Originally published June 1, 2001, in Comics Buyer’s Guide #1437

I have to admit that, in the old days in Marvel direct sales, our best friends were the fine folks at DC Comics. Why? Because the programs, the approaches to sales, all the stuff that Carol Kalish (then-head of direct sales) came up with, was not only great in and of itself, but it always made DC look anemic in comparison. Most of the retailer programs had their origins at Marvel. Carol made them relatively easy to use, made the terms understandable. There was co-op advertising, rack programs, cash register programs, book programs (making books on improving business available at heavily discounted prices). In short, she made it a policy to go out of her way to make the retailers and distributors understand that Marvel was, and would always be, their friend.

And sure, the distributors used to get antsy, certain that at some point Marvel would try to shove aside the middle man by self-distributing, but those concerns would always be brushed aside. We didn’t have the manpower, we didn’t have the national set-up, and what it ultimately came down to is that Marvel simply wouldn’t be that stupid. Why go out of our way to shoot ourselves in the foot, when instead we could go out of our way to make our customers happy… our customers being the distributors, and by extension, the retailers (making the readers happy was editorial’s job.) When distributors would be angry about something, we went out of our way to placate them. When they were annoyed by a Marvel policy, we went out of our way to explain—to as many people as necessary, in as many ways as possible—why this particular policy had been developed. What need it filled. They may not have always agreed, but usually they understood, and I think on some level they appreciated that we had taken the time to go (say it with me) out of our way to address their concerns.

Now, y’know, we were just dumb sales folks back then, working for a company that was making money hand over fist, increasing sales, expanding the venues in which comics could be found, spreading good will. We lacked the foresight, the commercial acumen, the sheer business savvy of those who would come after us, all of whom were so much better, brighter, and cognizant of what was required to take a decades-old, thriving force in the industry and plunge it into bankruptcy.

We didn’t realize that all one had to do was go out of one’s way—not to make people happy—but to hack them off.

Continue Reading “Marvel’s Neener Factor” →

Originally published May 25, 2001, in Comics Buyer’s Guide #1436

The phone rang on my desk in the direct sales department at Marvel Comics. I’d been working there less than a week, but I’d quickly learned that whenever the switchboard got a phone call that they didn’t know what to do with, and they didn’t want to bother editorial with it, they invariably kicked it over to direct sales. More specifically, since I was the new guy, they kicked it over to me. “Direct sales,” I answered.

A kid’s voice on the other end said, with no preamble, “I was wondering, if Superman raced the Silver Surfer, who would win?”

“The Silver Surfer,” I said without hesitation.

“Okay, thanks,” he said, and hung up.

Of course I said the Surfer. I worked at Marvel. If I’d been working at DC, I would’ve said Superman. What else would you expect?

Continue Reading “On writing DC vs. Marvel” →

Originally published May 18, 2001, in Comics Buyer’s Guide #1435

I’m heading out of town shortly and am pressed for time this week, so a couple of quick observations…

Continue Reading “BID Mailbag: DVD coding” →

Originally published May 11, 2001, in Comics Buyer’s Guide #1434

According to Bob Zmuda, long-time confidant and co-conspirator of Andy Kaufman (a performance artist before anyone knew what a performance artist was), Kaufman told him how he had always aspired to be a wrestling villain. He wanted to be one of those guys who swayed arrogantly around the ring while everyone booed. Zmuda pointed out the obvious drawback to this aspiration: Kaufman, from a physical point of view, would make as credible a wrestling cad as Don Knotts. Even those who nursed the belief that wrestling wasn’t scripted wouldn’t buy the notion of scrawny Kaufman lasting more than five seconds with the monsters of the mat. To Kaufman, however, that was merely a stumbling block, an obstacle to be overcome. He wanted the publicity; he wanted to be noticed; he wanted to be booed. And as we all know, he found a way: He started wrestling women. No one could comprehend why he was doing it, and he pìššëd øff a lot of people, and it wasn’t especially funny, and it dámņëd near killed his career—probably would have if he hadn’t died (or… did he?)—but you know what? While it was all going on, he put on a hëll of a show.

Keep that in your mind for a minute…

Continue Reading “Dave Sim on a “Tangent”” →