From: jsbr+@andrew.cmu.edu (John Hamilton Slye)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.comics.misc
Subject: Re: What's up with !mage??
Date: 30 Sep 92 14:05:56 GMT
	<1992Sep30.081118.15084@zia.aoc.nrao.edu>
Organization: Sophomore, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA


>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.
 
>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.
 
>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.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-

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....

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



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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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