Marvel moves back into 7-11s

It looks like Marvel's done what could potentially be a very smart thing and finally taken a step further towards the "newsstand days" (or would that be backwards... meh).

This is obviously a necessity to getting comic books out there to a younger audience, if Marvel is going to have a serious go at it. All these Marvel Adventures and Marvel Next titles (and whatever other initiatives I'm missing) don't really do much good if kids still have to wander down into dark and damp basement comic shops to get to them. So yeah, good on Marvel here.

Though I still see some issues from reading the Newsarama piece...

Selection? All I see is mention of Marvel Adventures and "other titles" along with it. While the books for the young'uns should be the priority, and while I wouldn't expect to see MAX books on the newsstands, I'd feel better knowing that Marvel is going to be pushing every bit of its current offerings that it can. Kids are hardly the sole client-base of a 7-11, so I would think that limiting it to just those few titles would be a missed opportunity.

Price? This is something that could be a lot harder to solve than the selection issue. Comics are expensive nowadays. It doesn't matter how visible they are if the pups can't afford them. Even if we're talking about kids blessed with princely allowances, are they really going to slap down several dollars for a single comic book when they can get a video game for a week along with a handful of candy for the same price? Likely not. Not on a regular basis anyway, and a new generation of regular readers is what Marvel wants here, right?

So... Marvel invades 7-11s. In theory, friggin' awesome. In practice, we'll see I guess. Personally, I'd really like to see this work out. I have fond memories of being a wee little thing and swinging by the local Mac's Milk a couple of times a week to pick up a pop and a comic, and I'm only 23. It really wasn't that long ago. These days, I'd quite happily grab the latest Captain America while I'm gassing up.