From: bjm1@Ra.MsState.Edu (Bobbie J. Mann)
Subject: Re: What's up with !mage??
Organization: Mississippi State University
Date: Thu, 1 Oct 1992 07:27:38 GMT

jsbr+@andrew.cmu.edu (John Hamilton Slye) writes:


>>Malibu and Image are two distinct entities.  Malibu has absolutely NO
>editorial
>>control or say in anything Image does.  ANYTHING.  Image packages the
>books and
>>Malibu prints 'em.  That means McFly (or other Imager) sends a package
>to Malib
>>u and says "here it is."  Malibu then sends that book to the printer...end of
>>story.  Oh sure, they do all of the dealings with the distributors and the 
>>printer, but only the "arranging."  For that, they get their cut of the
>profits
>>from each book.

>But when the artists are slacking off and not putting a lot of quality
>in the books, there won't be many sales and Malibu won't get their
>profits, and no fledling company can stand up to that kind of loss in
>profits.

Yes, it is true that when the Image books don't come out Malibu doesn't
get the money.  The thing is, Malibu has existed on other titles long before
Image came along.

> 
>>Malibu is doing their own books (Protectors, Ex-Mutants and others) which have
>>absolutely nothing to do with Image.

>In the August Previews (for books coming out in October): there is no
>mention of the Ex-Mutants, the protectors is only up to #2 and there are
>several others (Necroscope, Arrow & Tarzan). These books just came out
>and may save Malibu. But a good percentage of Malibu's profits comes
>from Image, with these new titles in such an early stage, and not stable
>yet, Image basically determines whether or not Malibu survives.


Well, I'm looking at Capital's Advance.  Sure these books are still in the 
early stage, but Malibu does not depend on Image.  As stated, Malibu has
existed for way too long prior to picking up the Image.  Now, the Image books
may determine how long Malibu survives at its current level (#3 publisher), but not the life and death of the company.

> 
>>And I think (MHO) that you're wrong about the general outlook of
>retailers abou
>>t Malibu.  Most know the difference (Malibu/Image), and the orders for
>the Mali
>>bu books (yes, even the Eternity line) are all going up. I don't see this as 
>>retailers being fed up.

>Yes, there is a difference, but if the major output of Malibu is Image
>material then Malibu is treading on thin ice. You say that the orders
>for Malibu books are going up, but what percent? Imagine how much more
>they would go up if the retailer could count on the book coming out at a
>given time. As it is, the retailer has to tell the customer that, no
>such-n-such a title did not come in and we don't know when it is going
>to. The customer then gets upset at the retailer, even though it's not
>his fault, which causes the retailer to get upset from the heat he's
>taking from the customer. (And don't say that this doesn't happen,
>because it does! The customer may realize that it's not the retailer's
>fault, but they have to vent their frustration somewhere.) The retailer
>will then not order many copies of the title in the future because he
>can't predict when he's going to get the profits from these books. He
>may up his order if he sees potential, but not by much.

I agree with you wholeheartedly about the customers anger.  The problem is that
Malibu has established a reputation of being on time (one of the very few idies
to do this).  No, they're not always on time, but they are so more than most...
even DC.
When I say orders have gone up, let me just give an example:  A year ago (before Image) a #1 issue of one of there black and white books might have gotten
8 to 12 thousand orders.  Now those same black and whites (becoming fewer and
fewer as Malibu grows) fetch orders around 20 thousand.  (just rough numbers
mind you, but decent estimates---trust me:)   The attention Malibu received
with all the Image stuff is primarily responsible...and Malibu knows this.


>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>-

>Now, brought to you from another post....

>>In article <mumble> John Hamilton Slye <jsbr+@andrew.cmu.edu> writes:
>> 
>>>    Needless to say we lost a lot of respect for McFarlane and Malibu
>>>comics. Most retailers give Malibu 6 months at the rate they ae going. I
>>>hope it's less so I can see McFarlane and Liefield crawl back to Marvel
>>>and have Marvel laugh at them!
>> 
>>Do you mean Malibu or Image?  There is a difference.  Malibu is
>>primarily a distributor, though I understand that they are coming out
>>with their own line of comics in a few months.

>I mean both. One would undoubtedly not exist without the other. Malibu
>has invested a lot of money in Image and if it folds, Malibu will suffer.

>I believe that the owner of Malibu has had previous distributers all of
>which went bankrupt. (This may or may not be correct, I'm trying to
>remember from awhile ago. If someone knows otherwise please correct me.)
>But if this is the case, then the odds are against Malibu. If Malibu
>were to fold, Image would follow....


I'm a little confused by what you're trying to say here...Malibu is a publisher, not a distributor.  They publish books that are distributed by distributing
companies (Diamond, Capital, others).  One of the owners of Malibu was once a
distributor (before buying into Malibu), that's really the only connection I know of with distribution.  Malibu has been around since about 1986, longer than
most small press companies.
And, although I've been saying Malibu won't necessarily die if Image fails, I
also believe it works the other way.  If Malibu were to fold, Image would
just take their books elsewhere.  They are selling so many copies that "most"
publishers would take them.

Roland

>>-- 
>>Kansas Jim (Jim Ogle, TORG guru)                               /|
>>jogle@aoc.nrao.edu (NRAO-VLBA, Socorro New Mexico)           o| |-
>>"I'd be apathetic if I cared."                              /|\\|



>=========================================================================
>J. Hamilton Slye (jsbr@andrew.cmu.edu) 1071 Morewood Ave., Pgh, Pa. 15213

>The opinions stated above do not necessarily reflect those of the author!

>"Oooohhhh no! Forget that stuff!"  -  Ren Hoek, "The Ren & Stimpy Show"
>=========================================================================
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