In recent years, Marvel has defied death more frequently than its signature superheroes. Spider-Man facing off against the Green Goblin in next May's Sony film is child's play in comparison to the creditors hounding Marvel through its period of bankruptcy and subsequent string of reorganizations. Marvel is banking on that kind of nimble maneuvering to build a stable footing for the company in the new decade.
"We're concentrating on working together," said Marvel's newly appointed COO Bill Jemas, referring to the company's five divisions. Since coming aboard as president of publishing and new media 18 months ago, Jemas has worked with Marvel's heads of licensing, entertainment and toys to build synergies for the publisher's character-driven franchises that could position the company as a serious player in teen entertainment.
Jemas says Marvel's efforts begin with comics publishing and expand outward. He supervised the relaunches of Marvel's top franchises, X-Men and Spider-Man, upon arriving at the company. The initiative in concert with the development of films and tie-in merchandise, was intended to reposition the franchises. The program increased publishing revenue and consumer awareness of Marvel's characters. Since then, Marvel has overhauled its publishing line by commissioning work from some of the field's top talent and structuring its content so titles can be published first as periodicals and then collected into graphic novels.
Marvel's most controversial move has been to stop overprinting and reprinting its comic books to increase their value as collectibles, and push readers toward the graphic novels in trade paperback and hardcover. That strategy will be put to the test this fall, when Marvel unrolls an aggressive program aiming to publish 12 books per month. In the first half of this year, Marvel's bookstore business nearly doubled, despite the challenges of keeping books in inventory. In August, Marvel entered a relationship with Diamond Comics Distributors, the leading supplier of comics in North America. It remains to be seen how the booksellers will respond to this burst of titles and whether Marvel will be able to meet the demands of the marketplace.
Despite advances in sales of its top titles and a busy development pipeline, Marvel's long-term stability remains unknown. The company still faces a $250-million bond debt, and Tot Funding, a company formed by chief shareholder Isaac Perlmutter to bail Marvel out its $17.5 million Citibank debt, has a lien on its trademarks and copyrights. Marvel is hoping that advances in publishing and media development, in tandem with a refocusing of its toy division from manufacturing to licensing, will bring the company onto a firm financial footing.
Jemas is confident that this will be the case. "The best creative wins," Jemas said. "No need for the big production budgets or major marketing dollars of vertically integrated institutions. Comics are a great place to showcase hot new concepts to a smart, hip audience that is known to set the tone for the entire entertainment industry."
