 WAL-MART
SHRINKS THEIR TOY DEPARTMENT…You may have an
even harder time finding Action Figures (as well as most other toys) in the near
future. Retail juggernaut Walmart has announced that it is cutting its toy space
by more than half as part of an overall redesign of their stores. This redesign
(called “fast, friendly, clean,”) will cut aisles, widen remaining aisles,
eliminate end caps, and reduce the number of product and product lines carried
in various departments, including toys. The first of these redesigns will take
affect in just under a quarter of the chain’s stores this summer. Then they'll
reevaluate and tweak the program before initiating it to all stores across the
country. Currently Walmart is the nation's largest toy retailer, and these
changes are expected to have a dramatic impact on the toy business. While it is
expected that Target, Toys R'Us and other toy retailers will pick up some of the
toy lines Walmart will be dropping, this move will put additional pressure on
toy manufactures as their sales drop in the interim. |
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Submitted by: Tim "Comicbookman" Davis
Source: TD Monthly |
Posted: 060509
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 CHICAGO
MAY BE COMICS CAPITAL…Chicago-based R.R.
Donnelley (the Yellow Pages people) has made an offer to buy Quebecor World,
which prints a high percentage of U.S. comics as well as magazines and books.
Donnelley is offering to buy the Quebecor World’s assets for $1.3 billion in
cash and stock. The offer includes $700 million in cash, around $400 million in
Donnelley stock, and Quebecor cash on hand of around $250 million. Quebecor has
been in financial trouble since the first of the year when they filed for
bankruptcy protection in Canada and the U.S. The companies financial woes have
been laid at the feet of its European operations and in its inability to raise
new capital in the current market environment. Since January it has sold its
European assets and filed a reorganization plan in the hopes of emerging from
bankruptcy. The Donnelley offer is being floated as a better deal for Quebecor’s
creditors. Donnelley is currently the world’s largest printing company, and
would use its acquisition of Quebecor World to expand its operations in Canada. |
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Submitted by: Tim "Comicbookman" Davis
Source: Various Sources |
Posted: 051509
|
 MCFARLANE
TOYS GUTS ITS STAFF…According to various
sources McFarlane Toys is feeling the pinch of the bad economy to as it is
laying off a large percentage of its in-house design staff. The action
figure/toy maker will be slashing 27 positions from it’s design staff, bring
that department from 40 to 13. Personnel from mold, paint, sculpting and model
departments are all losing their jobs and the company will retain only a handful
of designers that will work exclusively in digital formats, creating sculpts
based on scans of real people. How will they keep up production with such a
drastic cut in design staff? Freelancer’s will be hired to take up the slack.
This layoff news came the same day that McFarlane unveiled its newest sports
figure line: Sports Picks College Football figures. This new line will feature
likenesses of profession football stars in their colleges’ home uniforms. The
line’s Series One assortment includes: Tom Brady (University Of Michigan
Wolverines), Ray Lewis (University of Miami Hurricanes), Peyton Manning
(University of Tennessee Volunteers), Adrian Peterson (University of Oklahoma
Sooners), Hines Ward (University of Georgia Bulldogs), and JaMarcus Russell
(Louisiana State University Tigers). Look for it on the shelves in August. Todd
McFarlane issued a statement that the company was not threatened but just
experiencing the same downturn as 1000’s of other business across the country.
“Does this mean that my company is on the verge of going out of business? No, it
simply means that some corrections were needed within my company.” |
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Submitted by: Tim "Comicbookman" Davis
Source: Various Sources |
Posted: 050409
|
 HOW
TO LOSE 5% AND BE A SUCCESS…As I always tell
customers who ask me, the comics industry isn’t bulletproof, but it is tougher
than we all thought.. For the month of March comicbook sales were down 7%
nationwide according to Diamond Distribution and other sources. Conversely
graphic novel sales were up over their February decline picking up a 6% gain
natoionwide in March. Put all of this together and nationwide the comics and
graphic novels in March were down 5% from March of 2008’s numbers. The increase
in March Graphic novel sales was boosted in large part to the huge number of
sales of the Watchmen graphic novel, tied in of course to the Watchmen film.
Looking at the quarter (January/February/March) sales of comics and graphic
novels were down 5% this year versus the first quarter of 2008. With many
businesses posting losses of anywhere from 15-30% during this period, the comics
industry actually looks to be in good shape with a 5% loss. Strange days indeed. |
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Submitted by: Tim "Comicbookman" Davis
Source: Various Sources |
Posted: 041709
|
 2009
EISNER AWARD NOMINEES ANNOUNCED…The 2009 Will
Eisner Comic Industry Awards have been announced and this year Dark Horse and
newcomers lead the field of the industry's best. Dark Horse has the most
nominations of any publisher, with thirteen individual nominations and five
shared. Behind Dark Horse was DC with 10 individual and 2 shared, Marvel
with 9 individual and 2 shared, Drawn & Quarterly with 10 nominations, First
Second :01 with 9 nominees, Fantagraphics with 7 nominees, and IDW, Viz, Image,
and AdHouse all with 5 nominations apiece. This years nominees also include many
newcomers including Canadian cousins Mariko and Jillian Tamaki (writer and
artist of the teen angst graphic novel Skim) to French biographer Emmanuel
Guibert (Alan's War) to graphic novelist Nate Powell (Swallow Me Whole). Ballots
will go out in mid-April to comics creators, editors, publishers, and retailers.
A downloadable pdf of the ballot will also be available online, and a special
website has been set up for online voting. The results in all categories will be
announced in a gala awards ceremony on the evening of Friday, July 24 at
Comic-Con International. For a full listing of all the mominees as well as other
Eisner news got to our
EISNER AWARDS PAGE. |
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Submitted by: Tim "Comicbookman" Davis
Source: Various Sources |
Posted: 040909
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DUCKS IN LIMBO…
Disney Comics Worldwide Website revealed Gemstone Publishing (a subsidiary of Diamond Distribution) will not be
renewing its license to publish Disney comics in the U.S., however reports vary
on whether Gemstone will be ceasing publication of either the Disney titles or
the EC Archives. The Overstreet Price Guide (another one of Gemstone’s
publications) has just shipped and plans are underway for next years 40th
Anniversary Edition. Official word from Gemstone is no final decision has been
made regarding The EC Archives or the comics featuring Disney’s standard
characters, but it seems certain that both lines will continue in some form. Walt
Disney’s Comics & Stories has been publishing (on and off) since the early
1950’s. At one time it was America’s #1 comic with a monthly circulation of over
3 million copies. In 1999 Gladstone, which held the Disney license went out of
business and there was a 4-year hiatus in the publication of all Disney Comics
until Gemstone took over the license in the summer of 2003. Since then Gemstone
has published some 280+ Disney comics however the current releases on the racks
may be the last Disney comics we see for a while.
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Submitted by: Tim "Comicbookman" Davis
Source: ICV2 |
Posted: 033109
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