I’d like to see Marvel Vs. DC get reprinted someday as well.
So as I’m sure you’re aware, JLA/Avengers is finally getting a new printing via the comics industry charity Hero Initiative, with all profits going to it. That is, all profits from direct distribution to retailers, but more on that in a second.
What’s putting folks out about this particular minor miracle, which saw Marvel and DC work together for the first time in years in order to allow this republication to happen, is that so few copies, relatively speaking, are going to be available. There’s a printing cap of 7,000 copies, for reasons I’ve seen here and there on the internet ranging from “that’s all we can get printed with the time and resources available” to “lawyers, man, whatcha gonna do?” No idea what the actual answer is, beyond the fact that Hero Initiative probably didn’t sign on to keep the book in print forever, so a max print run had to be set somewhere.
And as you also know, the legendary Mr. Pérez recently announced that he’s stricken with a terminal condition, with only months to live, hence the rush to get this book out while he can still see it. It’s nice that Marvel and DC were able to come to terms to allow a charity reprinting of this series, for which I presume “neither of us are getting the money from this so we’ve got nothing to fight about” helped things along.
But like I said, only 7,000 copies are going to make it out to the world with this printing, minus however many copies get damaged during distribution to retailers. One would hope that DC and Marvel are currently looking at the frenzy this limited availability is causing and are reconsidering any future publishing plans regarding this title. I know there’s some hoohar over profit-sharing on this book, to the point where not publishing it at all and making no money on it is somehow preferable to getting it out there and making at least a little money on it. I’ve said in the past that my solution is just let each publisher release their own trade paperback of JLA/Avengers (or Avengers/JLA for the Marvel book) and keep all profits from their own publication. But I’m sure there are legal/financial reasons from even that being able to happen.
Anyway, all I know is that I’ve been deluged with requests for this book, and I’ve started a first-come/first-served waiting list. For once, the people who actually want the book to read and enjoy were in reasonably early, while the Usual Suspects with the eBay auction listings all ready to go are a day late and a Bitcoin short. But make no mistake, this book is going to be flogged at some sky-high prices the second it’s out. Way to honor George Pérez, guys.
But because there is a limited quantity, and order allocations are almost certain to occur, it is very possible the only person on the list I’ll be able to provide for is the first one who got his name on the list. It is actually very possible, depending on how other stores place their orders, that I get zero copies. If enough bastards out there type “7000” into the order slot on the distributor website to get max allocations, maybe there won’t be enough left over for anyone else.
I’m guessing I’ll get at least the one copy, though. I am ordering a larger number of total copies under the assumption it’s going to be reduced. I was guessing that I’d likely only get about 10% of what I ordered and placed numbers accordingly, but I’m beginning to think 10% is highly optimistic. I also don’t want to order too high, then hear “oh, we’ve upped the print run, everyone’s getting every copy they ordered!” and then I’m stuck with all 7,000 copies. Er, I mean, someone is stuck with that many, I certainly didn’t order 7,000.
Ultimately I hope Marvel and DC do see that people want a nice collected edition of this beautifully-illustrated goofy mess of a comic. The amount of love Pérez put into this comic shouldn’t be forgotten by history or kept out of the hands of fans new to the hobby. I mean, right now the Justice League and the Avengers are at what may very well be their height of cultural awareness (admittedly for drastically different, and not always good, reasons). Strike while that iron (man) is hot.
I am glad it’s back, even for as small a print run as it is, but I’m hoping this leads the way to more copies of it from Marvel and/or DC.
P.S. I always wonder how much negotiation when into things like that cover above. “Superman has to be taller than Captain America.” “Okay, fine, but Cap is standing in front.” “We’ll give you that, but the Atom has to be standing on his shield.”
P.P.S. When reading a few online articles about this, came across one site giving a brief history of Marvel/DC team-ups and saying
“…Doomsday Clock noted a future Marvel and DC crossover called Secret Crisis, but it’s not certain if this is actually in the works.”
NO, IT’S NOT IN THE WORKS, it’s just something Geoff Johns threw in there while making his point about Big Crossover Events. Not saying it can’t happen, especially after Disney buys Warner Bros., but I’m pretty sure it wasn’t intended as an Actual Thing in the Works.
P.P.P.S. Variant cover-age Monday posts are returning, they’re just resting for a moment.
THIS!!!
this right here is why i’ve been reading you for so long. when i heard this news i had questions about the business and lo and behold, here you come with a boatload of insight. thanks for sharing it so well.
I love the idea that Marvel and DC nitpicked the placement of every character on the cover: “Well, then the Wasp has to be standing on Superman’s shoulder.”
Also, even with the (supposed) necessity for DC/Marvel parity on a cover like this, Perez manages to make it a dynamic image without slighting any of the characters. That’s really difficult to do in an almost perfectly symmetrical design. He’s such a master.
“Hero Initiative probably didn’t sign on to keep the book in print forever”
I’m hoping that this printing is successful, and that Marvel, DC, and Hero Initiative continue to keep this book in print not only to honor George, not only because it’s a fun book, but also because it can be an evergreen book to fund the works of The Hero Initiative.
From all accounts, George’s finances are in good shape, and his extended medical problems will not leave his family bankrupt. That’s not true of other comic book artists who spent their entire lives in comics and ended up with little. I think that using the proceeds of this book to keep THI flush is a great idea, and I hope that all parties can find their way to making this or a similar arrangement happen.
The allocation method will be interested, because retailers knowing it’ll be allocated changes their behaviour dramatically. Hopefully they use a fairer method than one which rewards retailers trying to game the system (the same retailers most likely to try to profiteer off it).
The funny thing is, if they didn’t say it was going to be allocated, and just solicited it as normal, I bet 7k copies would be close to what initial sales would have been (at least if it hadn’t been an unreasonable 12+ years since the last reprint, during which there had been 4 movies with AVENGERS in the title and 1 1/2 sort of with JLA (although maybe that’s not a plus…)). It’s a very rare DC or Marvel reprint book which sells over that in the initial orders. Just because of the built-up demand and charity situation this one might have gone up to 10k-12k, if retailers could assume they’d be able to fill in the on-going demand with re-orders, but not much more.
And you joke about the cover placement, but one of the creators of the original Superman/Spider-Man book said that part of the production of the project involved counting the panels each character appeared in to make sure it was even.
Well, next year is the 20th anniversary so maybe now that they’ve seen the demand they’ll do a special edition. I’d love a reprint of the slipcased edition.
I wonder how Diamond will handle damages/shortages for this book? Assuming the print run is exactly 7000, do they allocate say 6300-6650 copies and hold back 350-700 copies (5-10%) as replacement copies? Send out all 7000 copies and retailers just have to cope with any damages/shortages?
I second Allan Hoffman’s suggestion for a reprint of the slipcase edition, as I can’t bring myself to drop eBay prices on the original.
I absolutely don’t understand the profit-sharing issue. It should literally be as simple as “we each put in half of the cost to make it, we each get half the profits.”
Call me naive, but I don’t get why it is more complicated than that.
Ray Cornwall: “I’m hoping that this printing is successful, and that Marvel, DC, and Hero Initiative continue to keep this book in print not only to honor George, not only because it’s a fun book, but also because it can be an evergreen book to fund the works of The Hero Initiative.
From all accounts, George’s finances are in good shape, and his extended medical problems will not leave his family bankrupt. That’s not true of other comic book artists who spent their entire lives in comics and ended up with little.”
THIS. If I remember correctly, Dave Cockrum died broke, or close to it. Things like THIS being kept in print could be a long-term source of income for this charity.
BobH: “but one of the creators of the original Superman/Spider-Man book said that part of the production of the project involved counting the panels each character appeared in to make sure it was even.”
HA!
Please stop saying THIS! so loudly all the time. You’re frightening the hamsters.
NO!
[…] What I do find interesting in the text of the solicit is the warning that “this issue will be printed to order — it will not be allocated….” As we all know, there didn’t seem to be any problem with stores gettin’ enough.. If there was allocation, given the numbers in which this comic was ordered it would have been probably something like “ordered 3,000; allocated only 2,750.” That allocation warning probably also contributed to the vast overordering of this comic…retailers bumping up their initial numbers just in case they did get allocated…shades of the recent JLA/Avengers TPB hoohar. […]
[…] year, wanting to get that out there while the man was still with us, much like how they wanted that JLA/Avengers reprint out sooner rather than later. And this doesn’t even scratch the surface of the work […]