Robert Kirkman and Skybound Comics have been trying to make Wednesdays a little more exciting for a while now. The comics shop marketing cycle as it exists is a bit of a slog: consumers are urged to preorder (until Diamond went under, via an exhausting 500 page catalog), as retailers must place their orders at a Final Order Cut-of date (FOC) that is weeks before release. Retailers need to be informed of what they are ordering ahead of time, but a few also love leaking things, so surprises are almost always spoiled or otherwise escape into the wild.
Skybound has been trying various ways to shake this up. A non-exhaustive list includes surprise dropping the first issue of DIE! DIE! DIE!, soliciting fake issues of The Walking Dead to conceal its sudden last issue, and perhaps most famously, inserting a Transformer into issue #1 of Void Rivals as part of the launch of the Energon Universe, and Void Rival’s previously secret inclusion in that universe.
Skybound got even BETTER at the shock drop with last year’s Invincible: Battle Beast #1 Blind Bags program, which included not just variant covers but whole issues of unexpected comics. These included a reprint of Invincible #19, an advance copy of Battle Beast #2 and a really wild reprint of Marvel Team-Up #14 from 2005 which featured a crossover between Invincible and Spider-Man. The Battle Beast Blind Bags were a huge hit that basically kicked off he current blind bag mania in comics collecting circles – and were a it with retailers as well.
So dropping a new ROM comic into the M.A.S.K. #1 blind bags is very much in character for Skybound and even the Hasbro/Energon universe, and it certainly created some buzz and surprise.
It even created some buzz and surprise among Beat staffers! I’ll confess, I haven’t really followed the blind bags business but obviously it’s become a key part of the whole “speculation bubble” we’re undergoing. Still, it’s a hard story to track since most of the discourse takes place on YouTube, it seems.
Some observers (and a few Beatsters) find the ROM drop part of an unpleasant trend towards speculation and comics as a collectible and not something to be read. I was curious what retailers thought and reached out to a few for their reactions.
One of the things that makes all these blind bag drops possible is that Skybound holds regular calls with select retailers and explains their plans. Retailers knew about ROM and were told that it would be about a 1:10 ratio (which is a lot, really.) All the way back at ComicsPRO in February, Robert Kirkman did mention the return of a popular character, so the clues were all out there.
Keeping this a secret is obviously in retailers best interests, but they do leak to A Certain Website, but for whatever reason that website only spoils things the Tuesday before New Comics Day. So people get to have a fun surprise!
In general, I personally think that fun surprise drops are a good thing. Music and shoes get surprise drops and people like those right? That it has to be such a complicated business because of how the direct market works makes it pretty hard to pull off, but putting in the effort seems to be paying off.
I spoke to a couple of retailers and they were generally supportive of the program. One told me “Retailers are serious about Skybound because Skybound is serious about them. They tell us exactly what we need to know to prepare for, market in advance, and represent their products to our clientele and general public. That is more valuable than serving up to the media or spoiling online.”
Of course, some people aren’t included and try to spoil things. He continued, “In my opinion, the problem is retailers, mostly online only entities, who are not part of the Skybound retailer program and never will be. They seem to be the ones who open blind bags early to present some sort of false inside track on what’s going on or for views and interaction. That’s the value they get which doesn’t serve the comics fans or comics industry.”
Like most industry old timers (and many newtimers) I’m uneasy about the gambling/speculation obsession that has hit comics and everywhere else. But at least these blind bag debuts and surprises have actual content and get customers excited and engaged.
When I spoke with Kirkman about his upcoming TERMINAL #1 a few weeks back, he alluded to even more surprises in THAT blind bag program:
KIRKMAN: Yeah, between the blind bag program and the variant covers that we’ve got, we want this to be an event for comic book shops. We want people to be in the stores, opening the bags, excited about what they get. We’re certainly not revealing what’s in the blind bags, but there are some very exciting special comics that are absolutely insane, that when you open the bag and see what’s inside, that’s going to be a moment of excitement.
Retailers will know….but they shouldn’t spill the beans! Let’s all find out on Reddit together! I’m beginning to get invested in this schtik!
Skybound is heavily rumored to be launching ANOTHER licensed universe soonish, Gold Key characters such as Magnus Robot Fighter and Turok. Maybe these will be previewed in blind bags at some point? Given the excitement that these surprise debuts create, I wouldn’t bet against it.
Invincible Universe: Battle Beast #7 Cover A by Ryan Ottley & Annalisa Leoni
