You have to give Marvel credit for being creative for this marketing. If a retailer increased their normal orders by 150% they could then get a picture on the front page of Amazing Spider-Man # 666. Not only did they have to increase their numbers, but they also had to order an additional 500 copies of the variant with their picture on it.
Dave Kruseski owns the Hero’s Comics and Cards in Connecticut. He usually only orders 40 copies of the book. So if my math is correct he’ll have 600 copies of Amazing in his store. His son Ben is on the cover of the book and little Ben has been signing autographs. What do you think of this latest Marvel promotion?
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I was at the actual signing and little Ben was a pro, I will cherish this issue it made Ben and Heroes Comics a star for that Wednesday. Heroes is a great local comicbook store that is one of many comic store that are the cornerstone of the modern comic book market. The local media was there too, give Marvel credit for making minor 666 issue into a good word of mouth promotion.
… so much for letting the quality of your writing drive your book sales…
ah…I didn’t add in the 500 extra ya have to buy…my mistake, thanks for the heads up McGarrigle.
500 extra issues on top of the 60 extra issues, I’d love to know how many retailers go for this…there’s no way you can move all those books, what a waste of trees…
Doc, they needed to order 150% of their original book to qualify and then 500 of the actual cover with their picture on it minimum.
I’m sorry but what use has this store for an extra 560 issues of a comic more than it usually sells, they’d have to really have at it to get the customers to get it, gimmicks are bad enough as it is but gimmicks that take advantage of the people that are trying to keep comics alive are most certainly not.
It’s a little too gimmicky for my tastes, I’d prefer a cover that has something to do with the story inside. I’m not sure what a picture of some random LCS has to do with the Spider-Man story therein, but thats just me.
I’ll give it to em though from a marketing angle, but I can’t be convinced that any short-term boost in ASM sales should be attributed to solid storytelling and not retailers buying 150% more books.
As for your math BD, I may be incorrect on this, but if an owner usually buys 40 books, wouldn’t 150% increase be 100 books? Iow, a 100% increase on a 40 book order would be another 40 books, so 150% increase would be 60 books, then 60 + original 40 would be mean 100 books I think. Still a sh@#-load of books, but I think 600 may be too high…
This is about the only appealing thing about the book. The contents are dreadful
I saw the variant with my LCS’s picture on it. Thought it looked cool. I can’t say it’s a terrible idea.
I like it. It doesn’t look like variants are going anywhere, so they can at least be fun. Hopefully stores can keep shifting copies of the customised covers for quite a few months after its release to casual customers and the like. And it’s also cool if the stores can make even more of it like the one in the blog post.
Bleeding Cool did a gallery of some of the variants: http://www.bleedingcool.com/2011/07/26/yet-more-amazing-spider-man-666-covers-for-tomorrow/
And they also showcased this one which is probably the best I’ve seen: http://www.bleedingcool.com/2011/07/25/another-amazing-spider-man-666-retailer-cover/