ORIGIN.

But dissing the competition....that ain't cool. "My stuff outsells your stuff." Well LA-DEE-DA, Mr. Jemas.

You know what DC needs? Someone to replace Paul Levitz. He's one of those comic geeks who is afraid of change in comics.

[Xtreme557]

First, it's Gotham KNIGHTS. Y'know, like warrirors. There was a miniseries awhile back, that's how they got the name.


I know that. I just changed it to Nights so it would contrast the Metropolis Days series I mentioned. Get it, Night/Day.


But dissing the competition....that ain't cool. "My stuff outsells your stuff." Well LA-DEE-DA, Mr. Jemas.

While it isn't cool, it's the truth. If Marvel had the Bat/Supes books they'd be sell a lot better than the DC ones.


You know what DC needs? Someone to replace Paul Levitz. He's one of those comic geeks who is afraid of change in comics.

This is so true.

[James Harvey]

Replacing Paul Levitz would be a great thing. We need some new blood at DC to help revitalize thae place. Paul is missing alot of chances which is costing him dear.

I also found it funny that days after Jemas did this article, DC announced that the itinial sales of DARK KNIGHT STRIKES AGAIN will likely reach more than 200, 000 to make it the highest selling book. That is not counting the secondary, third, and fourth orders. Although a downer is that this DARK KNIGHT title has sold almost 5 times more copies than the average BATMAN title (which seels about 40, 000 a month).

But yeah - dump Levitz. Bring in someone willing to take a chance.

[Stupendous Man]

I have to disagree on some points.

First bieng that marvel markets there characters better
than Marvel.

THAT IS SO WRONG !

DC markets their characters in such a fashion that it
actually pulls in mainstream audiences ..not just
fanboys such as ourselves.

Case in point -
The Superman Makeover in the 80s
The Death of Superman storyline
Crisis

These may be old examples , but there examples of
DC storylines that made it onto broadcast news & print.

I dont remember the Spiderman Clone Saga making it on
the 10 oclock news.

Now Im not implying that better marketing means better
product , but speaking as someone who loves comics
and fears for the future of the industry - anything that
brings Joe Schmoe into the comic book store is a good thing.

For a more recent example ... take into account the
Batman 10 cent issue promotion and the DARK KNIGHT RETURNS.

I honesty cant remember anything in my four years in comic retail
that Marvel produced which generated DC buzz.
With the exception of 'XMEN # 1' and that buzz was strictly
in the comic book community.

***********

[Stupendous Man]

Why do does anyone think Superman and Batman would
sell better if marvel handled them?

I dont see it .

Just look at how Marvel has handled its own
characters!

Spiderman, their flagship character for heavens sake,
was unreadable for a good two to three years.

There continuity spiderman was almost a lost case
till Mr Babylon 5 came in an revitalized that series.

But this is a relatively new development - Spidey
was crap for years.

And Xmen there best selling product - one of my favorite
titles has beenn thru three reboots and Marvel still cant
capture that old spark.

Xmen right now is selling out of pure inertia ...fanboys
whove had every single issue since uncanny 181 and dont
want to break up their collection. Fans who are hoping
beyond hope that this series will be good again someday.

I dont want Marvel touching Supes or Bats personally .

I wont even mention the 'what if Stan Lee did Superman &
Batman ' issues as part of my arguement.

That would almost be unfair for anyone who disagrees with me
- those issues were horrible.

[kid_flash]

Originally posted by Xtreme557
I know that. I just changed it to Nights so it would contrast the Metropolis Days series I mentioned. Get it, Night/Day.


Ohhhhhhh! I got it, I just thought you'd made an error and actually thought it was that title and figured the same sorta thing would work for Superman. If that made any sense.