Posted in: Comics | Tagged: Batman Deadpool, comic store in your future

Comic Store In Your Future: Do DC and Marvel Not Want To Make Money?

Comic Store In Your Future asks... do DC and Marvel not want to make money? They are leaving it on the table with Batman/Deadpool

I was worried when news came out that Grant Morrison was returning to write a Batman comic again. As a comic store owner, my thought was another Batman title? I felt it would just dilute the Batman property more. Who, reading this, can name all the Batman titles that came out this month? While Absolute Batman has knocked it out of the park sales-wise, the main Batman title has been slowing down, even with the current HUSH story arc, with the multiple variants. HUSH even has giant-sized variants in foil and non-foil. Then it was announced that Grant Morrison was to write DC's one-shot Batman/Deadpool. I thought… now that will sell.

Marvel will have their crossover issue Deadpool/Batman coming out in September. Lots of variants. Many variants' images were not even released on the Penguin website until more recently. I know because after I put the store's order in, I had customers who decided, after seeing the cover images, that they wanted a copy. More sales are great. DC and Marvel were going to tap into the fact that they had not done a company crossover between the two in so long that these two being in the same book will sell. Selling comics is what I do. Two thumbs up.

DC and Marvel decided to include backup stories in their upcoming one-shot. Marvel's backups feature Green Arrow and Daredevil, Captain America and Wonder Woman, Jeff the Landshark and Krypto. All of these team-ups could have sold as one-shots on their own. Jeff the Landshark and Krypto? These characters are super popular right now. Kids love the characters. Putting them in a back in a Deadpool book? Not a smart idea. Deadpool is an R-rated movie property, not exactly what all parents want their young ones reading.

DC's backups in their Batman/Deadpool one-shot are Constantine and Doctor Strange, Nightwing and Laura Kinney, Hulk and Harley Quinn, Static and Ms. Marvel. Constantine and Doctor Strange together for the first time, and it is a backup? Just because DC and Marvel are unable to make the characters sell doesn't mean the one-shot would not have done great. Constantine had his own TV show, and Doctor Strange, of course, has been in a few movies that millions of people have seen. The two companies might not be able to put together monthly creative teams to make them sell, but couldn't they have had a full-length adventure one-shot that would easily have sold? Yes, heck yes.

All these back-up stories could have easily been one-shots that would have made far more money for the publishers than as back-up stories. Release them weekly to get people to come into their local comic store weekly, and get them into a weekly habit of buying comics. DC and Marvel won't blink putting out another Bat or X title, but they could not put their characters together in more one-shots that would easily have been top ten sellers for the month? This worries me; it makes me think DC and Marvel no longer have faith in their characters. Marvel has already announced that the time of long-running series is over. Is this comics can't sell mentality a part of DC?

DC's and Marvel's upcoming crossover one-shots are going to sell. There is hopefully a chance of more one-shot crossovers or crossover limited series in the future. If there is a one-shot, just have one story, no backups. They are not necessary. Instead of a backup story, make it its own story. People will buy it. This reminds me of when Bendis finally wrote a Batman story for DC, and it was printed as part of the stories in the exclusive Walmart giant comics. By not having Bendis write his first Batman story in something that comic fans who cared could easily pick up in a comic store, it was a big missed opportunity. Not every person who goes to comic stores has Walmart's close by.

The possibilities between the two are great. Fantastic Four and the Terrifics. Spider-Man and Robin (Damian or any Robin), X-Men and the Doom Patrol, Punisher and Wild Dog, Green Lantern and Captain Marvel, Rocket Raccoon and Detective Chimp, Magik and Katanna, Batman and Moon Knight, Superman and Sentry, and tons more between the two companies could be done.

Publish them with a strong creative team, and people will buy it.

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