Marvel’s new editor-in-chief wants retailers to know the publisher is rethinking how much it puts on their shelves. Speaking at Retailer Day at New York Comic Con, Stephen Wacker opened with a blunt question: “Does Marvel publish too many comics?”
His answer, as reported by ICv2, is that Marvel needs to be pickier. “If we’re launching everything at once and telling you it’s all essential, what are you supposed to do with that?” he said. Before a book goes on the schedule, Wacker wants his editors asking whether it has a reason to exist, who it is for and what Marvel can tell shops to help sell it. “What that might mean is fewer books,” he said. “I’d rather you sell out of ten books than sit on 30.”
Clearer variant covers
Wacker said he loves variant covers, but admitted they can be overused and confusing. Marvel now labels variants A, B, C and so on, and going forward the artist’s name will also appear on the cover near the barcode. Some series will use recurring themes for each letter so collectors know what they are getting.
From ripping out flyers to running the line
Wacker started in comics retail in St. Louis and later at Golden Apple Comics in Los Angeles. He recalled the 1994 release of Marvels, when Marvel slipped a “Marvel Mart” flyer into its comics telling readers how to order directly from the publisher. Staff at Golden Apple ripped the flyer out of every copy. “So my earliest Marvel memory is sticking it to Marvel,” he said, adding that he is trying to remember “what made us rip those flyers out in the first place.”
Comics lead, movies follow
Wacker also said Marvel Studios chief Kevin Feige agrees the comics should not simply follow the films. After Feige attended Marvel’s creative summit, Wacker said, the message to writers and artists was that “our job is to be 15 years ahead of him.”
He promised creators would be paid on time, said he does not believe in a house style, and teased names on Marvel books next year that “haven’t been on Marvel in a long time, and some that have never been on Marvel at all.” He closed with a pledge to tell shops what they need to know before final order cutoff.
Marvel’s NYCC slate, including the books in Marvel Sets G. Willow Wilson’s Captain Marvel for May 2027 and Daredevil #700 for March at NYCC, will be the first test of whether that leaner approach shows up on the shelves.
