king-poindexter
asked:
Hello Tom. With Disney now owning Marvel (and Star Wars), do you see Marvel getting back into licensing characters for publication and beyond? It seems like it was profitable when you consider Conan, Transformers, Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Micronauts, Rom, Planet of the Apes, and G.I. Joe were in Marvel's stable. Do you see the possibility that Marvel will get back into licencing these types of characters that have nothing to do with living in the shared Marvel Universe? Thank you.

We do a little bit of that, but it’s not really what we do as a whole. Those books that you mention were produced and were successful in a different time, when comics were sold on a returnable basis through what we call “newsstand distribution.” In the current direct market, it’s difficult to get retailers especially to order a licensed book from Marvel in sufficient quantities to make it viable long-term–retailers understand that these books aren’t really a part of our shared universe, that they’re essentially “visitors”, so even while they might order them from other companies, in terms of allocating their Marvel budget there are other books they’re more likely to bank on. Occasionally, there’ll be a property that it’s worth us investing in despite the drawbacks and the changes in distribution–the Stephen King DARK TOWER books for example. But I don’t think you’ll ever see us having as deep a bench of licensed titles as we did in the 70s and 80s again.