Notes from the press conference. |
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The sponsors for the RRP are:
Central Park Media (CPM Manga) Collectable Concepts Dynamic Forces Diamond Comics Distributors Diamond Select Toys Chaos Comics Harris Comics Image Comics Wizard Entertainment Oni Press Joe Quesada started off the conference explaining the reasons for starting the RRP and what Marvel will be doing for retailers affected by the WTC attacks. Joe feels that now is not the time to stop our normal way of life. He feels the terrorist attacks are designed to change the way of life and we shouldn't cave into that. Marvel felt the Baltimore Retailer Summit should not have been cancelled and took the initiative to set up one in New York. They also thought other publishes felt the same way. They say it's a sign of patriotism to do this. Marvel is putting out a Heroes book and a few other things and news about that will be revealed at the Rally and later on. Marvel says all Marvel Product that is shipping in September will be given to retailers at Ground Zero for free. October Orders for Marvel product will be returnable for retailers at Ground Zero. Plus they will receive the maximum Marvel discount for the remainder of the year. Comic stores that were closed for maybe a day or so will get September and October Marvel products in returnables. More will be announced at the rally. All retailers attending will get an "overstuffed goody bag" with an estimated $400 dollar value or more. It starts Monday Morning at the China Club, located on 47th street, between Broadway and 8th Ave in Manhattan. Some talent will be at the show. Both Andy and Adam Kubert, Jae Lee, John Cassidy and maybe a surprise guest or two. Central Park Media believes "World Peace by Shared Culture." It is their company model. They think Comics help share culture which is why they publish Manga in the US. Chaos Comics' Director of Operations was in the basement of WTC Tower 2 but managed to get out. The Directors of Sales father was in the Pentagon and they didn't know where he was for a while but he's okay. Their Director of Marketing is Egyptian and has been experiencing some racial backlash. Chaos says this Rally just feels right. They want to show the industry that they are strong, that the industry is uniting and they are moving towards the common good rather than the individual good. They think the rally will show the world that the comic industry is strong and that they can put aside their differences and come together. [Note: They aren't coming together. Other publishers like DC, Dark Horse and CrossGen do not believe this is the right time to do a retailer conference. You can read about it on ] Collectable Concepts will be opening the official Marvel Universe Fan Club at the Retailer Rally. They will be using Captain America as a focus of this club and offering a wide variety of Captain America products. They are also making a S.H.I.E.L.D paperweight. Diamond is showing up to answer questions and be available. Diamond Select Toys will be making a presentation about upcoming products and offering Calendars and Posters in the goodie bag. Dynamic Forces wants retailers to know that they are their friends and that they are there for them. If retailers need anything, they should feel free to pick up the phone and to call them. They are bringing out some goodies like an X-Men Lithograph by Steve Rude and a Ultimate Spider-Man Lithograph by Joe Quesada. They thought about bringing a Captain America Lithograph by Alex Ross and Jack Kirby but decided against it because it had Nazi's on it and didn't want to offend anybody. They are also bringing 3 X-Nen movie books signed by 10 creators to give away. They want retailers to use them as promotions or to sell them to make some money back. Despite numerous publishers thanking Marvel for taking the initiative and inviting them to this Rally, Joe Quesada does not want this seen as a Marvel event, they want it to be seen as a Industry wide event. Joe Quesada says Retailers didn't close their stores, they stayed open and continued to sell their products. They did the best they could during these trying times. Joe wants to show them that they are still there and are producing the product that will put them over the hump during these trying times. Bill Jemas and Steve Geppi talked quite a bit about the postponement of the Baltimore Summit and Steve Geppi really encouraged Marvel to go ahead and do the summit for the retailers in New York. Jemas thanks Geppi for helping turn a disappointing and uncomfortable situation into what he feels will be a positive one for the industry. Steve Geppi said Diamond sees the industry as a big family as they have accounts all over the world. They have a lot of close friends everywhere and particularly in New York where some of their trading partners are based. He thinks it's a great idea that the industry is showing how they feel about things. He says some people react to disasters in different ways. Some step up and do it in patriotic ways other do it quietly. But however people react to these things, it's all good, there is no wrong way to react to something like this. Geppi continued by saying the comic industry is an amazingly resilient industry, ever since it was started back in 1933. It's survived the Depression, WWII, Korean War, TV and Radio and so on. He says it seems that somebody is always trying to knock the industrys feet out from under them but the comic industry is very resilient. Geppi continued by saying he's very proud by how the industry has reacted to this. He also mentioned that one retailer's wife was in the WTC and is currently unaccounted for. He hopes that the result of all this will be as positive as the attacks were tragic. He hopes we'll get our feet back on the ground and thanks everybody for participating. He says it's should be a good event. Steve Geppi recently became a father, he says that's one redeeming thing that happened out this tragic time. Jim McLauchlin was there to ask questions, but also spoke up on Wizards Entertainment behalf for sponsoring the event. He said personal relationships and face to face business are very important. He said it's always a good idea to get together and see the friends, the other publishers, retailers and so forth. He mentioned that Baseball stopped for a while and he thought that was very appropriate at the time. But last Monday they started again and he was happy to see it return to normal again. He says getting back to a state of normality is important. Note: Jim McLauchlin, Steve Geppi and Joe Quesada hate the Yankees. Others in the conference also said they don't like the Yankees, except for Bill Jemas who bragged about the trophies the Yankees have won. This got an applause from one unidentified person at the conference.
Question from Jamie Coville:
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