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Post by Dizzy D on Mar 13, 2019 7:15:30 GMT -5
I personally think IDW is our best hope for bringing the comic industry back to broader audience beyond 30 and 40 somethings who haunt comic shops. They have a large and exciting all-ages catalog that could easily work on spinner racks . Granted, most or all of these are licensed properties. That’s good news in a sense, because if the publishing arm is doing well enough but not thanks to original IP, it doesn’t appear fincially sound to sell anything. It’s not like Marvel potentially outsourcing its comics to someone else to get dividends without having to produce anything itself. I would love to see a reply from IDW to their investor along the lines of "Do you even know what we're doing?"
I haven't read a lot of IDW, but their Transformers and GI Joe were pretty good (note for classic comic fans, at one point they decided to get Larry Hama to do GI Joe, making it a direct continuation of his Marvel run and get Herb Trimpe, Ron Wagner, Ron Frenz and Sal Buscema on art.)
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Post by codystarbuck on Mar 13, 2019 7:51:53 GMT -5
Well, a company built on licensed products doesn't control a major IP portfolio. They don't own most of their properties. So, where is the IP? They are in much the same boat as Western was, when they published as Gold Key and Whitman, and in their partnership with Dell. They were predominantly a publisher of licensed products, though they had the advantage of being a printing company; so, they controlled their own presses and had their own distributorship, beyond newsstands. However, they were only as strong as the licenses, themselves; and, their parent company made a heck of a lot more money producing puzzles, games and coloring books than publishing comics. They did develop original titles; but, by the 80s, couldn't see the value in it. The parent company ended up torn up in financial upheavals and the comic properties shuttled around a bit, after the Valiant run. The Little Golden Books ended up being the more valuable property.
Hedge funds are built around quick return on investment and have no interest in running companies; just buying and selling to maintain and increase their holdings. McAndrews and Forbes used Marvel as a cash cow to offset their other activities, like the purchase of Revlon and Cigar Aficionado, and bled them dry, resulting in their bankruptcy.
It is a cash grab attempt, while also an attempt to divert liability for a lawsuit; but, I don't think publishing licensed titles is a sustainable model, long term, when it isn't a mass medium.
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