When Marvel Editor-in-Chief, Joe Quesada, recently spoke at Danny Fingeroth's Inside the Comic Creator's Studio seminar series at the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art, I was surprised at how many audience members asked him about the recent announcement that Marvel Comics would again be distributed through 6,000 7-Eleven stores. As someone who makes his living working in the comicbook industry, I knew it was big news, but who knew how interested comics fans would be?

Folks have been foretelling the death of comicbooks for as long as I can remember, and we have come frighteningly close in recent years, so such positive signs as this 7-Eleven/Marvel deal are very, very encouraging. Just think of it, 6,000 new outlets - that's about three times the amount of existing direct sales comicbook stores. The possibilities presented here are staggering. For example, and here's something that would have a direct impact on the comic-buying budgets of all Marvel fans, the price of new comics could conceivably go down. The major reason comics cost so much now, is lack of sales, stemming from a serious lack of distribution. Back when the big comicbook bust came in the 90s, the direct market lost every distributor but one and over 3,000 comicbook shops closed forever. In order to stay in business the comicbook publishers were forced to raise prices to survive. With the possibility of selling greater volume, it's not inconceivable that Marvel's cover price could come down to $2.00 or less.

Yet because of the still-fragile health of the industry, it's with guarded optimism that I greet the 7-Eleven news. I spent two thirds of my thirty years in comics working for Marvel, so I'd like to see them do well. Now, as both a comics fan and an editor for a small comics and graphic novel publisher (www.papercutz.com) I'm rooting for this deal to succeed. Anything that makes comics available to a wider audience is good for comics in general. In that spirit, here are few suggestions to Marvel that they may want to consider…

1) At this early point, I'm certainly not privy to Marvel's marketing plans, but word has leaked out that Marvel plans to primarily sell its line of Marvel Adventure titles through the 7-Elevens. The theory is that these books are more accessible to new readers than Marvel's other titles. I don't quite understand this. Ever since Joe Quesada took over as Marvel Editor-in-Chief, hasn't he worked to make every title more first reader-friendly? Wouldn't it make more sense to put your very best titles out there? Whether it's the Ultimate line or the original Marvel Universe titles, wouldn't that be the way to go? Why squander this opportunity on a line of books that haven't been embraced by your primary (direct sales) market?

2) If the response to my first suggestion is that the regular Marvel line, or even the Ultimate line, is considered too continuity heavy for new readers, then I think that's insane. This bit of "conventional wisdom" really bugs me. Just look at the best-selling titles of the last few years, and you'll see that the so-called continuity heavy titles and crossovers dominate the sales charts. And look how many prime time TV series have gotten on board with continuity heavy storylines. Is there a single dramatic series on HBO that isn't a continuing serial? The point is, it's not the continuity, it's the quality of the actual writing. With writers such as Joss Whedon, J. Michael Straczynski, and Brian Michael Bendis on their top titles, why limit their potential audience?

3) If on the other hand, it's a question of presenting only all-age friendly content to this audience, then I have a few more suggestions. First, I'd suggest Marvel to rethink its position regarding the Comics Code Authority. Marvel has more than enough political weight to get the Code to revise its outdated all-or-nothing approach and adopt a ratings system similar to what Marvel currently has. Marvel has the right idea, they just do a very poor job of explaining what their ratings mean. I have no idea what "PSR" means, and there's no clue anywhere inside the comics themselves. The current system of differing ratings systems for different publishers is precarious at best. The Comics Code could be a very valuable tool for the comics industry, especially for manga publishers, and Marvel has the clout to make such a positive change possible. Further, there's no reason Marvel couldn't produce, like the movie and music industries do, cleaned-up versions of their top-sellers. For people who want their Marvel Comics in their original "uncensored" states, they'll have plenty of direct sales stores or online suppliers, such as our good friends at Mid-Town Comics to go to. But just as movie studios edit films for airlines and broadcast television, and record companies re-mix CDs for K-Mart and Wal-Mart, I see no reason why Marvel couldn't edit certain titles to reach a larger audience.

4) Less pin-up style covers. If Marvel really wants to reach a larger audience, let's see more covers that actually reflect the individual comic's contents. Yes, a cover featuring a well-drawn Spider-Man on a rooftop is nice every now and then, but hey - it doesn't hurt to feature the hero in jeopardy, or even in battle with a super-villain. There certainly have been some fine examples of such covers by some of Marvel's top artists in recent years, so let's just see more!

5) Finally, bring back Bullpen Bulletins and letters pages. If a new reader does pick up a Marvel comic for the first time, these pages can help tremendously to welcome him into the fold. A Bullpen Bulletins-style page can cross-promote the other Marvel titles on sale at 7-Eleven, and the letters page can provide further reasons to come back for the next issue, with a well-written next issue blurb.

I do have another idea for Marvel and their new 7-Eleven distribution deal, but I'm going to save that one for next week. In the meantime, I'm going to dig out my collection of plastic Marvel 7-Eleven Slurpee cups and drink a toast to the success of Marvel's latest venture.

Cheers! Or should that be -- Excelsior!

Addicted to Comics is © Copyright 2005 by Jim Salicrup. All rights reserved.