Lionel Ruland of New World Manga in Livingston, New Jersey offers an open letter to Marvel regarding their offer of a rare variant in exchange for DC's Flashpoint copies (see "Marvel Baits DC With Swap Offer").

Dear Marvel,

I love your idea of helping the retailer.  As David Gabriel said, "In these tough economic times, feel it's our duty to help."  However, why would I want to give you covers of comics that are selling well, and if they were shipped late would be accepted back for full credit?  Why should I send you $75 worth of sell-able product for a "variant" to try and get that money back on eBay?  How does THAT help me sell more Marvel comics?  Rather than continue to make digs at other companies, how about accepting 50 copies of all the Fear Itself tie-ins I have clogging the shelves?

In fact, because you've got Fear Itself crossed over into every main title, you have made it difficult for me to sell single issues of those books to new customers who come into the store during the summer months for books to send to kids camp.  Because of the crossover factor, they are afraid of being confused by not knowing what's going on.

How about making Marvel books returnable due to late shipping?
How about giving us co-op money for advertising your products?
How about sticking to the "point one" idea instead of renumbering titles to #1--or since I'm not against renumbering, abandon the point one?
How about making your comics $2.99?
How about offering my store the opportunity to sell your digital comics?

How about stepping up as the number one comic book company and leading the industry in these "tough economic times" by doing something to help retailers GROW the industry and bring new and lapsed readers to your products?

The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial staff of ICv2.com.