We are about to enter the Age of X-Man. From a logistical standpoint, that means two one-shots and six five-issue mini-series. It is a world based around a relatively unpopular character. It is coming from relatively new creative teams with little in the realm of name recognition. It is a textbook situation where additional marketing is needed to draw customers in. So why has there been nearly nothing in the way of promotion?
Due to the way comics are sold through the direct market, the Age of X-Man event was announced in October so that it could be included in the November solicitations to be sold in January. AGE OF X-MAN: ALPHA, the opening issue and one that Zac Thompson and Lonnie Nadler, the creative heads of this event, have called essential to understand any of the six mini-series, had a final order cut off date of January 7th. That means direct market retailers, i.e. comic shops, had to have their orders in for this book by then. Working that backwards, it means readers had to be aware of this event enough to tell their shop to order it for them before that date. For Marvel, this is their date to make all their sales. It is doubly crucial for a book that kicks off a significant chunk of the publishing line for half of 2019. Conventional wisdom would suggest that this is when the bulk of the promotion should happen.
Only it didn’t.
Looking at search trends for this event, we see a significant lull in the weeks before FOC. Some of this could be attributed to the holiday season, but I believe it is fair to evaluate the official communications as well. The six mini-series that make up the event were announced on November 16th alongside their creative teams. After that? There was an official Marvel interview with Zac & Lonnie on January 10th and the traditional previews, the first real images we’ve seen from the books, on January 17th. All other information or promotion has come from creators posting snippets on social media.
Because of this, Marvel’s sales expectations for this event seem low. Their discount structure for sales of these series is based on orders for the penultimate issue of X-MEN RED. Based on the direct market estimates from Comichron, we are looking at #1 sales in the 62k range (assuming sales cap out at the max discount tier). For an event that draws parallels to the sales juggernaut that was Age of Apocalypse, this isn’t a good sign.
That parallel has also led to some backlash, a backlash that could have easily been avoided had Marvel communicated any details earlier. Some fans aren’t eager to return to the hyper 90s machismo of Age of Apocalypse. In a January 11th interview, days after FOC, Nadler emphasized that this event “This is not what you think it is. This is not a rehashing of the Age of Apocalypse. This is something else altogether.” If Marvel had done any communication beforehand on what this event was, this clarification wouldn’t have been needed. Instead, they have relied solely on the creative teams to promote the work on social media.
There is some good in using individual creators’ social media for part of a promotion, it builds tighter bonds between creators and fans. It can’t however, be the only part. Freelancers taking time to answer Twitter questions from often impolite fans can’t be the only form of promotion a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Corporation (a company with a $164B market cap) uses to promote a 32 issue event. Freelancers shouldn’t be creating an FAQ to send to retailers about the books. Freelancers shouldn’t be creating videos to explain an event to readers. There are echoes here of Kelly Sue DeConnick fronting the money for the Captain Marvel design that is about to be in movie theaters across the globe, or her explaining to new fans how to even buy comics. There is undue burden on freelancers to be the marketing engine for these books.
Now let’s be clear, there is a lot to be excited for in Age of X-Man. This is easily the most diverse lineup of writers any X-Event has even seen. It includes writers, like Seanan McGuire, who have crossover appeal outside of comics. It has rising stars like Leah Williams and Vita Ayala writing stories about the erasure of queer identities and oppressive prison systems. It has plenty of hooks to promote but the entire plan has been to say nothing, let freelancers do their best to promote it, and throw an exclusive preview out there a week before hand. Comics journalists will promote anything Marvel puts out there, so why is Marvel refusing to feed the machine.
Age of X-Man is a massive undertaking for Marvel’s publishing. It needs to generate sales but early indications are that it is going to tank hard and that is incredibly unfortunate. What little information we have gotten tells us that this is truly a creator-driven event dedicated to telling stories that have never been told in an X-Book. It is jam-packed with what could be the next generation of creators. I fully believe that the writers, artists, and editors on these books put their hearts and souls into them. It is unacceptable for the marketing team not to do the same.
Zachary Jenkins runs ComicsXF and is a co-host on the podcast “Battle of the Atom.” Shocking everyone, he has a full and vibrant life outside of all this.
