what if there was no 2nd prints for The Valiant limited?

[jkingman]

I posted this on Facebook and it seemed more people would rather Valiant keep doing reprints when a book sells out. I understand the logic of that, saying a book has "sold out" is saying that it was popular and that if you missed it, don't miss your chance again and buy the 2nd print. It also makes it easily available...but what if they didn't do it for The Valiant limited series? This book should be incredible and with Kindt and Lemire having fans from other universes only increases the interest by new fans...so I get why people would want 2nd prints available...but what if not having it generates more of a buzz, shines more of a spotlight on it, and builds up anticipation for the trade or generates a ton of digital sales or even back market sales. Would it be terrible to have a "hot" book?

I know people are against the speculation bubble that burst the industry in the mid-90s, but I don't think this title not going to 2nd print would be a negative, or make Valiant seem like a collectors only universe. It might generate some buzz about Valiant and get people to pre-order Ninjak and Bloodshot to make sure they get the first prints on those books. It seems like the instant gratification of today's mindset is also a reason people want to see second prints, and I get that Valiant benefits from 2nd prints and not from the back issue sales. Comic stores might benefit more from no 2nd prints too. My shop had Rai #1 on the shelf even when issue #4 came out, they never needed to order a 2nd print and still haven't sold the first print. I heard Clayton Crain make a comment about Rai 1 going to fourth printing, not because it was popular but he felt the opposite, that no one heard about it. A little bit of action on the back market might help Valiant in the big picture.

I don't think not making a 2nd print is a gimmick or something "artificial" to create a buzz, but I guess today's standard is to instantly go to reprints once they are "sold out" from Diamond. When Marvel was struggling after the 90s, they stopped overprinting the books, printing just above order, and that create sold out books, attention, and made people notice the higher standard of quality on the books...Jim Shooter was against 2nd prints and understood the struggle of wanting to get those stories into the hands of new readers without degrading the value of the early issues, was hesitant to release trades even.

But today's market thrives on trades, often coming out a month or two after the final issue...very different than back in the day, so I don't think making people wait a few months before they can get the trade, if they don't want to buy off the back issue market, would be traumatic, it might increase the pre-orders for The Valiant trade. I can see that the idea of no reprints might be outdated...but maybe it will be the spark Valiant could use to get attention on the amazing quality of all their books.

And I'm not saying they should never go to 2nd print with any book ever again, just for this series. I'm sure they will go to reprints if the demand is there, and that's great, I won't be bothered or anything. I want more readers to find Valiant, so whatever will work...it just doesn't seem like such a big deal for a first print to sell out and go to second automatically...it might be interesting and create more readers if they don't do it, on a high profile book like this. any thoughts

[jeremycoe]

I don't think it would make much sense for Valiant to deny anyone who wants a physical copy the ability to buy one. I don't really think it would even generate that much interest in the long run, because if someone wants to read it they will be able to easy enough. That wasn't the case until a few years ago.

[jmatt]

I've got news for ya, the second printings are printed right alongside the first. It's purely a marketing thing.

[jkingman]

I've got news for ya, the second printings are printed right alongside the first. It's purely a marketing thing.

Interesting...

[raiden]

So are multiple printings used to drive sales, creating a bit of an illusion of demand due to sell-outs? I don't know the numbers on 1st or 2nd printings, so just speculation. That said, not having a 2nd printing shouldn't have much of an effect on back issue sales as there would be the same amount of 1st print issues either way. Later printings might actually be more helpful for back issues as there are completists (a dying breed in the current age of multiple variants) who buy all the covers and if I happen to pick up a 2nd or 3rd printing and like what I see, I would be inclined to seek out the 1st printing. Not sure how not having later printings would affect demand for trades... I tend to view demand in those in terms of interest in story arcs as opposed to individual issues.

I do like the idea of having a lower total print run which could drum up interest in later issues and other Valiant titles if it does well and sells out, but it may not be in Valiant's if there aren't enough books to meet demand. It raises the question though - do books with multiple printings/covers that are easily found or even sitting on the shelves for months, like Unity #1 or Rai #1, hurt Valiant's reputation by giving the impression that people aren't reading the books? Some of that is on LCS's ordering too many copies than it is all on Valiant though.

[bobby97801]

I've got news for ya, the second printings are printed right alongside the first. It's purely a marketing thing.

So you are saying that there is a 2nd printing of every Valiant comic? Where did you hear that? I'm sure if it was true, some unreleased second prints would get out somehow.

[jkingman]

I've got news for ya, the second printings are printed right alongside the first. It's purely a marketing thing.

So you are saying that there is a 2nd printing of every Valiant comic? Where did you hear that? I'm sure if it was true, some unreleased second prints would get out somehow.

Maybe only for #1 issues? They could print the first print run to match the orders, then the second print as the over printing...people on FB were worried that the limiting to one print run was a marketing gimmick and frowned upon it. So that's interesting. I think Rai's 2nd print was about 10% of the first print run. And it was announced really quick.

If something is hard to get, rare, and in high demand, more people might hunt it down on the back issue market than would pick up a 2nd print. People want what they can't have. It's easy to pass over something you see sitting on the shelf every week, but a book that everyone is talking about but you can't easily find might get you to pay that extra buck or two. Usually the 1st print has more value than the 2nd print in the long run, but I know fans pick up the 2nd print of books, so how many of that 1,600 books (I think that's close to what I read the 2nd print run for Rai was) went to new readers or went to old fans? I know I'm getting two copies of each issue, but if there was a buzz and a bit of a demand, I'd try to find a reader who wants to see what the story is about, why it's worth paying an extra dollar or two, instead of waiting to find it half off once all the printings are out there and the trade is out. I don't expect it to skyrocket in value like the old days and be out of reach of readers...with digital books and trades released so soon after the series ends, I don't think $100 or $50 or even $10 would be the value of a first print if they didn't do 2nd prints, but maybe a buck or two above cover, "hard to find" might be better this once than "we've already got the 4th print cover picked out"

But I do appreciate the comments and understand the logic of having it easily available, but if there is a sold out spot on the shelf and The Valiant is on the wall for $8, new fans might check it out.

How many Valiant fans buy the 2nd print of a comic they already own the first printing of?

[Phantom]

A comic rising in price in aftermarket has no immedate finanual gain for valiant.
Selling comics makes money for valiant.

So it is shooting itself in the foot by not selling comics. A whole chain of UK shops do not even hold backissues, as most are worthless, and take up floor place. I would go far as to say 95% of comics printed each month are worth half their value as soon as you buy it, basically if you don't buy it ~ it should go straight to the 1/4 bin to clear space for more comics ( well maybe after two months).

I do understand where you are coming from.
Desirability. If 500 people want something, make 499 = demand, desirability.
If valiant overprinted, and sold out. Their is demand, if they don't fill it, it will lower future sales latter on as less people read it in the first place = less money. However, if that makes people aware that ' hey ~ peoplee are looking for this book, prices are going up on ebay? why? lets get some in! Try it see what the fuss is about'.

Sooner or latter they will want to read that first issue, that desire has to be filled. Which leads back to a second print ~ or trade.

Why is sga one worth money? because more people read it now than first prints of the first issue where made. Suppply and demand.
If you want valiant comics to increase in value ~ they/ we need to raise the print run of current books.

If you know how to do that ~ you yourself are worth alot of money. If I knew how to do that ~ I would first buy a stake in VE1, then proceed to increase their comic sales.

Valiant still needs to make its presence felt in the comic book marketplace. Overseas their forgien editions are great ~ good move ~ still need more pressance on the USA comic sales shelf space. One comic shop manager / owner a fan of valiant could promote and push these great stories ~ as could staff memebers. I would focus my attention on these people to push valiant.

[jkingman]

Again, I'm not saying they should stop doing 2nd prints entirely, just for this limited series. And Saga #1 went up in value because there weren't copies available so people had to pay higher prices on the back market. People who bought the trades probably didn't then go back and get the first print, but since it sold out and went up in value, people wanted to see what the fuss was about, so they started to buy it and bought the trade to read the early issues.

And yeah, I wish I knew a magic trick to get more people to check out Valiant books.

[jkingman]

What if, for example, the buzz generates a lot of interest, so instead of selling 1,000 copies of the trade (just making up numbers here) they end up with an order for 5,000? or they could do a 2nd print and sell 1,000 more copies of #1, and only 1,000 copies of the trade. Just a possibility.

[rjrjr]

I've got news for ya, the second printings are printed right alongside the first. It's purely a marketing thing.

Yep.

[rjrjr]

I've got news for ya, the second printings are printed right alongside the first. It's purely a marketing thing.

So you are saying that there is a 2nd printing of every Valiant comic? Where did you hear that? I'm sure if it was true, some unreleased second prints would get out somehow.

This information has been reported several times by several sources. You might be able to google it. Some publishers are printing the 2nd prints right along with the 1st prints.

[jeremycoe]

At the LCS I occasionally go to, and I assume most others, there is no "spot on the shelf" for a particular book - just other books. Building buzz might get a few new people interested, but if the book isn't on the store shelf I think there are even more people who won't be interested just because they never even saw it.

I think the $1 debuts being put out are more successful at getting readers to try Valiant books than limiting print runs ever would be, but I don't run a shop or a comic book company so I don't really know what I'm talking about.

[StarBrand]

I've got news for ya, the second printings are printed right alongside the first. It's purely a marketing thing.

Interesting...

I don't think this is the case most of the time.

[greg]

The inner pages are printed with lots of extras. Those inner pages can be wrapped in a later printing cover, or gold cover, or put in a trade or hardcover. No need to hold back on printing extra guts, so they don't hold back.

[IMJ]

Valiant reprints because they are in the publication business rather than the aftermarket business.

[Tim]

The inner pages are printed with lots of extras. Those inner pages can be wrapped in a later printing cover, or gold cover, or put in a trade or hardcover. No need to hold back on printing extra guts, so they don't hold back.

True. I've personally heard Fred Pierce talk about printing "extra guts", which enabled them to do the Harbinger / X-O flipbooks. I think Greg was actually standing there as the conversation happened, as a matter of fact.

[jmatt]

I've got news for ya, the second printings are printed right alongside the first. It's purely a marketing thing.

So you are saying that there is a 2nd printing of every Valiant comic?

No, just those issues they want to have multiple printings for. Personally, I don't think it matters much. Just think of it like another variant cover.