Peter Parker will become the new Goblin in Amazing Spider-Man. Scholastic is trouncing Marvel and DC in the book market. A classic G.I. Joe compendium is coming from Skybound. All on Comic Book Club News for April 15, 2024.
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Episode Transcript:
Peter Parker to become new Goblin.
Scholastic beats Marvel and DC.
Classic G.I. Joe compendium coming.
This is Comic Book Club News for April 15, 2024.
Peter Parker To Become New Goblin In Amazing Spider-Man:
A while back, Marvel Comics teased that Peter Parker might become the new Goblin after being infected with Norman Osborn’s sins. And then they took the sins out of him, so that didn’t happen. To use a quote from Twin Peaks: it is happening again, and starting in Amazing Spider-Man #50, Peter Parker will become the new – sigh – Spider-Goblin.
Here’s how Marvel plugs the event, via a press release provided to Comic Book Club:
“Peter Parker carries the weight of Norman Osborn’s sins, and takes to the skies as the SPIDER-GOBLIN! Don’t miss this mind-blazing moment in Peter and Norman’s heavy history when Zeb Wells, Ed McGuinness and Todd Nauck kick off the all-new “Easy Being Green” arc in next month’s AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #50.”
The Spider-Goblin – really? that’s what we’re going with? – is officially revealed on the cover of ASM #53, which will hit stores in July.
Scholastic Trounces Marvel, DC In Book Sales:
In a blockbuster report over at The Beat, Heidi MacDonald and Brian Hibbs have broken down graphic novel and trade paperback book sales in 2023. While there are many takeaways, and the enormous report is well worth reading, the big takeaway is: Marvel and DC book sales don’t even come close to comparing to Scholastic — or even other publishers not considered “the Big Two.”
Here are the key takeaways, from MacDonald’s takeaways, because that’s how the internet works. Dog Man from Scholastic was the biggest seller, but overall Scholastic sold 8.5 million copies of graphic novels last year and is 39% of the market. By comparison, Marvel and DC are less than 10% of the market. That’s both publishers, culled together.
In fact, Marvel only had one book in the top 750 sales; and DC was down 25% overall. Meanwhile, IDW’s TMNT: The Last Ronin sold 145,000 copies in 2023, more than any Marvel or DC book, and that was its second year on the chart.
The big takeaway, which is I guess different from a key takeaway, is that graphic novels aren’t dead, though the market dropped from when we were all trapped inside for the pandemic instead of going outside and pretending it’s not still happening. It’s just shifted from Marvel and DC, as other, more traditional publishers are thriving. Manga continues to be strong, as do all-ages books like those put out by Scholastic and others.
Can Marvel and DC bounce back? Perhaps. Initiatives like DC’s upcoming affordable, digest-sized books are a step in the right direction to embrace the techniques that have worked for book publishers. However, the “Big Two” have a long way to go before they’re as big as Scholastic. Spider-Man and Superman, it turns out, are no Dog Man.
Classic G.I. Joe Compendium Coming From Image Comics:
Following up on the whole graphic novel thing, part of the issue for Marvel, perhaps, is that they are regularly trounced by other publishers releasing collections of their material due to licensing agreements. So let’s add another piece of evidence to the pile… Skybound, through Image Comics, will be releasing G.I. JOE: A Real American Hero Compendium Vol. 1, which will begin to collect every issue of the classic Marvel Comics run.
Said Sean Mackiewicz, SVP, Publisher, Skybound, via press release: “This compendium marks the beginning of Skybound collecting Hasbro’s incredible backlist of G.I. JOE comics. G.I. JOE: A Real American Hero was my first comic, bursting with incredible characters and intense action, and it’s a pleasure to reintroduce readers to the original Hasbro comics that hooked a generation of fans.”
To be fair, Skybound does currently publish the ongoing Larry Hama G.I. Joe comics, so this move makes sense. However, given the current fever for Joe through the Energon Universe, and upcoming theatrical movies, it’s a bummer for Marvel that they won’t be adding this collection to their backlist.
But if you’re a fan? Get ready. The volume will collect the first fifty issues of the series and hit stores on October 2.
For Comic Book Club News, I’m Alex Zalben. And my mother always told me, don’t become infected with another man’s sins or you’ll become a goblin. Now I know what she was talking about!
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