Marvel’s Insider program functions a lot like any other rewards program would, except you get a bunch of cool Marvel gear or Marvel-related items upon cashing them in. Per a press release posted to Newsarama, the company is now rewarding individuals in buying Secret Empire from comic book stores with up to 10,000 points in their Marvel Insider program, depending on how many issues are purchased. In all, there are a total of 1,200 points per issue and there are nine issues. If you can’t do the math, it adds up to the aforementioned 10,000 points.
If you’re not a member of Marvel’s Insider program, it is a neat way to collect gear and get discounts off of digital or physical purchases. The program also saves the member money on the initial cost of comics and collectibles. There are also other unique perks and opportunities that Marvel sends out through the mail. On the whole, the program is pretty cool.
Secret Empire is slated to release May 3rd and Marvel is hoping that this will be the start of a turnaround. The company has been going through some issues lately, the most notable was one of the executives stating that diversity was killing the brand. They have also had struggling sales and problems getting some of their newer characters off the ground.
Marvel has recently canceled a number of new titles, some of them featuring minority characters. There has also been backlash on social media vis-a-vis event fatigue and with good reason. A lot of these events cost the reader a healthy penny to collect and some of them have fallen well short of reader expectations. Whether or not Secret Empire can succeed remains to be seen, but Marvel has acknowledged the readers on the event-fatigue front and worked to get pages turned in early so as to avoid some of the issues that plagued Civil War II.
But whether it’s good or bad, readers will be able to accrue a fierce amount of points by giving it a go. How big of an impact will this have on readers? Does this impact your decision to buy a physical copy? I’m set up for the digital subscription, but this news is making me think of changing it over to a physical subscription. Let us know what you plan to do in the comment section below.