I owe you nothing, nothing at all...

[Le Messor]

I've been thinking again. Somebody should stop me.

Anyway, the moderators around here have been trying to get us to be more diplomatic by reminding us that Marvel owes us nothing--good luck, guys! More power to ya! (I mean that, even when you have to exercise that power over me.)

Marvel don't owe us Alpha Flight. They don't owe us a good series. They don't owe us respect, or ongoings, or any such thing.
They don't owe us a supply for what we demand.

You see, ours is a business relationship. Every month, we buy an issue. They give us their comics, we give them our money, and nobody owes anybody anything. It might make good business sense to give us all the above, but that's not the same as owing.

Even if the comic says: "Next month: Back to School special", they don't owe it to anybody to ever produce another issue of that title again (that's a real-life example, btw: the A Nightmare on Elm St magazine #2 really did say that, and they never made a #3.) (I'm making keeping your word, making and breaking promises separate issues here. I'm open to correction on that one.)

What they should remember, though is this:
We don't owe them anything either.
We don't depend on them for our living.
We don't owe them publicity. We don't owe them title / company loyalty.

Sure, we may or may not choose to give them those things--we, this list, usually do when it comes to (insert Greek letter here) Flight, but we have no obligation.

We don't owe them any more respect or courtesy than they give us. I'd argue we owe them less--the customer is always right, after all. (Though I feel more left behind these days.)

</rant>
- Le Messor
Can't talk. Rambling.

[Mokole]

We owe Marvel nothing, nothing. Good post. Marvel owes us a decent explanation. They owe their clients/customers respect and decency.

[cmdrkoenig67]

...But they don't owe us an explanation, at all. Mik is right...they owe us nothing. They can (and probably will) keep quiet about any reason(s) for not making a OF ongoing...Just because they can.

There are reasons I buy pretty much just the Marvel Handbooks, lately...

1. I usually only follow certain characters that I like...Even though that's a pretty substantial group of fictional persons (Alpha Flight, several X-characters, many of the horror characters, etc...).

2. Most everything they've put out in the last ten years has sucked, Has been disrespectful of characters I like or the characters I enjoy reading have been left to rot in limbo.

I tend to feel that Marvel has done (and continues to do) a lot of shooting themselves in the feet (with their misuse/abuse or their "properties" and their many poor business decisions)...A practice that will eventually leave them without feet to stand on.

Granted, this is a fictional universe and as such, can be destroyed, rebuilt, copied (meaning the Ultimate and Marvel Adventures lines), destroyed, rebuilt, copied as many times as they please...But in the end, such things piss-off/alienate older readers/customers and confuse those who are new.

If I was a new comic reader and picked up Marvel Adventures Spider-Man, Ultimate Spider-Man and "616" Spider-Man comics (not knowing they are all different "universes")...I would be confused as hell as to what was going on and who's who. That's a good way to alienate/lose new readers IMO.

Marvel does owe it to themselves to make an ongoing of a profitable product...To not do so, is a really stupid move IMHO...But that's their prerogative and their problem.

They also owe it to themselves to respect the characters/properties that keep their company alive and profitable...ruin them/water them down/kill them off and they run the very real risk of losing readership on ever-growing scales.

We (the readers/customers...New and old) do suffer from not seeing characters we like in regular monthly comic series, but we'll survive. The only thing that we really can do, is hope to see our favorites appear again and be well written, drawn, edited, respected, etc...

I agree with Mik...They owe us nothing (but they stand to lose old and new readers/customers by constantly ignoring real demands/avenues of profit)and we owe them nothing, as well.

Dana

P.S. That wandered around a bit, but I hope everyone will know what I'm getting at.

[SephirothsKiller]

I should buy a share in Marvel since then they would owe me an explanation as to why they aren't fulfilling their duty of maximizing shareholder profits.

[HappyCanuck]

Actually, I have to agree with Mik on one point: they DO owe us something if they want to CONTINUE the business arrangement with us, their readers.

They, as a company, not only supply us with a product (the comic book), but also a service (the content of the comic book). As with any industry involving a product or a service, the customer (us) is entitled to at least a LIMITED warranty (within reason) that the product/service is to our standards. If I bought a toaster that was faulty when I bought it, I should be able to return it for something better. More to the point (since I don't think anyone here has ever gotten a comic that was improperly constructed), if I order, say, internet, and all I get are error messages, then I should be warranted to have that corrected.

In that context, the comic book companies DO owe us: we, the consumers, pay their bills. WE owe THEM nothing. If we don't buy their product/service, then it's no skin off our teeth, but if we don't buy their product/service, then they are out of work.

[Dfense75]

How does one put a warranty on art? Yes it is a product. Yes it is a something we buy with expectations. But when it comes down to it if Pearl Jam puts out an album i dont like or doesnt make another album. Do they owe me something? Music like, art and or literature is an art form. It comes with no guarantee. If you dont like it. You dont have to buy it. The artist, record company, and or publishing company is under no obligation to create said product simply because we want it. Yes we want Alpha/Omega stories on an ongoing basis. But for whatever reason we have heard no news about an ongoing. Whether its in the works and pending an announcement or Joe Q at some point in his life was beaten senseless with a copy of Alpha Flight by the neighborhood bully and is taking it out on us. Who knows. One option I considered as of late that im not sure has been brought up is. If Marvel refuses to publish the stories. Than sell the rights to someone who will. I know this will probably never happen. But the rights to characters have been bought and sold before. If they refuse and the market is there. Perhaps something can be done. It is remarkably sad that Marvel cant recognize a market for something when its there. But hey I nor any of most of the peeps on this board have ever accused them of being smart.

[Le Messor]

Actually, I have to agree with Mik on one point: they DO owe us something if they want to CONTINUE the business arrangement with us, their readers.

... you meant disagree?

(since I don't think anyone here has ever gotten a comic that was improperly constructed)

Umm... Hasn't everyone? Staples are usually the problem. The middle pages fall out, staples are entirely absent, or there's only one.
I recently bought a square-bound annual with several pages missing.
And comics with I don't know what on the cover (probably a transit problem).

- Le Messor
'The minstrels fifed and drummed in the gallery...'
'She looked around at the knights in white satin tabards'
- Cecilia Dart-Thornton, The Bitterbynde, book 2