I don't think your last statement is true.

The shows and movies don't necessarily increase sales on existing properites, those that retailers are already ordering I mean, but if there's a good Bloodshot movie and the LCS likes it and believes in it, he orders it and people buy it.

People buy what they see.

That's part of why I like Comixology.

I told me last LCS to order one copy of everything Valiant when they relaunched. It was a guaranteed sale. He didn't do it. I stopped shopping there after. Honestly, that really pissed me off and he lost any business I would have given him from that point on.

They're good characters that can have some exposure with a movie or tv show that brings them some attention.

How many readers today know Valiant ? Most of us from back in the 90's remember, but the younger kids ? Hardly. They might have heard of them but not much more than that.

Putting the characters in some form in front of the public when comic shops do not will help shops to at least order something with some confidence and expose the characters to the foot traffic in those shops.

I don't blame you for that reaction, but try and look at it from the owner's point of view. During the early years of the post oughts, there were a lot of new independent comic companies popping up, almost to the point of losing track. What did the name and reputation of one matter against half a dozen others?

Maybe he/she could have bought some Valiant titles to test the waters, but that might have been a risk that he/she might have not been willing to take

I am saying the direct market was never designed to attract or service new readers. It was designed to sell books to customers who already knew what they wanted. That's what Phil Seuling was trying to do and that's why the books were non-returnable. It was guaranteed sales. The problem became when they lost access to new audiences with the newsstands. I understand the newsstand wasn't viable anymore and not saying they should have kept trying to prop it up, but what they should have done was create a new system to get books in front of potential new readers or modify the business model of the direct market to share risk so retailers could stock books to give a chance for a new audience could find them when people were still going to comic shops and boutique shops were not antiquated and a dinosaur in the marketplace. But they didn't. And expecting the direct market to suddenly become a growth market that can attract new readers when nothing in its basic design is set up to allow for that to happen is a fool's errand. The direct market is not a level playing field. It is slanted towards Marvel and DC because that is what the bulk of the existing customer base wants and the market is designed to sell books those customers want to them. No publisher, not even Marvel or DC, is going to find new readers in the direct market. The total pie of the market share is getting smaller and all those who are in the direct market are doing is occasionally reslicing and resizing the pieces of the pie, but the pie is getting smaller overall. No one is working to expand the overall pie, and until that pie gets bigger, then no, there is no room in the direct market for small publishers to grow to rival Marvel or DC. If Valiant wants to find a growth market, they need to invest in an infrastructure that allows for the books to reach potential new customers. They have been trying that with things like the Concert tour booths and such, but those haven't translated to increased sales in the direct market and aren't going to translate to sales of individual issues even if they are successful. If there is any success to these efforts, it will be increased sales of trades in the book market outside the direct market. However, as long as they are trying to sell a line and a universe rather than a book, the likelihood of catching readers outside the hardcore comics readership is small. New readers will embrace some books outside Marvel and DC (see Saga or Walking Dead) but their increase in sales is seen more in trade sales outside the direct market not necessarily in single issues in the direct market (though both outsell many Marvel and DC books in single issues). But neither has translated to linewide sales of a publisher increasing. Just those books in particular.

Valiant's problem is it is trying to sell a product better suited for the hardcore audience of the direct market in a market that is slanted against them and doesn't already want their product, which works against the design of the market they are trying to succeed in. If they want to find growth and new readers, they need to focus on a product that will sell well outside the direct market. If you are a beverage maker, you don't try to outsell Coke and Pepsi with a product that is just a different cola, you sell a product that appeals to people looking for something other than Coke or Pepsi. You can be RC Cola and have a nice little business selling cola that isn't Coke or Pepsi and get a single digit marketshare, but you have to realize you are never going to be Coke or Pepsi, never get the shelf space their product is going to get, and never have the sales they are going to get because the market isn't going to allow for that kind of growth. Valiant is RC with delusions it can be Coke or Pepsi and not looking for ways it can actually grow its business in the wider beverage market outside the cola market. Even if RC produces the best commercial ever, and it airs in a prime spot in the Superbowl, its still RC and people are still going to buy Coke and Pepsi when they go to the store and restaurants are still going to carry Coke or Pepsi and not RC, because that's what the market it. Valiant needs to do a reality check and understand what it is and what it is trying to do instead of running a business plan filled with wishful thinking. They can be successful, but they are not going to change the direct market or the entrenched customer base that buys its comics there.

-M

They survived 5 years (going on 6) only with an influx of cash from a foreign investor to keep it going (they were having cash flow problems like many new businesses who aren't turning a profit at launch and needed an influx of capital to keep operations going), and now that investor called in its markers and ousted the existing leadership in the company because it wants to exploit the IP the company has for the Asian film market as they see that as the best chance to monetize their investment and turn a profit. I am not sure how that gives you confidence in the continuation of their publishing wing and its minuscule market share. Yes, some of the books are good (and some are not), but quality has never equaled sales in the comics market and especially not in the direct market which is built on the habitual buying patterns of an entrenched customer base. I hope Valiant does find continued success, but the latest developments do not fill me with any confidence this is likely.

-M

How would you define hit? Do you mean hit movie or hit comic? What constitutes a hit in each of those for you? Publishers have hit comics at the same time they are cancelling chunks of their line that are selling poorly even when those books are critical successes or part of a shared universe, so a hit book doesn't prop up a line or save a publisher. Hit movies featuring comic book heroes have happened all the time for the last 2 decades and haven't translated into sales of comics yet and have left the industry in worse shape than it was 20 years ago. So I am not sure how 1 hit is going to change the status quo for Valiant when hit shaven't changed the status quo in publishing sales for any of the other publishers.

And the caveat in the keep running like it has been was the for now, which means they will run it as is as they evaluate it to make a decision how to move forward. And SOny has already made their move to catch some of the success Marvel had by partnering with them on the Spider-Man movies because the ones they did on their own weren't doing well enough despite selling hundreds of millions in ticket sales to make it a viable line for them to continue as is, and DMG is interested in exploiting the Chinese film market not the American market so an American publishing line isn't in the purview of their stated goals and wouldn't help or hinder those stated goals in any way except as an IP farm, so publishing would have to succeed or fail on its own, as they have already bailed it out once with a cash influx because it wasn't selling well enough to make money on comic sales alone.

Like I said, I hope Valiant does succeed, but not of the te leaves or trends are especially hopeful on that front, at least not when you look at it through any lens that isn't rose-colored.

-M

Grabbing the market will be great for DMG, not Valiant. They will be selling movie tickets in the Chinese market; those customers won't be buying Valiant Comics as they aren't sold in China. And the money from the movies will go to DMG. not Valiant publishing, so success of the movie sin the Chinese market will have zero impact on Valiant Comics. In fact, the more successful the movies are the more more known the IP becomes, the less need there is for an American publishing wing that isn't even breaking even based on their sales in the American market and isn't moving 10K units of their books. Once they have farmed the IP, there's no need ofr a publishing wing.

-M

Marvel has started licensing some of their IP to be published as comics by others though because the publishing on those wasn't profitable enough for them.They are focused on the movies and the merchandising because that is the bulk of the revenue stream going into Disney. Disney didn't buy Marvel because they wanted the comics publishing, they bought Marvel because Marvel had successful merchandising in the boys toys market which they had trouble breaking into and had a number of failures in that market, and because Marvel studios was doing well in the movie market. Publishing was an afterthought and an IP far, and was left to continue as long as it made money. The recent shake ups at editor-in-chief and upper management at Marvel are because sales started to slip and they weren't making money. If this regime doesn't turn things around, there are already rumors that the licensing of their characters to other publishers will expand and their publishing output will shrink. And if it can happen to a publisher as big and as established as Marvel is, it can happen to a small fry like Valiant even easier. And DMG has only said they were keeping the publishing as is for now, not that they were committed to it. That reads as we haven't evaluated that division yet s aren't making any decisions about it yet, not we will keep pumping money into it no matter what.

And as far as Marvel and the movies, Disney gets the money from the Movies and before that Marvel Studios did, not Marvel publishing. Publishing doesn't get that money, it has to sell enough to keep itself viable and keep trademarks active int e American market. If the focus for Valiant is the Asian market, then American trademarks don't have the same priority because they don't apply to the Asian market, so the only value for the publishing division is in actual sales once the IP has been established in other market. DMG already invested in the publishing once to get access to the IP at a future date. Now they have the IP. They won't continue to throw good money after bad if publishing cannot hold it's own by providing the company with a steady revenue stream that adds value to the company. They are a business, not a charity. If publishing can make money, it will continue. If not, it will close up shop. the fact they needed an influx of cash to keep going from DMG after 2 years, and that they were not able to make enough to pay back those loans and negate the buyout option says the revenue stream from publishing isn't that big.

And no, most companies do not translate and publish comics in China because all printed material has to be approved by the Chinese government before it can be sold or distributed in China and the expense and hassle is not worth the sales the get there.

-M