Marvel and DC Comic's two super heroes, Spider-Man and Superman, would be very disappointed in the unheroic acts of their publishing companies. Late last year DC Comics offered promotional rings that coincided with their companywide crossover story, Blackest Night, which features the hero Green Lantern and his comrades. So why the rings? In the story, all the rings run by emotion and a bad guy wants to wipe them all out. There, now that the story is up to speed--little plastic rings were included with other DC Comic books, which, for comic collectors, was a must have. So retailers ordered the books and fans waiting to wear a ring flooded the stores and the rings sold out.

Marvel saw the marketing strategy and how many issues were sold so they devised a plan to do something groundbreaking. Earlier this month, comic fans awoke to a Marvel Press release that said for every 50 (6 certain DC titles) stripped comic covers sent in to Marvel, they would send retailers one free Siege issue 3 variant featuring the Marvel character Deadpool. Fans flooded the message boards and retailers sounded off to this announcement. Responses were polarized, with some fans saying it was juvenile and other fans saying it would actually help the retailers, who have been stuck with multiple copies of issues that normally wouldn't sell well without the help of the rings.

Gerard McNeal, co-owner of Alliance Comics in Federal Hill, said he will not be getting the SIEGE variant. "Frankly, our Blackest Night books sold very well," McNeal said. "We have more Captain America [a Marvel title] sitting around than the DC titles." He feels that Marvel is odd for marketing like this. But he views it as "good old-fashioned Marvel vs. DC." McNeal feels the cost of the comics being destroyed would total more ($200) than the actual variant itself and "breaking even doesn't pay the rent."

Geoff Johns (writer for Blackest Night) took to his Twitter, saying, "A Deadpool variant is anything but rare. Trust me. I own a store."

Tom Breevort (Marvel's Editor) tweeted: "I see there's a lot of chatter about our Siege #3 offer, so I have to ask the question: how is this bad? We're making no money on the deal (actually losing a little). We heard from a number of retailers who got stuck with books chasing rings and decided to do something."

More recently, Marvel released the cover for the variant, which sports Deadpool holding up one hand in the form of a W. On the character's pointer and ring finger are two rings (one blue and one orange), which in the Blackest Night book represents avarice and hope. Is this some kind of message, perhaps?

Looking at Marvel and DC, the companies have always had a friendly rivalry. In the past they used their flagship titles Justice League of America and Avengers to do a team up and now they are behaving like two siblings with a strong marketing rivalry. The aspect of writers has also gone unnoticed. Writers on some of the DC books, such as Tony Bedard, whose R.E.B.E.L.S. issue 10 is one of the books that retailers can dismantle, has worked for Marvel in the past, and while some of the issues would sit there, there could be a chance that they would sell (back issues of old comics are sold every day to new fans). This kind of marketing strategy--if it took off--could hurt the comic industry, because older print issues would be obsolete and could lead to downloading the comic off of illegal pirate sites.

While DC doesn't have as much going on with them as Marvel does, they decided that with their new series starting up (proceeding Blackest Night), Brightest Day, they would do another ring promotion. For every 10 copies of a certain book ordered, the retailer would receive a pack of Green Lantern rings, or, depending on the book, a set of Flash rings (another item popular in the DC mythos). Since the ring saga is seemingly dying down, there have also been rumors of copying themes in the stories. Geoff Johns' Blackest Night is a story that dealt with death in the universe and was launched in June 2009. When it proved to be a blockbuster and Diamond Comics' (a magazine for retailers) number one comic, in October 2009, Marvel in turn launched Necrosha, which also dealt with death in the universe.

Marketing rivalry is a healthy relationship between big named companies, but should be done with some decorum - through sales, offers, and promotions that do not destroy a writer's work.